Interview with Playwright Pu-on Tim

After the wild success of his debut play Lu and Wumei two summers ago, the eyes of the artistic world have been on playwright Pu-on Tim. He followed his romantic history with the critically acclaimed Small Foot, Giant Step last summer. Now, he has spent seven months researching and writing his latest play. He spoke with members of the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, and Fire Nation, in order to write about Avatar Aang, "the Last Airbender." Tim has just announced the play is called The Boy in the Iceberg, opening next week with the Ember Island Players.

Tim joins me today for tea and scones at Omashu's own Turtleduck Teahouse to answer all our questions about his exciting new play, and the travels that brought him here.

[AH LISS KANE] Mr. Tim, I really have to start by asking about the title. What does it mean?

[PU-ON TIM] The title answers the first question everyone has about the Avatar.

What question is that?

Go on, Miss Kane. What's your first question for the Avatar, if you ever meet him?

I suppose I would ask where he has been this whole time.

He was stuck inside an iceberg. I traveled to the South Pole and saw what remains of it.

By speaking with a fisherman in the Earth Kingdom, a village elder at the Southern Water Tribe, and a spiritual guru based in the Eastern Air Temple, I was able to deduce why and how the Avatar disappeared.

The Avatar's nascent spiritual powers wrapped ice around him to protect him from a storm. He was encased in that iceberg, along with his sky bison, until a waterbender accidentally released him one hundred years later.

Protection from a storm. An accidental release. I wouldn't expect to hear these things about a fully trained adult Avatar. So, is it true that he is still a child?

It is true. Aang was only twelve years old when he was encased in ice, and had only mastered the element of air. As you know, Avatars don't typically study the other three elements outside their home nations until they are sixteen. I give Avatar Aang's entire history from the moment he woke up in that iceberg until the present day, in my play.

We have heard reports of the Avatar's travels all over the world. What inspired you to take on a project of this magnitude?

Well, the concept of the Avatar certainly sparked my imagination when I was a little boy. I grew up in a small fishing village called Pintik, just south of Gao Ling City. We were known for our net making, and we had a fair bit of trade with fisherfolk from both the Earth Kingdom and the Southern Water Tribe.

I think I was nine or ten years old when my father remarked on there being fewer and fewer visitors from the South Pole lately. I asked why, and he explained that if the Air Nomad Avatar had died, the next Avatar would be born in a Water Tribe; that's why the Fire Nation had been continually raiding the South Pole. I spent the entire summer daydreaming about discovering that I was the "next Avatar."

Of course, those daydreams skipped over the fact that I came from an Earth Kingdom family, and had never displayed any signs of earthbending.

I'm sure all non-bending children have daydreams about bending. I know I did.

Of course! And benders look on other people's talents with envy, too. It's human nature. But human nature also includes our incredible ability to find and develop our own skills. For you and me, my dear? It is the pen!

And your skills with the pen led you to scour the globe for information about Avatar Aang.

Absolutely. After writing my Beifong history, and the story of Chin the Conqueror, I knew I wanted to do another play about a historical figure. I hadn't settled on whom until a few short months ago, when eating supper in a cheerful tavern. There I was, sipping my soup, watching a dynamic arm wrestling competition amongst some local tradesmen and a lovely young bounty hunter, when who do you think walked in? The banished Fire Prince and his uncle, the disgraced General!

They engaged the bounty hunter to track down the Avatar. I thought it was all nonsense until I saw them produce an artifact for the bounty hunter's shirshu to smell. I saw that magnificent creature bound off in pursuit of the Avatar, and I instantly knew that I must, too.

Can you tell me about the logistics of your travels?

[Laughing] Ah! Well. A bit of ingenuity and a bit of luck can bring a man a long way. Small Foot, Giant Step had been such a critical--and financial--success that the same producers very readily signed on to my new proposal. Between the advance for my new play, my royalties from the last two plays, and a bit of hard work on my part, I managed to get about all right.

My first step was to follow the beautiful bounty hunter, June, to the abbey near Mo Ce Sea. Apparently the shirshu had tracked the Avatar and his companions there. I spoke with the Mother Superior, and she set me on my path to the Southern Water Tribe.

Like any good boy from Pintik, I know my way around an Earth Kingdom fishing boat. I sailed from the abbey, stopping at ports and villages along the western coast of the Earth Kingdom for more news and tales of Aang's travels. I got myself all the way down to the South Pole that way.

Sailing is well and good on seas and rivers, but the rest of my logistics were a bit harder to arrange. You can't plan ahead, you know, when you don't know where you're going next. I rented ostrich horses. I hopped on caravan wagons. I walked a good deal, and went through six pairs of shoes while I was at it! And every once in a while, my journey brought me along by more fantastical conveyances.

The ferry over Full Moon Bay is gigantic.

The rail system of Ba Sing Se astounded me with its cleanliness and punctuality. It's pushed by earthbenders!

The famed Rough Rhinos gave me a lesson in riding a komodo rhino. And at the Northern Air Temple, I was persuaded to try a glider.

How did you like gliding?

It was terrifying. Exhilarating. I loved it. I would never do it again.

With all this traveling, all over the world, it's a wonder you were able to pick up a cohesive narrative.

A playwright's craft is much like any other form of art. We gather our raw materials and sculpt them into shape. We reveal the beauties, or beautiful horrors, which are already there.

I'd love to know more about how you got your "raw materials."

Conversation, my dear, naturally! It starts by meeting people where they're at. Tailoring your approach to specific people and their circumstances. You can't just walk up to someone in Shu Jing Village and say, "Hello, Hotman, have you seen any airbending?" [Laughing]

Oh, no. You pick up on people's ways. You do your best to honor their traditions. You take the time to build trust.

I bonded with a gang of pirates over a pai sho tournament. I asked a cabbage merchant for his favorite recipes. I helped an old man remove some boards that had been hastily nailed over his window. And I sent a formal letter of introduction and goodwill to the Beifong family, and waited for an invitation to meet. Every place, and every person, has their ways.

Was there any source of information especially difficult for you to connect with?

That may depend on your meaning of the word "connect." I haven't yet met a person who was difficult to like! But, I did meet with two sources with whom communication provided unique challenges.

The most guarded person I spoke with--the hardest nut to crack, if you will--was a youth who lives in the western reaches of the Si Wong desert. His run-in with the Avatar apparently revealed some illegal activities of which my young friend was deeply ashamed. He's been doing his best to make amends for his wrongdoing ever since. I assured him that I believe people deserve second chances. I promised I would withhold his name and protect his privacy.

Then, he gave me the most valuable story of the Avatar's confrontation with sandbenders, and the abduction of the sky bison.

He was a pleasant fellow to talk with, simply for his own sake. But I will forever be grateful that I took the time to draw him out and learn what he had to say about Avatar Aang.

Incredible. Was your second challenge similarly shy?

[Laughing] Quite the opposite! Chong and his lovely wife Lily were thoroughly hospitable and gregarious. I can't say enough good things about their charisma. My challenge with the singing nomads came from a simple difference in our styles of communication. It took some time for me to adjust.

Chong and Lily are easygoing people, as likely to improvise a song as they are to engage in serious conversation. To them, it makes sense for a narrative to flow from feeling to feeling, rather than in chronological order.

That sounds a bit like your overall project, pulling a cohesive story together from bits and pieces told by different people.

Undoubtedly. I think my time with Chong and Lily helped prepare me for the task of assembling the narrative from disparate sources.

Did you have any favorites amongst your disparate sources?

I couldn't even begin to answer! You may as well ask a mother to choose her favorite child.

How about if I put it this way: did building these relationships result in any lasting correspondences?

Yes, I'm happy to say I did build some true friendships along my journey. Kanna of the Southern Water Tribe sent me a birthday card and invited me to her wedding. I've got an excellent friend and correspondent in Pong, a government official at Ba Sing Se. And in Shu Jing Village, I met… [Laughs]

So you'll be going back to Shu Jing Village, then?

Yes, next week. For dinner with her family.

It seems things really "heated up" for you in the Fire Nation, then! Was that your favorite place to visit?

It's impossible to rate one Nation above another! My travels feel like a painful and blurry dream, and yet, indescribably amazing.

But I suppose, if I were pressed, I could choose a favorite place from each Nation.

Then by all means, consider me pressing you.

With the utmost respect for the natural beauty and architectural mastery of the North Pole, I must say that my favorite Water Tribe location was in the South. Kanna showed me the remains of the iceberg which had protected and imprisoned Avatar Aang and his sky bison for a century. The clear air and water. The way the sunlight danced off the ice. It's a breathtaking place, and I can imagine staying there for a century, myself.

Of course, no journey across the Earth Kingdom is complete without taking in the majesty of the Great Divide. I challenge anyone to look upon a canyon so grand and not feel humbled by it. If anything in the world is older than the Avatar--and I can't guess if there really is--it would be the Great Divide.

In the Fire Nation… well, besides the particular place Shu Jing Village holds in my heart… I must say my favorite spot is Ember Island. There is nowhere else in the world where the bounty of nature better coexists with utility and recreation for people.

I visited the ruins of the four Air Temples. A group of Earth Nation refugees have set up a new community at the Northern Air Temple. They've undertaken extensive renovations. It's now a fascinating fusion of ancient Air Monk architecture and cutting-edge technologies. Add to that: beautiful vistas. Over the ocean, you can just make out the icy stretch of the North Pole. On clear nights, you can see the sky glowing in the southeast from all the torches, candles, lamps, and fireplaces in Ba Sing Se.

That sounds beautiful. And through all these places, and so many more, you were able to track down enough information about Avatar Aang's travels to write a play about them.

Not just his travels, my dear! His character. I learned the very essence of what makes the Avatar, Aang. I uncovered the truest natures of his companions.

I have been collaborating closely with the Ember Island Players to help them accurately portray, not just the actions of real people, but their complex interiorities as well.

Well, I know the theatrical critic here at the Omashu Bugle is chomping at the bit to see The Boy in the Iceberg.

Soon, soon! We open next week. The Boy on the Iceberg will run Friday and Saturday nights, and Saturday and Sunday matinees, for at least six weeks. I encourage everyone who can make it to Ember Island to give it a view.

---------------------------

Pictures in this fic are screen captures from Avatar: the Last Airbender, with two exceptions. The map is by William Mudron. I got the poster from fandom.com. Avatar: the Last Airbender was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. It aired on Nickelodeon from February 2005 through July 2008.