Asian American Theatre Revue

In Breakneck, Wyo., only two of the town's 1,000 inhabitants are Asian-American ˆ Travis, a high school English teacher who quit Los Angeles after a relationship soured; and Chester, the confused adopted son of Americans who never bothered to learn his country of origin.

Paul Morgan Stetler plays Del, a dim-witted character who gets a friend to write love letters for him, in Mo'olelo Performing Arts' "Cowboy Versus Samurai," based loosely on "Cyrano de Bergerac."

We meet the pair at the start of Michael Golamco's promising, if contrived, comedy "Cowboy Versus Samurai." The guys are in Travis' classroom, where Chester is conducting another farcical meeting of the Breakneck Asian American Association (BAAA). Bleating like a lamb and lamenting the oppressive absence of tofu at the local grocery, Chester brings big news: Another A.A. is coming to town ˆ Veronica Lee from Flushing, Queens, "the Korean capital of New York City."

When this new biology teacher arrives, she's the answer to Chester's prayer; he sees a petite Korean hottie. The friendship she begins, though, is with the more sensible Travis.

Golamco's well-traveled 2005 play, now running in a thoughtful, well-cast production by Mo'olelo Performing Arts, was the first in a series by the National Asian American Theatre Company featuring Asian-American playwrights reworking the classics of Western theater lit.

The source is Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac," with handsome, sensitive Travis (Volt Francisco) becoming the Cyrano figure penning love letters for his dimwit friend, the part-time P.E. teacher Del (Paul Morgan Stetler).

Veronica, you see, dates only white men. And though Travis argues that race has "nothing to do with attraction," for her, skin color explains a destructive fascination with inappropriate white jerks.

Golamco neither follows Rostand too closely, nor freights the play with too much thematic baggage, though director Kimber Lee tends to turn up the heat on the earnest moments when a slow simmer might better serve the script's serious and wise points.

Golamco is a wisecracking L.A. playwright with a good ear for punchy and ironic conversational talk; more important, he possesses a wry poetic sense. The letters Travis pens for Del reveal as much about the playwright's deeper talent as they do about the forgiving character of genial, slightly haunted Travis.

Oddly, it's when Veronica and Travis argue directly about race, revealing select bits of their immigrant families' backgrounds, that the dialogue feels ponderous ˆ even artificial.

Eric "Pogi" Sumangil energizes the sitcommy character of Chester, a man so befuddled by feeling "an island of yellow in a sea of white" that he adopts Asian identities the way others change shirts: He's alternately Bruce Lee, a Maoist, a ninja with a grappling hook, and, less plausibly, a Buddhist monk in a KKK hood.
Paul Morgan Stetler brings a lanky, relaxed charm to the role of Del, a guy whose yearning to see the world grows the more he learns tolerance.

Zandi De Jesus plays Veronica as a brittle teaser, an approach in line with the character's fear of being seen as a sex kitten. But the role is underwritten and implausible; she decides Del's OK because his porn stash doesn't feature submissive Asian gals.

Francisco's sweet Travis is persuasive early on, but needs to give his final scenes a jolt of passion to clarify the happy romantic ending.

The Tenth Avenue Theatre is the most congenial venue in which the itinerant Mo'olelo has so far performed. David Weiner's elegant projections evoke the Big Sky Country, as do the tunes (if not the overloud winds) in Jeremy Siebert's sound design. In its setting and production values, the show marks an admirable step forward.

Artistically, however, the plays chosen by Mo'olelo founder Seema Sueko and her artistic associate Kimber Lee straddle the line between theme-heavy social action and beguiling theater art. Their staging of "Cowboy Versus Samurai" struggles with that dual purpose, too, even as the company moves closer to becoming that most elusive and desirable of San Diego entities, a mid-sized Equity theater company.

DETAILS
"Cowboy Versus Samurai"
When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 and 8, 2 p.m. Dec. 9, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13-15, 2 p.m. Dec. 16, with some 9:30 a.m. performances for high school students.
Where: Tenth Avenue Theatre, 930 10th Ave., downtown.
Tickets: $18-$30, with discounts for seniors, students and San Diego Actors Alliance members.
Information: (619) 342-7395
Online: www.moolelo.net

Playwright: Michael Golamco. Director: Kimber Lee. Set: David Weiner. Lighting: Jason Bieber. Sound: Jeremy Siebert. Costumes: Jennifer Brawn Gittings. Fight choreographer: John Hazlewood. Cast: Paul Morgan Stetler, Volt Francisco, Eric "Pogi" Sumangil, Zandi De Jesus.

From SanDiego.com

San Diego Arts
'Cowboy vs. Samurai' at Tenth Avenue Theatre
Mo'olelo lassos humor, humanity
By Jennifer Chung
Posted on Dec 04 2007
Last updated Dec 04 2007

Giving a new twist to an old story, Michael Golamco reworked Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac into a play where race, rather than a voluminous nose, is the stumbling block to love. It’s a natural transition in Golamco’s romantic comedy "Cowboy Versus Samurai," which explores culture, stereotypes and self-hatred with sharp wit and frequent wisdom.

Mo’olelo Performing Arts, known for producing intense dramas about social issues, gets the play’s humor just right with a terrific cast that coaxes grace and sincerity out of the everyday flaws, misconceptions and endearing quirks of these likeable characters.

In Golamco’s version, the Cyrano character is Korean-American Travis, a high schoolEnglish teacher in Breakneck, Wyoming, where the horses outnumber the people, and the number of ethnic restaurants -- one -- almost outnumbers the Asian residents. The culture clash is palpable. The only other Asian in town is his friend Chester, president of the Breakneck Asian American Alliance. He'son a one-man crusade to get tofu stocked in the local market, and fighting for other such matters of great social and political import.

The play opens as the “two-donkey town” is about to get a jenny. Veronica isformer city slicker looking to get lost in Cowpoke USA while she takes a break from a string of regrettable relationships. She's also a smart, sassy and gorgeous Korean-American biology teacher. Travis is not without his own baggage; he’s a Los Angeles transplant running from a bad breakup.
Travis and Veronica hit it off, natch, and he falls instantly for her. But when he finds out she only dates white guys, he backs off and even helps his inarticulate, dim-witted Caucasian friend Del woo her through poetic letters full of touching anecdotes.

With the classic Cyrano triangle set up, Golamco gets busy exploring larger issues of race relations and identity: assimilation, extremist views on racial purity and internalized stereotypes. In one pointed scene, Chester and Veronica square off in a verbal tit for tat about the stereotypes they’ve laid not on each other, but themselves: Do you think I’m effeminate? Do you think I’m a sucky-sucky, love-you-long-time leg spreader? Do you think that I’m ashamed of myself?

The playwright smartly doesn’t provide answers to the larger questions of race relations, but does provide some perspective. The humor in "Cowboy" runs from satirical and witty to the heavy handed, but this ensemble finds a good balance.

Eric ‘Pogi’ Sumangil is hilarious as Chester, a character on the edge of caricature. Sumangil even manages to bring a good amount of charm and depth to the rash but mostly harmless “anarchist militant psychopath.” Chester’s political dogma and wacky revolutionary schemes hide his confusion and isolation -- his adoptive white parents neglected to find out his country of origin, and leaving him to try on the trappings of various Asian cultures hoping one will provide the right fit.

As Veronica, Zandi de Jesus is both tough yet vulnerable, full of self-doubt but making a good show of it. Paul Morgan Stetler plays the doltish yet genial Del, but doesn’t quite have the physical presence, the hunky cowboy-ness, that the part calls for.

At the center of the show is Volt Francisco, well cast in the role of Travis. Franciscoskillfully delineates the character’s duality and struggles -- between self-assuredness and self-consciousness, reserve and assertiveness, cowboy and samurai -- with subtle nuances.

Director Kimber Lee aids the nimble dialogue along by keeping the pacing steady, with smooth transitions between the many scenes, assisted by Jason Beiber’s lighting. David F. Weiner’s multiple-locale set includes screens projecting lovely skyscape images, which, along with Jeremy Siebert’s sound design, evoke the wind-swept, desolate landscape.

“Cowboy Versus Samurai” shouldn’t be pigeonholed as an Asian play or a work about race -- it is much more a story about friendship, love and belonging. These are things that each of the characters, and all of us as humans, struggle with. See this charming Mo’olelo production before it rides off into the sunset.

About the author: Jennifer Chung is an editor at The Daily Transcript and a freelance arts and culture writer.

By: PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer
In the opening scene of "Cowboy Versus Samurai," a Wyoming cowpoke recites a telling bit of prose: "Things in nature always hide," he says of the lizards and moths, " ... because when you stand out in the world, you invite danger."

It's an insightful observation by the lanky, drawling P.E. teacher Del, but there's just one problem. These words are not his own. They've been scripted for him by his colleague Travis, a smart but timid Korean-American schoolteacher, to help Del win the heart of town newbie Veronica. Certain he has no chance with Veronica himself (for she only dates white men), Travis decides to woo her covertly, revealing his secrets, dreams and passions through the letters he writes on behalf of the dimwitted Del.
If the plot sounds familiar, you're not imagining things. Michael Golamco based his comedy, which Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company is producing this month in San Diego, on Edmond Rostand's 1897 tragicomedy "Cyrano de Bergerac." But instead of a huge nose getting in the way of the hero's self-esteem, it's Travis' own self-loathing about his Asian identity that keeps him from revealing his true self to Veronica.
Yet while Golamco's racially charged dialogue hits the mark squarely, he dodges the arrows in the end, concluding the play with a happily-ever-after ending that feels contrived. Rostand's "Cyrano" makes you laugh, then breaks your heart, and "Cowboy Versus Samurai" delivers on only the first part of that promise.

Kimber Lee directs a strong four-member cast in the local premiere of "Cowboy Versus Samurai," and the production is poetically rendered by scenic designer David F. Weiner.

Warm and likable Volt Francisco stars in the play as Travis, an L.A. native and English teacher who has fled both his past and his heritage to move to rural Breakneck, Wyo., where as the town's only Korean-American, he has grown accustomed to the racial slurs meted out to him by the town's ignorant, all-white residents. Dumped by his white fiancee because of his race, Travis not only accepts the casual racism he encounters in Breakneck, he has come to believe it.

Serving as his angry conscience and polar opposite is Chester, the town's only other Asian-American, who manages the local taco joint and is the militant leader of BAAA (the Breakneck Asian American Association, membership: 2). Adopted by whites at birth from an undetermined Asian nation, Chester celebrates and searches for his heritage, calls Travis a "Twinkie" (yellow on the outside, white on the inside), and chastises his letter-writing efforts for Del as "like a Chinese waiter giving him a fork." Chester is nimbly played by Eric "Pogi" Sumangil, whose comic timing helps release the racial tension that builds up between the characters.

Paul Morgan Stetler steals the show as Del, the none-too-bright, pot-smoking P.E. teacher whose sweetness, simplicity (and fake letters) win Veronica's heart. Stetler's natural delivery and innate likability make his loser character endearing. And Zandi De Jesus has edge and spark as Veronica, the brainy but stand-offish new teacher who becomes the object of everyone's affection.

David F. Weiner's set features a wall of blank panels on which beautifully rendered images of Wyoming's vast open skies are projected. With Jason Bieber's muted lighting, the scenery creates its own mood. Jeremy Siebert designed the sound, Jennier Brawn Gittings created the costumes, and Jennifer Leigh Wheeler is stage manager.

While letters were a standard form of communication in Rostand's day, they're not as realistic today (especially among co-workers at the same school ---- why not e-mail?). It stretches credibility for the smart Veronica to believe the poetic novelettes came from the mind of Del, who describes himself ungrammatically as "a dumb." But there is a sweetness to the story and you're willing to suspend disbelief to see where it takes you.

Where: Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company at 10th Avenue Theatre, 930 10th Ave., San Diego

"Speak for yourself, John." But what if John Alden, or in this case Travis, an English teacher, can't. Until Veronica arrived, he was one of only two Asian-Americans in Breakneck, a "two donkey" Wyoming town. She's Korean-American with a penchant for white men. And when she falls for Del, a hunky, none-too-bright P.E. teacher, Travis writes love letters to her and signs Del's name, à la Cyrano de Bergerac. Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company has earned a reputation for staging entertaining and thought-provoking theater. Michael Golamco's smart, funny Cowboy Versus Samurai is both a love story that poses tough, intricate questions about identity, race, and bias, without sounding like a lecture or opting for easy solutions (even the love story's in doubt). David F. Weiner's useful, multi-leveled set has five panels, on which color slides (and Jeremy Siebert's first-rate sounds, especially wraparound winds) expand the space to Wyoming proportions. Except for a tendency to rush their lines, the four-person cast -- Paul Morgan Stetler (Del), Volt Francisco (Travis, still running though convinced he's stopped), Eric "Pogi" Sumangil (radical, and racist, Chester), and Zandi De Jesus (NY-savvy Veronica) -- all handle their assignments quite well. And remember the names. Each shows promise and is relatively new to local theater.

Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company, 10th Avenue Theatre, 930 10th Avenue, downtown, through December 16; Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Matinee Sunday at 2:00 p.m. 619-342-7395.
Rating: Worth a try.

Questions? Email



	Mo'olelo: Cowboy vs. Samurai reviews San Diego Tribune Union Mo'olelo gives 'Cowboy' pretty good ride Well-cast production is a thoughtful takeoff on 'Cyrano de Bergerac' By Anne Marie Welsh THEATER CRITIC December 3, 2007 In Breakneck, Wyo., only two of the town's 1,000 inhabitants are Asian-American ˆ Travis, a high school English teacher who quit Los Angeles after a relationship soured; and Chester, the confused adopted son of Americans who never bothered to learn his country of origin. Paul Morgan Stetler plays Del, a dim-witted character who gets a friend to write love letters for him, in Mo'olelo Performing Arts' "Cowboy Versus Samurai," based loosely on "Cyrano de Bergerac." We meet the pair at the start of Michael Golamco's promising, if contrived, comedy "Cowboy Versus Samurai." The guys are in Travis' classroom, where Chester is conducting another farcical meeting of the Breakneck Asian American Association (BAAA). Bleating like a lamb and lamenting the oppressive absence of tofu at the local grocery, Chester brings big news: Another A.A. is coming to town ˆ Veronica Lee from Flushing, Queens, "the Korean capital of New York City." When this new biology teacher arrives, she's the answer to Chester's prayer; he sees a petite Korean hottie. The friendship she begins, though, is with the more sensible Travis. Golamco's well-traveled 2005 play, now running in a thoughtful, well-cast production by Mo'olelo Performing Arts, was the first in a series by the National Asian American Theatre Company featuring Asian-American playwrights reworking the classics of Western theater lit. The source is Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac," with handsome, sensitive Travis (Volt Francisco) becoming the Cyrano figure penning love letters for his dimwit friend, the part-time P.E. teacher Del (Paul Morgan Stetler). Veronica, you see, dates only white men. And though Travis argues that race has "nothing to do with attraction," for her, skin color explains a destructive fascination with inappropriate white jerks. Golamco neither follows Rostand too closely, nor freights the play with too much thematic baggage, though director Kimber Lee tends to turn up the heat on the earnest moments when a slow simmer might better serve the script's serious and wise points. Golamco is a wisecracking L.A. playwright with a good ear for punchy and ironic conversational talk; more important, he possesses a wry poetic sense. The letters Travis pens for Del reveal as much about the playwright's deeper talent as they do about the forgiving character of genial, slightly haunted Travis. Oddly, it's when Veronica and Travis argue directly about race, revealing select bits of their immigrant families' backgrounds, that the dialogue feels ponderous ˆ even artificial. Eric "Pogi" Sumangil energizes the sitcommy character of Chester, a man so befuddled by feeling "an island of yellow in a sea of white" that he adopts Asian identities the way others change shirts: He's alternately Bruce Lee, a Maoist, a ninja with a grappling hook, and, less plausibly, a Buddhist monk in a KKK hood. Paul Morgan Stetler brings a lanky, relaxed charm to the role of Del, a guy whose yearning to see the world grows the more he learns tolerance. Zandi De Jesus plays Veronica as a brittle teaser, an approach in line with the character's fear of being seen as a sex kitten. But the role is underwritten and implausible; she decides Del's OK because his porn stash doesn't feature submissive Asian gals. Francisco's sweet Travis is persuasive early on, but needs to give his final scenes a jolt of passion to clarify the happy romantic ending. The Tenth Avenue Theatre is the most congenial venue in which the itinerant Mo'olelo has so far performed. David Weiner's elegant projections evoke the Big Sky Country, as do the tunes (if not the overloud winds) in Jeremy Siebert's sound design. In its setting and production values, the show marks an admirable step forward. Artistically, however, the plays chosen by Mo'olelo founder Seema Sueko and her artistic associate Kimber Lee straddle the line between theme-heavy social action and beguiling theater art. Their staging of "Cowboy Versus Samurai" struggles with that dual purpose, too, even as the company moves closer to becoming that most elusive and desirable of San Diego entities, a mid-sized Equity theater company. DETAILS "Cowboy Versus Samurai" When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 and 8, 2 p.m. Dec. 9, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13-15, 2 p.m. Dec. 16, with some 9:30 a.m. performances for high school students. Where: Tenth Avenue Theatre, 930 10th Ave., downtown. Tickets: $18-$30, with discounts for seniors, students and San Diego Actors Alliance members. Information: (619) 342-7395 Online: www.moolelo.net Playwright: Michael Golamco. Director: Kimber Lee. Set: David Weiner. Lighting: Jason Bieber. Sound: Jeremy Siebert. Costumes: Jennifer Brawn Gittings. Fight choreographer: John Hazlewood. Cast: Paul Morgan Stetler, Volt Francisco, Eric "Pogi" Sumangil, Zandi De Jesus. Anne Marie Welsh: (619) 293-1265; anne-marie.welsh@uniontrib.com. From SanDiego.com San Diego Arts 'Cowboy vs. Samurai' at Tenth Avenue Theatre Mo'olelo lassos humor, humanity By Jennifer Chung Posted on Dec 04 2007 Last updated Dec 04 2007 Giving a new twist to an old story, Michael Golamco reworked Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac into a play where race, rather than a voluminous nose, is the stumbling block to love. It’s a natural transition in Golamco’s romantic comedy "Cowboy Versus Samurai," which explores culture, stereotypes and self-hatred with sharp wit and frequent wisdom. Mo’olelo Performing Arts, known for producing intense dramas about social issues, gets the play’s humor just right with a terrific cast that coaxes grace and sincerity out of the everyday flaws, misconceptions and endearing quirks of these likeable characters. In Golamco’s version, the Cyrano character is Korean-American Travis, a high schoolEnglish teacher in Breakneck, Wyoming, where the horses outnumber the people, and the number of ethnic restaurants -- one -- almost outnumbers the Asian residents. The culture clash is palpable. The only other Asian in town is his friend Chester, president of the Breakneck Asian American Alliance. He'son a one-man crusade to get tofu stocked in the local market, and fighting for other such matters of great social and political import. The play opens as the “two-donkey town” is about to get a jenny. Veronica isformer city slicker looking to get lost in Cowpoke USA while she takes a break from a string of regrettable relationships. She's also a smart, sassy and gorgeous Korean-American biology teacher. Travis is not without his own baggage; he’s a Los Angeles transplant running from a bad breakup. Travis and Veronica hit it off, natch, and he falls instantly for her. But when he finds out she only dates white guys, he backs off and even helps his inarticulate, dim-witted Caucasian friend Del woo her through poetic letters full of touching anecdotes. With the classic Cyrano triangle set up, Golamco gets busy exploring larger issues of race relations and identity: assimilation, extremist views on racial purity and internalized stereotypes. In one pointed scene, Chester and Veronica square off in a verbal tit for tat about the stereotypes they’ve laid not on each other, but themselves: Do you think I’m effeminate? Do you think I’m a sucky-sucky, love-you-long-time leg spreader? Do you think that I’m ashamed of myself? The playwright smartly doesn’t provide answers to the larger questions of race relations, but does provide some perspective. The humor in "Cowboy" runs from satirical and witty to the heavy handed, but this ensemble finds a good balance. Eric ‘Pogi’ Sumangil is hilarious as Chester, a character on the edge of caricature. Sumangil even manages to bring a good amount of charm and depth to the rash but mostly harmless “anarchist militant psychopath.” Chester’s political dogma and wacky revolutionary schemes hide his confusion and isolation -- his adoptive white parents neglected to find out his country of origin, and leaving him to try on the trappings of various Asian cultures hoping one will provide the right fit. As Veronica, Zandi de Jesus is both tough yet vulnerable, full of self-doubt but making a good show of it. Paul Morgan Stetler plays the doltish yet genial Del, but doesn’t quite have the physical presence, the hunky cowboy-ness, that the part calls for. At the center of the show is Volt Francisco, well cast in the role of Travis. Franciscoskillfully delineates the character’s duality and struggles -- between self-assuredness and self-consciousness, reserve and assertiveness, cowboy and samurai -- with subtle nuances. Director Kimber Lee aids the nimble dialogue along by keeping the pacing steady, with smooth transitions between the many scenes, assisted by Jason Beiber’s lighting. David F. Weiner’s multiple-locale set includes screens projecting lovely skyscape images, which, along with Jeremy Siebert’s sound design, evoke the wind-swept, desolate landscape. “Cowboy Versus Samurai” shouldn’t be pigeonholed as an Asian play or a work about race -- it is much more a story about friendship, love and belonging. These are things that each of the characters, and all of us as humans, struggle with. See this charming Mo’olelo production before it rides off into the sunset. About the author: Jennifer Chung is an editor at The Daily Transcript and a freelance arts and culture writer. NC Times: Cowboy' updates 'Cyrano' tale with a modern-day, Asian twist By: PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer In the opening scene of "Cowboy Versus Samurai," a Wyoming cowpoke recites a telling bit of prose: "Things in nature always hide," he says of the lizards and moths, " ... because when you stand out in the world, you invite danger." It's an insightful observation by the lanky, drawling P.E. teacher Del, but there's just one problem. These words are not his own. They've been scripted for him by his colleague Travis, a smart but timid Korean-American schoolteacher, to help Del win the heart of town newbie Veronica. Certain he has no chance with Veronica himself (for she only dates white men), Travis decides to woo her covertly, revealing his secrets, dreams and passions through the letters he writes on behalf of the dimwitted Del. If the plot sounds familiar, you're not imagining things. Michael Golamco based his comedy, which Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company is producing this month in San Diego, on Edmond Rostand's 1897 tragicomedy "Cyrano de Bergerac." But instead of a huge nose getting in the way of the hero's self-esteem, it's Travis' own self-loathing about his Asian identity that keeps him from revealing his true self to Veronica. Yet while Golamco's racially charged dialogue hits the mark squarely, he dodges the arrows in the end, concluding the play with a happily-ever-after ending that feels contrived. Rostand's "Cyrano" makes you laugh, then breaks your heart, and "Cowboy Versus Samurai" delivers on only the first part of that promise. Kimber Lee directs a strong four-member cast in the local premiere of "Cowboy Versus Samurai," and the production is poetically rendered by scenic designer David F. Weiner. Warm and likable Volt Francisco stars in the play as Travis, an L.A. native and English teacher who has fled both his past and his heritage to move to rural Breakneck, Wyo., where as the town's only Korean-American, he has grown accustomed to the racial slurs meted out to him by the town's ignorant, all-white residents. Dumped by his white fiancee because of his race, Travis not only accepts the casual racism he encounters in Breakneck, he has come to believe it. Serving as his angry conscience and polar opposite is Chester, the town's only other Asian-American, who manages the local taco joint and is the militant leader of BAAA (the Breakneck Asian American Association, membership: 2). Adopted by whites at birth from an undetermined Asian nation, Chester celebrates and searches for his heritage, calls Travis a "Twinkie" (yellow on the outside, white on the inside), and chastises his letter-writing efforts for Del as "like a Chinese waiter giving him a fork." Chester is nimbly played by Eric "Pogi" Sumangil, whose comic timing helps release the racial tension that builds up between the characters. Paul Morgan Stetler steals the show as Del, the none-too-bright, pot-smoking P.E. teacher whose sweetness, simplicity (and fake letters) win Veronica's heart. Stetler's natural delivery and innate likability make his loser character endearing. And Zandi De Jesus has edge and spark as Veronica, the brainy but stand-offish new teacher who becomes the object of everyone's affection. David F. Weiner's set features a wall of blank panels on which beautifully rendered images of Wyoming's vast open skies are projected. With Jason Bieber's muted lighting, the scenery creates its own mood. Jeremy Siebert designed the sound, Jennier Brawn Gittings created the costumes, and Jennifer Leigh Wheeler is stage manager. While letters were a standard form of communication in Rostand's day, they're not as realistic today (especially among co-workers at the same school ---- why not e-mail?). It stretches credibility for the smart Veronica to believe the poetic novelettes came from the mind of Del, who describes himself ungrammatically as "a dumb." But there is a sweetness to the story and you're willing to suspend disbelief to see where it takes you. "Cowboy Versus Samurai" runs two hours, with intermission. "Cowboy Versus Samurai" When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7-8 and Dec. 13-15; 2 p.m. Dec. 9 and 16 Where: Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company at 10th Avenue Theatre, 930 10th Ave., San Diego Tickets: $25-$30 Info: (619) 342-7395 Web: www.moolelo.net San Diego Reader: Cowboy Versus Samurai "Speak for yourself, John." But what if John Alden, or in this case Travis, an English teacher, can't. Until Veronica arrived, he was one of only two Asian-Americans in Breakneck, a "two donkey" Wyoming town. She's Korean-American with a penchant for white men. And when she falls for Del, a hunky, none-too-bright P.E. teacher, Travis writes love letters to her and signs Del's name, à la Cyrano de Bergerac. Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company has earned a reputation for staging entertaining and thought-provoking theater. Michael Golamco's smart, funny Cowboy Versus Samurai is both a love story that poses tough, intricate questions about identity, race, and bias, without sounding like a lecture or opting for easy solutions (even the love story's in doubt). David F. Weiner's useful, multi-leveled set has five panels, on which color slides (and Jeremy Siebert's first-rate sounds, especially wraparound winds) expand the space to Wyoming proportions. Except for a tendency to rush their lines, the four-person cast -- Paul Morgan Stetler (Del), Volt Francisco (Travis, still running though convinced he's stopped), Eric "Pogi" Sumangil (radical, and racist, Chester), and Zandi De Jesus (NY-savvy Veronica) -- all handle their assignments quite well. And remember the names. Each shows promise and is relatively new to local theater. Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company, 10th Avenue Theatre, 930 10th Avenue, downtown, through December 16; Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Matinee Sunday at 2:00 p.m. 619-342-7395. Rating: Worth a try. Home \| News \| Calendar \| Directory \| Plays \| Library/Storefront Copyright 2007, Roger W. Tang Questions? Email

Mo'olelo: Cowboy vs. Samurai reviews