All posts by PFPTheatre

GiveBIG to Pork Filled Productions on May 8

Seattle’s day of giving is coming back returns on May 8 and PFP is participating! Now presented by 501Commons, GiveBIGcarries the banner for Seattle’s non-profts, large and small, to magnify and gather funding for groups like PFP.

PFP is aiming for $2500 to sustain our mission of producing and developing genre plays, promoting Asian American and POC theatre artists, and imagining fantastical, inclusive, and FUN universes. To boot, the first $750 in gifts gets matched, so double the wallop of your contribution!

PFP’s 2019 is packed with brand new works by playwrights of color in Unleashed, our staged reading series program. Plus, we have a full production slated for this fall. We’re not at liberty to give complete details, but here’s the first hint: PFP and playwright have been working together since 2007!

Mark your calendars for GiveBIG on May 8th. Or avoid the rush and schedule your donation when early giving begins April 23. And keep a browser tab open to Pork Filled Productions onFacebook or Instagram to stay up to date with your friendly neighborhood Asian American theatre company.

It¹s coming up quickly, so get ready for GiveBig! And support PFP today!

Unleashed Audiences Cheer for I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo & Juliet!

Pork Filled Productions is back in action for 2019, kicking offUnleashed 2019 with the rousing I Wanna F*ck Like Romeo & Juliet, the award winning play by Andrew Rincon.  Check out pictures on our IWFLR&J page!

More Unleashed readings are coming up! Our fall production is on tap! Theatre is a team sport so step up to the plate anddirectly support our mission of producing and developing new genre plays by playwrights of color. GiveBIG on May 8th. The first $750 in gifts get matched so give early and double the impact of your contribution?


Don’t miss out on one of the biggest giving days of the year! (You can even schedule your gift when early giving starts April 23) Thank you so much for believing in our work and supporting artists of color!

Meet the Director of IWFLR&J: Ana Maria Campoy

Ana Maria Campoy is a first generation Mexican-American theatre artist who works as an director, actor, teaching artist, and translator throughout Puget Sound.

She happy to be working with fabulous Pork Filled Productions again, where she played one of her favorite roles as Lady Sophia/Sophie in The Clockwork Professor, the first play in the New Providence series. Her other notable roles include Lucia in Fade (Seattle Public Theater), Catherine in a bilingual adaptation of Proof (Thriving Artists/Proof Porch Project), Rayna in Above Between Below (Seattle Children’s Theater), Shawn u/s in The Lamp is the Moon (Seattle Children’s Theater), Susanna in Blood/Water/Paint (LiveGirls! Theatre), and Nemesis in Gifts (of War) (Directed by Gin Hammond). She tours nationwide in Living Voices’ solo show, La Causa, as Marta Hernadez. As a director, her work has been seen on stages for educational programs at Seattle Repertory Theatre, StoryGarden/University of Washington, Shoreline Community College, and Seattle Public Theater. For the past three years, she has worked with Seattle Shakespeare where she has developed bilingual scripts for The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night for their Educational Tour.

She is currently directing this year’s production of Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, her third bilingual adaptation. She is a passionate and proud advocate of the performing arts and believes that the arts provide communities a voice and individuals self-exploration. At the center of her work lives the driving desire to create opportunities for artists of color, to remove economic and geographical barriers for audiences and students, and to expand and deepen our American identity. 

PFP caught up with Ana Maria leading up to our reading…

PFP: First words and first impressions when you read the play?

AMC: Playful, imaginative, ambitious 

PFP: Words, phrases, or images that captured your attention?

AMC: I loved the images around Cupid’s wings, the descriptions of lighting and the magical realism woven throughout. 

PFP: Did this play remind you of other stories, myths, plays, movies, etc.? If so, why/how? 

AMC: The heightened emotions has some telenovela, but this is also a story that is magical and joyfully queer. There is so much about Latinx history and lore that is wrapped around beautiful images and horrific pain due to centuries of suppression. I admire Andrew’s ability to include the beautiful and horrific in this story. 

PFP: What are you excited to work on during this rehearsal/reading process? 

AMC: I am always excited to be in a room where there is a bilingual aspect and magical realism is one of my favorite genres. This is a love story that usually is side-lined or completely cut out. I look forward to working with Andrew and this awesome team of actors to hear this play aloud. 

PFP: Why is this project meaningful for you? 

AMC: We need more love stories centered around queer folx of color. It’s about uplifting this story, this community, this love. It’s about being an accomplice, not just an ally. 

PFP: Are you excited to reunite with PFP?

AMC: YES! PFP was one of the first theatre companies I worked with in Seattle that is POC lead and focused. Through them I was introduced to so many other local POC artists, audiences, and stories. Roger, May, Maggie, and the entire team’s work is rooted in the values of of equity, respect, creativity, bravery, and empathy. It runs deeply through their approach and process, which is why many artists not only want to work with them, but want to return. I am not only excited to reunite, but grateful.

More About Andrew Rincón, Playwright for I WANNA F*** LIKE ROMEO & JULIET

Pork Filled Productions launches our Unleashed 2019 Staged Reading Series with I WANNA F*** LIKE ROMEO AND JULIET by Andrew Rincón. Performing March 25, 2019 at UHeights, 7:30pm – PWYC.
ABOUT THE PLAY: The world is thrown into chaos as Cupid rips off her wings and gives up on love. But Saint Valentine has a plan to bring her spirits back up; and it involves mending the relationship between two men. From outer space to Hackensack NJ, this is a Queer love story of epic proportions that investigates the shame and joy within Queer love of color.
 
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: Andrew Rincón’s plays have been developed with Rising Circle Theatre Collective, The Amoralists Theatre Company, and The 24 Hour Plays. Andrew is the winner of the 2019-20 New Light New Voices Award for I WANNA F*CK LIKE ROMEO & JULIET. He was one of six playwrights in Wright Club, The Amoralist’s Theatre Company’s yearlong playwright development program (’15-’16). He was a member of INKtank Lab for Playwrights of Color (2017) and the 2017 Maria Irene Fornés Playwriting Workshop (Chicago). He is winner of the 2019 Chesley/Bumbalo Grant for writers of Gay and Lesbian Theatre (2019). Company member of Unit 52 at INTAR.
We asked Andrew, “What inspired you to write this play?”:
AR: The play originally began as a one – act that was very different than the play is now, it was a silly comedy about fetish and heartbreak. In 2017 I fell in love for the first time – and experiencing that (the joy, vulnerability and the pain in that) prompted me to shape the play into the longer piece it is now. It’s a play, at it’s heart, is investigating the battle in how Queer people of Color learn to love others, and themselves.
PFP: “What kind of theatre excites you?”
 
AR: Magic, epics, work that lives in vulnerability (whatever that means for the artist creating it). Things that pull all my heart strings – make me laugh, cry, yell in rage. I want to feel it all.”
Join us to hear Andrew’s play!
Instagram/Twitter: @pfptheatre

On deck for UNLEASHED: I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo & Juliet

We’re kicking off 2019’s UNLEASHED festival with our first reading on March 25th at 7:30PM: I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo & Juliet, by Andrew Rincón, winner of the 2019 New Light New Voices Award.  The world is thrown into chaos as Cupid rips off her wings and gives up on Love. But Saint Valentine has a plan to bring her spirits back up; and it involves the relationship between two men. From outer space to Hackensack NJ, this queer love story of epic proportions investigates the shame and joy within queer love of color. I Wanna … will be playing Off-Broadway in 2020, and Pork Filled Productions is delighted to be giving Seattle a sneak peek of this funny, daring, magical script.

Our staged reading is directed by Ana Maria Campoy, whose work has been seen all over Seattle with groups like Pork Filled Productions, Thriving Artists/Proof Porch Project, and Seattle Public Theatre.

::: Content warning: Explicit sexual language and discussion of sexual assault. :::

 

Reserve your Pay-What-You-Can tickets today!

Shows to Watch For: CAUGHT, by Christopher Chen, from Intiman

Show #2: Caught by Christopher Chen

Intiman Theatre brings back this modern classic of Asian American theatre, directed by Desdemona Chiang, and featuring Bradford Farwell, Jonelle Jordan, Justin Huertas and former PFP Producer Narea Kang.

 

PFP is a Community Partner for this production as we welcome Narea back from the bright lights of New York for this tour de force performance.

 

An art gallery hosts a retrospective of the work of a legendary Chinese dissident artist who was imprisoned in a Chinese detention center for a single work of art. Recently profiled in the New Yorker, the artist himself is present, and shares with patrons the details of an ordeal that defies belief. A labyrinthine exploration of truth, art, social justice, and cultural appropriation, where nothing is as it first appears. 

 

This irreverent new genre-bending work invites you to navigate a shape-shifting trail between truth and perception, authority and authenticity, illusionary art and real jeopardy.

 

March 7-March 30, 2019 at 12th Ave Arts, 1620 12th Ave, Seattle. Tickets available here. Or check out the Facebook events page!

Pork Filled Productions Announces Selections For Unleashed! An Unexpected Lineup Of Sci-Fi, Magical Romance, And Time Travel

Pork Filled Productions presents the second Unleashed: New Pulp Stories for the 21st Century, a staged reading new works festival that includes I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo and Juliet, a Queer love story by Andrew Rincon; Old and New, a mystery thriller in two time periods by local playwright Kendall Uyeji; and a collection of short, science fiction plays: Interventions by Greg Lam, The Adventures Of Captain Cork’s Janitor by local playwright Brian Dang, and Utopiaby Angeli Primlani.

 

Unleashedis presented in partnership with University Heights Theatre Alliance on Monday, March 25, 2019, Monday, June 17, 2019, and again in the winter at University Heights Center (5031 University Way NE Seattle, WA 98105).

 

“We’re thrilled to continue Unleashed,” says PFP Executive Director Roger Tang, “because it was clear there ISN’T a shortage of plays by playwrights of color—it’s a shortage of theatres with the courage to produce them. So we sought out playwrights who explored new worlds and imagined civilizations that transcend our present-day norms. We wanted their plays, which exist on their own terms, unshackled by the past or by American theatre orthodoxy.

 

“We can’t wait to share these stories with Seattle audiences. They continue to expand the theatrical canon with bold new work by playwrights of color–and they’re loads of fun!”

 

Unleashedopens with I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo and Juliet, winner of the 2019/20 New Light New Voices Award, by New York based playwright Andrew Rincón on March 25 at 7:30 pm. The world is thrown into chaos as Cupid rips off her wings and gives up on love. But Saint Valentine has a plan to bring her spirits back up; and it involvesmendingthe relationship between two men. From outer space to Hackensack NJ, this is a Queer love story of epic proportions that investigates the shame and joy within Queer love of color.

 

On June 17 at 7:30 pm, Unleashedcontinues with a collection of sci-fi short plays:

  • Interventions, by Boston-based playwright Greg Lam (first introduced to Seattle in 2017’s Unleashed): A couple go on a hike but find their special plans keep getting interrupted by a succession of time travelers, each with a different message from the future.
  • Utopia, by Chicago-based playwright Angeli Primlani: Tom and Marsha love Utopia. They believe in Utopia. They helped build Utopia. But the children of Utopia, including their daughter, Robin, are learning to read and a mysterious Poet wants them to destroy the paradise their parents built.
  • The Adventures Of Captain Cork’s Janitorby Seattle’s own Brian Dang: Captain Cork has just successfully captured the Golden Bagel. Aboard his ship, the crew announces a party to celebrate. However, a group of Mothman worshippers ambush the ship. And the only person who can save the day is… Captain Cork’s janitor?

 

The final play presented in Unleashedthis winter is Old and New, by Seattle playwright Kendall Uyeji (co-writer of Night Parade with REBATEnsemble). Two eras converge as a detective hunts a time traveling murderer and a tribal leader tries to save his village. Through humor, pain, and sharedhumanity, they manage to find something old and new in one another.

 

All shows will be at the University Heights Neighborhood Center, and attendance will be Pay What You Can. For the latest information, check the PFP website at www.porkfilled.com.

 

University Heights Center promotes life-long learning, creativity, culture, community activism, and the preservation of our historic building. For more info, go to https://www.uheightscenter.org/who-we-are.

 

The oldest Asian American theatre group in the Pacific Northwest, Pork Filled Productions produces and develops genre plays, promoting Asian American and POC artists to imagine fantastical, inclusive and FUN universes. Through the genres of science fiction, noir, steampunk and more, we envision a bright universe informed by diverse experiences and perspectives, populated by larger than life characters where everyone’s story can be told. PFP’s season is supported by 4Culture and the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. groups are fiscally sponsored by Shunpike. Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington with the services, resources and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success.

PFP Joins UHeights theatre alliance

Pork Filled Productions is proud to join with the University Heights Center in its new UHeights Theatre Alliance! With rents on the rise, displacement has become a serious threat to the arts in general. Many thoughtful, talented theatre companies in the Seattle area are struggling to find reasonable accommodations for rehearsal, performance, and workshop space.

We have partnered with UHeights and a dozen local groups (another group or two may be added in the near future) to fulfill our need for space in exchange for free or low-cost performances and workshops for the community! Our Unleashed series of script readings of new pulp stories for the stage by playwrights of color will be the focus of our work at UHeights.

Keep your eyes peeled for our announcement of what’s on tap for Unleashed!

Poster by Sarah Neurath

#GivingTuesday Coming November 27: Remember PFP!

#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration.

 Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.
 
Keep PFP in your thoughts. Visit our giving portal and donate to PFP to bring fun, larger than life stories by Asian Americans and other playwrights of color to the stage! Your #GivingTuesday dollars support PFP’s season which includes Unleashed 2019 (the next wave of playwrights of color creating new pulp/adventure stories for the stage) and a couple pending projects (We’re figuratively bursting at the seams to tell you, but, trust us, they’re worth the wait!).  

From venue rentals to production costs to artist compensation, we weather the financial storms of creating art in Seattle. On Giving Tuesday, help us navigate these rough seas as we provide safe harbor for POC created and centered genre theatre. Thank you!

 

Fall Fundraiser: Screening of Shin Godzilla

Everyone, look in the same direction!

Point at the terror you see!

Claw at your eyes as you shout its name!

GOJIRA!!!

PFP is raising money for our upcoming season of bright, fun, inclusive stories. Our fall fundraising campaign features a special screening of Shin Godzilla (2016) on Sunday, November 18 to support our ongoing new works program, UNLEASHED: New Pulp Stories for the 21st Century.

When we launched UNLEASHED in 2017, we brought 7 brand-new genre plays by playwrights of color to the stage with 4 directors of color and 40 local actors of color! These plays ran the gamut from pirate queens to zombie support groups to avenging samurai ancestors, while examining deeply human questions of identity, inequity, memory, and the impact of technology on our lives. Several plays featured in last year’s festival have already gone on to full productions in Seattle and across the nation, including Seayoung Yim’s Persimmon Nights at Cafe Nordo. Now, we want to keep up the momentum with a season of new works. Representation matters and, at PFP, we are committed to showcasing and reflecting what our creative communities actually look like.

With the success of recent genre films by and featuring artists of color like Get Out, Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, and Sorry to Bother You, we’re screening a modern take on one of the original greats: Shin Godzilla, a 2016 reimagining of the classic kaiju movie. Join us as we celebrate fun, larger-than-life stories of monsters and mayhem with popcorn, swag bags, and more.

Support PFP today to help us continue to make exciting genre plays and expand the theatrical canon with work by and featuring artists of color.

Get a ticket!
$18 – See the movie and get free popcorn + 1 entry for the door prize.
$25 – Enjoy a complimentary snack bag of Japanese goodies + 2 entries for the door prize.
$50 – Receive a swag bag + 4 entries for the door prize!
Seating is limited.

The fabulous door prize: Monster Isle (11″x23″ print) by Justin Orr

Can’t come to the screening but still want to show your support? Donate to PFP online and help us meet our goal!