There’s are reasons the letters in playwright Max Wolf Friedlich’s 2024 psychological thriller “JOB” are all upper case.
One reason is that it represents today’s internet culture, where texts, social media posts and viral videos have the power to dramatically amplify viewers emotions, prejudices and rage.
Set in San Francisco in January 2020, “JOB” the story of Loyd, a crisis therapist in his 60s, and Jane, his 20something client, a career-driven woman who was a content moderator for a large tech company.
After Jane suffers a work-related meltdown and is put on leave, she must convince Loyd that she’s fit and ready to return to work. But the gap in their ages, experiences and worldviews makes it hard for them to communicate and their conversation evolves into a psychological duel.
Hannah Meade is the director of Cygnet Theatre’s production of the play “JOB.” (Hannah Meade)
The intense 80-minute play is making its San Diego premiere at Cygnet Theatre on Saturday. Cygnet co-founders Sean Murray and Bill Schmidt said this play blew their minds when they saw it on Broadway two years ago, and they couldn’t wait to bring it to local audiences.
The play starts out as an intense therapy session, Murray said, but then it suddenly transforms into something else that the audience won’t see coming.
The play is directed by Hannah Meade, a busy freelance director who moved to San Diego from her native Houston in 2019 and has worked with several local theater companies in the areas of directing, producing, new play development and administration, including La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Moxie Theatre, Backyard Renaissance Theatre and Chalk Circle Collective.
This project marks her Cygnet directing debut.
Meade won the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle’s 2024 Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play for her work on Backyard’s “Constellations.” Like “JOB,” “Constellations” is a two-character play about a man and woman with a twisty plotline.
“The big tie to those two plays is a cerebral experience that’s tied to visceral reaction,” Meade said in a recent phone interview. “Those two plays both have that really booted in their DNA.”
Meade said the casting process for “JOB” was exciting. Loyd is being played by actor Jacob Bruce, who co-starred in Backyard Renaissance’s 2023 production of “August: Osage County,” which she assistant directed. Jane is being played by Caroline Gottleib, who is new to the San Diego theater scene.
“The chemistry we saw in the audition was really just artistic sparks flying,” Meade said of the cast, adding that “JOB” rehearsals have been equally satisfying. “With ‘JOB,’ it’s like climbing Mount Everest, so it’s nice to have collaborators you can hold hands with.”
The 29-year-old Meade said she rarely allows herself to identify with the characters in the plays she directs, but the character of Jane really spoke to her, because they’re close to the same age and they’ve both grown up in an internet-dominated world.
“When I read this play I was trying to hold on to directorial point of view and got lost in the story of this late-20s woman’s experience of learning how to stand up for the world around her and wanting to do the right thing and carrying the weight of that,” Meade said. “It’s a gift to be able to direct this play at this time.”
Loyd, on the other hand is a character who Meade said takes time for the audience to figure out. “He’s a twist-and-turns character.”
Both Loyd and Jane have grown up in the Silicon Valley environment where computer techology and the internet have transformed life as we know it. But because they’re from different generations, their perspectives are not alike.
“She calls herself a citizen of the internet, but that’s where he lives, and he sees the world in a different way. That debate is really live and fresh and they both have acurate viewpoints,” Meade said.
Meade will be directing “JOB” in the round in Cygnet’s Dottie Studio Theater. She said that just because the play’s setting is a therapy session, audience members shouldn’t expect the play to be a static story of two people sitting in chairs facing each other. She’s excited to be bringing movement and surprises to the storytelling.
Because “JOB” goes to unexpected places, Meade said she hopes audiences will come in without knowing too much and also prepared for a gripping and thrilling experience.
“This play is a car-ride-home conversation play,” she said. “If you’re the kind of person who’s excited to have a good chat with your theater-going partner on the way home, this play is for you.”
‘JOB’
When: Previews, Wednesday through Friday. Opens Saturday and runs through Nov. 1. 7 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays (plus 2 p.m. Oct. 14)
Where: Dottie Studio Theater at Cygnet Theatre’s The Joan, 2880 Roosevelt St., San Diego
Tickets: $59 and up
Online: cygnettheatre.org