Harwich Beginnings Inspired New York Director, Playwright

by Linda Culhane

            Since she first stepped onto the stage in her fifth grade Christmas play at the Harwich Elementary School, Andy Arden Reese had a passion for theater.

            “There was something magical about it. It lit me up,” Reese said during a telephone interview from her home across the Hudson from New York City, where Theatre Lila, which she co-founded with Jessica Lanius in 2004, was performing her latest production, “Wonder:lust,” at Theater Row on 42^nd Street last month.

            What her teacher sparked that day has illuminated Reese’s path since.

            “The Harwich Junior Theatre became my second home,” said Reese.     

Harwich native Andy Arden Reese, whose New York City theater company is producing her play, “Wonder:lust.” PHOTO COURTESY OF THEATRE LILA

       At that time the theater only had a summer program. “It was devastatingly sad at the end of the summer,” she said.

            While she didn’t realize it at the time, Reese was learning some of the techniques as a Junior Player that she would go on to explore professionally, both independently and in college, where she earned a BFA for New York University and a MFA from Rutgers University.

            “Harwich Junior Theatre was already putting the idea into me of use yourself, you don’t have to have a set full of props,” said Reese.

            The concept of using yourself as a actor is reflected in Theatre Lila’s mission of using a performer’s 360-degree self: the physical, intellectual, psychological, and emotional self in a fusion of theater, dance, music, and sound.

            Reese wrote and directed “Wonder:lust,”  which was inspired by the works of Walt Whitman, Samuel Beckett and Lewis Carroll.

            “I tend to kaleidoscope different works,” said Reese, who has written a number of pieces but considers herself primarily a director.  “I write in order to direct.”

            As a director Reese admits it is sometimes frustrating to have to let go once the curtain goes up. “Every night is that night, it’s never the same,” said Reese. “I have no control. I’m just a witness.”

            Reese is not only witnessing her own work at each performance but also the audiences reaction to what she has created.

            “I get a lot of feedback,” said Reese.

            After seeing “Wonder:lust” an audience member told Reese, “I feel like I’ve crawled into your skin, under your bones and into your blood.” Reese’s response, “You got it!”

            “That excites me. When they feel that something has happened that excites me. I did my job,” said Reese.

            “Wonder:lust,” said Reese, “is about how you find yourself in this modern and chaotic world. Not only is it about yourself, but how do you turn and partner with someone.”

            In her own life Reese didn’t have to turn very far to find her future husband, production designer Michael Reese, while taking an aptly named course in director designer relationships

            “We were just completely inspired by each other,” said Reese. After the course was over the two classmates realized their connection went beyond the course syllabus. “We were both saying ‘wait, something happened there.”

            College is also where Reese met Lanius, and it was over the lunch that the two decided to merge their separate theater companies to create Theatre Lila (pronounced Leela, meaning ‘Divine Play’ in Sanskrit, according to the theaters press notes).

            The theater is a non-profit organization offering education opportunities via residencies and a working laboratory for actors. The company has performed at a myriad of theaters collaborating with local organizations, such as their successful “King Lear” production at the Harwich Junior Theatre last year.

            With a resume that includes performances and study internationally, Reese still considers Harwich Junior Theatre her “stomping grounds” and is looking forward to visiting there this summer.

5/15/08