DJ Q&A: Ogie Zulueta

OZ: I grew up in Daly City and Millbrae. Attended Mills high school and U.C. San Diego. I am a Filipino American and migrated here with my parents when I was 2 years old. I’ve worked in the entertainment industry for over 20 years, mostly as a professional actor.

DJ: What is a fight choreographer?

OZ: A fight choreographer is like a dance choreographer as they create physical movement to help tell a story. I work with the director and performers to execute physical fights or combat to elevate storytelling, with the utmost safety to the performers.

DJ: How did you get started as a fight choreographer?

OZ: I was required to learn and execute a lot of fight choreography working in theatre and film, then became a fight captain in a lot of productions and eventually was asked to lead fight choreography.

DJ: What martial arts or performance training do you have?

OZ: I was a very athletic child, and I studied martial arts and boxing growing up. I have experience in combat styles like karate, Filipino martial arts, and various weapons training ... basically a little of everything and master of nothing.

DJ: How does a fight scene evolve from script to rehearsal to final performance?

OZ: Fight choreography is always a collaboration with the performers, director and other designers. I always take note where in the script a fight or altercation happens and I study the script to give me details as to how we got there in the story. I discuss with the director the world of the play and what kind of weapons might exist in that world. I get to know the actors I’ll work with and their bodies’ capabilities; do they have existing injuries and what kind of fight experience or stage fighting experience do they have? I always work off the actors’ instincts at any given moment as we build the fights and we explore other options of attack and defense. The fights are always character driven and ultimately created to best serve the story. I don’t want the audience to think about the fights technically. I want to keep them in the story.

DJ: What do you do when an actor has little or no fight experience?

OZ: When an actor has little or no fight experience, I always ask about any dance or movement experience. What kind of athletic experience they may have and we build physicality from there. We build a vocabulary of movement and safety to enter the space of physical combat, always starting small to build confidence in their movement to sell a fight to the audience.

DJ: What are the most important safety rules in staging fights?

OZ: Safety and control are top priorities. The actors may have five to nine performances a week for many months, so self-care is a must. The actors have to train like athletes so they can sustain these physical performances and avoid injury. So, from day one, safety and trust are built into the development of all fights.

DJ: What’s the most difficult fight you’ve ever choreographed?

OZ: Choreographing a fight in the Magic Theatre could be considered the most challenging because of the three-quarter stage thrust and the audience sitting in an arena configuration. It makes it difficult to mask strikes because of the audience angles. It may look great for one side of the audience, good for another and really bad for the third section.

DJ: How are you approaching choreographing this new version of ‘Macbeth’ at the Magic Theatre?

OZ: I’ve been given a brief sketch of the world of this Macbeth play, and the possible weapons that could live in this world. Again, the arena stage thrust will be the biggest challenge in selling the fights of its realism or style and keeping the audience in the world of the play.

DJ: Are there mentors or teachers you would like to acknowledge?

OZ: I met my most memorable mentors when I studied hard style Japanese karate as a young child when Hakua Kai Edwards Karate was located in Millbrae. Sensei Bernard Edwards, Sensei Rick and Sensei Eddie were essential to my development as a martial artist and as a human being.

MAGIC THEATRE MACBETH PARTICULARS: The World Premiere of Migdalia Cruz’s new version of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ runs at the Magic Theatre from March 18 to April 5. Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture at 2 Marina Blvd. Landmark Building D, third floor. San Francisco. The Magic Theatre, founded in 1967, is known for its focus on the development and production of new plays. Actors who have performed there include Danny Glover, Peter Coyote, Ed Harris, Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, Kathy Baker, Woody Harelson and Cheech Marin. For ticket information visit magictheatre.org.