Grab your satchel and dust off your best traveling hat for an epic new steampunk adventure on stage this summer! Pork Filled Productions presents the world premiere of The Tumbleweed Zephyr by Maggie Lee (The Clockwork Professor), directed by Amy Poisson (These Streets, Fast Company), at the 12th Avenue Arts Mainstage (1620 12th Ave., Seattle), August 14 to 29, 2015.
Two brothers, Atticus and Kai, climb aboard the Tumbleweed Zephyr, a transcontinental train headed from New Providence for the wilds of the Western Territories. But what starts as a simple journey by rail soon veers off-track, with airship bandits, twists of fate, wayward sparks of romance and the lonely call of a train whistle echoing across the clear desert sky.
The Tumbleweed Zephyr features a powerhouse multicultural cast (with a majority of actors of color), an innovative design team and enough rip-roarin’ action to bring this summer blockbuster to the stage. Shows are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2 pm and Monday Pay-What-You-Can Industry Nights at 8pm.
“We had such a great audience response with The Clockwork Professor in 2013, so we’re really excited to revisit the New Providence world with a brand new adventure,” says Executive Director Roger Tang.
“It’s a spinoff from The Clockwork Professor—it’s several years later with a new group of characters, facing new challenges and exploring areas outside the city of New Providence. We’re mixing up bits from our favorite genres, from Westerns to romance to steampunk science fiction. An important part of our mission at PFP is to give multicultural artists the opportunity to create their own narratives however they choose, and to have fun doing it!”
The Tumbleweed Zephyr cast features Michael Blum, Manuel Cawaling, Linnea Ingalls, Madison Jade Jones, Stephanie Kim-Bryan, Kevin Lin, Troy Lund and Tadd Morgan. Assistant director is Brad Walker. Producers are Maggie Lee, May Nguyen and Roger Tang. Assistant producer is Randall Brammer.
Advance purchase tickets are $15 General Admission and $12 Student/Senior at Brown Paper Tickets, at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/press/1388227. There is also a Double Date Deal (four General Admissions for $50). At the door, tickets are $18 General Admission, $15 Student/Senior/TPS. PFP also participates in Teen Tix. The Tumbleweed Zephyr is rated PG-13 for suggestive dialogue and combat situations. For more information, please email Pork Filled Productions at info@porkfilled.com.
Maggie Lee is a Seattle playwright whose work reflects her love of comedy, science fiction, and horror; her produced plays include The Journey of the Bell (The 14/48 Projects), The Clockwork Professor (Pork Filled Productions), The Sunshower Bride and Paper and Ink (Live Girls! Theater), Last Light (Playing in Progress), the Revealed! walking tours (SIS Productions), collaborating on Greetings from Styx and King Arthur and the Knights of the Playground (Balagan Theatre), Kindred Spirits (ReAct Theatre), H.P. Lovecraft adaptations (Open Circle Theater), the Double Shot Theatre Festival, and 14/48. Maggie is also the lead sketch writer and a performer with the Pork Filled Players, Seattle’s Asian American sketch comedy group, as well as designing lights, props, and puppets for many local fringe theaters. She was a panelist for Asian American Women in Comedy at the 2011 National Asian American Theater Conference in Los Angeles, and was twice featured at ACT’s Local Writers Showcase at the REPRESENT! Multicultural Playwrights’ Festival. She is a member of the SIS Writers Group, Rain City Projects, the Sandbox Artists Collective, and an Artist in Residence at Theatre Off Jackson.
Amy Poisson is thrilled to be joining PFP for her third show as director – previous shows include Fast Company by Carla Ching (2014 Seattle Times Footlight Award) and The Clockwork Professor by Maggie Lee, both at Theatre Off Jackson. Most recently, Amy directed Blood/Water/Paint by Joy McCullough-Carranza at TOJ for Live Girls! Theater. She also directed These Streets by Gretta Harley & Sarah Rudinoff at Central Heating Lab at ACT and The Strange Misadventures of Patty by Allison Moore at Annex Theatre. She was the Associate Director for Robin Hood with Allison Narver at Seattle Children’s Theatre and Assistant Director with Sheila Daniels on Elektra at Seattle Shakespeare Company. Amy has directed small various projects for 14/48, Live Girls!, and Book-It, and is a former Equity stage manager and worked at the Seattle Rep for five seasons. She has also managed shows at the Intiman, Empty Space, ACT, and many other small theaters that have come and gone over the years. Amy holds a Certificate in Directing for Stage and Screen from the UW, a BA in Theatre from Eckerd College and is currently adjunct faculty at Cornish College of the Arts and Seattle University.
Spun off from the long running sketch comedy group the Pork Filled Players, Pork Filled Productions stretches the boundaries of Asian American theatre. Channelling the boundless imagination and creativity of modern Asian American artists, Pork Filled Productions embraces a spectrum of unexpected genres, such as steampunk (The Clockwork Professor by Maggie Lee), supernatural comedies (Big Hunk o’ Burnin’ Love by Prince Gomolvilas), mistaken race farces (Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang), crime family (Fast Company by Carla Ching) and even Kung-fu zombie Shakespeare (Living Dead in Denmark by Qui Nguyen).
The Tumbleweed Zephyr is supported by 4Culture and the Office of Arts & Culture Seattle and is an Associated Program of Shunpike. Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington with the services, resources and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.
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