Fifth day of the National Asian American Theatre Festival 2009

Longest day of the Festival, with the agenda jampacked with readings and performances.

Students from Duke University, seeing the conference.

Microcrisis by Michael Lew

This satire of the world financial crisis is a pee-in-your-pants funny send up of not only high finance, but of modern day fundraising techniques, First World paternalism and plain old human greed. And it's not only smack-in-your-eye funny, it's a dead on perfect explanation of the 2008 crisis in crystal clear terms that any working class peon can understand (or so I conclude,speaking as a fundraiser at a major research university, specializing in analyzing macro-economic trends).

Reading for Sharksucker

Sharksucker by Dustin Chinn

A "bromance" between two members of a sketch comedy troupe, Sharksucker tends toward a slice-of-life, unforced look at friendship between men in the modern age.

MIchael Lew and Ralph Pena.

Iph, Then by Michi Barall

A dance/theatre piece from the Stanford alumna (hm, I suppose that should invoke the fellow alum defense mechanism). This piece is on the fast track toward a full production from Ma-Yi Theatre, so it's hard to evaluate it properly as almost none of the dance pieces have been set into place.

The Sea Gull by Chekhov

This production of the classic piece was probably the highlight of the festival for me. From fully realized vision to intricate, multilayered yet stylized performances to fully imagined design to razor sharp execuition, this production by NAATCO is a feast for the eyes and ears, whether they belong to experienced goers or to the more casual theatre attendee. The cast is uniformly excellent, with almost any one of the actos being a good choice for a personal favorite (I quite liked Cindy Cheung as the loose-limbed Masha, but perhaps that's just a taste for tall Asian goth chicks). (Photos below by William P. Steele).

APACUNT 4

More hijinks (late night!)