Six questions with Kimberly Senior
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As Dolly West's Kitchen prepared to open, dramaturg Becky Perlman (BP) stole a few moments with director Kimberly Senior (KS) to ask six questions about her work on the play.

Director Kimberly Senior

(BP) What initially attracted you to Dolly West's Kitchen as a director? What did you love about the story and characters?

(KS) I love the ensemble feeling of the piece and that we get to know all nine characters so well over the two hours we spend with them. As a director I love creating the world of the play and it seemed like this was the perfect play to work on that.

(BP) What was it you responded to in Frank McGuinness' writing?

(KS) The writing is so human. It's not obvious or sentimental but somehow runs the gamut of emotions — sometimes in a single, devastatingly truthful, sentence.

(BP) We've talked a lot in rehearsal about how this piece isn't what Americans think of as a “typical” Irish play. What distinguishes Dolly West's Kitchen from other Irish dramas for you?

(KS) The characters say what they mean, they're not drunk the whole play,
and there are almost no monologues. The play isn't about "the troubles," and the characters don't talk about how they have no money. Which isn't to say I don't like other Irish plays! I just find Dolly West’s Kitchen refreshing and surprising.

(BP) The play is set in a historical time and place — World War II-era coastal Ireland — that is excitingly unfamiliar to most audiences. What did you and the cast discover about the world of the play that intrigued you the most?

(KS) The "international-ness" of the area — that American and British soldiers were stationed there and that their interests conflicted with that of Irish nationalists. Plus, learning that the character of Marco and his cross-dressing ways were not as much of an anomaly as one might expect!

(BP) You've said the play feels contemporary to you. Why do you think its message will be interesting to Chicago audiences today?

(KS) Like all good plays, everyone in this play loves, hates, seduces, destroys, sabotages, belittles, redeems, forgives. And everyone has a mom, right?

Read Kimberly's biography ...