FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Isaac Ho (415) 773-9991
http://www.wenet.net/~pfeifer/icicle.html

San Francisco based playwright, Isaac Ho, received the prestigious AT&T/Asian American Arts Foundation Theatre Grant. This grant is awarded to facilitate the creation, production and presentation of Asian Pacific American arts.

"I am truly honored to receive this grant. The Asian American Arts Foundation has done a great deal to provide opportunities and visibility for Asian American artists. This support comes at a time when government funding for the arts is nothing short of a national crisis."

While still in college, Mr. Ho landed his first professional job in New York working backstage in Philip Kan Gotanda's Yankee Dawg You Die. "In my classes, Asian American playwrights were invisible while in the very theater next door was an Off Broadway play about Asian American actors! That was the turning point for me. I finally had a response for everyone who cautioned me that there were no viable opportunities for Asian American actors."

After working for several years plying his skills as a stage manager, lighting designer and production manager to numerous Asian American (and non Asian American) productions in New York, Mr. Ho decided it was time to nurture his own creative voice and come to San Francisco. I felt it was time to seriously explore my own artistic sensibilities and vision."

After two years writing and performing with a San Francisco Asian American comedy group, the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, Mr. Ho began developing ideas for his current play, Along for the Ride.

"There is a great deal of exceptional work being done by Asian American artists. Our lack of visibility only serves to perpetuate the popular stereotypes of Asians in the mainstream media. Despite the fact that Asian draw their ancestries from the world's largest continent, Asian culture is as diverse and as hard to define as 'European culture' or 'African culture.' My personal background includes a large dose of American culture as well. The synthesis of two such disparate cultures is equally hard to define. However, our individual voices must be heard and recognized in order to dispel antiquated notions which are deeply rooted in the American psyche."

"Artists must have the vision to create. Let the critics and scholars (if they are able to) analyze, dissect and categorize what we have done. Let the artists define what will be done and let the audience decide for themselves the merit of the endeavor." Mr. Ho has formed his own production company, Icicle Productions, and will use the grant to fund the production of his play, Along for the Ride scheduled for August 1997 in San Francisco.

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Icicle Productions announces

ALONG FOR THE RIDE

A new play by Isaac Ho

With a bold and courageous debut, playwright Isaac Ho has, in one stroke, redefined the expectations of Asian American drama. He brings his knowledge of theatrical forms to bear on a striking, "third wave" story about today's professional generation.

"The process through which Along for the Ride came about was very unorthodox. Not only did I want to tell a story about contemporary life but I wanted to capture the energy and randomness of living in today's world. Unless there is a revolutionary, technological or social breakthrough, American society will have reached the pinnacle of what it may achieve. For Americans who have taken their success for granted, the near future represents a fundamental shift in their fortunes."

Along for the Ride unfolds the story of two couples in their early 30's. Friends ever since college, Vance, Jodi, Paul and Cassie have pursued their careers with mixed results. Now that their ambitions have played out, they must reinvent themselves in order to find new directions for their lives. While caught in the flux of a shifting society, they scour their collapsing relationships for anything that can provide a renewed sense of identity.

Change does not come easily for this group of friends and when a mysterious visitor begins to shed light on their unknown past, their future becomes suspect as well. The lives of Vance, Jodi, Paul and Cassie are irreparably damaged... or so they think. Between their jobs, memories and nightmares, their aspirations are challenged as their house of cards slowly crumbles beneath them. All motion is relative: is the world truly moving faster or are they barreling toward their own demise?

The style of humor in Along for the Ride is a departure from the conceptual wackiness Mr. Ho displayed during his tenure as a writer and performer with the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, a San Francisco based Asian American sketch comedy group. He has refined his sharp, biting sense of satire and expanded it to encompass larger issues. "I wanted to capture the essence of our daily existence and allow the stories and characters to reach their logical and sometimes illogical conclusion.

Strange characters and peculiar relationships provide a unique launching pad for exploring emotionally complex terrain." But, as Mr. Ho is quick to point out, "Embracing the emotional landscape doesn't always provide comfort as we conduct our lives."

Forming Icicle Productions to develop Along for the Ride is an example of Mr. Ho's proactive approach to the arts. "Working in the theater has always been more of a lifestyle than a career for me. Launching my own production seemed far more preferable than waiting for rejection letters.

Mr. Ho was recently awarded the AT&T/Asian American Arts Foundation Theatre Grant for Along for the Ride.

Along for the Ride will be performed August 7-9 and 14-16, Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 pm at EXIT Stage Left, 156 Eddy Street (between Mason and Taylor), San Francisco. General Admission is $10. For reservations or more information, please call (415) 773-9991 or visit our website at http://www.wenet.net/~pfeifer/icicle.html.

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