AATC presents the Superfriends...

of Flushing Queens....

San Francisco- Asian American Theater Company presents a reading of THE SUPERFRIENDS OF FLUSHING QUEENS by Ji Hyun Lee. The reading is directed by Esperanza Catubig, and features Mario Alvarado, Linda Chuan, Roberto Divina, Mai Huynh, Robert Maher, Mari Mendoza, Naomi Quinones, and others. The reading will be held Saturday, December 4th , 7:00 p.m., at the Center for African, African Art and Culture (CAAAC0, Third Floor, 762 Fulton Street, between Webster and Buchanan in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco.

In THE SUPERFRIENDS OF FLUSHING QUEENS, Ji Hyun Lee brings together four Asian friends: a Korean, a Chinese, a Japanese and a Vietnamese, who struggle for the perfect grade in the academically advanced Flushing High School. But what you see isn't always what you get. Underneath all the ethnic stereotypes, the girls endure some pretty dysfunctional home lives. They long to escape from their oppressing families and see the prestigious scholarship to Harvard as a means of freeing themselves.

And through all their struggles, Linda, Eve, Michelle and Liat learn that good friends always stand together. As soon as one friend is in trouble, they morph into their altar egos Wonder Girl,, Slut Girl, Dyke Girl and Nerd Girl and jump into their Invisible BMW to rescue those friends in need. Because whatever may ail them at home, when they're together and in school, they will always be the Superfriends of Flushing Queens.

Ji Hyun is a 3rd year graduate student at Columbia University's Playwriting program. She has worked professionally as a screenwriter and story consultant for New York based film companies. Her writing has been published in The Asian Journal and NYU's Script Magazine. She is the recipient of Kumu Kahua Theater's Pacific Rim Prize. In 1994 and 1995 she was the semi finalist in The Writers Network Screenplay and Fiction Writing Competition for her plays MRS. LEE'S JADE BUDDHA and THE WORLD'S LAST DODO. In 1998, she was a semi finalist in Chesterfield Film Company's Writer's Film Project Competition. Currently, SUPERFRIENDS is being developed by Second Generation Productions where a staged reading will be performed at The Public Theater in January of 2000. Columbia University will also produce this play in April of 2000.

Esperanza Catubig , a San Francisco native, graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She has performed all over California in educational theatre, dance theater, and film. Recent Bay Area acting credits include Karen Hartman's GUM at the Magic Theatre, Tongue In a Mood's TSISMIS and TONGUE IN A MOOD ROAD SHOW, Pearl Ubungen Dancers and Musicians (REFUGEE and I-HOTEL/THE FALL), and Asian American Theater Co's revival of CHICKENCOOP CHINAMAN. Onscreen she can be seen in Charles Koppelman's DUMBARTON BRIDGE (with MARTIAL LAW'S Tom Wright) and David Doko's upcoming SCREW MARS! with James Wong. Previous directing credits include: David Henry Hwang's FOB in Dallas and a staged reading of Judy Soo Hoo's REFRIGERATORS.

Asian American Theater Company was founded in 1973 as a playwrights' workshop sponsored by the American Conservatory Theater. The company is dedicated to the production of New American plays by dramatists of Asian Pacific Islander descent. Throughout its history, AATC has served as a home for numerous Asian Pacific Islander American playwrights, directors, actors and designers, including Frank Chin, Margaret Cho, Dennis Dun, David Henry Hwang, Philip Kan Gotanda, Amy Hill, Momoko Iko, R.A. Shiomi, Wakako Yamauchi and Judi Nihei. After more than a quarter of a century of pioneering Asian American theater arts, AATC is poised to chart new directions for Asian Pacific Islander American theater arts into the new millennium.