Play: What if Godzilla really did destroy Tokyo?

By WALTER ANG
March 29, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/11238/play-godzilla-really-destroy-tokyo

LOS ANGELES — A new play that explores an alternate timeline-where a real Godzilla-type monster attacks Japan-will be premiered by Sacred Fools Theater.

Reuben Uy (left) as Yukio Misihima in "Akuma-shin."
Photos by Jessica Sherman Photography.

"Akuma-Shin" is set in 1976 in an American television talk show where guests grapple with the "seismic waves of fear, anger and ignorance" that the attack has unleashed "through generations."

Filipino American actor Reuben Uy has been cast to play Yukio Mishima-a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, film director, and militia leader.

Speculative

Written by Kenley Smith, the play's characters are composed of real-life personalities such as broadcast journalist Nancy Dickerson (serving as the talk show host), novelist Truman Capote, psychologist Joyce Brothers, and civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., among others.

Uy (seated, far right). "Akuma-shin" is set in a TV talk show.

A statement for the play reads, "facts are questioned and modern politics is set against primal religion in this cautionary tale of two nations coping with their own damaged legacies-can humanity reckon with the monsters that rise against us, the ones that live within us all?"

Uy's recent credits include "Pacific Overtures" for Chromulume Theater, "1984" for Greenway Court Alliance, "Twelfth Night" for Coeurage Theatre, and "La Cage Aux Folles" and "Beijing Spring" for East West Players.

The play will be directed by Scott Leggett.

"Sacred Fools is one of the most critically acclaimed theaters in LA," Uy says.

"It's one of those theaters that actors audition for a lot. It so happened that the right fit came at the right time," he says of being cast in this production.

Crafting characters

"'Akuma-shin' means 'god-devil,'" he says. "Kaiju or 'strange beast' monsters in Japanese media has always been used to symbolize the darkness in human hearts. This play leans on that as well."

Reuben Uy.

Uy is eager to tackle the material. "Few playwrights are able to infuse so many layers in their writing without it sounding clumsy and fake. With Kenley, the lines flow easy like it's conversation," he adds.

While Uy is able to research documents about Yukio Mishima, he can only rely on the playwright's words to build another character he has been cast to portray.

"For George, who is a fictional character, it's more of a process of discovery for me through rehearsals. Kenley is brilliant when it comes to incorporating exposition within dialogue and so it was easy for me to put the pieces together.

Controversial

Despite the presence of an otherworldly creature in the story, the play is not a campy comedy.

Uy (right) as George Serizawa in a scene from "Akuma-shin."

The play's alternate universe reconfigures historical figures in unfamiliar renderings: presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald becomes a decorated Marine and congressman, while Martin Luther King, Jr. is in jail.

"The show is a straight-up drama," explains Uy.

He goes on to point out that the play, despite its fictional premise, serves as an allegorical commentary to present circumstances.

He also highlights a component in the play that has to do with America's exchange with Japan. "The Japanese American experience has always been an example of how not to treat a certain demographic."

"The chaos in the TV studio is pretty parallel to a modern Twitter fight," he says.

"The play affected me in terms of how timely it is. The script tackles so many issues at once."

"Akuma-shin" runs March 30-April 28 at Broadwater Mainstage, 1076 Lillian Way. Visit Sacredfools.org.

Jessica Hagedorn’s 'Gangster of Love' goes onstage

By WALTER ANG
March 23, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/11077/jessica-hagedorns-gangster-love-goes-onstage

SAN FRANCISCO — Singer, songwriter and poet Golda Sargento has been cast to play Raquel "Rocky" Rivera in Jessica Hagedorn's play "The Gangster of Love."

Sargento is a singer, poet, bookstore owner and publisher.
Photo by ClickDominique

This world premiere, based on Hagedorn's novel of the same title, concludes Magic Theatre's 2017-18 season and will be helmed by the group's artistic director Loretta Greco.

Inspired by Hagedorn's own immigration story from Manila to San Francisco, the play is about Rocky Rivera and her eccentric family who live in the Haight area during the 1970s. Amidst a time of conflict, social change, and artistic flourishing, Rivera comes of age as she interacts with other immigrant artists-poets, musicians, rebels.

The stage adaptation will feature live music, poetry readings, and music videos.

Aside from Sargento, other Filipino Americans in featured roles include Jed Parsario as Voltaire Rivera as well as Sean San Jose and Chuck Lacson, who will each portray various characters.

Thrilled

Hagedorn is most known for her novel Dogeaters, which won the 1990 American Book Award and has also been adapted for the stage. It had a recent production by Magic Theatre in 2015. However, depending on who you ask, she also sings, does performance art, writes poetry and plays, edits anthologies, etc.

Jessica Hagedorn.
Photo from Wikipedia

She founded music band The Gangster Choir in San Francisco and staged one-person multimedia shows in New York in the '70s before she delved into novel-writing and playwriting in the '80s and '90s.

Hagedorn's other plays include "Most Wanted, Stairway to Heaven" and its sequel "Fe In The Desert," both for Campo Santo Theater (which was cofounded by Sean San Jose).

"I'm thrilled to be collaborating once again with Magic Theatre's fearless artistic director Loretta Greco," Hagedorn said in a statement. "I can't wait to work with our innovative creative team, and the stellar cast of kick-ass actors and musicians that we've assembled."

Greco's directing credits at Magic include Jessica Hagedorn's "Dogeaters" and the world premiere of Fil-Am playwright Han Ong's "Grandeur."

First encounter

Sargento first read Hagedorn's works in college when she was taking up English Literature. "But it wasn't for class," she says.

"I was hyper-saturated in the standard canon of dead white men and moving into Shakespeare when a lone woman professor loaned me her copy of The Big Aiiieeeee! (an anthology of Chinese American and Japanese American literature) and Dogeaters."

"I then hunted down Gangster of Love, hungry for Jessica's prose and picture-making. I was stunned by the reflections she paraded in Gangster. I didn't know you could write from the gut like that, about the present still aglow everywhere, and that it could tell the future."

Relating

Sargento had never encountered a character like Rocky before. "I loved Rocky the moment I read her. She was my long-lost twin," she says.

Golda Sargento will play Rocky Rivera in "Gangster of Love."
Photo by Paciano Triunfo

She also related with Voltaire, Rocky's brother, as well as felt familiar with Milagros, Rocky's mother. "Milagros had that Pinay Mom scary-power, just like my mom."

"Using the gravity of love and fear in the family dynamic, explorations of sexual identities and friendships, all the while keeping time to a crescendo of art welling up inside, Gangster of Love became, and exists still as, an opus of a lost generation, previously unsung in the hallowed halls of literature.

"Representation matters. Jessica is our hero for that."

Music, family, memory

Sargento will be working with the show's band to develop the show's music. These days, "I'm listening to some bands from the '70s, including Hendrix, Bullet and Fanny, an all-girl band composed of two Pinay sisters," she says.

(Hagedorn has curated a music playlist to "celebrate the gritty, vibrant world of Rocky Rivera" here.)

Born in Quezon City, Sargento moved to Anchorage, Alaska with her family when she was three years old.

"I would listen to my dad's OPM (Original Pilipino Music songs), along with his American music. There were classic folk songs from the Philippines as well. Now that I think of it, there probably wasn't a lot of contemporary music from the Philippines available to us at the time."

Singing karaoke during parties aside, it was dance that became her stepping stone into performing. "My first experience performing would have to be dancing Filipino folk dances that my mother taught. I would peddle poems to house bands after that."

Theater

Her first foray into theater was performing for the edutainment collective Overseas Artists.

From left: Jed Parsario, Sean San Jose, and Chuck Lacson.

"The group landed a show at Bindlestiff Studio in the early 2000s. From there, I started volunteering at Bindlestiff regularly, performing as staff and creative element," she says.

"Having a space to explore and grow is critical. I met 8th Wonder, a spoken word group, as well as my bandmates, collaborators, friends. I found a lot of my art in that space."

She recently acted in Bindlestiff's annual "The Love Edition" series in 2016 and directed one of the series' plays last year. Other recent credits include "darkheart: a concert narrative" for Kearny Street Workshop's APAture festival and "Wandering: A Musical Dance Expression of the Filipino Diaspora" for SAFEhouse Arts, both last year.

Inspiration

"My inspiration comes from little stages, stories untold, my peers and mentors, and the community that creates space and art to play with," she says.

Aspects of Sargento's personal and professional lives converge in this production. To wit, she is a Filipino American woman performer-singer-songwriter who is also a poet and a bookstore co-owner/publisher (of Arkipelago Books) who will be acting in a play adapted from a book, portraying a character who is Filipino American, a woman, and a singer.

"Clearly, I'm honored to be a part of this production, this cast, this story, in this city for all you lovely people.

"What does it mean for me to play my real-life hero, written by my real-life hero in a city that's saved me over and over? I hope art and life listen to the beauty in each other, and that something magical happens from it all."

READ about Magic Theatre's staging of Jessica Hagedorn's "Dogeaters" here.

READ about Magic Theatre's staging of Han Ong's "Grandeur" here.

"The Gangster of Love" previews start April 11, run April 18-May 6 at Magic Theatre, 3rd floor, Bldg. D, Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, 2 Marina Blvd., San Franciso. Visit MagicTheatre.org.

Story of Filipino drag queen-care givers in Israel goes onstage

By WALTER ANG
March 19, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/10988/story-filipino-drag-queen-care-givers-israel-goes-onstage

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of Filipino men work in Israel as live-in caregivers for elderly Orthodox Jewish men. They also moonlight as performers in a drag show-singing Hebrew, Yiddish, and English pop tunes.

Evan D'Angeles, Kevin Shen, Jon Norman Schneider,
with castmate Chris Bloch, Rafael Sebastian, and Ariel Felix.

That's the cast of characters of a new play (with music), "Paper Dolls," which will be shown at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, in this city.

Based on real individuals who were featured in a 2006 Israeli documentary of the same title, the play highlights the many challenges that immigrant workers go through.

Filipino Americans involved in the production include actors Evan D'Angeles (who will play Zhan), Ariel Felix (Sally), Rafael Sebastian (Cheska) and Jon Norman Schneider (Jiorgio), as well as choreographer Jeff Michael Rebudal.

To be staged by Mosaic Theater Company of DC, the production will be part of the 2018 Voices from a Changing Middle East Festival.

Director is Mark Brokaw, who recently helmed Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" on Broadway.

Cast

Evan D'Angeles has performed on Broadway ("Miss Saigon" and "Pacific Overtures"), in national tours ("Rent," "Cats," and "The 25th Annual Spelling Bee"), and regional theaters ("Hunchback of Notre Dame" and others).

From left: Evan D'Angeles, Ariel Felix, and Rafael Sebastian.

Ariel Felix was in the first national tour of "Miss Saigon." Other credits include "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" for Attic Theatre & Film Center and "F.O.B." for East West Players. Felix also recently worked in an episode of television show "Chicago Fire." A film he wrote and acted in, "The Others," has been winning awards and making the rounds of the film festival circuit.

Based in Washington, DC, Rafael Sebastian's recent credits include "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Romeo and Juliet" for Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, "Journey to the West" for Constellation Theatre Company, and "A Bid to Save the World" for Source Theatre Company.

Reprise

This is the play's American premiere. Written by Philip Himberg, "Paper Dolls" had its world premiere in London in 2013 by Tricycle Theatre.

Jon Norman Schneider.

Jon Norman Schneider reprises his role from the London staging, playing Jiorgio.

"Very rarely does an actor get to revisit a role he's already done once in production," he says. "So this feels like an exciting opportunity to engage with the material more deeply."

"Philip, the playwright, has done a lot of work refining the script and story since the London premiere, so in many ways, this version feels like its own, discrete endeavor."

Real Jiorgio

Several of the documentary subjects who relocated to London were able to watch the staging there. (Salvador "Sally" Camatoy, one of the caregivers featured in the documentary, was found dead in the United Arab Emirates in 2007.)

Schneider had the opportunity to meet Giorgio Diokno-the real "Jiorgio."

"Mercifully, no one told us beforehand that some of the Dolls would be in attendance that night," Schneider says.

"It was quite a surreal, humbling moment the first time we all met after a preview performance. They were very gracious and said many complimentary things."

New American plays

Born in Quezon City, Schneider moved to the US with his family when he was three years old. He grew up in the Bronx and studied drama at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

From left: actors Ariel Felix, Jon Norman Schneider, playwright Philip Himberg,
actor Kevin Shen, director Mark Brokaw, actors Evan D'Angeles and Rafael Sebastian.

His has acted in regional theaters and in Off-Broadway productions. Recent credits include "Awake and Sing!" for National Asian American Theatre Company (acting opposite the company's founding artistic director, Filipino American Mia Katigbak) and "City Of" for Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

Schneider hopes that theatergoers who catch "Paper Dolls" will not only be entertained by the story of these "outsiders" but also moved.

"Despite being far from 'home,' they are able to carve out space for themselves in unexpected ways, through their particular expression of creativity, performing in drag," he says.

He adds that any chance to diversify the theatrical landscape is exciting to him "on a personal level, as an actor of color."

"These characters' stories are not ones you see often on American stages. It's absolutely true that representation matters in art.

"I believe the more we expand our curiosities about different types of people and their stories, the richer and more relevant the ongoing legacy of new American plays becomes."

READ about the Filipino actor in the 2016 London staging of "Paper Dolls" here.

READ about National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO)'s staging of "Awake and Sing!" here.

"Paper Dolls" runs Mar. 29-Apr. 22 at Lang Theatre, Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE, Washington, DC. Visit Mosaictheater.org.

Emily Bautista is Eponine in touring 'Les Miserables'

By WALTER ANG
March 17, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/10931/emily-bautista-eponine-touring-les-miserables

NEW YORK — Emily Bautista is playing Eponine in the current North America touring production of "Les Miserables."

Emily Bautista plays Eponine in North America
touring production of "Les Miserables."
Photo by Matthew Murphy

This coming March 20 to 25, it will run in Appleton, Wisconsin at Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.

It will then go on to tour cities in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Iowa, Texas, Arizona, and California, among others.

Lea Salonga played Eponine on Broadway in 1993. Filipino American actress Eva Noblezada, who played Kim in the recent "Miss Saigon" revivals in the UK and on Broadway, played Eponine in the 2016 West End production.

Bautista joins "Les Miz" straight from concluding her stint as the Kim understudy in the 2017-18 Broadway revival of "Miss Saigon."

Long journey

Bautista was in the middle of her schooling at Ithaca College for Theatre Studies when she was cast for "Miss Saigon." She landed the job after ten auditions, each time taking a six-hour bus ride from Ithaca to New York City.

Emily Bautista was born in Massachusetts.
Photo from Facebook.

Since she will be traveling across the country for the show, were those early bus trips for her "Saigon" auditions the universe's way of preparing her for this current job?

"The trips I took from Ithaca to Manhattan were definitely an adventure!" she says, laughing.

"Everything we do in life prepares us for something later to come. Every experience and encounter you have is an opportunity to learn something about yourself or your career and can help you in the future.

"I definitely grew during the 'Miss Saigon' audition process and I completely believe it has helped me get to where I am today."

And now, not only is she a professional actress, she also technically gets paid to travel and see the sights. "So far we've been to Montreal and Ottawa. It was my first time in Canada!" she says.

Plot

Based on the novel by Victor Hugo, the musical is set in the early 1800s France-for reference, the US purchased Louisiana from France in 1803; and Alexander Hamilton was shot to death by Aaron Burr in a duel in 1804.

WATCH: Trailer of "Les Miserables" North America Tour.

The musical is about how Jean Valjean is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector as he rises in society with a fake identity to escape his parole (after being imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread for his starving relatives).

The tragic Eponine falls in unrequited love with Marius, a student who is, in turn, in love with Valjean's adopted daughter Cosette.

Filipino Americans Ali Ewoldt and Adam Jacobs have played Cosette and Marius, respectively, on Broadway. (Ewoldt currently plays Christine Daae in "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway and Jacobs currently plays Aladdin in the national tour of "Disney's Aladdin.")

Unlearning

After Bautista announced to her family that she had landed the role, they celebrated by having dinner together. "Then we spent the night watching movies-just hanging out with all my loved ones before I hit the road.

Scene from "Les Miserables" North America Tour.
Photo by Matthew Murphy

"My family loves this show, so they were over the moon!"

Bautista was born in Massachusetts. "Both my parents are Filipino. My mom was born and raised here. She is half Filipino and half European descent. My dad moved here from the Philippines when he was 18 years old," she says.

She had actually played the same role back when she was in high school. Now that she is part of the official touring production, she has had to approach the role differently.

"The Eponine I play today is vastly different from the young girl I played in high school-for the very reason that I am a vastly different person now than the person I was in high school," she said.
But it's also because she never stops honing her craft. "I definitely had to unlearn some habits I had grown over the years and had to let go of some assumptions I had made about the character."

Discovery

"My process to finding my Eponine began," Bautista says, "as early as the auditions for the show."

"Every time I go into an audition, I try and write down everything that happens in the room. Anything the director says goes into my journal."

She would then spend time processing all the notes and channeling them into her characterization of the role.

"Our resident director Liam McIlwain gave me the book with pages marked out that gave a little insight on the kind of girl Eponine was. It gave me a more detailed look into the daily life of Eponine and the relationship she had with Marius."

And it's the scenes where the two characters establish their relationship that are Bautista's favorites.

"They're such fun acting moments, getting to play off your acting partner. Every night I feel like we're discovering new moments on stage, learning even more about the characters every time we do the show."

Visit Lesmiz.com for schedule of "Les Miserables" North America Tour.

Errol Isip to choreograph this year’s LA Fashion Week

By WALTER ANG
March 13, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/10789/errol- isip-choreograph-years-la-fashion- week

LOS ANGELES — Filipino American Errol Isip is the casting director and choreographer of Los Angeles Fashion Week (LAFW)'s Fall/Winter 2018 presentation this month.

Fashion choreographer Errol Isip.

Filipino fashion designers Pia Gladys Perey and Michael Leyva are among the bevy of award- winning designers from around the world who will be featured in this installment.

Leyva and Perey's collections will be presented on March 18.

The runway shows will be held in the heart of Hollywood, at the modern and stylish coworking space NeueHouse.

The designs to be showcased will include California and international labels, women's wear and men's fashion.

Expertise

For LAFW, Isip regards diversity in casting as "very important!"

"LA is a melting pot of ethnicities and cultures," he says. "We make sure we cast models that cater to all markets."

Michael Leyva (left).
Actress Anne Curtis in (right) a Michael Leyva-designed gown.

Isip is a fashion show choreographer and fashion model coach with over 18 years' experience. He has directed shows for brands such as Armani, Moschino, Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Bulgari, Harvey Nichols, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Coach, among others.

"We are a big team composed of around 30 people," Isip says of the group he is in charge of-which handles model selection and choreography, as well as the lighting design and music scoring for all the shows for the event.

Pia Gladys Perey (left).
Model and actress Egith "Iggy" van Dither (right)
in a Pia Gladys Perey-designed gown.

He recently relocated to LA after working for several years in Dubai. He managed the appearances of celebrities in that city such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Stella McCartney and Tinie Tempah.

"To this day I am still so proud of our hard work for the Dolce and Gabbana show in 2016 because it was praised as The Gulf's biggest fashion event."

Isip is originally from Manila, where he choreographed and directed fashion shows and events, working with such clients as Adidas, Kodak and Chivas Regal. He also founded model management agency The Velvet Rope.

Filipino designers

Michael Leyva (Instagram.com/michaelleyva) began his career in the early 2010s and has become known for his designs in the wedding circuit as well as his celebrity clients such as TV host Kris Aquino and TV and film actress Anne Curtis.

Levya dreams of one day having actress Jennifer Lopez and former First Lady Michelle Obama wearing his creations.

Pia Gladys Perey's (piagladysperey.com) PGP label debuted in 2007 and is now sold in West Hollywood, New York, Florida, and Texas as well as UK, Sydney, Queensland, Perth, Adelaide, Dubai, and Singapore.

PGP launched in the US in 2010 and received a standing ovation when it showcased its Fall/Winter 2013/2014 collection at LAFW.

PGP has been worn by Hollywood celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Angelina Jolie, Eva Longoria, and Carrie Underwood.

Isip during rehearsals at a previous fashion show.

LAFW executive producer Arthur Chipman says, "LA is going through a cultural and we are excited to be a driving force behind its development into the premier hub for fashion, art, design and entertainment. Our city is surging with energy and artistic talent, and we cannot wait to unveil this season's offerings."

The caliber of the designers, the strength of their collections and the attendance of high-profile guests all contribute to LAFW's media coverage. Its recent show for Spring/Summer 2017 generated over 600 million impressions in Instagram alone.

LA Fashion Week's Fall/Winter 2018 presentation runs March 16-18. Visit LAFW.net or Instagram.com/LAFW.