Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch
Joining us On The Couch this week are the two co-directors of the 9-time TONY Award Nominated revival, CATS: The Jellicle Ball, Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch. This production is revolutionizing the way we see the Lord Andrew Llloyd Webber classic and Cats purists and newbies alike are flocking to see this spectacle created at the hands of these two incredible Obie Award winners. Read our full interview below.
What do you consider to be your best asset?
ZL: My belief that failure doesn’t have to be a wall that stops us, but a door into another way forward we maybe never expected. I think so much of my life and artistry has come from moments where something collapsed and I had to reimagine what was possible instead of mourning the original plan forever. That instinct has made me resilient, collaborative, and open to surprise. Also, my eyelashes. They deserve their own Tony campaign.
BR: My husband.
What was your proudest moment?
ZL: Coming out of the process of Cats: The Jellicle Ball with my integrity as an artist intact. Theatre can ask you to compromise yourself in a thousand tiny ways, especially when the stakes get bigger and more public. I’m proud that even in the chaos, pressure, opinions, and expectations, I still recognize myself in the work and in the way I treated people while making it.
BR: Becoming a dad.
What is your favorite drink?
ZL: A Hi-C with ice from McDonald’s. Specifically with good ice. There’s something incredibly nostalgic and emotionally restorative about it. It tastes like childhood, road trips, and bad decisions after rehearsal.
BR: Steamed non-fat milk with lavender flavoring.
What is your favorite food?
ZL: Mac and cheese. It’s one of the few foods that can feel luxurious, comforting, communal, and slightly tragic all at once. I love that it exists everywhere from family cookouts to fine dining restaurants and somehow always feels emotionally necessary.
BR: Anything Thai.
What is your favorite condiment?
ZL: Raising Cane’s sauce. I genuinely think it could solve conflicts between nations.
BR: Honey mustard.
What is your current obsession?
ZL: The company of Cats: The Jellicle Ball. Not even just the show itself, but the ecosystem of people around it. There’s something deeply moving about being in a room with artists who are trying to build something larger than themselves together. I’m obsessed with the chemistry, the care, the chaos, the personalities, the lore of it all.
BR: Cats: The Jellicle Ball.
If you could give up one of your vices, what would it be?
ZL: Bread. Bread has never done anything wrong to me personally, which honestly makes this harder.
BR: Dessert.
What is the one professional accomplishment you long for most?
ZL: Creating an economic model and developmental pathway for new work that is genuinely built in community, with community, and for community. I think our current systems often ask artists to extract from communities more than they invest in them. I’m interested in theatrical processes where the people most impacted by the work are actually part of shaping it, sustaining it, and benefiting from it.
BR: To keep directing plays way past the time I might be considered too old to do so.
What is the one thing you waste too much money on?
ZL: Uber. At this point I don’t even think I’m paying for transportation anymore. I’m paying for emotional convenience.
BR: Restaurants.
What is the one activity you waste too much time doing?
ZL: YouTube. I can go from watching a four-hour video essay on American empire to clips of people falling off treadmills in under ten minutes.
BR: Games on my New York Times app.
What do you consider to be the single greatest threat to your health?
ZL: Social media. Not because I think technology is inherently evil, but because I think constant exposure to performance, outrage, comparison, and surveillance slowly disconnects people from their own inner voice. It can distort your sense of self if you’re not careful.
BR: Climate change.
What’s the single best trait you inherited or learned from your parents?
ZL: My mother taught me never to treat anyone as less than. I think that lesson fundamentally shaped how I move through rehearsal rooms, friendships, and collaborations. People remember how you made them feel long after they forget what you accomplished.
BR: A welcoming spirit.
What’s the single worst trait you inherited or learned from your parents?
ZL: Probably caring too much about what other people think. It’s useful in art because it sharpens your sensitivity and perception, but dangerous in life because you can slowly lose the ability to hear yourself clearly.
BR: Fear of disappointing people.
What in the world most thrills you?
ZL: An incredible conversation. The kind where time disappears and suddenly you’re talking about art, God, politics, childhood, desire, memory, failure, and the future all in one sitting. I honestly think conversation is one of humanity’s highest art forms.
BR: Seeing my children happy.
What current trend in popular culture most irritates you?
ZL: Performative outrage. I think we’re living in a moment where people sometimes mistake visibility for virtue. There’s a difference between accountability and performance, and I’m increasingly interested in people whose politics exist beyond aesthetics and social currency.
BR: People scrolling on their phones while you’re talking to them.
What was the most embarrassing moment you’ve ever experienced on the job?
ZL: I was performing at a benefit concert and walked up to the microphone only to realize I had forgotten literally every word of the song. Every single one. Instead of stopping, I committed fully and made up complete gibberish with absolute confidence. To this day I think some people believed it was avant-garde.
BR: Telling someone to quit when I was angry.
What is your favorite place in the world?
ZL: My couch. I spend so much of my life in motion, in rehearsal rooms, on planes, in meetings, in performances. My couch represents stillness. Safety. Silence. It’s one of the few places where I fully exhale.
BR: Almost any beach.
What is the most important trait you seek in a romantic partner?
ZL: Intelligence. Not in a performative or academic sense necessarily, but curiosity, emotional insight, wit, perspective. I’m attracted to people who can challenge me, surprise me, and teach me how to think differently about the world.
BR: A great smile. Okay, my husband’s smile.
Do you prefer the company of dogs or cats?
ZL: Dogs. Deeply. Unfortunately I have a phobia of cats, which feels cosmically ironic considering my current life.
BR: Dogs, definitely dogs.
What would have to happen to make today the best day of your life?
ZL: All my friends from all over the country gathered together in one house laughing for hours. No agenda. No networking. No performance. Just being together. I think community and laughter are the closest things we have to magic.
BR: The perfect balance of family time and making art.
What is your personal motto?
ZL: “How we make is as important as what we make.”
I believe process is political. The way people are treated while creating art matters just as much as the final product the audience sees. The room itself should reflect the future you’re trying to imagine through the work
BR: Err on the side of kindness.