JustArts spoke with Jessie Fields '13 about her experience directing Into the Woods and her decision to stage the show in the woods near the Brandeis campus in the evening.

JustArts: What is the play about?

JF: Into the Woods is an explosion of fairy tale characters. The play centers on the baker (Ben Gold '13) and his wife (Jamie Perutz '13) who are told by the local witch (Gabriella Feingold '14) that they have been cursed with childlessness. In order to reverse the curse they must retrieve four objects, and in the pursuit they encounter a slew of storybook favorites including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack-each trying to achieve their own wishes as they go. Despite the fun premise, Into the Woods is an exploration of deep themes like social responsibility, loss, love and what's truly important in life.

JustArts: What has your experience been, in general, directing Into the Woods?

Jessie Fields: It's been a fantastic experience.  It's actually a larger cast than I've ever worked with before. Seventeen kids. But they're all wonderful.  I could not have asked for a better group of people to work with.  And they're very interested in exploring this in a new way, because I think Into the Woods is a play that's done the same way a lot of times, and what we wanted to do was put our own spin on it, ... to give it that little something else.

But it's been a fantastic experience, and it's a great work.  I mean, Sondheim.  There could hardly be any more themes in there to explore if you wanted there to be.  There's a lot of stuff in there, and I hope we did a great job with it.  I think that they're doing a great job.

JustArts: What is it like rehearsing in the woods?

JF: Well, it's hard because of the sun.  Classic theater rehearsal hours are 7 to 11 p.m., and the sun is down during those hours.  So that's a problem.  So, we have generators to plug our lights in, but we could not get them until no-conflict week, so before that, if we wanted to rehearse in the woods, we'd either have to have rehearsal on Saturday, which our cast was very nice about and would meet us during the day with the beautiful sun to guide our way, or we would rehearse 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. and have that first hour outside, and then go inside and work on exploring and blocking before taking it back outside.  Now we're in the woods all the time, though.  

Aside from that, ... it's been great.  We have a really good space, and one of the fun things about the production is building our set around the woods.  We wanted to really work with it, so we've got a treehouse, we've got some platforms in between trees, and some steps up into trees, so just working with it has been fun.  I think it also helps with the environment because being in the woods helps give the actors more to work with than just being inside a room with trees made of Styrofoam and sadness.  
JustArts: Has this idea of having a show in its literal setting ever been done before at Brandeis?

JF: I don't know.  

JustArts: Are you trying to set a precedent?

JF: I would like to set a precedent of creativity and thinking outside the box; ...  you don't have to go into the woods. ... But yeah, I definitely encourage people to think outside of the box.  It adds something that you could never get sitting in a theater, looking behind a fourth wall backstage.

JustArts: And what led you to choose Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods as your fall production?

JF: I love Sondheim.  Oh God, I love Sondheim.  It was also my last production with Freeplay [Theatre Group].  In the spring, I'm doing my thesis.  Me and my stage manager, Rachel Hubbard '14, always do a show together, and this was our last one together, so we wanted to make it special.  We both love the show, and we thought it would be meaningful to the student body at this time.  It talks a lot about social responsibility, taking care of people around you and knowing that your actions can affect a great number of people.  Just a good message.  

JustArts: What is it that intrigues you about Sondheim's work?

JF: Sondheim is a master of using details to build a hugely emotional and powerful show. I have encountered no other playwright who comes close to the level of cleverness and intricacy Sondheim achieves, let alone who is able to tackle huge issues-like raising a child, or losing someone you love-with such insight and heart-wrenching accuracy. Into the Woods is a perfect example of his skill in combining intelligence with emotion.