An Interview With a Spirit: Jeena Yi (by Angkur)

NextGen member, Angkur!

For my post, I decided to interview Jeena Yi. Jeena plays a spirit in the play, THE TEMPEST, and is the understudy for Miranda, played by Sheyenne Brown. It intrigued me to see that Jeena was a clear cut example of a versatile actress, being able to take on multiple roles. I started my interview with a few questions about her background as an ice breaker that would lead to questions about her experience with Classic Stage Company and THE TEMPEST.

I did a bit of research before I came here today. I understand that you have a bachelors degree in Architecture, is there a specific reason you chose to change over to theater arts?

Yeah, I always wanted to act but I really didn’t have the courage to do it full time. In college I majored in Landscape Architecture partly to make my parents happy and also cause I just, I don’t know I thought, “well I just have a backup”, but even in college I was studying and working in a club called Theatre Rice, an Asian American theater where I did shows in conjuction with my Landscape Architecture. But I had a minor in Theater, yeah. And then coming close to graduation, I decided that I wanted to pursue acting. full time.

Actress Jeena Yi, playing an Ariel Spirit in
THE TEMPEST and also understudying
the role of Miranda

Who inspires you as an actor?

A lot of people. Philip Seymour Hoffman was one, so I was very sad when he passed away. I’m really inspired by the work of Kate Winslet, Amy Adams, Gong Li, and Bill Murray.

The next one is actually an interesting one, I saw that you do many dialects. Does something like that come naturally to you or is it something you had an interest in and you worked at?

Some of them come more naturally than other, some of them are more difficult. Like, I can’t do an Australian accent for the life of me! But I think it started as a joke, you know, and then in college and graduate school we actually studied accents and how to developed them and it became an actual skill. Most of them are New York, regional kind of things and also just like Asian accents as well.

Why did you choose to further you education at Columbia? Was it to keep the urban setting you had in California or something else?

Jeena in role as an Ariel Spirit

I’ve always wanted to move to New York. I’m from California originally and I always wanted to go to a conservatory program. I wanted to really fully immerse myself into training, acting training programs and Columbia was on my list of top schools that I wanted to go to.

Do you think it will be easier to perform in front of students who have little experience seeing theater than it would be to perform in front of more experienced audiences?

Performing for people who have never been to the theater is more rewarding because I think that their responses are honest and they don’t have any notions on how the play should be or how it should be acted or the way it is supposed to be in their minds. So, I think it is actually really great and I’m excited to actually perform for people who either don’t go to theater very often because you just get really honest reactions. Actually kids in high school, if they like it, they like it, if they don’t, they don’t and I think it’s great and valuable to know that as an actor.

Jeena, center front, with the other Ariel Spirits

That actually brings be to our next question. You are a teaching artist at my school. Does being a teaching artist help you prepare for your role?

Oh yeah, definitely. Since we go through the play in the workshops. We review the story line and talk about it. We do different speeches because I think the kids have such great insight and they sort of have these fresh eyes to the play which I think is really great. And I’m just Ariel’s spirit and the understudy to Miranda, but it’s really valuable because who knows if I will ever do THE TEMPEST again. I think it is really rewarding and you learn a lot from teaching.

I want to pursue a career in acting. What would be your first advice to someone who wants to be an actor?

This is something from Kristen Linklater (she's a voice teacher at Columbia). She retired recently. This is something that she told us. People always say you need a thick skin. She says, no, what you need is a thin skin but a think soul or a strong soul. I think that’s the quote, I hope I’m quoting her right. I might be totally wrong but the idea is that it is a hard road to travel but also rewarding and she says thin skin because you should allow yourself to feel everything; the happiness, the sadness, the anger, the joy, all of it. But make sure your soul is strong. You will keep going and take everything that happens to you, process it, and help you grow as a person. So that would be the one thing I would say. Also, do your research. 

In the end, being able to watch rehearsals and see the actors and director at work up close was a very rewarding experience. Being able to speak to these actors and the director gave me different insights on not only the play but the world of theater. The time that I put in to learn the most I can from the everyone involved in the play is something I know I will cherish for a long time to come.