by Chloé Hayat, edited by Kevin Russell Poole, photos by Kevin Russell Poole
Chloé and Emily Bubeck, Artistic Director of Breaking & Entering hopped on a zoom to chat about the genesis of Breaking & Entering, current projects, and making people sob. With the holidays rapidly approaching, and many crochet commissions piling up, Emily crocheted steadily throughout the conversation. Her hands never stopped moving while she successfully and eloquently answered every question. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Chloé: Hi Emily! I’m happy to see you!
Emily: Me too, girl, always!
Chloé: I’ve been asking [Line-Up Members] “how did you get involved with Breaking & Entering, but why don't you tell us how Breaking & Entering was birthed!
Emily: Sure! Well, late in 2018, me you and Kevin [Russell Poole, Associate Artistic Director] all went to the Clubbed Thumb [Early-Career] Directors showcase.
Chloé: Winterworks!
Emily: Yes, Winterworks, thank you! It was so much fun I loved it and everything, but it was funny and sad and interesting all at the same time because I obviously enjoyed all the work, and then I was reading all of their bios, and I was like “I'm literally never going to get a directing opportunity in this city!” Like not even one in a studio space like this, you know, nobody is going to give me permission to be the kind of artist that I want to be right now, so I am going to make a space where I can do that, and other people who are at a similar spot in their career can also do that. And it was a very collaborative process of deciding what this organization was going to be, and who was going to be involved in it because [Kevin and I] initially had that conversation of, “oh this is so disheartening, like I don't have a directing credit at Lincoln Center so i'm never going to get anything” so we were kind of commiserating, and the idea for this grew out of that. That's basically the baby genesis story.
Chloé: You know, I don't think that I really knew how you guys started talking about it! Okay so you kind of mentioned this but talk a little bit about the hats you wear as an artist!
Emily: I wear soooo many hats, and I like it that way! In undergrad I really focussed on my directing work and dramaturgical work, but after moving to the city and getting a feel for what I'm capable of accomplishing as an artist, and what skills I have that complement other people, I've been doing a lot of stage management work on small indie projects, I’ve been a creative producer on most everything that Breaking & Entering has done, I write a little bit. I don't claim writer as one of my titles.
Chloé: You are a fantastic writer!
Emily: Well that's sweet, Chloé.
Chloé: And you're a poet! I think you can claim poet and writer.
Emily: Okay okay maybe I will! Poet and writer then, let's add it to the mix.
Chloé: A new hat just arrived!
Emily: A new hat! But yeah, I think that's about it. I worked in a box office! My day job pre-the entire theatre industry shutting down, I was working in a box office and doing front of house work, which I really enjoyed. I just like working with other people and getting the chance to be in space with other people.
Chloé: There are very few theatrical hats that you do not wear.
Emily: Yeah (laughs) yeah, I mean, I like to try everything out! I remember realizing when I was in my late teens that I was not going to be, you know, everybody wants to be an actor when they’re 15 years old, and I remember realizing that wasn't going to happen.
Chloé: Was it when you starred in Cats?
Emily: I did not star in Cats! I was just in a high school production of Cats. But anyway, yeah, once I realized I did not have the talent to really yeah do that, I was like “I love theatre still” and I just wanted to spend as much time as I could making cool things with other people that I wouldn't be able to make by myself. So I guess I'm just trying on all the hats as often as I can because it's fun!
Chloé: Rotating hats! Kind of on that note, can you talk a little bit about your work as a director?
Emily: I mean, as a director specifically, I mean as a theatre person in general, I like working in a new works environment. I love developing work. I love, specifically, working with other female playwrights and bringing their vision to life. I love the stories of women– and other oppressed genders– but I gravitate towards women because I am one, and I know that story in a personal way. I like funky things, I also like making people sad! I really like making people sad, which isn't something that I have been doing too often lately but I love a good depressing play [that] just hits you in the gut and makes you want to sob.
Chloé: I think you, as a director, have a fantastic way of getting to the emotion of a piece without belaboring it or making it emotionally manipulative. You're very good at taking an audience on a journey along with the playwright. You’re so good at taking the playwright's vision and putting it on a stage in a way that is so emotionally connected in a very truthful, very earned way. I feel like it's a particular talent of yours.
Emily: Thank you! That's very nice! Yeah, I like any and every kind of theatre. I’ve tried to figure out my “aesthetic” because I’m a Taurus and I love the concept of aesthetics, but I really just love to play and tell stories that are worth telling and that excite me and that excite other people and help bring us together in some way. Like, there's something that we can share in that emotional gut punch or the, I don't know, the sex-bot in Sweet Shop [by Tori Lassman, member of The Line-Up] or whatever brings us together.
Chloé: That's definitely something that you bring. I also think, one of the things I've noticed about the work you gravitate toward, once again there's an emotional journey, but there's an element of fun and whimsy, which is also kind of who you are as a collaborator! You do theatre because it's fun and like that's a thing that you bring to the room that makes you so valuable as a collaborator! And actually, on that note, what do you look for in a collaborator?
Emily: I look for someone with a generous spirit. That sounds so corny and dumb, but that’s really what it is. I hate to use the word “vibe” because I hate the word so much, but it's totally a vibe! It's also in the way that an individual approaches the work. I just look for somebody who is a generous heart and is willing to meet me where I am because I know I'm going to meet you wherever you are.
Chloé: Okay we’ll have time for two more questions! What is your proudest artistic achievement to date?
Emily: It’s gotta be PEA Fest [The Pre-Emerging Artist Festival]. It’s gotta be PEA Fest! Just because it was the first thing that we all really got to produce together, that [we] actually sold tickets for– it it wasn't a free event or a pay what you can kind of deal– it was like “we're actually selling tickets, were actually in a real theatre in midtown manhattan, we did it!” I was really proud of what we were able to pull together. It was totally a struggle at many points, and it was a labor of love if nothing else. I just had such a blast working on Sweet Shop with Tori, that was just such an incredible opportunity to get my hands on that, and also to be able to learn, in a trial-by-fire way, everything that it was going to take for us to produce work. Until you're actually doing it, you don't know how it's going to go or what's going to come up, so it was cool to live through that and actually make it out at the end having produced a little tiny festival!
Chloé: I would hope that you were proud of that; you put so much into it and it was so much fun.
Emily: We all did! We all put so much of ourselves into it. And that's why we were able to make it happen!
Chloé: My last question is: What kind of projects are you looking to work on in the future?
Emily: Well, right now, virtual theatre interests me in terms of producing. I'm really interested in what that process looks like and the different intricacies that come up in this new medium. I am workshopping a script with Molly Van Der Molen [member of The Line-Up] right now and it's been quite a while that I've been working on it with her, so I'm excited to keep seeing where that goes and what comes out of it!
Chloé: Is this something that you’ve been writing?
Emily: Yeah. I’m writing and she’s “doula-ing” my play, that's what she says, it's so so wonderful. And talk about a generous spirit! She just brings so much love to every interaction so it's nice to just have space to talk with her about my life and figure out how to convey whatever story it is that I'm trying to tell.
Chloé: I truly can't wait to see what you and Molly are cooking! Thank you so much for talking with me, Emily
Emily: Of course, thank you!