In preparation for the opening of the ACT FIRST portion of our STEIN LAB, we interviewed Lead Artist Handan Ozbilgin (Assistant Director, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center). Her new show Rose Love Pepe opens at The Connelly Theater on Wednesday June 3rd. Tickets are only $15 and available HERE.

TMT: Do you remember your first Stein encounter? How have your feelings/perceptions evolved to today, as you get ready to present Rose Love Pepe?

HO: My piece is based on a page long story from Stein’s children’s book The World is Round. It is a story about a little girl named Rose. Rose likes a neighbor’s dog named Pepe. But Pepe doesn’t like her bossy ways and when she forces him to do something, he bites her. When I read this story I loved the idea that you can not force “love” to happen. If you do, you end up with physical and spiritual pain. However in the hindsight you would learn from this painful experience and therefore you grow.

TMT: How did you approach your particular Stein source material? How has that approach metamorphosed during the show’s development?

HO: Initially, we started the piece with three characters; Rose, Pepe and Love (Rose’s faithful dog). However, we decided to add a fourth character named “Older Rose”. I felt the story needed to be told by an older woman. Older Rose remembers what happened in her past. The piece becomes an exploration of love and memory.

TMT: Your practice seems to be mostly dance-based. Where do you locate the intersection between physical and linguistic play, and how does Stein’s work address that relationship?

HO: When I read the story, I thought Stein’s text has movement similar to a dance piece. I brought the young choreographer, Henry Holmes, to work with me on this project. We first built the story with movements and then added the text. I think her text fits perfectly with the memory landscape we created. In our memory, we go back to the moments over and over again. Gertrude Stein does the same thing with the language. She uses repetitions. She begins and begins again.

TMT: If you were to take Gertrude Stein to attend one of your favorite contemporary theater pieces, how would she receive it?

HO: I would like her to see a Pina Bausch performance. Pina Bausch created unforgettable, emotionally moving pieces. It is very similar and somehow very different from Gertrude Stein. I think after seeing her piece, Stein would have written a lecture on Pina’s style.

TMT: Do you have a favorite line from Stein at the moment?

HO: I tell you at this time the world was all around and you could go on it around and around.

Handan Ozbilgin’s Rose Love Pepe runs June 3rd – 11th at The Connelly Theater at various times. Tickets are only $15 and available HERE.