Over the years, I have seen Justin Jain do many things, at many theatres. If there’s someone who’s really been all over the Philly and Philly area when it comes to theatre, it’s probably Justin Jain. I remember first seeing him in a panto at People’s Light. I’ve also seen him work with kids. He directed The Good Person of Setzuan at the Wilma last season. But this time around, I got to see him in Quixotic Professor Qiu at InterAct. And boy, was it a good one.
I think it’s really amazing when people can take on many different mantles, especially in the theatre world. And I really admire the people who can do it. From someone who has worn many mantles in theatre (though I’m not entirely sure they were all successful), I think I can really spot it. Justin Jain strikes again in Quixotic Professor Qiu. I absolutely loved what he did with the part, and in a play that was probably pretty hard.
Although the run is over, I was able to ask Jain some questions about Qiu. I loved the insight he was able to give me about the character and the show. I can’t imagine a show like this could be easy, especially given the current state of the world, but theatre is all about escape. We escape as we watch, but actors escape in their roles. Justin Jain completely nailed it.
This is a show about the importance of numbers, yet we also see the importance of words. How do you balance these two themes?
What is so striking about the play is Qiu is constantly asking people to define and clarify the words they are using. So while he is a mathematician, he is in some ways obsessed with semantics. He starts both acts of the play unpacking the meaning of words and phrases. It would make sense if the play said he was also an English major at one point in his life, but it does not. As an actor juggling that duality, it was great fun to lean into that tension.
What is it like performing this play in current times?
It was riveting seeing how audiences responded to the work - laughing and being entertained early on in the play and then moving into deep listening and concentration. What was wild about this project is of course the play was chosen well before these current times, but then it just so happens the material aligns poignantly with the current political moment. In some ways, I have to compartmentalize that part of my job so I can just go onstage and tell an honest and compelling story. I can't quite let my feelings of the current times infiltrate the performance, especially early on, when things aren't so bad for Qiu.
We see so much questioning of identity in this show. How do you feel about Qiu’s many different identities?
Qiu feels like he's at the very dawn of a political and racial reckoning of what it means to be in his body in America now. In some ways, it is painted as an elementary viewpoint but necessary no-less. Race and Ethnicity in America is infinitely complexed and nuanced and this play looks at that prism from a very narrow lens. That's one of the places I, as an artist, differ from the character. Some of the dawnings and "aha" moments Qiu goes through are things I wrestled with early in my youth. The thinking around race and ethnicity in America, particularly in Asian-America, has evolved drastically for me since the 80s/90s, but Qiu seems to be in that mentality.
Qiu just loves his numbers and that’s all! In some ways, he seems very naive when it comes to that. How do you interpret Qiu’s relationship with numbers and the world around him?
Qiu almost feels like a free and naive soul. Although he is a scientist, he says he embraces not knowing. In fact, he relishes in it. Because of this he tends to have a bias toward seeing only what is in front of him, instead of the bigger picture. He's hyper-focused on zooming in that he misses the wider context of what is happening around him. So much so that his area of research, "quixotic primes," is about looking at the minutiae of an already smaller sub-class of numbers.
Do you think Qiu understands numbers more than people?
Absolutely.
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This production of Quixotic Professor Qiu was a world premiere. And while I definitely think it has the potential to go far, I also think that no one will ever play the title character the way Justin Jain did. Qiu was such a unique character, and Jain understood those nuances in a way that I don’t think many other actors could. It was truly amazing seeing him do this show, with all the ups and downs of the character, and the intimate experience of the whole show.
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