Artist Interview: Director Jesse Bernstein
THE WANDERERS director on his process and what makes Anna Ziegler’s play so affecting
Onstage at Lantern Theater Company September 5 through October 6, 2024, The Wanderers marks Jesse Bernstein’s Lantern directorial debut. Jesse is Artistic Director of Theatre Ariel, a Philadelphia-based professional theater company that presents new and established plays inspired by the past, present, and future of the Jewish experience — its heritage and humor, struggles and triumphs, ethics and intersections. A director, actor, writer, educator, and producer, Bernstein has been working in theater, film, and television in Philadelphia and beyond for more than 30 years, including productions with Theatre Ariel, Walnut Street Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, New York Shakespeare Festival, and the Berkshire Theatre Festival, among others. He serves on the board of directors of the Alliance for Jewish Theatres.
Lantern Resident Dramaturg Meghan Winch caught up with Bernstein during the rehearsal period to talk about The Wanderers, including Ziegler’s writing, effectively staging email communication, and the diverging experiences and values of its characters.
MEGHAN WINCH: What was the most exciting thing to you about tackling this play before you came into rehearsals? What drew you to it?
JESSE BERNSTEIN: I love the writing. I think it’s so beautiful and powerful… The character of Abe is a character that certainly resonates with me. He and I have a lot of the same likes and interests, although our lives definitely diverge in very important ways. So that certainly drew me to it. And then Anna Ziegler’s writing is so specific and simple and strong and clear. And then overall, this is a story of the problems we create for ourselves by imagining the lives that we could live, which I think everyone relates to. I certainly think artists relate to it. I think anyone who’s an artist, if they don’t wake up every day and go, “Should I have done something else with my life?,” they’re fooling themselves.
WINCH: It’s true! What’s your prep work like as a director?
BERNSTEIN: Most of what I do as a director is prep work, I think. First of all, casting is one of the most important things you can do. I would say that’s 90% of it. And then for me, it’s really going moment by moment through every single scene and figuring out what story we’re telling, and making sure that there’s an overall story that’s being told and that every scene within the play is helping tell that story. So, I do a lot of prep and then throw it all out on the first day of rehearsal and hope that the things that were important stick with me. And then if I’m ever lost, I go back to that prep, and go, “Oh, right. This would help.”
WINCH: You’re also an actor, a writer, and an administrator at Theatre Ariel. How do all of these disciplines inform your work here?
BERNSTEIN: I think they all work together. I think because I’m also a playwright, I’m sympathetic to the script and to the writer’s intentions. I pay a lot of attention to punctuation because I know as a playwright, my punctuation is very intentional. And then as an actor, I’ve worked with lots of different directors, and so I know things that are helpful for me and what is not helpful for me, but then I also know that every actor has their own process. And because I’ve taught lots of actors and looked for different ways to get through to different people, I’d like to think that means that I can identify where actors need help or where they might be getting in their own way, so that I can figure out how to work with each one.
WINCH: Has there been anything especially challenging getting this show on its feet and moving toward performances?
BERNSTEIN: The material is certainly very heavy. Getting everyone on the same page in terms of the Satmar community and understanding that world, as opposed to our secular modern world, has been not a challenge, but a place for discussion and understanding that the values and the assumptions are so different. Figuring out the technical elements of how we bring in the fantasy world of the internet and the emails was something that we spent a lot of time thinking about and discussing.
WINCH: My next question is about that, actually. Can you talk about design, both in terms of the physical world we’re inhabiting and then how you break that reality barrier within the play’s email sections?
BERNSTEIN: We started with set design, for the most part, and looking at how we create these different worlds. But also one of the things that we talked a lot about was literally wandering and path-taking. I think the set very much represents this — people trying to find ways around and swirls and labyrinths. And then with lighting and sound, it was just figuring out how we differentiate the unreal space versus the real space. And one of the things that, for me, was driving some of the lighting design and the staging as well is that when we’re in reality, a lot of times the characters are sort of stuck in the space that they’re in, and when we go into email-land or internet-land, there’s actually lots of freedom of movement. That was something that was really important to me.
WINCH: At the time of this interview, we’re heading into previews and performances soon. What are you looking for from audiences? What does that preview process do for you as a director?
BERNSTEIN: The audience tells you if the jokes are landing. Also, you can track with the audience if they’re following the story and where the story isn’t clear. When I see a show with an audience, it helps me see it all over again because I’m sort of feeling their journey… So, a lot of discoveries happen there, and the actors always feed off of a live audience, and that tends to ignite them in different ways.
WINCH: What do you hope audiences take away from this?
BERNSTEIN: I hope they’re entertained. I want them to take away whatever the story says to them. To me, this is very much a play about the ways in which we fail to see what we have, and our restlessness drives us in different directions. But I think everybody’s bringing their own life into the space, and so however the play hits them, it’ll hit them.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
More great reading: See other recent articles and interviews on the Lantern Searchlight blog
Lantern Theater Company’s production of Anna Ziegler’s The Wanderers is onstage September 5 through October 6, 2024, at St. Stephen’s Theater. Visit our website for tickets and information.
