Conrad Ricamora stars in David Henry Hwang’s 'Soft Power'

By WALTER ANG
April 28, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/11881/conrad-ricamora-stars-david-henry-hwangs-soft-power

LOS ANGELES — Conrad Ricamora and other Filipino American actors are part of the cast of Center Theatre Group's world premiere of "Soft Power."

Conrad Ricamora

Ricamora plays a Chinese executive who visits the US and falls in love with an American leader as the power balance between the two countries shifts after the 2016 US election.

This "play with a musical" is written by David Henry Hwang with music composed by Jeanine Tesori and directed by Leigh Silverman.

Tesori composed the music for the musicals "Shrek the Musical" and "Fun Home." (Lea Salonga performed in the 2016 Manila production of "Fun Home.")

Hwang is most known for his play "M. Butterfly." (Alec Mapa took over the lead role of Song Liling from BD Wong in the original Broadway run and went on to play the role in the play's national tour.)

Hwang has also written a revised version of the musical "Flower Drum Song" that starred Salonga and Jose Llana on Broadway.

The other Fil-Am actors in the cast of "Soft Power" include Billy Bustamante (whose Broadway credits include "Miss Saigon"), Jaygee Macapugay ("School of Rock"), Maria-Christina Oliveras ("Amelie"), and Geena Quintos ("Miss Saigon").

WATCH: Conrad Ricamora invites theatergoers to watch "Soft Power."

The term "soft power" is used to describe a persuasive approach to international relations, typically involving the use of cultural influence.

The play is described as "rewinding recent political history and plays it back, a century later, through a Chinese East-meets-West musical."

Brilliant

Ricamora is known for his portrayal of Oliver Hampton on the television series "How to Get Away with Murder."

His theater credits include playing Lun Tha in the Broadway production of "The King and I" opposite Jose Llana, who was one of the actors who played the King of Siam during the show's run (and is currently playing the role in the production's national tour).

Ricamora also played Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., in the musical "Here Lies Love"-a musical about the life of Imelda Marcos-in New York and in Seattle.

"It's been incredibly moving and challenging, because they are so brilliant and work so fast," says Ricamora of collaborating with Hwang and Tesori.

"They can write brilliant new dialogue and music on the spot so it can be hard to keep up with that level of genius.

"Luckily, they are also very kind and generous collaborators so they are patient when I need extra time to implement new script or score changes."

From scratch

Unlike Ricamora's previous theater assignments, the role he is stepping into this time has to be crafted from the ground up.

Filipino American actors in the cast of "Soft Power"
include (clockwise)
Billy Bustamante, Jaygee Macapugay,
Geena Quintos and Maria-Christina Oliveras.

"It's challenging, because there is no template to work from," he says. "When I did `King and I' three years ago, it was a show and character that had been done for decades. There were multiple recordings and movies to reference."

Since "Soft Power" is a new play, actors have the opportunity to have a hand in building their characters. "Sometimes doubt can creep in when you feel like you are trying to do something the 'right' way.

"But then you remember that there is no 'right' way and that becomes very freeing. That's also what is so fun. It's never been done before, so you don't have to compare yourself to anyone else."

Current and catharsis

Meanwhile, he is enjoying working with colleagues from previous productions of "Here Lies Love," namely Bustamante, Macapugay and Quintos.

"They are family at this point. Plain and simple," he says.

"There is an instant level of comfort and a deep bond there. We have all been through so much with each other over the years that it's nice to have that feeling of safety in the room."

Ricamora believes that "Soft Power" exposes "so many current political and racial themes that are very pressing in our world right now."

He hopes that theatergoers will "experience some relief in that they can laugh at some of those things in our show. But also some kind of catharsis in that they can let go and experience some of the deep emotional things that we are feeling as a nation and a world right now. And maybe carry a different awareness of those themes afterwards."

Honoring

"Soft Power" is produced by Center Theatre Group in association with East West Players (EWP).

On April 30, EWP will hold its 52nd anniversary Visionary Awards dinner and silent auction to recognize "the achievements of individuals who have raised the visibility of the Asian Pacific American community through their craft."

Jon Jon Briones will be an East West Players Visionary Award honoree.

Filipino American actor Jon Jon Briones is included in this year's group of Visionary Award honorees.

Briones joined the original London cast of "Miss Saigon" in 1989 and went on to play the role of the Engineer in several countries, including the recent 2014 London revival and 2017-18 Broadway revival.

Credits with EWP include "La Cage Aux Folles" and "A Little Night Music." Recent television credits include playing Modesto Cunanan, the father of Andrew Cunanan, the murderer of fashion designer Gianni Versace in "American Crime Story: Assassination of Gianni Versace."

Previous Filipino American recipients of EWP's Visionary Award include Tia Carrere, Reggie Lee, Alec Mapa and Lea Salonga.

Other Filipino American performers joining the evening include EWP board member Reggie Lee and actors Deedee Magno Hall and Cliffton Hall.

East West Players' Visionary Awards dinner and silent auction is on April 30 at Hilton Universal City, 555 Universal Hollywood Dr., Universal City, CA. For tickets and table sponsorships, contact +1-213-625-7000 or galaguests@eastwestplayers.org.

"Soft Power" runs May 3-June 10 at Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles and June 20-July 8 at Curran Theater, San Francisco. Visit CenterTheatreGroup.org.

Fil-Am theater group Circa Pintig heals, resists, trolls, cries

By WALTER ANG
April 26, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/11851/fil-theater-group-circa-pintig-heals-resists-trolls-cries

CHICAGO — Filipino American theater organization Circa Pintig will hold a fundraising show and dinner on April 29 for its 2018-19 season.

From left: playwright Conrad Panganiban,
Circa Pintig program director Ginger Leopoldo and
Circa Pintig artistic director Louie Pascasio.

Titled "Healing and Justice" the fundraiser will be held at Drury Lane Theatre (where a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "South Pacific," directed by Filipino American Victor Maog, is running until June 7).

"Now on its 27th year, Circa Pintig renews its vows to cultural work," says executive director Angela Mascarenas.

"We believe in the critical role of community arts in promoting social justice. Through theater performances and workshops, we tell stories and create dialogue from our own interpretation of history and culture.

"Circa Pintig could not have endured the many challenges that came its way without the support of its volunteers, audiences, donors, funding agencies and community partners.

""Join us for an evening of cultural celebration and volunteer appreciation, of sharing stories, reconnecting, reaching out and enjoying food mixed with music, dancing and fun!"

Support

One of the fundraiser's goals is to raise seed money for the group's summer workshops that will be open to the community from June to August.

"These workshops are critical and central to our work and will include community dialogues, research and data gathering for script-development as well as educational-dramatic activities around this year's theme. All these activities will culminate in our major production in the fall."

During the dinner, excerpts of the plays "Alamat (Legends)," by Filipino playwright Rodolfo "Rody" Vera and "The Perfect American," by Conrad Panganiban, will be performed.

Perfect

The group will then stage a work-in-progress production of "The Perfect American" in the first week of May, to be helmed by the group's current artistic director, Louie Pascasio.

The comedy is about Beverly, a strong-willed Filipino entrepreneur whose mission in life is to teach new immigrants how to become the "perfect" American.

She pushes this dream further by landing an audition with a cable TV executive but must contend with a meddling grocery store clerk from Kyrgyzstan and a mysterious person from her past.

The play asks, "How much is a person willing to give up to reach the American Dream?"

"The Perfect American" serves as Circa Pintig's entry to Ma'at Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre (MMPACT)'s "100 Acts of Resistance!"-a series of shows that "taps the talents of Chicagoland's diverse artist community . to leave the echo chamber of our own personal politics . to listen and connect to our communities, our struggles, and our strategies to transcend the divisiveness that dominates the national conversation."

Collaborators

"We are very excited to have a chance to share this play," says Ginger Leopoldo, who plays Beverly.

"We are a big supporter and fan of Conrad's work and are honored to work on staging it. We are doing all we can to give voice to his piece."

The rest of the cast is rounded out by Kim Fortner, Brian Kung and Ryan Viloria.

Born in Quezon City, Leopoldo moved to Chicago when she was five years old. She received her undergraduate and master's degrees in theater from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

An educator, actor, director, and community organizer, Leopoldo is a founding member of the group and is currently its program director.

"I work on artistic and educational programming and community outreach and collaborations," she explains.

In addition to acting for Circa Pintig, her acting credits include other groups in the Chicago area such as Old World Theatre, COR Theatre, Prologue Theatre and A-Squared Theatre.

Panganiban's recent credits include "Welga," a play about Filipino American labor leader Larry Itliong, which was staged by Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco last year.

Upcoming

Circa Pintig's upcoming productions for its 2018-19 season includes "A Game of Trolls: Reimagined," an adaptation Filipino playwright Liza Magtoto's play, scheduled for September to October.

"This reimagined version looks into the internal mindset of the millennial generation and how social media conversations in the age of trolling obscure critical dialogue on politics and history," says Mascarenas.

From February to March 2019, the group is planning to stage Giovanni Ortega's "Criers for Hire," a comedy about Filipino American women who are hired to cry at funerals. Problems arise when their newest member has the opposite effect on people, making them laugh instead.

"Criers for Hire" was premiered by East West Players in Los Angeles in 2016. Circa Pintig's planned production in 2019 will be in partnership with Halcyon Theater.

READ about the 2017 staging of Conrad Panganiban's "Welga" here.

READ about the 2016 staging of Giovanni Ortega's "Criers for Hire" here.

READ about CIRCA-Pintig's silver anniversary here.

Circa Pintig fundraiser show and dinner is on April 29 at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, Chicago. To donate, visit CircaPintig.com/donate or contact +1-773-480-4824.

"The Perfect American" runs May 4 and 6 at Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Visit Fb.com/CircaPintig.

Fil-Am director has stamina for Boston Theater Marathon 2018

By WALTER ANG
April 25, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/11786/fil-director-stamina-boston-theater-marathon

BOSTON — "Let me be clear, the Boston Theater Marathon is not the Boston Marathon," says director Michelle Aguillon.

Theater director Michelle Aguillon

Nevertheless, participants may need some endurance to watch 50 ten-minute plays, by 50 New England (i.e. Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) playwrights, produced by 50 New England theater groups.

The single-day event will be held on May 6 at the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts.

Other Filipino Americans involved this year include playwright Hortense Gerardo. Her "Virtuous Reality" is about two individuals who became acquainted in a chatroom and have decided to meet in the real world.

Gerardo's "Anne Get Your Firearm," a comedy where Anne Hearne learns that she's required to train in the use of a firearm to get a teaching job at a New England college, will be staged at Boston Playwrights' Theatre from May 31 to June 2.

In case the idea of watching so many theater pieces is not enticing enough, there will also be a party at the conclusion of the ten-hour event-which begins at noon and is scheduled to end at 10 p.m.

However, full-on commitment is not a requirement, as theatergoers who avail of the all-day pass can come and go throughout the event as they please.

Loyal participant

"I have participated in the Boston Theater Marathon almost every year since its inception 20 years ago," says Aguillon.

"I have acted in it but mostly I have directed and produced on behalf of [theater group] Hovey Players," of which she became a member in the mid-`90s.

This year, she is involved in BTM three times over, not just producing, but also directing Hovey Players' entry "The Will of Men" and producing Umbrella Community Arts Center's (UCAC) entry "Not A Playground."

"I'm happy to be part of the BTM up to now. The Boston theater community is all there and I love seeing everyone."

Her own marathon

Aguillon has been running her own marathon of sorts, not only as a perennial participant of the BTM, but also particularly in her directing work.

Playwright Hortense Gerardo

She has been working on productions (either full stagings or staged readings) back-to-back, in succession, and three at a time at one point, since March of last year.

She's directed "Pillowman" and "Marjorie Prime" and produced "Circle Mirror Transformation" for Hovey Players.

She's directed "Disgraced" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" and produced "Looking for Normal" for UCAC.

She's also directed "Proof" for Nora Theatre Company and is currently directing "Communicating Doors" for Vokes Theater (which will run May 3 to 19).

Life is short

Where does she find the stamina to go from one production to the next?

"I just love it so much," she says. "Life is so short, and the opportunities have presented themselves and I cannot not go for it or say no."

Born north of the San Francisco Bay Area, Aguillon remembers portraying an elf during a Christmas play in the sixth grade.

"I had one line, which produced a laugh, and I was hooked."

She went on to study acting at San Francisco State University, and further theater-related studies in California State University-Long Beach and Royal National Theater in London.

In the Boston area, she has directed productions for Metro Stage Company and Turtle Lane Playhouse, among others. She's also currently a board member of the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theaters.

To ensure that her directorial duties for each production stay in tip-top shape, her regimen includes "walking my dogs a lot and staying in touch with close friends, so that each of my rehearsal periods with each of my shows are productive, happy, creative, comfortable, and meaningful for everyone."

After the BTM, she will be directing "Terra Nova" for Quannapowitt Players and "The Joy Luck Club" for UACC.

"That's my list...so far," she says. "Then I hope to sleep!"

READ about last year's staging of Hortense Gerardo's "Virtuous Reality" here.

"Boston Theater Marathon 2018" runs May 6 at Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston. Visit Bu.edu/bpt.

Fil-Am Isa Briones is youngest actor in 'Hamilton' nat’l tour

By WALTER ANG
April 20, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/11701/fil-isa-briones-youngest-actor-hamilton-natl-tour

ST.  LOUIS, Missouri — Isa Briones has joined the cast of one of the two national touring productions of the hit musical "Hamilton."

Isa Briones plays Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds in "Hamilton."

She plays the roles of Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds in the Angelica cast; the other touring production is known as the Philip cast.

At 19 years old, Briones is the youngest lead to join the show. She is also the understudy for the Eliza Schuyler-Hamilton role.

Briones debuted during the Angelica cast's performance in Denver, Colorado. The Angelica cast is currently performing in The Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri until April 22.

WATCH: Isa Briones singing with Arthur Joseph "AJ" Rafael

Its next stop is Houston, Texas at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts with performances beginning April 24. Atlanta, Georgia follows in May, and Washington, DC in June, with other cities afterward.

Other Filipino Americans and Filipinos

Created by Lin Manuel Miranda (who also co-wrote songs for the Disney animated film "Moana" and is acting in the upcoming Disney film "Mary Poppins Returns"), the multi-awarded musical is about the life of Alexander Hamilton, a statesman, one of the Founding Fathers of the US, as well as the founder of the nation's financial system.

In the Broadway production, Filipino American Karla Garcia has been a female swing—an actor who knows several different roles in order to take the place of absent cast members—since 2016.

WATCH: Lin Manuel Miranda singing with Karla Garcia

In the London production, which opened last year, the cast includes Filipino actors Rachelle Ann Go as Eliza and Christine Allado as Peggy/Maria.

Game-changer

"Fun fact: for my history project in the eighth grade, I made an Instagram account of Thomas Jefferson," says Briones.

Isa Briones (far right) with fellow actors backstage.

"Being in this show has definitely taught me a lot more about American history than I ever knew.

"It's so cool to think about kids now that are going to grow up knowing and loving this history because of this show.

"Not only that, but they will be able to visualize the founders of this country as people who are diverse, coming from all different backgrounds and representing America as it is today.

"This show is really changing the game in so many ways."

Award-winner

Briones landed the role after going through a seven-month audition process.

Briones went through a seven-month audition process before landing the role.
Photo by Jenny Anderson

"I had always heard from people that the Hamilton audition process was a long one, and mine was no exception," she says.

"'Hamilton' was my first audition when I moved to New York," says the actress who was formerly based in Los Angeles.

When she did so, Briones had just completed the run of Los Angeles-based theater company East West Players' staging of the musical "Next to Normal."

She played Natalie, a daughter who grapples with her mother's mental health condition. The role earned her the 2018 Ovation Award for Featured Actress in a Musical earlier this year.

She actually competed against herself at the Ovation Awards as she was nominated three times (for different shows) in the same category.

Surreal

"I went in to the auditions sporadically for about 6 months and then the last month went very quickly. It's funny how it feels like a slow process but once you get to the end of it, it's, like, `bam! now you're in the show!'"

Briones (left) and a fellow actor backstage.

She had to learn the show in New York for several weeks, rehearsing during the day. Then it was off to Denver, watching the show in the evenings for about two weeks before being treading the boards.

"It felt so surreal to debut. It didn't feel quite real and it still shakes me a bit when I stop and realize what an amazing job this is."

Her family, all actors, traveled in to Denver from Los Angeles to watch her debut and to dispense some words of wisdom for the new job that will take her across the US.

Family

"Of course, being my parents, their number one pieces of advice were to save money and stay healthy. They definitely know what they're talking about," she says.

From left: her father Jon Jon, brother Teo, Isa, and mother, Megan.

Her parents, Megan and Jon Jon, are no strangers to long-running touring productions. They met when they were both actors in a touring production of "Miss Saigon" in Germany.

If her father's name sounds familiar, it's because he recently concluded his Broadway debut as the Engineer in the 2017-18 revival of "Miss Saigon."

"It was wonderful to have people around me that could prepare me for what was ahead. They're always there to call when I need advice."

For details on the "Hamilton" US Tour, visit HamiltonMusical.com.

READ about Isa Briones winning the 2018 Ovation Award here.

READ about Jon Jon Briones being cast as the Engineer in the 2017-18 Broadway revival of "Miss Saigon" here.

Confusion, curiosity in Marlina Gonzalez’s 'Isla Tuliro'

By WALTER ANG
March 18, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/11624/confusion-curiosity-marlina-gonzalezs-isla-tuliro

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Theatergoers will get a multilingual history lesson in how the Philippines was colonized by Spain in Marlina Gonzalez's play "Isla Tuliro."

From left: Lyra Hernandez, Lita Malicsi and Mar Alojado in "Isla Tuliro."
Photo by Bruce Silcox

That's Tagalog for "Island of Confusion." And though English supertitles will be projected to guide the audience along the play's deliberate switching around of Tagalog, English, and Spanish, one of Gonzalez's goals is to confuse the audience-at least in some parts of the story.

The aim of the confusion, in this case, is to amplify the audience's curiosity and to serve as a prompt for them to ask questions, even after the show is done.

"I'd like for audiences to ask questions about the commonalities between the Philippines and Latin American countries. About the relationships between the Philippines and the US, between the US and Europe, etc.," Gonzalez explains.

"Though most Filipinos and Filipino Americans know that Latin American countries were colonized by Spain, hardly anyone from those communities know about our history with Spain."

Collaborators

In the play, the idyllic life of the Kayumanggis, brown-skinned islanders who live by Dagat Payapa (Ocean of Peace) is disrupted by the sudden arrival of creatures from the ocean and sky. The creatures speak strange languages and claim the islands as their own, making up rules on how the islanders should live.

Marlina Gonzalez is the playwright of "Isla Tuliro."

The cast is mostly Filipino American. Other Filipino Americans involved include choreographer Mar Alojado, movement coach Sandy Agustin, and martial arts coach Allen Malicsi.

Sponsoring community producers include Cultural Society of Filipino Americans and Fil-Minnesotan Association.

Co-presented by Pangea World Theater and Teatro del Pueblo, the play is co-directed by Gonzalez and Pangea's artistic director Meena Natarajan.

Gonzalez had worked with both groups before and had broached her ideas on how to help bring together the Asian American and Latin American communities in their area.

A few years ago, both theater groups received a grant from the Joyce Foundation that enabled Gonzalez and two other writers to develop works for the stage.

That's when she began committing "Isla Tuliro" to the page.

Social justice

Gonzalez is known in Minneapolis as a producer of international film festivals, multidisciplinary art exhibits and performances for Walker Art Center.

She was previously based in New York and had been a festival director of the Asian American International Film Festival there.

"Isla Tuliro" is a result of all the different influences and theater ideologies she has learned.

Before she moved to the US in 1980, Gonzalez had been involved with theater company Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta) as well as student theater groups at University of the Philippines during the martial law years in the '70s.

"I was involved in improvisational theater, street theater and agitprop theater. We used theater to address social justice issues," she says.

"That was when I learned that you could use theater and adapt stories to represent sociopolitical viewpoints. During those times, there was a lot of censorship. Artists got away with strong messages by camouflaging stories as mythology and fantasy."

Questioning history

In "Isla Tuliro," she uses mythology to address history-or the lack of awareness of it.

Cast of "Isla Tuliro." Photo by Bruce Silcox

"A play like this is almost like an editorial cartoon, where it pokes holes in facts and figures so that people start to think about what the realities are," she says.

"Our stories are not always represented in history books, especially those published by western authors.

"I hope that after audiences watch the show, they will think about how history, as we know it or as it was taught to us in school, is not always the complete history."

She hopes the play will inspire theatergoers to go out and do their own research of "the different cultures and peoples here in the US."

Remembering roots

The production itself has proven enlightening to its cast.

Sixteen-year-old Atquetzali Quiroz is of indigenous Mexica Nahua and Filipino heritage. "I grew up learning the ancestral teachings of the Mexica people but never knew too much of my Filipino heritage," she says.

The little exposure she had to Filipino culture was through hearing Tagalog being spoken by her mother, aunt and grandmother. "My mom would sing 'Bahay Kubo' to me all the time before bed."

"Being in 'Isla Tuliro' reminded me of those moments, and I feel more in touch with my Filipino side after hearing the language and the songs from the Philippines.

"Being in 'Isla Tuliro' made me feel like I was home and whole."

Stage siblings

Meanwhile, over in New York, Gonzalez' brother Jojo is in the cast of The Public Theater's world premiere production of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage's "Mlima's Tale."

Jojo Gonzalez (left) is in the cast of
The Public Theater's staging of "Mlima's Tale."
Photo by Joan Marcus

Jojo plays five different characters in this play about Mlima, an elephant trapped in the international ivory market. His recent acting credits include "Small Mouth Sounds" for Ars Nova and "House Rules" for Ma-Yi Theater.

READ about Ma-Yi Theater's 2016 staging of "House Rules" here.

"Mlima's Tale" currently in previews, runs April 15-May 20 at Martinson Hall, The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., New York, New York. Visit Publictheater.org.

"Isla Tuliro" runs until April 22 at The Southern Theater, 1420 S. Washington Ave., Minneapolis, Minnesota. Visit PangeaWorldTheater.org.

"Isla Tuliro" is available for touring or for restaging.

Nicholas Pilapil's play: Love among dumb high school kids

By WALTER ANG
April 11, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/11488/nicholas-pilapils-play-love-among-dumb-high-school-kids

LOS ANGELES — Nicholas Pilapil will take theatergoers into the world of three unloved youths in his new play "Young Dumb Broke High School Kids."

Nicholas Pilapil

The play will have a staged reading at "Spring Readings: Two Plays, One Day," produced by theater company Artists at Play (AAP) as part of its annual spring staged reading series.

In the play, the pregnant Bliss, the loveless Olivia, and orphan Miles "try to sort out their lives in the most dangerous ways."

Other Filipino Americans involved in the play are Christopher Aguilar, who is part of the cast, and playwright and screenwriter Michael Golamco, who is the dramaturg. Marie-Reine Velez is one of AAP's founding artistic leaders.

The show's other play will be "Three Women of Swatow" by Chloe Hung, a comedy where three generations of women try to prevent the resurrection of a headless chicken.

Each staged reading will be followed by a talkback session.

Showcasing new works

Part of AAP's objectives is to present stories of underrepresented communities and to develop and showcase new works to the Los Angeles community "in the midst of a national discussion on the lack of diversity and representation."

Other Filipino American playwrights' works that have been featured in AAP's staged reading series include "Marabella" by Boni Alvarez in 2014 and "tot: The Untold, Yet Spectacular Story of (a filipino) Hulk Hogan" by Victor Maog last year, which went on to be staged by Mu Performing Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The group has also featured "As We Babble On" by Nathan Ramos in 2016, which will be staged by East West Players later this year.

Empowering

While Pilapil has to read plays as part of his work as a producing member of Artists at Play, he mostly does so "for my pure enjoyment," he says.

Christopher Aguilar (left) is in the cast and
Michael Golamco is the dramaturg.

Born and raised in Cerritos, California, Pilapil took up theatre arts at California State University-Long Beach.

"I read a lot of plays. I'm a huge new play lover, I'm always trying to read something new and find my next favorite writer."

It was after going through many plays that had nothing new to tell that sparked his own foray into playwriting.

"Initially, I thought `I can do way better than that!' What I had been reading was just a lot of the same thing, like white people in a living room just talking about their problems that aren't really problems.

"I realized that I have a unique point of view and experiences that are different from the white narrative. I wanted to try to contribute that to the theater. I wanted to write more roles for Asian American actors."

He took a workshop under playwright Madhuri Shekar and began to craft his own works. "Oddly, playwriting felt like a form of activism. To be able to tell a story and share my point of view felt kind of empowering for me."

But what really hooked him was experiencing an audience react to his first play. His musical comedy "Before and After" received a staged reading at East West Players in 2015.

"Once that audience laughed, I was, like, 'I'm changing careers!'"

Talking fetus

He describes his new play as a love story.

"I wanted to write a love story. At the beginning of this play's life, it was a boy-meets-girl kind of story where they just fall in love. It was an epic love story that traveled through time and had a talking fetus," he says. "It was so stupid."

Though he hated the first iteration of this play, "I loved its characters, specifically the characters when they were 16 years old in 1997."

"I trashed the play but kept those characters. It became less of the typical boy-meets-girl love story and more of a story about learning to love yourself and the life you live."

Developing

"Young Dumb" has already gone through a previous staged reading and a workshop by The Vagrancy theater company last year.

From left: dramaturg Michael Golamco, actors Eddie Liu and Christopher Aguilar,
playwright Nicholas Pilapil, actor Jenapher Zheng, and director Jer Adrianne Lelliott.
Photo by Stefanie Lau

For this staged reading, Pilapil is working with playwright Michael Golamco, who is serving as the dramaturg.

"It's exciting to work with Michael. He's definitely someone to look up to. He's doing so many amazing things with film and TV," Pilapil says.

One of Golamco's most popular plays is "Cowboy Versus Samurai," where an Asian American man falls in love with an Asian American woman who only dates white men. He is also a writer/producer for television, with credits such as Syfy/Netflix's "Nightflyers" and NBC's "Grimm."

"As another Filipino American, it's so cool to see one of our people really succeed. As a fan of his plays, I think he's a fantastic writer, so I really trust his opinion and point of view. He's so smart."

Upcoming

Aside from playwriting, Pilapil is also a songwriter and a screenwriter. He is cofounder of Becky and Baldwin, a production company, and has written short films "I Don't Love You" and "Zoe."

There are no plans yet for full stagings of Pilapil's plays. "A production would be a dream!"

In the meantime, he has another play, "Celebrity Trash," that will have a staged reading on May 19 at the Lyric Hyperion Theatre by The Vagrancy.

"'Celebrity Trash' is an adaptation of August Strindberg's 'Miss Julie,' which is about class and sex. My adaptation adds explorations of race, white male privilege and celebrity culture. It's set in 2007, before the social media age, when tabloids were super popular and Britney Spears had just shaved her head."

READ about Artists at Play's staged reading of "tot: The Untold, Yet Spectacular Story of (a filipino) Hulk Hogan" last year here.

READ about Boni Alvarez's "Fixed" here and "Bloodletting" here.

"Spring Readings: Two Plays, One Day" runs April 28 at Company of Angels, Hazard Recreation Center, 1350 San Pablo St, Los Angeles, CA. Visit ArtistsAtPlayLA.blogspot.com.

Jovanni Sy's murder mystery 'Nine Dragons' goes onstage in Vancouver

By WALTER ANG
April 6, 2018
USA and Canada Section, Inquirer.net
http://usa.inquirer.net/11446/jovanni-sys-murder-mystery-nine-dragons-goes-onstage-vancouver

VANCOUVER —  A killer is littering 1924 Kowloon with the corpses of mutilated women. Police detective Tommy Lam must investigate the case while dealing with condescending British counterparts from Scotland Yard.

Detective Tommy Lam investigates a series of
killings in Jovanni Sy's "Nine Dragons."
Photo by Tim Nguyen.

That's the premise of Jovanni Sy's "Nine Dragons," a noir mystery play that will be staged by Gateway Theatre this month.

Directed by Craig Hall, the play is a co-production with Vertigo Theatre and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre-venues where it has had performances last year as part of the whodunit's multi-venue world premiere.

Praise for last year's performances include "whip-smart" (Globe and Mail), "provocative...cinematic" (Winnipeg Free Press), "more here than initially meets the eye...[giving it] bite" (CBC.ca), "pulls no punches about ranks and race" (Downtown Calgary), and "impresses" (Calgary Herald).

Fan letter

"This is a very personal piece for me," Sy writes in the season lineup brochure for Gateway Theatre, where he is artistic director.

Jovanni Sy.

"First, it speaks to my life—long love of mysteries—the play is like a fan letter to my favorite fictional detectives of yesteryear.

"But it's also personal because the play is for anyone who has ever felt like they're on the outside looking in. My detective, Tommy Lam, is a voice we don't see represented on stage much."

Mystery lover

Sy explains that the initial idea for this play was sparked when he saw an old black-and-white photograph of a dapper Asian man in a Western suit.

"Something about that picture revealed a whole world to me. I knew immediately that I wanted to construct a mystery," he says.

Sy has always been a lover of mysteries "in all formats—novels, films, whatever—since I was young."

He noticed that there haven't been too many mysteries written for the stage in the last few decades. "I wanted to add to that canon and to create a new story with an Asian man as its hero."

Iterations

He first wrote the draft of "Nine Dragons" in 2012. "There have been substantial revisions between then and now. In particular, the play's ending changed a number of times.

"With each iteration, however, I learned something and received great advice from my peers and from my colleague Craig Hall."

The pair worked together on workshops of the material, which helped Sy through the revision process.

"I had a clearer idea of how to rewrite the draft to improve it. I think, in the end, we've created a compelling and entertaining story that will resonate with all Asian Canadians."

Artistic leader

Sy assumed the position of artistic director of Gateway Theatre in 2012.

John Ng (left) will reprise his role as Tommy Lam.
Photo by Tim Nguyen.

Born in Manila, Sy was raised in Toronto. "I was only four months old when my family moved from Manila to Burnaby. We lived in the Lower Mainland until I was four years old and then moved to Toronto."

He was based in Toronto professionally for 20 years as an actor, playwright, director, and dramaturg.

For six seasons, he was the artistic director of Cahoots Theatre Company. (He was succeeded by Filipino Canadian Nina Lee Aquino from 2009 to 2013.)

Book launch

There will be a book launch of "Nine Dragons" on April 17 co-hosted with Talonbooks and LiterASIAN Festival.

A book launch of Nine Dragons will be held on April 17.

Ticket holders for that evening's performance can avail of a discount on the book.

Other plays Sy has written include "The Birth of the American Empire (as told by those who received the Blessings of Liberty)," an epic drama set during the Spanish-American War.

He's also written a one-person play, "A Taste of Empire," which explores colonialism through food, labor, and immigration.

Directing

As an actor, Sy has performed with companies across Canada. His most recent appearance was in "Fear of Flight" at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre during the 2010 Winter Olympics. He has also appeared in film and television.

His directing credits include Yasmina Reza's "God of Carnage," Jean Anouilh's "Antigone," David Harrower's "Blackbird (in Hong Kong), among others.

Sy will be directing one of Gateway Theatre's plays for the upcoming 2018-19 season.

"It's a hilarious comedy and I'm looking forward to it," he says. "Stay tuned for our season announcement on April 13!"

"Nine Dragons" runs April 12-21 at Gateway Theatre, 6500 Gilbert Rd., Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Visit Gatewaytheatre.com.