So a few of my friends having been working on plays for a workshop at EAST WEST PLAYERS for the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute. The Workshop Leader is Prince Gomolvilas, Thai American playwright and awesome blogger, to boot.
So if you’re in L.A. and interested in catching staged readings of 15 new works in progress, maybe I’ll see you at the David Henry Hwang Theatre (120 North Judge John Aiso Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012) in the next couple of weeks as these new works are being debuted. Only $5 suggested donation and a great excuse to eat in Little Tokyo afterwards.
(Schedule after the jump, image courtesy of Asian Pacific Arts)
SATURDAY, December 6 @ 1pm
THE APPLE OF OUR EYES
By Vincent Gabucan
Four friends in San Francisco’s Chinatown during the years following the Chinese Exclusion Act. Are they destined to live in a state of sexual and social limbo?
ELLA IN THE WHITE HOUSE
by Steven Tran
After the brutal slaying of the President by his Vice President and First Lady, the first daughter, Ella, has disappeared. Held captive in the basement of the White House, Ella faithfully awaits the day when her father’s murder will be avenged. Adapted from the Greek tale of Electra.
SUNDAY, December 7 @ 6pm
BRONZEVILLE
by Tim Toyama and Aaron Woolfolk
World War II. Little Tokyo — the Japanese Americans have been moved out to internment camps. African Americans have moved in and a family discovers a young Japanese American hiding. Do they help him? Or betray him?
CRAIGSLIST CHRONICLES
By Edward Gunawan
We search but do we even know what we’re looking for? This collection of six short plays offers glimpses of the people behind the online ads, headline titles and posted pictures, navigating through our post-modern cyber world of limitless choices and instant gratification.
MONDAY, December 8 @ 7:30pm
THE LONG ARM OF STANLEY MATSUI
By Paul Kikuchi
As an official for a local basketball organization, young Stanley Matsui is assigned to monitor a group of rowdy parents and family members of the 7th grade girls Tsunami Ladybugs. A comedy where there’s more action in the bleachers than on the court.
TENDO: THE MUSICAL
By Howard Ho
The early days of the Japanese video game company Tendo, whose dream-like creations fly off the shelves. When the company heirs come to America, will their inventions click? Will they overcome Congressmen, Movie Moguls, and rival company Taro? Along the way, they must learn to tell their own story and make something great.
TUESDAY, December 9 @ 7:30pm
PAINTING BY NUMBERS
By Leslie Ishii and Karen Samski
Inspired by Jane Austen’s “Persuasion”
Returning to her childhood home in Seattle, Kit Yamamoto is at a crossroads between the influences of family obligation, the legacy of cultural traditions, and her heart’s true desire. Will she betray her heart, or set herself free to follow her destiny?
LITO LOVES BUCK
By Jennifer Almiron
The sun sets, night presses in–and two boys miss the bus home from Model U.N. In the “crackle-pop” of a night in the wilderness, the boys rise to the challenge of darkness. War games, gunshots, and strange preteen urges go bump in the night.
WEDNESDAY, December 10 @ 7:30pm
LEFT UNSAID
By Serena Lin
Sonia’s family and beloved community crumbles under the weight of intrigue, violence, and racial tension under the new moon of Ramadan. This is a story about one woman coming outside in a Los Angeles neighborhood and all we can never say, but long to say anyway.
LLOYD’S KEYS
By Andrea Apuy Cheng
Sometimes you gotta be an asshole. On the last day Lloyd can take his Board exams, everything that can go wrong will. Will he pass or will he just pass gas?
SUNDAY, December 14 @ 6pm
ABOVE THE CALL: BEST DAMN SOLDIER
By Walter Morita
In 1943, less than two years after Pearl Harbor, five young Nisei men meet in an U.S. Army barrack in Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
THE FLOWER AND THE FIREFLY
By Rebecca Baroma
Zenith is orphaned, adopted by her aunt and uncle in the United States and forced to live with her uber-Americanized cousin, Amy. Cousins/sisters revisit each other throughout their lives, as time starts in the future and ends in the past.
MONDAY, December 15 @ 7:30pm
SPACE. RACE.
By Christopher Fong
American, Chinese, and European astronauts onboard the International Space Station survive a terrorist attack, only to find that they are left with a broken radio, a gun, and the final cure to a previously unknown disease: race.
THE AMAZING WEDDING RACE
By Peter J. Kuo
Bridezilla and Will & Grace collide in this farcical comedy, where nobody truly knows what’s going on except for the audience…well most of the time.
WEDNESDAY, December 17 @ 7:30pm
NOVENAS
by Vanessa Tamayo
The Manong generation is dying, and prayers for the dead seem to line up night after night. Set against the rituals of Filipino grandmothers in mourning, a daughter returns to care for her dying father in the community that she destroyed.
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Disgusted
- Sad
- Angry
