Great news! Marianne Infante has received a Creative New Zealand grant to continue work on PINAY, the sellout smash of 2019, in preparation for a tour and remount.
First developed through Fresh off the Page in 2018, PINAY debuted its development season in 2019 at The Basement to rave reviews, produced by PAT. Marianne will work with Ahi Karunaharan and Sums Selvarajan to produce the next series of drafts.
Congratulations to Marianne - watch this space!
How do you run a theatre company in the midst of a global pandemic?
Photo: Ankita Singh
Creative Director Chye-Ling Huang on where to for Proudly Asian Theatre.
The outbreak of Covid-19 has changed all of our lives in different ways. With physical distancing enforced for the foreseeable future, the very nature of theatre itself - sharing space, breath, in all its palpable and visceral glory - has been put on time out. Survival - mentally, emotionally and financially - has been our priority and the priority of the practitioners we work with since Covid-19 distancing measures were implemented in March.
PAT was formed by two young actors as a reaction to the lack of Asian representation in a media landscape where we make up over 15% of Aotearoa, and almost a quarter of Auckland where we are based. Representation is vital to changing the prejudiced narrative that Asian diaspora live with, as much as it it vital in dismantling the unseen biases in casting, who holds power, whose art is prioritised and who gets control over our narratives. Lack of representation is actively damaging. The void is quickly filled with the simmering layer of anti-Asian sentiment embedded since the first wave of immigration in the 1860’s - one that has so quickly reared its head in this time of crisis. Our goal is simple: with every performance, gathering, post or korero we chip away at stereotypes and encourage other Asian artists to be visible, to create work that reflects their original and specific voice without fear of judgement - from reflective cultural journeys, to offbeat comedy, to non-verbal performance art.
We don’t know what the future holds - but we do know this: Asian voices need to be heard now more than ever.
A test of a play reading online - March 2020.
Some of our initiatives are unable to be executed safely, and we don’t know when they will be able to run again. However, our kaupapa is, as always, focussed on the artists intention. This presents exciting and challenging ways for us to present works, and to support artists. Some works can continue mentorship online - over zoom, or morph into research projects as opposed to performances. Some may be recorded in podcast form or be funnelled into essays that support the final performance piece as accompanying resources, deepening the discussion around the works.
We know these forms are no replacement to live theatre, and our mission isn’t to fit a square peg into a round hole. Our audiences and community are the beating heart of our work - and why we do what we do. But we will go where the artists take us, until we can deliver our stories face to face again.
Stay safe, stay home, stay tuned - and if you have any questions, ideas or concerns - we’re an email away.
From the team at PAT,
Chye-Ling Huang, Marianne Infante,
James Roque, Alyssa Medel and John Rata
EVERYONE
IS HAVING
MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCES
EXCEPT YOU
Our first reading of the year, and our first podcast recorded Radio-play for Fresh off the Page, Black Tree Bridge is also Chye-Ling Huang’s first play, ever.
Developed through Silo’s working titles programme in 2013, Chye-Ling is dusting off the script and battling old demons in a magic-realist tale of a young woman searching for validation and direction.
Chrys, a young directionless woman caught between her parents' vastly different cultural upbringings, and in between uni and the real world, latches onto Chinese manic pixie dream boy Leo for some direction and purpose. When he dies a week later, she is forced to look inward at the stories that drive her.
We chat to Chye-Ling about the process so far - catch the reading online soon!
What inspired you to write this play?
Black Tree Bridge was developed through Silo’s Working Titles Programme in 2013. I was inspired by Malaysia - the mythical world I had encountered in my childhood, jumbled with the stories, real and imagined, passed down from my Chinese family. This idea split into two plays - Black Tree Bridge and Call of the Sparrows, which was produced in 2016. I’m interested in who owns stories - culturally, who is ‘allowed’ to lay claim to what, and how we figure out what is meaningful or not in them? There was a lot of interpretation and re-telling of my own family stories - which centered around the village where my Kong Kong lived, called Black Tree Bridge in Xiamen, China. Black Tree Bridge became a myth on its own, and the play speaks to the attempt to untangle it.
What were the challenges you faced during the process?
Rewriting a play developed in 2013 is a challenge for a few reasons - I was given some great time and space at the Sargeson Centre, having been lucky enough to be awarded the Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship last year. I thought a little edit here and there and I’d be good to go - but my biggest challenge was making it relevant for where the world is at now, while being compassionate to the version of myself I was writing for at the time. It’s a multi layered beast, a tangled web - clarity and strong decisions are hard with something that’s been reworked a bunch of times!
What do you think makes a good story?
A strong heart, clear intentions, humanity and illumination, a lens into a way of seeing we might not be familiar with. I love stories with multiple lenses, characters and worlds.
How do you want people to feel at the end of your play?
Moved to see the ordinary as extraordinary, and vise versa. And to want to call their mums and say hi.
‘Who’ did you write your play for?
For my 19 year old self, who had no idea what to do with her life and was looking for answers in some pretty lateral places. A lot of Asian diaspora feel like they should have an inherent connection to their culture, but what that connection is and how it manifests is so ephemeral and elusive it can be hard to feel satisfied or validated, which might resonate.
What character was the most difficult/easiest to write? Why?
The lead, Chrys. Black Tree Bridge was the first play I wrote, and Silo’s workshop revealed a very simple truth, that your work is you, it comes from the need to say something, and whether the circumstances are autobiographical, imagined or researched it is ultimately your story. Leaning into that was difficult a few years on, and required a re-framing - to make the character someone that made sense for the story I’m trying to tell now, and not then.
Can you explain any ‘theatrical’ ideas/concepts utilized in the play?
Black Tree Bridge is full of magic realism; the world of the play is heightened but still operates within the rules of its own world and is something that follows a logic we can still understand. The world through the lens of a character constantly searching for mystic symbols is rife with them, and everyone and thing seems to be telling its own story. Clarity and realism becomes the oasis. I’m still fired up on work by The Finger Players in Singapore, it’s extremely freeing and allows for a lot of visual elements.
"You have one job okay? You are a student. You study. That’s all you need to do. Nothing else. Why is that so hard?"
Photo: John Rata
A Korean high school student.
A Korean private tutor.
They study together once a week in preparation for the NCEA Level 1 Exams.
They also talk about life and feel sad and stuff.
Uhyoung Choi’s first foray into playwriting has been a tandem journey into theatre, story and what his values are. An unassuming powerhouse, Uhyoung’s quest to dive into the arts in 2019 to expand his horizons has led him here - to the Fresh off the Page series where new writers are challenged to complete a new script and have it read aloud in front of a live audience. Working with playwright mentor Nathan Joe, Uhyoung’s first play ‘My Original Position’ explores the relationship between a tutor, a student and the world around them.Uhyoung opens up about the process and what inspired him to dive in.
Come to the live reading!
Wednesday, 8:30 PM
November 13th, 2019
Basement Theatre (Lower Greys Ave).
This event only requires you to register for a FREE entry and is open to all. Grab your seat/s here: https://bit.ly/32OLy2Z
What inspired you to write the play?
When I was in Korea around age 5, I had many extracurricular activities. I was still in kindergarten, but I had a private English tutor, a private math tutor, I had recorder lessons, harmonica lessons, piano lessons, taekwondo lessons and multiple art classes.
When I moved to New Zealand the extracurricular activities continued, and I would study while my Kiwi friends played after school. I felt like I had a class for everything, from violin to tap dancing to French. I would arrive home and my father would tutor me in math and sciences. I had piles of workbooks, including SAT prep books, that my parents expected me to work through by myself after school and on the weekends.
These lessons formed a large portion of my childhood. I was expected to excel in every aspect of school life, and anything but the best was unacceptable. Needless to say, I was quite miserable at times.
Now that I am older, I am now on the other side tutoring students in math, English, legal studies, and philosophy. And I remember, around two years ago, I was tutoring a 17-year-old Korean girl who was living in New Zealand by herself, funded by her extremely wealthy parents. Through our lessons I noticed that she was a very sad person. She had all the money she could want, but she felt that she had been abandoned by her parents. So, each lesson we would spend a portion of the class just talking about life and our problems, and we both learned a lot through them.
This led me to wonder what my tutors had thought when I was much younger. I wondered if they had noticed when I was sad. I wondered if they cared about what I was going through. I wondered if they knew I wanted to run away.
So, I wondered, if I had the chance to go back in time and tutor my younger self, what would I do? What would I tell him? And would I be able to make a positive difference in my life?
This is what inspired me to write my play, My Original Position.
What were the challenges you faced during the process?
As a first-time writer, I found everything extremely challenging.
The biggest challenge I faced was trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to say through my play. I had ideas and emotions I wanted to express, but sometimes writing your thoughts out on paper makes you realize just how illogical your thoughts can be. This made me seriously reflect on my beliefs and I think the writing process changed me a lot. As my views developed, the play itself took dramatic turns to accommodate, and at many points I had to fully overhaul my play as I was no longer the person that started writing it.
What do you think makes a good story?
Personally, I love stories that challenge my views and beliefs. Stories that make me reflect on my memories. Stories that leave me thinking afterwards.
I also love stories with real (fictional) people in them. People doing people things with other people. I think that’s what makes a good story.
How do you want people to feel at the end of the play?
“Oh, I never thought about it like that before”
Or
“Huh, haven’t seen that on stage before”
Or
“Wow, Uhyoung is a real cool dude”
I think any of these reactions would make me very happy.
Who did you write your play for?
I think this is a very selfish play, I wrote it primarily for me. I wrote it for my past self, because I would have loved to have read this when I was younger. I wrote it for the me of today, because it was fun and helped me process my thoughts and emotions. And I wrote it for my future self, in the hopes that it will set in motion a lifelong pursuit and love of writing plays.
What characters was the easiest to write? Why?
They were all hard. Writing is hard. If you are reading this, please send help.
Can you explain any ‘theatrical’ ideas/concepts utilized in the play?
It was very important for me to convey a sense of entrapment and constant observation throughout the play. I, hopefully, achieved this through the use of a one room play.
I absolutely love one room plays and storytelling within that limitation. It traps the characters in a small space, forces unique and heightened interactions, and creates an almost pressure cooker experience. Limiting the play to one room also allowed me to play around with sound, and how the sound would travel from the room to the rest of the house, and vice versa, to create a sense of constant observation.
“One minute you can yell at them with all your might. The next, you can wrap your arm around them, protecting them from anything else in the world that would do the same. “
Photos: Ankita Singh
After living in New Zealand for 9 years, a South Auckland Filipino family’s small-scale food business is offered its biggest opportunity yet – a spot at The Auckland International Food Expo at ASB Showgrounds. But the chance of progressing their family’s success reveals hidden secrets and fears that bring both their business, and relations to each other and themselves, to trial.
John Rata’s first play Sweet, Sour and Salty hits at the heart of a universal diaspora experience. Multilayered and for a multi generational perspective, Rata’s ambitious first work will debut in its first reading, as part of the Fresh off the Page series for 2019. After photographing play readings, to assistant producing and now taking the leap to writing a full length work, we chat to John about the challenges and discoveries so far.
What inspired you to write this play?
I was inspired by the real-life Filipino and Asian immigrant stories I'd observed through my lifetime - the sacrifice of the parents, the balance between upholding culture and assimilation and the impact of uprooting. I admired the strength of immigrant parents and wanted to write something that could honor their hardship and paint them as people - something more than just ‘oppressors’ to their children. Along with this, I had strong feelings to write a play about family coming together and forming closer bonds through trial, which was another big inspiration.
What were the challenges you faced during the process?
I had started the play knowing the types of feelings I was wanting to convey. The next and most challenging step for me was to find a plot and context to structure the story around. This took some time, and I'd actually written portion of a draft that I ultimately scrapped. As more time passed, I began to slowly piece together the 'world' I was creating. Once I had this 'map' better inked in my head, it gave me more confidence to let the characters occupy the page.
What do you think makes a good story?
I think a good story should remind people of their own humanity and all the emotion, beauty, ugliness, hardship and happiness that accompanies it. I think a good story allows someone to identify their own existence within the characters, where they can have their own human experience reflected, validated or affirmed by the story, and can learn something new about themselves at it's end.
How do you want people to feel at the end of your play?
With the context of the story, I'd like to leave people inspired – feeling that they can achieve with belief and hard work, that they can overcome their fears and insecurities, and anything else they think may be holding them ‘back’. I'd also like people to be reminded of the love they have for their families and friends (which can sometimes be easily forgotten), and that they can hopefully spread that positivity in their personal lives.
‘Who’ did you write your play for?
The emotions behind the play were inspired by immigrant families and my wish to honor their experiences, however there’s no specific person this play is for. I hope that it can be a story for everyone and that no matter what race or gender they are, that person can see a portion of themselves mirrored.
What character was the easiest to write? Why?
All the characters had both their own challenges and other qualities that make them easier to write than others. I would say that all the main characters are branches of my own self, so certain characters being 'easier' could even depend on the day – the time I spent writing them during scenes, memories from my own life that would inspire me for a certain character at a certain point of time and even things happening day to day that might remind me about a character. To get a more proper answer, Riza, the mother of the family, was the first character arc I had internalized, so she was the easiest to further sketch.
Can you explain any ‘theatrical’ ideas/concepts utilized in the play?
There is a sort of ‘nightmare’ sequence in the play that reflects a personal pressure a certain character is dealing with. This sequence allows for some experimentation by the actors and director regarding the space, use of voice and flow of dialogue. There is also a memory sequence that occurs in present time, and conventional flashbacks that return us to the childhood of some characters.
Catch the live reading of Sweet, Sour and Salty!
Wednesday, 8:30 PM
October 09, 2019
Basement Theatre (Lower Greys Ave).
This event only requires you to register for a FREE entry and is open to all.
PSA:
1. Fresh Off the Page seats get snatched up very quickly...
2. Post-show, there will be a Koha bucket available for the chance to assist Proudly Asian Theatre to fulfil our writers' development and FOTP initiative. Our new writers love a big cast! We thank you for your generosity in advance.
Grab your seat/s here: bit.ly/FOTP_Oct
