Who He IsJohn Jesurun is an avant-garde writer, director, filmmaker, and designer, creating innovative theater since the 1980s, challenging the line between life and death, and incorporating a variety of media into his productions. Born in Battle Creek Michigan in 1951, he is currently based in New York. He holds a BFA from Philadelphia College of Art, and MFA in Sculpture from Yale University.
Why You Should Know Him By Now
Trained in filmmaking and sculpture, he brings an innovative eye to the theater world. He breaks the rules and doesn’t subscribe to traditional forms of presenting live theater. He contrasts stark and simple staging with dynamic and complex digital projections. He deftly creates looks onstage that mimic film-style cuts and angles.
Why We Think He’s Cool
- Digital Projection. Jesurun uses projections onstage in every way imaginable. Some productions have a live feed of the action onstage projected on large screens. Other times the actors are seen in a close shot onscreen performing dialogue. (both styles seen in Septet in 2005). In his 2009 production of Firefall the large screen behind the performers is flooded with a multitude of layered windows streaming live internet footage. Jesurun blends his interests in filmmaking with his pension for “sampling” different images, song lyrics, and pieces of dialogue to create multi-layered and challenging pieces of theater.
- Ingenious staging. As seen in is long-running serial theater production Chang in a void moon, the actors perform on a starkly bare stage with minimal blocking. Jesurun deals with scenes as if editing a film, with short bits of dialogue and “fast cuts” to the next scene. He has been known to use pieces of white foam board to create the illusion that the audience is viewing the actors from different angles, as seen in the photo below. Actors may lay on their sides on custom made platforms to give the appearance of a top view. Jesurun doesn’t want to simply trick the audience; he wants to create a visual paradox. The audience begins to see the performers in two positions at once, both how they appear, and how they really are.
- In his own words. "You live in this house. You walk in this street. If you’re going to be in a big space then you have to make it further. Which is interesting to me from the sculptural point of view—to always deal with the space that you’re in. That’s where you are. That’s where everybody else is going to be. So let’s not pretend that we’re someplace else." (From an interview by Craig Gholson - Bomb Magazine, 1985)
Where To See Him Do His Thing
The world premiere of Jesurun’s production “Stopped Bridge of Dreams” will be showing at La MaMa from January 20 - Feb 5 2012.
Where To Learn More
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