Andi Chapman, Director of A Noise Within’s current production of ‘The Bluest Eye,’ and a scene from the show. [Chapman image courtesy Azusa Pacific University/Show still be Craig Schwartz via a Noise Within]
Set against the backdrop of 1941 Lorain, Ohio, Morrison’s debut masterpiece, “The Bluest Eye,” traverses the melancholic tale of Pecola. This young African-American girl’s life, molded by the lingering shadows of the Great Depression, resonates with a quiet yet persistent anguish.
Pecola’s narrative, etched by harrowing experiences, including abuse, delves deep into her torment over being perceived as “ugly” due to her dark skin. Morrison paints a vivid tapestry of Pecola’s yearning — an aspiration to mirror the blue eyes of Hollywood sirens, an emblem of “Whiteness” she so desperately craves.
It is this very tale that so captivated Director Andi Chapman. Entrusted with the helm of A Noise Within’s rendition of the novel, Chapman embraced the opportunity with an ardor only reserved for the most profound of heroines.
Speaking with Pasadena Now, Chapman reflected that Morrison has forever been her literary lodestar.
“Toni Morrison has always been a hero of mine, so it was a no-brainer in terms of my having the opportunity to tell the story. I have great respect for Toni Morrison,” Chapman said in an interview with Pasadena Now. “I loved all of her work and all that she stood for as she lived her life.”
In particular, Chapman was drawn to Morrison’s very first work, which established her as a literary force to be reckoned with, at a time when African-American writers were only just beginning to be recognized and appreciated.
“It was just a glimpse of seeing her first novel, and what it says about America and African-Americans in America, and her focus on the young black girl in the play,” said Chapman.
This chance to reinterpret her narrative was not only instinctual but deeply personal, Chapman said, rooted in the ideals she embodied throughout her life.”
Chapman’s infatuation wasn’t merely with any Morrison creation, but specifically with “The Bluest Eye.” This inaugural piece not only solidified Morrison’s stature in literature but emerged in an era when African-American voices were barely piercing through the tapestry of mainstream recognition.
Moreover, Morrison’s audacity to delve into Black narratives set in the 1940s Ohio was a deviation from the norm. A time so profoundly influenced by military undertones and World War II backdrops was instead painted by Morrison with tales of personal strife and societal introspection.
Chapman was drawn to the novel’s lead character of Pecola Breedlove, the foster child whose house was burned down by her unstable, alcoholic, and abusive father.
“The things in America that were expected of her in the forties, the aesthetic and everything, how if you didn’t have a strong family, or strong constitution, that it could really wreak havoc on something so young, someone so young, someone so fragile in that sense,” said Chapman. “So that drew me to the story, but it was just brilliantly written.”
Chapman read the novel “maybe 17 times or so,” she said, and listened to the Audible version countless times as well, trying to determine how to weave the key incidents in the book “into a symphony.”
“It was important for me to tell the story as she envisioned it,” Chapman recalled.
“It was important for me to make sure that every nuance was told about each character, where (playwright Lydia Diamond) wasn’t able to expound like the novel was,” Chapman continued. “So I was trying to be extremely detailed and specific in regard to the intention of Toni Morrison.”
As an actress herself, Chapman found herself in the role of “player coach,” explaining that, “An actor that directs, really understands the process, and how actors have to come upon ideas and creativity from inside, as opposed to someone saying, ‘Be funny, be sad, be angry.’ ”
“You are able to use a language and understanding from an emotional place that leads your actors to the place where you’d like them to go,” Chapman added. “So it really gives a great advantage when you are an actor and you direct, especially if you understand both mediums.”
Chapman also realized, in developing the play, that the basic themes and characters in the story could be “very harsh in some ways to the Black aesthetic,” but telling the character’s “truths” was important to her.
Said Chapman, “It was important for me to absolutely tell the truth in regard to the vulnerabilities, the violent parts, the highs and the lows, all of those places that needed to be told. But I wanted to make sure that it was understood what caused it. And then in the telling of it, I thought it was important for this community of human beings to be beautiful at the same time.”
Thus, Chapman saw her role as not only presenting the work faithfully, but creating a work that would recognize the inherent beauty of the story without glossing over the difficult parts.
“It’s a hard dose to take, but I wanted to make sure I presented it on a beautiful China plate,” she said.
See The Bluest Eye onstage at A Noise Within in Pasadena through September 24. For more information and rockets click here.
