Calendar of Events

A musical journey 30 years in the making

This epic play/rock concert thrusts us into the life of a young woman trying to piece together her family history thirty years after her father fled Cambodia. Featuring actor/musicians who perform a mix of contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies live, playwright Lauren Yee brings to vivid life the Cambodian rock scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s, a movement cut short by the Khmer Rouge’s brutal attempt to erase the music (and musicians) once and for all. This story is about survivors, the resilient bond of family and the enduring power of music. Directed by Chay Yew (Hannah and the Dread Gazebo).

#CambodianRockBandOSF

In the award-winning Vietgone, Qui Nguyen recounted his parents’ hot and hilarious courtship in a Vietnamese refugee camp in 1975. Now, six years later, Tong and Quang are building new lives in a foreign land called Arkansas. But marriage is hard – especially when she’s having doubts and his first one isn’t over yet. One family’s history makes for a raucously funny, deeply moving take on the immigrant story, told with hip-hop style.

Directed by the 2016 OBIE winner Michael Leibenluft, the play tells a story of a gay Chinese man who comes back home to Hawaii and begins a journey of reconciliation between his chosen identity and the heritage he left behind. The production will be playing at New Ohio Theatre (at 154 Christopher Street, NYC); performances run from March 31 thru April 20. Tickets start at $20 and can be purchased through OvationTix (https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1005801/1551416400000) or by calling 866-811-4111.

6/29/18 10:10:07 AM
Victory Gardens 2018/2019 Campaign Photography
Kiah Stern, “Indecent”
© Todd Rosenberg Photography 2018

Directed by Marti Lyons
April 5-May 5, 2019

“This writer displays a distinctive, keen-edged wit, a quirky and capacious imagination, and a fresh, millennial vision of Asian America.”  —Seattle Times

Part comedy, part mystery, part rock concert, this thrilling story toggles back and forth in time, as father and daughter face the music of the past. Neary, a young Cambodian American, has found evidence that could finally put away individuals who carried out the Cambodian genocide. But her work is far from done. When Dad shows up unannounced—his first return to Cambodia since fleeing 30 years ago—it’s clear this isn’t just a pleasure trip. A wild rock-and-roll journey through the eyes of father and daughter, Artistic Director Chay Yew brings the world premiere journey of Lauren Yee’s (Samsara) Cambodian Rock Band from South Coast Repertory Theatre to Victory Gardens.

Directed by Shelly Butler, the new work tells the story of a Japanese American scientist who forages in a Pacific Northwest forest for mushroom specimens. As it turns out, the forest is enchanted, and the man meets his younger self and his future son, leading him to confront his own homophobia.

Fruiting Bodies was developed with Ma-Yi’s Writers Lab, of which Chanse is a member and Suh is a founding member. The celebrated writers lab is the largest collective of Asian-American playwrights in the world, and a primary incubator of new Asian American theatre.

M. Butterfly, written by Chinese-American playwright David Henry Hwang and directed by Jeffrey Mason and Susan Mason, received the Tony Award for Best Play in 1988.  It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989. Based loosely on the real-life romance between a French diplomat and a Chinese opera diva in the 1960s-1980s, M. Butterfly is a tale of love, deceit, and espionage.  Although there are references to Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, the opera, this show is NOT the opera. Performed in three acts, M. Butterfly is recommended for mature audiences; play contains adult content, language, and nudity. Tickets are available by clicking on the button above and at the BriarPatch Food Co-op in Grass Valley.  All seats are reserved and patrons seeking wheel chair accessibility should contact Jeannie Wood at info@catsweb.org for tickets. Groups of 10 or more receive a 10% discount; the Final Dress and Preview are exempt.  Tickets go on sale Saturday, Dec. 1, at 10:00 a.m. at www.catsweb.org and at Briar Patch Co-op in Grass Valley.

Raised illiterate, married and abandoned at 12, then kidnapped at 17, Prafulya embodies the struggles of a girl born to poverty in 1800s India until a chance encounter changes her life forever. Devi [/they-vee/] is the story of a woman who rises to power against the rule of the British, quickly becoming the de facto ruler of the land, or The Devi (Goddess) Chaudhurani (Holder of the Land).

Beloved by her people, the Devi uses her position to run a parallel government that believes in equality, justice, and freedom, proving that a woman can be the protagonist in her own story, despite mens’ best efforts to make her invisible.

Devi is adapted for the stage from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Devi Chaudhurani. Published in 1884, this text called for a resurgent India to fight against the rule of the British Empire with strength from within the common people. At a time when most women in India remained behind purdah and did not show their faces to men, Chatterjee’s work about a woman creating an ideal state lead by and for the people was revolutionary.

Pratidhwani brings history to the stage in a new, drama-dance by Moumita Bhattacharya. This production is presented in English and will feature eight Indian dance forms and 45 performers.Raised illiterate, married and abandoned at 12, then kidnapped at 17, Prafulya embodies the struggles of a girl born to poverty in 1800s India until a chance encounter changes her life forever. Devi [/they-vee/] is the story of a woman who rises to power against the rule of the British, quickly becoming the de facto ruler of the land, or The Devi (Goddess) Chaudhurani (Holder of the Land).

Beloved by her people, the Devi uses her position to run a parallel government that believes in equality, justice, and freedom, proving that a woman can be the protagonist in her own story, despite mens’ best efforts to make her invisible.

Devi is adapted for the stage from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Devi Chaudhurani. Published in 1884, this text called for a resurgent India to fight against the rule of the British Empire with strength from within the common people. At a time when most women in India remained behind purdah and did not show their faces to men, Chatterjee’s work about a woman creating an ideal state lead by and for the people was revolutionary.

Pratidhwani brings history to the stage in a new, drama-dance by Moumita Bhattacharya. This production is presented in English and will feature eight Indian dance forms and 45 performers.

OriginKC: New Works Festival. Umbrella dates for the New Works Festival are April 20-May 19, 2019. COPAKEN STAGE. Information on the full repertory schedule will follow shortly.

Three characters are playfully positioned next to one another. They each have their own sense of reality, and maybe even sanity, around a terrorist suspect and a love affair being conducted exclusively via email. Which of these people are grounded in reality? Who is telling the truth? Who is to blame? Playwright Dipika Guha looks at the slippery slope regarding culpability and expectations, using absurdist humor as a powerful tool.

Created & Performed by Diana Oh April 24 – 28, 2019 at OBERON Diana Oh is a witch. She knows it. So do her closest friends. Clairvoyance runs in her family. She went to a spiritual counselor in the jungle in Thailand, and the spiritual counselor told her to sing and go wild in Boston. Everything else the spiritual counselor said came true, so Diana is doing it. Clairvoyance is an exchange of energy designed to bypass the bullshit and celebrate the knowledge of our bodies. It’s a concert, it’s a party, with moments of divination. Diana Oh performs her original soul, pop, rock, and punk music from journal entries and the beyond. She is one of Refinery 29’s Top 14 LGBTQ Influencers, creator of {my lingerie play}, and the first Queer Korean-American interviewed on Korean Broadcast Radio. Upworthy and The Wall Street Journal call her “Badass.” The New York Times calls her “Irreverent.” You can call her “Friend.”

April 27 – May 25 @ Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre
#RomComWithC1

Qui’s parents always told him they fell in love at first sight—but really, it was just a hook up. After the fall of Saigon. In a refugee camp. In Arkansas.

A kinda-true love story with a hip-hop heart, Vietgone is a hilarious ride from Marvel Studios writer Qui Nguyen, who mixes music and memory to pin down his own origin story.