Filipino American comedy fundraiser against anti-Asian hate

By WALTER ANG
May 26, 2021 | USA.Inquirer.net 

SAN FRANCISCO — An unapologetically Filipino American story about art, family, and culture will serve as a fundraiser for the Bay Area's Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. 

From left: Jeffrey Lo, Victor Malana Maog,
Jomar Tagatac and Moses Villarama. 

In the play, Jay has writer's block, he's lost his job and his girlfriend has just left him. Now he's stuck sleeping on the couch after being forced to move in with his Filipino immigrant mother. He must finally come face to face with the pressures and dreams of his parents while finding the bravery to find his voice as an artist of color in America.

Fil-Am Jeffrey Lo's play "Writing Fragments Home" will star Fil-Am thespians Jomar Tagatac and Moses Villarama. Fil-Am director Victor Malana Maog helms the production.

Lo is the director of community partnerships and casting director at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, the group that will stream a benefit reading of his play on June 5. The production will then be available by streaming on-demand from June 6 to 9.

Donations

This reading will benefit Compassion in Oakland, a nonprofit formed in response to the surge of anti-Asian attacks and dedicated to promoting safety and community in Oakland Chinatown and beyond. (Visit compassioninoakland.org.)

Viewers can sign up at TheatreWorks.org to receive a link to view "Writing Fragments Home."

Donations are encouraged, with levels starting at $10 in tiers named for popular Filipino dishes such as Lumpia Platter, Lechon, Pancit and Adobo.

Sharing

"One of the big themes in this play is loneliness and how sharing stories is a way for us to cure loneliness and build empathy in our world," says Lo.

"With the tragic rise in hate crimes against the AAPI community, I can't help but think about how scared, anxious and alone our community feels right now; how these hate crimes were activated from a lack of empathy for people with different backgrounds and identities.

"My hope is that this project, in addition to financially supporting the incredible work of Compassion in Oakland, can inspire hope and make the members of the AAPI community feel a little more understood."

Lo's directing credits include "The Language Archive," "The Santaland Diaries," "Vietgone," "Peter and the Starcatcher," and "Eurydice." Awards include Leigh Weimers Emerging Artist Award, Emerging Artist Laureate by Arts Council Silicon Valley, and Theatre Bay Area Director's TITAN Award.

Writing Fragments Home" was a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and a semi-finalist for the O'Neill Playwright's Conference.

Collaborators

Jomar Tagatac's credits for TheatreWorks include "The Language Archive," a role for which he won a San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Award. Other credits include productions Jessica Hagedorn's "Dogeaters" at The Magic Theater and "Monstress," based on short stories by Fil-Am short story writer Lysley Tenorio, at American Conservatory Theater.

Moses Villarama's credits with TheatreWorks include "tokyo fish story."  He is a company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and teaches acting at Southern Oregon University.

Victor Malana Maog has worked at the Public Theater, Second Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Classic Stage Company, Drury Lane Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, Cal Shakes. He has taught and directed in training programs across the country He is currently Visiting Professor in Theatre at St. Mary's College of California.

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https://usa.inquirer.net/72379/fil-am-comedy-fundraiser-against-anti-asian-hate

Filipino American TV stars Isa Briones and Ellen Williams in new play

By WALTER ANG
May 12, 2021 | USA.Inquirer.net

LOS ANGELES — Filipino American television actors Isa Briones and Ellen D. Williams are headlining a staged reading of "Mama, I wish I were silver," a new play by Filipino Romanian American playwright Amanda Andrei. 

Clockwise from top, Fil-Am theater artists director Fran de Leon and
actors Ellen D. Williams and Isa Briones
in an online rehearsal session for
Amanda Andrei's "Mama, I wish I were silver."

Briones recently starred opposite Patrick Stewart (playing twins) in the cast of "Picard" and was the youngest actress to be cast in the touring production of the Lin-Manuel Miranda hit musical "Hamilton," where she played Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds and understudied the Eliza Schuyler-Hamilton role. (READ about it here.)

Williams was recently in the sitcoms "Baskets" as Nicole Baskets, and "How I Met Your Mother" as Patrice.

Helming the reading is Fil-Am actor and director Fran de Leon. "What's been really amazing about working with this team is seeing all the different facets and multiplicities of our Filipina diasporic experience across generations, and it's wonderful how much we understand each other and the richness of memories they bring to . the play," says Andrei.

Birth

In the play, estranged Fil-Am half-sisters Ariel and Sofia reunite in Virginia to clean out their recently deceased mother's photographs and letters. They discover much more when they find a cassette tape seemingly recorded during martial law in the Philippines (when Ariel was born).

"Essentially, the play touches on giving birth during the pandemic in the United States and during Marcos' declaration of martial law in the Philippines.

Andrei gave birth middle of last year. "I was reflecting over giving birth during a time of pandemic and civil upheaval-how it must be so scary for first-time moms to be birthing, what kind of world are our children being born into.

"I drew strength and inspiration from stories about my mother and grandmother and the turbulent times when they gave birth. Has it always been turbulent for us as Filipina women?"

Reflections  

Nevertheless, it is strength, inspiration and, ultimately, joy, that led to the germination of this play.

"The Vagrancy Writers Group put out a beautiful prompt for us . `tell a story inspired by the theme History Repeats Itself . provide an antidote to the current uncertainty we are all experiencing by reflecting elements of joy.'

"I feel fortunate that my Filipina American doula joined me. Because of my child's birth, 2020 will always have a flood of joy and grace amidst everything going on."

In addition to having just given birth, Andrei and her family also moved, forcing her to confront her own mother's ephemera. "I had all of these boxes of my mom's journalism archives from her time abroad.

"It's an incredibly intimate act to go through someone's letters. I was struck by how clearly my mom's voice came across in the letters.

Ideas for the play came quickly to her. "I suppose because I was also thinking about how to deal with a mother's legacy, how to mother and bring life into the world during `unprecedented times' and how the Filipina can take up space, both in life and in death, and how fluid those boundaries can be."

Different structure

Andrei is also experimenting with structure with this piece. "The play has the kishotenketsu structure, an Asian four-act story shape meant not to highlight conflict, but rather disparate elements coming together in harmony."

Prior to this production, Andrei's "Culture Night" had a staged reading online for Echo Theater Company helmed by Fil-Am director Daniella Wheelock with an all-Fil-Am cast.

The Vagrancy will release recordings of the staged readings every Tuesday May 25 to June 29 with livestreamed talkback sessions on its YouTube channel.

Meanwhile, after this production, Andrei will prepare for a production of her Fil-Am adaptation of Euripides' "Hecuba" and one more play scheduled for the end of the year with an LA theater group that will feature Filipino and Fil-Am themes.

Visit Fb.com/thevagrancytheatre.

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https://usa.inquirer.net/70655/fil-am-tv-stars-isa-briones-and-ellen-williams-in-new-play

Filipino American mom-daughter 'trapped together' in new play

By WALTER ANG
May 6, 2021 | USA.Inquirer.net

NEW YORK — What happens when a Filipino American mother and daughter who both have problems with work, relationships and anti-Asian sentiments quarantine together during the pandemic? Fil-Am playwright Cherry Lou Sy unfurls desires and miseries in "Not For Long." 

Francesca McKenzie rehearsing a scene.

A staged reading will be presented by newly formed theater group the International (minor feelings) Trading Company just a few days after Mother's Day. A panel discussion will follow.

Obie Award Winner Ching Valdes-Aran will play the mother alongside Francesca Fernandez McKenzie as the daughter. Both thespians are Fil-Am.

"I keep asking myself: how do we live with people we love when they hold views so different from our own?" relates Sy.

"Playwrights are artists. Artists, according to James Baldwin, are here to disturb the peace. But what is peace right now?"

"Others might think that it's too on the nose to write about the pandemic during the pandemic, but there was so much uncertainty then, and even so now. I wanted to capture the tension of that time as  . experienced by Asian female bodies in a Filipino household when there's racism and prejudice even in one's own house."

Personal grief

The play is gleaned from her own experiences of loss and frustrations.

She had been invited to a playwrights group and was working with a prompt to write about family. "I didn't think I could write anything because I was still grieving the death of one of my close friends."

She was also dealing with her own mother's differing political opinions as well as the increasing climate of anti-Asian hate in her neighborhood.

"I didn't know how else to deal with everything. The deadline and focus that [was] provided helped me put words together to write this play, which is about composite characters in the generational divide partially based on me and my mother."

Vision and creation

Despite the personal losses Sy has experienced (her father also recently died a few months ago), she and two other colleagues chose to actively pursue optimism.

Ching Valdes-Aran in rehearsals. 

"My friend the director Eugene Ma and I decided to create our own international theater company, the International (minor feelings) Trading Company, because it's so important to create a future of hope and manifesting that vision. He's based in Hong Kong while our other friend, actor Hidetaka Ishii, is based in Toronto."

"Because of Zoom technology, we've been able to meet and try to engage in our version of the theater of the future, post-pandemic." They have already begun to explore Sy's body of work.

Meanwhile, in June, Sy's "Panic Room: An Unkindness of Ravens" will be shown online. Originally scheduled for last year, it is a finalist for the 2021 AEG Barbour Playwriting Award.

Collaborators

As for "Not For Long," Sy reconnects with the cast she worked with when testing out the draft of the play.

"I worked with Ching and Francesca last year when I wanted to hear the play for the first time. It was great. I've seen both of them perform during the before days of the pandemic and they are powerhouses. They are dream collaborators and consummately skilled in their craft."

Francesca Fernandez McKenzie is an actor, producer, and educator. Before graduating from Yale School of Drama, she was a theater maker in New Orleans. She has shared her work in NYC (59E59, Daryl Roth Theater, The Lark) and regionally (CalShakes, Magic Theatre, Horizon Theater, Southern Rep, Mu Performing Arts).

Ching Valdes-Aran has worked intensively in NYC on Broadway, Off Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, and in major regional theaters throughout the U.S.

She has also directed, danced and performed in many international festivals. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors' Lab, Actors's Center Workshop Company and is on the advisory board of Ma-Yi Theater Company.

"Not For Long" is supported by the Rapid Response Honorarium Program of Brooklyn College's Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities, in partnership with Stonehenge NYC Still Standing Artist Residency.

"Not For Long" runs May 12. Visit Fb.com/wolfeinstitute.  

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https://usa.inquirer.net/70078/fil-am-mom-daughter-trapped-together-in-new-play

Milwaukee Filipino Americans speak up for cultural visibility

By WALTER ANG
May 4, 2021 | USA.Inquirer.net

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — Filipino American theater artists and community leaders will be in panel discussions hosted by Milwaukee Repertory Theater for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. 

(From left) Filipino American theater artists
Paolo Montalban (still from "Cinderella"),
N'Jameh Russell-Camara and A. Rey Pamatmat. 

To kick things off, Fil-Am theater actor Paolo Montalban will give the welcome remarks. Theater fans know him for his role as Prince Christopher in the 1997 made-for-TV adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "Cinderella" that recently became available on the Disney+ streaming service.

Milwaukee Rep's series of activities under its "Making the Invisible Visible: A Celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Culture, Arts and Activism" aims to offer opportunities to hear from AAPI community members, more so in light of recent violent attacks on Asian Americans.

Fil-Am actor N'Jameh Russell-Camara, Milwaukee Rep's new Associate Director of Engagement, spearheaded and shepherded this year's activities.

She will moderate a panel discussion on May 11 focusing on the importance of representation and support for the AAPI community. The session will be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube.

Included in this panel is Fil-Am playwright A. Rey Pamatmat, co-director of the Ma-Yi Theater Company's Writers Lab, a support group for Asian American playwrights. Pamatmat's credits incude "Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them" and "House Rules."

Leaders

Later in the month, there will be another panel discussion with AAPI community leaders from the Milwaukee area on how arts, activism and legislation come together to help AAPI representation in the arts.

Moderator will be Fil-Am MacArthur Antigua, Senior Director of Collective Impact at Imagine MKE, a socio-civic arts advocacy organization.

Fil-Am panel members include Alexa Alfaro, co-owner of Meat on the Street restaurant and Angelito Tenorio, common council alderperson of West Allis City's first district, a suburb of the Milwaukee metropolitan area.

Reflections

For Camara, who is Gambian Filipino American, looking back at 2020 provides perspective for her new responsibilities at Milwaukee Rep, which includes being in the organization's first official department of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

She says last year has been one of the best and worst times of her adult life. "I have witnessed abundance and have felt the most powerful that I have ever been. Yet, I've experienced the most mourning, fear and constriction at the same time," she says, referring to the pandemic as well as the Black Lives Matter movement.

Related to her theater work, she began to actively follow information provided by a collective of theater artists of color called We See You White American Theater, which seeks for more equitable treatment in the industry.

All these reckonings with racism led her to reflect on her own place in society and in her profession. "[It] caused me to ask myself, `What is my purpose? What is this moment in time revealing to me about the transformation or evolution of my calling?'"

Fulfilling

"In what ways can I use my voice to affect systems off the stage? I see the power that the arts can do. How can I pitch ideas, create opportunity, be a leader, and be `in the room where it happens' so that I understand these systemic issues from the inside?"

Camara had done work as an actor, recently in productions such as the national tour of "The Color Purple," an Off-Broadway staging of "Macbeth" and as an audiobook narrator.

And now, this new role she's stepped into has proved fulfilling for her. "I am thrilled to be in this leadership position. I'm learning so much and am using my voice in ways that feel right. I feel like I am inching the needle forward.

"While I have been able to curate and facilitate a plethora of high quality intentional conversations for virtual audiences across the country, I'm also proud of the responsiveness of the community that I have had the privilege to engage and lead in."

Visit Milwaukeerep.com.

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https://usa.inquirer.net/69801/milwaukee-fil-ams-speak-up-for-cultural-visibility