JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - After his recent death in Scotland, the Juneau theater community remembers a prominent director as highly respected, if not always liked.
Paul Joseph “PJ” Paparelli died in a car accident Thursday, reports the Juneau Empire (https://bit.ly/1PFTlHz). He was 40.
Paparelli served as artistic director for Perseverance Theater from 2004 until 2007. The plays he oversaw were gritty, sometimes unnerving, bringing a raw experience to the stage.
His extremely demanding critiques did not always win over cast and crew, and his use of outside talent could annoy Juneau crowds. But his former colleagues describe him as an ambitious and talented director.
“He was somebody who was always pushing, never satisfied, which I think are good characteristics in any artistic director,” said Jeffrey Herrmann, who worked as producing director at Perseverance alongside Paparelli.
“He was very aggressive and driven in that way. He was always looking at what would make a better show.”
One of Paparelli’s best-known plays was “columbinus,” which examined social issue among teens following the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. He wrote and produced the play in tandem with collaborators.
“Columbinus” premiered in Juneau in 2005 and went on to play in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Missouri. Paparelli credited the docu-drama with landing him a job leading the American Theater Company in Chicago, where he stayed until his death.
The play unnerved some in Juneau, who worried its violent nature could inspire copycats, Hermann said it’s one of the shows he’s most proud of.
Parapelli “spent years traveling to Colorado to interview those folks and workshopping it, and it was a very powerful piece,” said Hermann
Hermann said Parapelli’s drive to be great meant constantly pushing, which can at times create tension and conflict, as it did with actors like Jake Waid.
Waid was called into the director’s office one day after rehearsing as Hamlet, a role he’d played twice before. He said it felt like being called into the principal’s office.
But he said Paparelli’s direction “could be maddening, but there was a purpose for it. The results were clear. I became a more rounded actor because of the work that he demanded.”
Waid believes Paparelli had stage fright, and that being a director was his way to be near actors, a group he had much respect for.
“There were certain roles that you could feel he wanted to play,” said Waid.
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Information from: Juneau (Alaska) Empire, https://www.juneauempire.com
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