Columbia College Today

Marla Rubin '85 outside the Music Box Theatre on West 45th Street, where Festen ran in April and May.

Photo: Laura Butchy '04 Arts

With majors in cognitive psychology and East Asian studies under her belt, Marla Rubin ’85 headed to Japan after graduation on a cultural exchange fellowship to study Japanese. After completing the fellowship and a round-the-world tour, she visited her mother and stepfather in Los Angeles and applied to graduate psychology programs around the country.

But as she toured the campuses of schools where she was accepted, she says, “I had an epiphany that it was not the right path for me.” So she declined the offers, told her parents she was going into documentary filmmaking and settled in L.A.

On April 9, she marked another career milestone, as the first play she has produced, Festen, opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre. Based on the 1998 Danish film of the same name, meaning “celebration,” the action takes place at a family dinner party. As son Christian Klingenfelt stands to make a traditional toast at his father’s 60th birthday party, the shocking family secret he reveals begins a night of life-altering revelations. Produced by Rubin and Bill Kenwright, the Broadway production’s ensemble cast includes well-known actors such as Larry Bryggman, Michael Hayden, Ali MacGraw, Julianna Margulies and Jeremy Sisto.

Before seeing the film, Rubin did not have plans to become a theater producer. Following her decision to opt out of a psychology career in 1986, she began interning for documentary filmmaker Arnold Shapiro, who soon hired her full-time. She worked on several films with him before becoming a freelancer, mostly creating documentaries for PBS.

After living and working in California for a dozen years, Rubin decided to return to graduate school and moved to London to attend Sotheby’s Institute of Art for a master’s in art business. While working on a group project that was going poorly, a friend convinced her to take a break and go out to see a movie. That movie was Festen .

“I saw the film and was gobsmacked by it,” Rubin says. “It’s a masterpiece, and afterward, about 30 people sat in the theater for half an hour in silence. The emotion was so deep, it couldn’t be articulated.”

Rubin was intrigued by the Dogme 95 film collective, based in Copenhagen and led by Thomas Vinterberg (the film Festen ’s writer and director) and Lars von Trier, and its commitment to strict filmmaking rules, such as filming on location, no special effects and only using hand-held cameras. After more than a year, she convinced them that she should have the rights to adapt Festen to a play.

“Before I got the rights, I was seeing every play I could in London looking for my adaptor,” she says. When she saw Under the Blue Sky at the Royal Court, she found her playwright, David Eldridge, and director, Rufus Norris, at the same time. Rubin and Eldridge worked on the adaptation together for about a year, while she continued to work at a rare book store in London three days a week.

When Rubin finally released the script to three London theaters, a bidding war began. Rubin quit her job at the bookstore and selected the Almeida Theatre to premiere Festen in March 2004.

“When we opened, it was earth-shattering,” Rubin recalls. “We were sold out and a phenomenon, with a full set of stellar reviews.” The production was extended, then moved to London’s West End in the fall. Festen opened in Sydney in 2005 and is currently touring the United Kingdom; productions also are planned around the world, including Europe, Mexico, Peru and Israel.

“It is much more important than just a play,” Rubin says of the sensitive subject matter. “I’ve been getting letters and people coming up to me and saying ‘I’m going to confront someone.’ It’s one of those pieces that comes along once in a blue moon and tells the truth.”

A Montreal native, Rubin came to New York at an unusual moment in the College’s history — the transition to coeducation. When Rubin applied to transfer from Oberlin College because she wanted to study with psychology professor Walter Mischel (now Niven Professor of Humane Letters), she thought she was applying to Barnard. Instead, she ended up one of five female juniors joining the College.

Rubin jumped right in, sitting on the committee for coeducation integration and helping to found the feminist student organization Women’s Center. “It was an exciting time of reinvention for the College, and fascinating for me,” she says.

Still living in London, Rubin already has her hand in several upcoming projects, including adapting a best-selling Italian novel for the stage, additional work with Dogme and a piece dealing with addiction.

“You can tell I went to Columbia,” she adds with a smile. “I have a social conscience.”

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Marla Rubin ’85’s Broadway Celebration