Director’s Statement about the Kent State production of Cloud Nine: How far Have We Come?

This summer, I enjoyed the film The Kids Are Alright, written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko. The main plot concerns two teenagers finding their biological father, who was a sperm donor. The kids have been raised by their mothers, a lesbian couple. I caught a bargain matinee and sat among the retirees and the thrifty folks who enjoy bargain matinees. In looking around me while the previews played, I contemplated just how a middle aged, fairly conservative movie audience would receive the film.

Here is what I discovered: The central relationship, that a lesbian couple raising two children, is just not shocking in 2010. During the sex scene between Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, not one of the senior citizens got up and left or even voiced shock. It has become rather commonplace to see same sex couples engaged in sexual acts in mainstream film, from Showgirls to Brokeback Mountain. Yet, I was intrigued by the comic relief aspect of a sex scene between two major stars and how graphic sex, specifically cunnilingus, was used for humorous effect. The message I took away from this was simple: Laughter = Acceptance.

That reminded me of Carol Burnett’s quote: comedy is tragedy plus time.

Experiencing this film caused me to reflect on Cloud Nine and specifically the relationships between Betty and Ellen in Act I and Lin and Victoria in Act II. If the play uses these two same-sex relationships to illustrate how far we had come in 1979, then shouldn’t we be a lot further along by 2010? Or is just making progress the goal?

Regarding sexual repression: how important is it to one’s psyche to be sexually liberated? How important is our gender, to our identity? How much control does society have over sexual expression/repression?

There are many themes in Cloud Nine. While I do not see it as being primarily a feminist play, I do enjoy the way gender role-play is both reinforced and slapped around for fun. I think the comedy of the play results from how Caryl Churchill blurs the lines of identity. The ambiguity of gender and the one-dimensionality of relationships is both entertaining and unsettling. I envision the design of the show highlighting that ambiguity.

It is a play about identity and the challenges of fulfilling the roles we are given in life, i.e., sexless mother, all-providing father, dutiful child, and faithful servant. The characters in Cloud Nine are identified by only one aspect. For instance Betty is regarded as a dutiful wife, so she is the dutiful wife. Why must we be just one thing to all parties?

I am intrigued with the layers of the relationships in Cloud Nine. There is a pervasive ambiguity that allows the world of the play to bend both time and the nature of relationships. Both Acts contain acts of violence and are overtly sexual. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang!

I respond to the duality of the characters, not only in how they transform from Act I to Act II, but in how they relate to other characters in their time. Sexual repression is also a big theme in Cloud Nine. I’d like to play with the visualization of sexual repression in the architecture of the characters.

Ultimately, Cloud Nine is a period piece and a reflection of how far we, as a society, have come since 1980. I am interested in how this play will be received in 2010. Hopefully we are creating a piece of entertainment that will inspire reflection and cause reaction.

--Eric van Baars (Assoc. Professor/Director, Cloud Nine)