Interview: Kevin Kittle Director of COLLEGE COLORS at Crossroads Theatre

College Colors, a new comedy by Stacie Lents will have its world premiere at Crossroads Theatre Company from February 4th through February 14th. The play looks at racism on the American college campus in the tumultuous '60s and the present day through the experiences of two pairs of students navigating issues of identity and inclusion. Broadwayworld.com interviewed Kevin Kittle who is directing College Colors.

Kevin Kittle has worked as Joseph Chaikin's assistant director and with Arthur Miller and Sam Shepard for the Signature Theater Company. As a director, his most recent productions include Hot Season at The Sheen Center for Strange Sun Theater, Blood Potato at the Harold Clurman Theater and In God's Hat at Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater for Apothecary Theatre Company, and Beyond the Pale (nominated for Best Director and Best Production at the 1st Irish Theatre Festival). As co-developer and dramaturge-director, Kevin has worked on Sully and This is the How with Rhett Rossi, David Dannenfelser's When Words Fail... at The NY International Fringe Festival (the script of which is published in Plays and Playwrights, Vol. One), and Peter Handy's East of the Sun and West of the Moon, which was a finalist in the Samuel French One Act Festival and is published by Samuel French. Kevin is the Associate Head of MFA/BFA Acting and the Director of Performance Ensemble at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.

What was your earliest interest in theatre and the performing arts?

As a child, I was fascinated by The Marx Brothers. Their particular brand of anarchy was very seductive. I would do Groucho impressions in talent shows. Their spirit still lives in my approach to creating something "dangerous" for an audience to experience. Also, we lived in north Jersey and my mom would take me to Broadway shows. My earliest shows were musicals like the first productions of Grease and Godspell. I studied Viola Spolin's theater games and improv as a teenager. Eventually I went to school for a BA in Theater, but I quit and later earned a BS in History/Social Studies.

Tell us a little about your educational background.

With my undergrad degree finished I then went on and received my MFA in Directing from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.

Who was instrumental in launching your career as a director?

My professors at Rutgers were very important to my understanding of the creative process and what the director actually does in pre-production and rehearsal. Amy Saltz, Michael Warren Powell, and especially Hal Scott (who was my main mentor), were great influences. But, my first job out of school was because my Theater History professor, Eileen Blumenthal, introduced me to the great Joseph Chaikin. I assisted Joe on a few productions and had a brand new experience of what it means to create a full artistic world.

What performers or performances have inspired you?

When I was twenty I saw a Broadway production of The Suicide by Nikolai Erdman. It was directed by Jonas Jurasas and starred Derek Jakobi. I was awestruck. It was influenced by Meyerhold and it was so visual and it matched the characters' internal life with external physical gestures. It was so alive; unfolding in front of me.

How does working with students compliment your career?

I am learning something new every day by working with young people. They absolutely inspire me. I teach a class called Performance Ensemble wherein the Second Year company at Rutgers devises a piece of theater. Because it is an entirely new show every year, I am forced to start from zero each time. It keeps me from fooling myself into thinking that I know anything.

How do you like working at Crossroads?

Crossroads is a very inspirational place. Not only within the work environment but also just to be in the building or with the people. They have a very particular ethos. I don't want to use the word "spiritual" in the religious sense but it is a spiritual place. You can feel History there. Also, Marshall Jones truly believes that we are serving those that came before us as well as the present audience. We are changing lives. That's also partly what makes him a great teacher of young people. He's not just picking up a paycheck; he lives this belief.

Tell us about the cast and creative team of College Colors.

When we sat down at the table for the first read-through of College Colors in a rehearsal room at National Black Theater in Harlem, I resisted catching the eye of Stacie Lents because I knew I would cry if we took each other in. We had come so far in the process of her writing this play and to have that extraordinary cast sitting before us and ready to go was a dream. We have found some very exciting young actors for this project and I can't wait for them to hit the stage. Also, my designers are fully realizing the world we wish to create. They are bringing me their great imaginations and their vision.

Why do you think that Stacie Lent's comedy will appeal to metro area audiences?

Stacie's play is simultaneously very accessible and challenging. People will recognize "hot-button" issues but the play is not polemical. It's not didactic. It feels like you are peeking in on these young people as they try to navigate their identities in a culturally diverse world.

Tell us about some of your future plans.

I am currently developing a play with the writer Rhett Rossi about a veteran who has returned from Afghanistan and how he feels rudderless and without purpose. The play addresses the "Promise of America" and how generations of people born in American are often not the ones who most understand and appreciates America.

College Colors will be performed at Crossroads Theatre from February 4th through February 14th. The theatre is located at 7 Livingston Avenue in the heart of New Brunswick's vibrant arts district. Performances are 8 p.m., Feb. 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13; 10 a.m., Feb. 10 and 3 p.m., Feb. 7, 13, 14. Tickets are $45. Opening night is Feb. 6. Opening night tickets with reception are $55. Call (732) 545-8100 or purchase online at crossroadstheatrecompany.org.

Photo Credit: Matt Rainey

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