In good company: Zuniga in white jacket and black tie, with his troupe, after a performance of The Little Prince. — VNS Photos by Vo Le Hong

(VNS) Jaime Zuniga came to HCM City in 2008 to work for one of the largest shipping and logistics companies in the world AP Moller-Maersk Group.

He was already working for Maersk in his home country, Nicaragua (Central America), when he decided it was time to discover Asia. He had not been in this part of the world before and did not know what to expect, but the job in Viet Nam was a good opportunity to live and work in the continent.

It turned out to be a significant decision. The experience of being in Viet Nam has exceeded expectations at many levels, both professionally and in his personal life. Zuniga, 30, works in the logistics industry by day and in the theatre by night.

"I am restless when it comes to doing what I love," he said. "It is very tough to come back home after a long day at work, grab a quick bite and then run rehearsals for several hours. You go to bed only to kiss your wife goodnight and you have to start another day like that.

"You try to catch up with friends during the weekend but you sometimes must cut meetings short because you need to rush to talk to the set designer or the theatre administrator."

Zuniga founded the Dragonfly Theatre together with Aaron Toronto in 2010, directing their debut performance The Importance of Being Earnest and co-produced their second show The Last 5 Years.

For the third production, he co-wrote and co-produced (with Toronto) their own adaptation of The Little Prince, in which he had the opportunity to direct and perform (in the role of the fox, the tippler and the lamplighter).

 

Curtain call: Jaime Zuniga, director of Dragonfly Theatre.

It is very difficult and risky when being an actor and director at the same time, Zuniga said.

"The job of the director is to shape the interpretation and channel the energy of the cast into a unifying vision or concept. Hopefully, this unifying vision/concept is beautiful and meaningful, and becomes a work of art."

Hence, he said, the director cannot afford to be "selfish" or "biased", and "spend too many brain cells" on his own performance, losing sight of the show from the audience's perspective.

"If you come to one of our rehearsals, you will see me sitting in the last row of the theatre and shout to the actors: ‘I cannot hear you clearly. People in the last row paid money to see the show too. Let's run the scene again!'."

He decided to take the chance and act because he had been off stage for almost four years – too long for someone as passionate and serious about acting as him. And the role of the Fox had always fascinated him.

Therefore, during rehearsals, Toronto, an experienced filmmaker, took the seat of the director whenever he was on stage. Toronto and Zuniga wrote the script and Toronto produced the show, so he has known and embraced Zuniga's artistic vision from the very beginning.

They respect and trust each other – almost blindly – as actors and directors, Zuniga said.

"In 2006, I met Aaron [Toronto], the cofounder of Dragonfly when he was the assistant of the American director when I did the play Summer and Smoke with him. Aaron and I always wanted to do good plays with good scripts from around the world," said Lan Phuong, a famous.

"Then five years later, Aaron met Jaime [Zuniga]. They came up with the idea of making a real professional play in English, which was The Importance of Being Earnest. Aaron introduced me to Jaime. I had no doubt about them even though it was the first time they were putting on a professional play. They are very professional and creative. I learned a lot from them. We had a great time working together and the show was a hit."

Phuong said Zuniga is professional, smart, creative and ambitious, determined and has a big love for theatre.

"He is a real Latino guy, very funny. He loves dancing and singing. When we did The Importance of Being Earnest, he always made me laugh with his crazy dancing." — VNS