Jamie Harper on Aya Ogawa's The Nosebleed

“Her writing voice is dynamic and creative,” Harper says. They were fascinated by the multiplicity of the play, with four different versions of Aya, all played by different actors. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen something like that played in a self-referential way.”  

The words themselves, Harper notes, were just as cutting. “[Ogawa’s] ability to talk about issues of grieving and family—the language that they use is precise, I would say almost surgical. They get a lot done without saying too much.”  

Harper was also fascinated by Ogawa’s construct of their character and how it embodies themes of cultural unawareness within racial interactions. The Nosebleed reinforced the dangers of what Harper refers to as cultural amnesia, the tendency to turn a blind eye to one’s own history and connections to racism. 

“If you’re unconscious, even if you’re a nice person and maybe your politics work out well, there are still tendencies to have these blind spots. We’re maybe using certain words, or asking questions that, to us, we’re information mining, but to the person receiving, it’s a painful process,” Harper says. “Aya really brought that to my attention in a very short amount of time.” 

The Nosebleed is interactive, asking for as much reflection from the audience as it does the four semi-fictional Ayas. Born of an “exploratory process around the topic of failure,” Ogawa explains on her website, the play presses on the bruises of familial disconnection. Harper found this aspect of the play undeniably engaging.  

“[Aya] points out that you can’t go back and change the past, obviously. You can’t erase the things that have taken place,” Harper says. “But you can move forward in a way that works for you, that makes sense, that allows you some space for healing. You can regain some sense of empowerment in spaces of your past that maybe you didn’t feel validated or perceived by honoring what it is and moving forward with some closure.” 

Harper doesn’t take the responsibility lightly. They want to give the audience “a little bit of pause,” they say, to examine their lives and interactions both in public and in private. Stepping into an established cast is, too, an aspect to be handled skillfully.  

“My main objective is to inhabit space in a way that honors what they’ve allowed me, and to have an artistic integrity that respects the space, time and energy of everyone involved,” they explain. “To realize someone has invited me, suddenly, into their home. That’s a profound gesture. I’m amped about it. It’s a unique thing that they’re doing.”