Filipino American named artistic producer of inaugural AAPI playwright fest

By WALTER ANG
March 27, 2024 | USA.Inquirer.net

SAN FRANCISCO — Filipino American Jeffrey Lo has been named as the artistic producer of Contemporary Asian Theater Scene's inaugural Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Playwright Festival.

Jeffrey Lo (left) and Conrad Panganiban

The festival is slated for July 2024 and is co-produced with San Jose Stage Company.

The festival will feature staged readings of six short plays performed by local Bay Area artists. Multi-awarded Fil-Am playwright Conrad Panganiban is one of the featured playwrights and is currently working on his entry.

Panganiban's plays include "Daryo's All-American Diner," "Welga" and "Esperanza Means Hope." His work has been produced by Bindlestiff Studio, The Chikahan Company, CIRCA Pintig, MaArte Theatre Collective and the Sinag-tala Filipino Theatrical Performing Arts Association.

The festival is described as "a one-of-a-kind theater arts experience that fosters and showcases the talent of existing and emerging local Bay Area AAPI theater artists, from writers and actors to directors, stagehands and others."

"It is an exciting time to be an Asian American theater maker in the Bay Area," said Lo. "From the early roots of the Asian American Theatre Company to the works being done today, the Bay Area has always been a center for the development of new AAPI voices and stories.

"This festival helps us continue that history of lifting up the next generation of storytellers and highlight exciting and emerging artists in our community."

Based in the Bay Area, Lo's directing credits include "The Language Archive," "Little Shop of Horrors" and "The Santaland Diaries" at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley" and "Chinglish," "The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin" and "Hold These Truths" at San Francisco Playhouse.

He's also directed "Vietgone" and "The Great Leap" at Capital Stage, "A Doll's House, Part 2" and "Eurydice" at Palo Alto Players and "The Grapes of Wrath," "The Crucible" and "Yellow Face" at Los Altos Stage Company.

As a playwright, his plays have been produced at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, BindleStiff Studio, City Lights Theatre Company and Stanford University.

Lo is the associate producer of casting and literary manager at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley where audiences can see his work this April as he directs Mike Lew's "Tiger Style!"

This East-meets-West satire examines the cause and effects of strict "tiger parenting," as 30-something Ivy League graduate siblings Albert and Jennifer wallow in their adult dissatisfactions with life despite their childhood ultra-achievements.

When their lives fall apart, they blame their parents and run away from California to China on an "Asian Freedom Tour" where calamity ensues.

"Tiger Style!" will feature Emily Kuroda (known to television audiences as the uber-controling Mrs. Kim on "Gilmore Girls") and Francis Jue (CBS's "Madam Secretary" and "The Good Wife").

"Tiger Style!" runs April 6-28 at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View.

Walter Ang is the author of Barangay to Broadway: Filipino American Theater, available at Amazon, Bookshop and other online booksellers.

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https://usa.inquirer.net/146995/fil-am-named-artistic-director-of-inaugural-aapi-playwright-fest

Step aside Hamilton, Filipino American labor leader is hero of new musical

By WALTER ANG
March 25, 2024 | USA.Inqurirer.net

SAN FRANCISCO — Step aside "Hamilton," "Evita," "Six" (featuring the six wives of King Henry VIII) and other musicals about figures from history. This time around, Filipino American labor leader and civil rights icon Larry Itliong is the man of the hour in the new musical, "Larry the Musical: An American Journey."

The musical is based on the children's picture book Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong by Dawn Mabalon and Gayle Romasanta.

The musical is running at the Brava Theater in the Mission District until April 14. It is directed and choreographed by Billy Bustamante, who was recently the assistant director of Broadway's "Here Lies Love," musician David Byrne's disco musical about Imelda Marcos.

Eymard Meneses Cabling and Joshua Carandang star as Itliong in two different stages of his life. Cabling has played Lun Tha in productions of "The King and I" and the engineer in "Miss Saigon." Carandang originated the role of Joxer in "Xena: Warrior Musical" and has played Andrew Jackson in "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson."

The musical takes audiences on the journey of Itliong's early days in the US to his posthumous recognition by the State of California in 2015 by enacting a "Larry Itliong Day."

Larry Itliong

The musical was drawn from a book written by Dawn Mabalon and Gayle Romasanta, with script by Romasanta and comedian Kevin Camia, music by Bryan Pangilinan and  Sean Kana, folk music consultation by Herna Cruz-Louie, and production and costume design by Ciriaco Sayoc.

Itliong immigrated to the US in 1929, became a union leader, and together with other Filipino organizers like Philip Vera Cruz, led the 1965 Grape Strike in Delano, California.

Itliong was instrumental in convincing the Mexican laborers, the most known of whom include the likes of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, not to replace and fill the vacated jobs of the striking Filipino workers but to join the strike instead. The strike lasted for five years and led to a breakthrough in labor rights in the US.

"We're finally telling a story that needs to be told of a man who is absolutely paramount to Filipinos past, present and future," music director Sean Kana said.

"There are so many special aspects that drew me to this piece," said director and choreographer Bustamante. "I knew [this was] a special team and I knew that they were onto something incredibly necessary and valuable in terms of the types of stories the world needs to hear in this moment."

Bustamante is also cofounder of Broadway Barkada, a support group for Filipino American actors and artists.

According to the production, "Filipino Americans are currently the largest Asian American group in 10 of the 13 western states and one of the most rapidly growing Asian American populations in the nation.

"There are few mentions and accurate representations of Fil-Am contributions to US history.

"The San Francisco Bay Area is the second most populous region for Filipinos in the United States, with Filipinos making up to 4.6 percent of San Francisco's population. It is only fitting the launch of this production takes place where Filipinos are a prominent part of California's history." 

Also included in the cast are Jocelyn Thompson-Jordan, Marah Sotelo, Bebe Browning and Daniel Lloyd Pias.

The musical's producers include Francis Novero; Rosario Pangilinan; Mona Lisa Yuchengco, community activist, publisher, filmmaker and founder of Positively Filipino; Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, San Francisco State University professor of Ethnic Studies, Filipina/x/o American Literature and Art, and founder of Pin@y Educational Partnerships; and Kevin Nadal, John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor, author, psychologist, activist and president of the Filipino American National Historical Society.

Walter Ang is the author of Barangay to Broadway: Filipino American Theater, available at Amazon, Bookshop and other online booksellers.

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https://usa.inquirer.net/146771/step-aside-hamilton-fil-am-labor-leader-is-hero-of-new-musical

Filipino Americans take on lead roles in 'Hadestown,' 'Great Gatsby' on Broadway

By WALTER ANG
MARCH 6, 2024 | USA.Inquirer.net

NEW YORK — Filipino American actors Isa Briones and Eva Noblezada will bask in the spotlight on Broadway as they take on lead roles in the musicals "Hadestown" and "The Great Gatsby," respectively.

Isa Briones (left) with Jon Jon Briones.

Briones will take over the role of Eurydice in the Tony-winning (Best Musical, Best Original Score) retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Eurydice and Orpheus.

Briones is making her Broadway debut. She had been one of the youngest actors to join one of the many touring productions of "Hamilton," playing the roles of Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds.

On television, she has starred in Paramount+'s "Star Trek: Picard" (where she played two sets of twins, totaling four characters) and Disney+/Hulu's "Goosebumps."

Jon Jon Briones was last seen on Broadway as The Engineer in the revival of Miss Saigon. He is a regular on Ryan Murphy-produced TV shows including "American Horror Story" and, recently, "Ratched" on Netflix.

He played Maurice in ABC's made-for-television special "Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration" opposite Fil-Am celebrity singer H.E.R. (Gabriella Wilson) as Belle.

The musical by singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell incorporates folk and jazz music and is playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

Great Gatsby

Eva Noblezada will play the role of Daisy Buchanan in "The Great Gatsby" opposite Jeremy Jordan ("Newsies" on Broadway and "Supergirl" on TV) in the titular role.

Noblezada previously played Eurydice in "Hadestown," Eponine in "Les Miserables," and Kim in "Miss Saigon" on both the West End and on Broadway.

Both Noblezada and Jordan are reprising their roles from the world premiere of the musical last year at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse, which broke its all-time record for ticket sales in a single day and went on to sell out its entire run before its first performance.

Based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same title and set in the Roaring 1920s, the musical follows millionaire Gatsby and his tragic pursuit Buchanan, whom he has loved since his youth.

Previews will begin March 29 at the Broadway Theatre, with opening night scheduled for April 25.

The Broadway Theatre was recently the home of "Here Lies Love," a disco musical about Imelda Marcos.

"The Great Gatsby" features jazz and pop influenced music and lyrics by Tony nominees Nathan Tysen and Jason Howland and book by Kait Kerrigan. Direction is by Marc Bruni ("Beautiful: The Carole King Musical") and choreography is by Dominique Kelley ("Mariah's Magical Christmas Special").

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https://usa.inquirer.net/145877/fil-ams-take-on-lead-roles-in-hadestown-great-gatsby-on-broadway