And one last post about Yellow Face...

Pork Filled and ReAct has ended its run of David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face over the weekend. Over 1100 people saw the show (pretty good for a fringe level theatre), with sellouts or near sellouts the last weekend of the run (pretty good for a Labor Day weekend show).

We've gone through strike (where the production team moves all the props and costumes out, taken gels out of the lights [though we've left them in place for the next production], and taken down the sets, breaking them down into their component parts (platforms and stuff goes back to Seattle Scenic Design, which specializes in renting platforms to productions around the Puget Sound).

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Actors have gone on to new projects, new shows (like Year Zero for Moses Yim). What's next for Pork Filled Players? There's an appearance at Seattle Sketchfest, October 8, at the Theatre Off Jackson (409 7th Ave. S., Seattle, WA) (which is, coincidentally, the first home for PFP, when we were just a babe, as the Artists in Residence for the Northwest Asian American Theatre, which pretty much built the Theatre Off Jackson)(and where the Head Hawg played a key role in raising the money to fund that building)(but we disgress.....). So buy tickets here (and see the sketch comedy side of the Pork Filled Players, along with the Entertainment Show and Slow Children Crossing, from LA).

In the meantime, here's one last bit about Yellow Face fromThe Seattle Channel, showing an interview with David Henry Hwang at Elliot Bay Books:

The Playwright visits Seattle...

...and merriment ensues!

The visit of a Tony award winning playwright is pretty exciting. It's even more so when the hosting theatre isn't the usual Equity house, but a smaller 99-seat or fringe theatre (though, if you note the production history of Yellow Face, it's been a favorite of smaller houses like ReAct/Pork Filled Players--and, really, the play fits quite nicely in a more intimate space).

That kind of excitement quickly generates audience enthusiasm. And the August 13 show with David sold out early, with a splash-over to the other two shows of the weekend (the big challenge for the producers is to keep the momentum and audiences going to the next three weekends, but that's OUR problem, not yours)(unless you haven't seen the show, in which case...let's talk....).

Of course, that excitement wasn't restricted to the audience--cast, crew and staff were all pretty much amped to 11 for David's visit (with the possible exception of myself. Of course, the visit pretty much gave me an excuse to give free reign to my control freak and OCD tendencies; you can check the trail of emails I was leaving to everybody over the week). From director on down, folks were fairly hyper--nervous, but in a good way, to see David Henry Hwang in the flesh.

I was out on the Hugo House steps when Dave walked up. (NO...I was NOT anxiously awaiting him. I was busy burping up the last of the burritos from Rancho Bravo I had scarped up for dinner--you can ask Dave, who could hear me burping rather inelegantly)(and that's my story and I'm sticking to it). After saying hello, he then wandered off into the Capitol Hill afternoon, looking for some mints for the evening. The Capitol Hill neighborhood was on its best behavior, with the sun out and the people perking along, and he came away suitably impressed by the vitality of the neighborhood.

By this time, the cast had worked itself into a minor frenzy. When asked if they wanted to have Dave visit before the show, they immediately replied, "ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING???"  Cooler heads prevailed; cast member Agastya Kohli convinced them that they would MUCH rather meet Dave before the show, to take the edge off the nerves and put everybody at east. So Dave came on down to the dressing room about 40 minutes before curtain and immediately put people at ease (as he is wont to do), spinning tales on exactly WHICH parts of Yellow Face were based on fact and which weren't (Hint: you'll probably guess wrong on some of the big scenes).

That night's performance, naturally, was revved up. As Dave later commented, it's one of only two productions that's used video projection of photos of the historical (and not so historical) figures; surprisingly, that gave it a movement and pace to the show that others didn't have (Dave's seen almost every production of Yellow Face done except for the one done in Mexico City (!) in Spanish).

Afterwards, Dave came out for a spirited talkback with the audience. Which, as quirky Seattleites do, ended up with a birthday cupcake or three. As it happens, David the playwright, David the director, and Jeremy the cast member all had birthdays within three days of the talkback, so we took the opportunity to do the Happy Birthday thing. In addition, we gave David a Pork Filled Players T-shirt, so he can tell his wife and kids the obligatory, "Yes, I went to Seattle, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" deal. (The rest of the group will probably want to confer an honorary membership on him, so Dave can be an honorary member of every single Asian American theatre on the continent, but we probably won't tell him because we want to be unique that way).

Yes, there is a video tape. No, I haven't gotten around to processing it. Yes, we plan to put it up somewhere. No, I'm not sure I didn't screw up and forgot to turn the audio on.

Of course that wasn't the end of the weekend. On Sunday, there was a book signing at Elliot Bay, where Mayumi Tsutakawa moderated a talk/Q&A/book signing. As opposed to the night before, the material was somewhat broader, covering more of his career, such as his operas (David is the most prolific living opera librettist in the world), his Disney musicals and his approach to film (Hollywood tent poles, no. Independent films, yes). This talk was also taped and will appear on the Seattle Channel. I am quite sure they were competent enough to turn on both the sound and video.

Finally, there was dinner at O'Asian with a select group of cast and interested audience members. Very relaxed (except for the cast members who were simultaneously eating and sitting on Cloud 9), with a swapping of stories about his kids (now 15 and 10), a musing of great apprehensions (his son is now almost old enough to drive) and more telling of tales, both tall and small. The evening ended with the usual snapping of cast photos with the playwright and the cast and crew upholding their reputation of dignity, calm and coolness.

So, the playwright is gone. BUT THERE'S STILL FUN TO BE HAD!

Three more weekends of Yellow Face, and you can certainly enjoy the fun (especially with the cast loosening up with the visit from David). YELLOW FACE is a production of both the Pork Filled Players and Repertory Actors Theatre. It runs through Saturday, September 3 at the Richard Hugo House (1634 11th Ave in Seattle’s Capitol Hill area). 

There are specials for both NAAAP and AAJA-Seattle people!

Shows are 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm. Admission is $15 General Admission, $12 Students/Seniors/Artists at the door; tickets can also be purchased in advance at Brown Paper Tickets (http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/181433) for $12 General, $9 Students/Seniors/Artists (Reservations recommended). Discounted group rates are also available for parties of 10 or more. For more information and ticket reservations, please call the ReAct Box Office at (206)364-3283 or visit online at http://www.reactheatre.org or go to the Pork Filled Players website.

We'll talk more later.

Hey! Reviews! (and other news!)

Let's start up with the Other News.

Now, not only has author David Henry Hwang been busy working on his newest show, Chinglish (which opens October 11 on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre), he's been picking up a bushel of awards.

Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang will be honored during the 31st Annual William Inge Theatre Festival with the Inge Festival Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award.  Previous recipients include Marsha Norman, Paula Vogel, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, Christopher Durang, Sheldon Harnick, Arthur Laurence A.R. Gurney, Stephen Sondheim, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Terrence McNally, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Peter Shaffer and Wendy Wasserstein.

Earlier this week, the PEN Literary Center named is 2011 Awards and David was named the 2011 Master American Dramatist. PEN American Center is the U.S. branch of the world’s oldest international literary and human rights organization. International PEN was founded in 1921 in direct response to the ethnic and national divisions that contributed to the First World War. PEN American Center was founded in 1922 and is the largest of the 144 PEN centers in 101 countries that together compose International PEN. David is only the second playwright of color to be named a Master American Dramatist (August Wilson was the first, I believe).

Now, locally, some of the local reviewers and critics have been quite taken with the show (and some haven't), which is normal. Some actors are all over the reviews, may they be good or bad; others prefer to note that they're there, but refuse to read them until after the run of the show is over (because they don't want what the reviews say to affect their performance, which is a rather valid concern).

Here's a quote from Misha Berson, the critic for the Seattle Times:

"… a sharp-edged sendup of artistic opportunism, knee-jerk politics and the generational divide between Chinese-American fathers and sons, and a provocative musing on what it means to lose and save face in a minority culture… "Yellow Face" also delivers many laughs via the bantering, serio-comic dynamic…"Yellow Face" is a false and true identity play that keeps you laughing — and leaves you thinking."

Full review here.

And here's something from Jerry Kraft at SeattleActor.com:

"The style of the production allows the ensemble to play a multitude of characters in brief snippets that feel almost like news clips, often introduced by headlines. Beneath that public life, the individual who is Hwang must constantly define what his personal integrity involves…Director David Hsieh has a good grip on this material, obviously cares about it in a very personal way, and moves the action along swiftly and clearly, keeping our attention properly on the internal struggle within the playwright. “Yellow Face” is a well-written, provocative piece of autobiographical journalism and dramatic invention, and here it is given a respectable and admirable production. "

Full review here.

And something I missed from Capitol Hill Times, Drama in the Hood:

The dialogue is some of the funniest and most articulate ever written for the stage. The direction and the acting suited the script extremely well, the comic timing was superb and the inherent tragedy came through. As an ensemble piece, most of the actors rapidly changed characters several times and had to adopt different accents and physicality. Jeremy Behrens, who played a lot of different Caucasian media pundits and politicians, was brilliant and managed to pull off a British, Russian, Brooklynese and about five different Southern accents in the same play. Full review here.

Sound good? Well, come on down! Tickets might be hard to come by on this Saturday's show (August 13 evening) when David is in town, but we can fit you in with no problem (so far) on other nights.

Performances continue. There are organizational discounts for AAJA and NAAAP Seattle.  YELLOW FACE is a production of both the Pork Filled Players and Repertory Actors Theatre. It runs through Saturday, September 3 at the Richard Hugo House (1634 11th Ave in Seattle’s Capitol Hill area). Shows are 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm. Admission is $15 General Admission, $12 Students/Seniors/Artists at the door; tickets can also be purchased in advance at Brown Paper Tickets (http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/181433) for $12 General, $9 Students/Seniors/Artists (Reservations recommended). Discounted group rates are also available for parties of 10 or more. For more information and ticket reservations, please call the ReAct Box Office at (206)364-3283 or visit online at http://www.reactheatre.org or go to the Pork Filled Players website.

Post Opening Night

Hey! We have more stuff to say!


The run up to opening is a blur of last minute preparation. Props made, props discarded; new cues added, modified, modified again, re-re-remodified, blocking and lines tweaked here and there.


Here is what our set looks like, with final paint job:

With Opening Night comes a buzz of nervousness, but also an adrenaline shot of energy as the cast and crew FINALLY get to show off before a live audience. A fairly full house with a fistful of reviewers in the audience was very responsive and very lively,with energetic laughter and some actual hissing and booing of antagonists. 

(And this is the sort of thing that actors live for; many times you know, but don't REALLY know the rhythms and pulse of a script until you get it before its first audience. After the first titter from the first row, things click and the cast refines the pacing and expression even further, honing their performances even more for each subsequent performance).

What are some of the responses?

"One of the smartest comedies I've seen in Seattle in years!"

"It was clever, it was FUNNY! I've spent years in ethnic student groups and the play just nailed the feeling perfectly!"

"Go see YELLOW FACE at Richard Hugo House! Great show--fine performances all around!"

"HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Combining self-referential satire, racial politics commentary, showbiz comedy, and immigrant family story, "Yellow Face" is funny, intellectual, sharp, and thought-provoking. In the intimacy of Hugo House, this fast-paced production sizzled and crackled with a brilliant cast, several of which breezed through a demanding array of ensemble characters at dizzying speed. Catch it while you can!"

We'll see how the critics respond, but the word from the audience seems pretty positive.

On Saturday, in between the matinee and evening performances, cast and crew spent some time taking production photos (photos of cast in costume, under the exact same lighting conditions as in the play, with appropriate props), to have a visual record of the production, for use in promotions and for archival purposes. A sample:

There's more excitement on the way, as the author, David Henry Hwang, is on his way out to Seattle. He'll be with us for the Saturday evening performance, August 13, and participate in a talk back session after the show. He'll also be at Elliot Bay Books for a talk session, August 14, at 2 pm.

Performances continue. There are organizational discounts for AAJA and NAAAP Seattle.  YELLOW FACE is a production of both the Pork Filled Players and Repertory Actors Theatre. It opens on Friday, August 5 and runs through Saturday, September 3 at the Richard Hugo House (1634 11th Ave in Seattle’s Capitol Hill area). Shows are 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm. Admission is $15 General Admission, $12 Students/Seniors/Artists at the door; tickets can also be purchased in advance at Brown Paper Tickets (http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/181433) for $12 General, $9 Students/Seniors/Artists (Reservations recommended). Discounted group rates are also available for parties of 10 or more. For more information and ticket reservations, please call the ReAct Box Office at (206)364-3283 or visit online at http://www.reactheatre.org or go to the Pork Filled Players website.

We'll talk more, later.

Opening Night

Aiyeeeeeeee!

Week Six - Tech Week

Or other wise known as Hell Week, where the production moves into the performance space (Richard Hugo House), lays out the props, builds the sets, hang and focus the lights, set up the projection system and synch it to sound and lights, set sound cues and volume levels for each cue---and, oh, yeah integrate all this technical wizardry into the performance of the actors. All within the space of four evenings.

Prepping for this started with "paper tech": director David Hsieh, stage manager Jason Panzer, lighting designer Maggie Lee and the sound designer sit around a table at Prima Vera and go through the script, placing each and every cue, whether it's lights, sound or video, with a rough idea of how long transitions and sounds are. Well over 200 sound and light cues were placed over the course of paper tech (much to the aggravation of stage manger Jason, who runs the show, i.e., calls each and every show at the exact moment they're supposed to occur).

Today, we rushed into Richard Hugo House and brought in and assembled the set. The lighting designer immediately began setting up lights, setting their focus and hooked them into the right electrical circuit. Our production intern dropped in to help with the lights while the set was being assembled. I dropped in just in time to watch the last of the set get put together (though I did spend time following up on placement of announcements on websites and paper). 

Not all load ins go smoothly. Hanging and focussing of lights have been OK, but there's been some slight problems with sound--there's some interference going on and we're trying to track down the source of it. Right now, though, that's taking some time, and with just four short evenings to pull together the show in its final form (with all props and costumes as well as technical cues), we've decided to do what we can now, and try to track down the problem tomorrow. Right now, we're working with the sound cues as they are now, and letting the actors work with them---which is important, since this is the first time they've ever heard them (this isn't unusual, although when I sit in the designer's chair, I'll have certain sound cues ready weeks ahead of time, so we can hone actors reactions--for comedy, timing is everything, so having actual sound for rehearsals is vital).

This can be tedious sometimes, as actors may have to wait until tech can mesh up and solve problems that may crop up (or try to solve before pushing it to another day). Fortunately, we've brought in costumes, and we're having actors try them on for size and looks when we simultaneously deal with lighting and sound issues.


Finally, we launch into a cue-to-cue, running the lights and sound cues in sequence, with actors saying their lines and moving into their blocking; however, at a cue-to-cue, tech takes precedence, as this is the first time they've been able to pull everything together. But we manage to work our way through this and get a better handle on how this show runs. I can see visible steps taken by all the actors from even the last rehearsal (that was Sunday!). Good sign, I hope.

YELLOW FACE is a production of both the Pork Filled Players and Repertory Actors Theatre. It opens on Friday, August 5 and runs through Saturday, September 3 at the Richard Hugo House (1634 11th Ave in Seattle’s Capitol Hill area). Shows are 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm. Admission is $15 General Admission, $12 Students/Seniors/Artists at the door; tickets can also be purchased in advance at Brown Paper Tickets (http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/181433) for $12 General, $9 Students/Seniors/Artists (Reservations recommended). Discounted group rates are also available for parties of 10 or more. For more information and ticket reservations, please call the ReAct Box Office at (206)364-3283 or visit online at http://www.reactheatre.org or go to the Pork Filled Players website.


And we've release a second video:

We'll talk more, later.

Week Five - Entering the home stretch

Moses Yim and Jeremy Berens.

After reviving the cast after informing them of David Henry Hwang's visit, we've entered the stage where the rubber hits the road. People are pretty much off book (though actors can still get prompts from the stage manger by calling "Line?"). While a session or two may be devoted to particular scenes, each rehearsal is generally a run through---going through the entire with blocking, though costumes aren't used. With each run-through, blocking can and is usually tweaked, to help with the flow of action; it's not unusual to move scenes from one side of the stage to the other in order to facilitate the movement actors--make transitions smoother and avoid big gaps in the action.

Designer Maggie Lee (on the right),
donning her performing hat.

More designers are dropping into rehearsal; lighting designer Maggie Lee has come into to the run-throughs this week (not because she just felt like it, but because she was running the sketch side of Pork Filled Players for two performances)(the guy usually running it was off running damn fool artsy fartsy mockumentary show). As well, she has a ten minute piece in the Balagan show that's running in the Seattle parks. And, oh yeah, she's writing a new script for SIS Productions' Insatiable. Other designers have dropped in from time to time, and more will as we get more and more run throughs under our belts.

On the PR front, I've been trying to line up some interviews. I've gotten one lined up for DHH for the Seattle Times (I hope), and one for myself and David Hsieh for the International Examiner. Also will be talking to the NW Asian Weekly, and maybe trying to get a cast member interviewed for the Northwest Vietnamese News.


Just a reminder:
* there's a group deal with the Seattle chapter of National Asian American Professionals Association
* there's a group deal with the Seattle chapter of Asian American Journalists Association.
* there's a group deal with the Seattle Chinese Garden on August 27.

YELLOW FACE is a production of both the Pork Filled Players and Repertory Actors Theatre. It opens on Friday, August 5 and runs through Saturday, September 3 at the Richard Hugo House (1634 11th Ave in Seattle’s Capitol Hill area). Shows are 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm. Admission is $15 General Admission, $12 Students/Seniors/Artists at the door; tickets can also be purchased in advance at Brown Paper Tickets (http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/181433) for $12 General, $9 Students/Seniors/Artists. Discounted group rates are also available for parties of 10 or more. For more information and ticket reservations, please call the ReAct Box Office at (206)364-3283 or visit online at http://www.reactheatre.org or go to the Pork Filled Players website. 


Oh, and we've just released a video teaser: