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A Hand of Talons (2016)
Gregory Award Winner, Outstanding Costume Design
Nominated, Gypsy Award, Excellence in Set Design
Nominated, Gypsy Award, Excellence in Lighting Design
Nominated, Gypsy Award, Excellence in Performance in a Play as a Lead Actor (Female): (Small Theaters): Stephanie Kim-Bryan
Nominated, Gypsy Award, Excellence in Production (Small Theaters), A Hand of Talons
Nominated, Gypsy Award, Excellence in Local Playwriting, Maggie Lee
"A Hand of Talons is a very clever play. Maggie Lee has done an exceptional job of creating a very layered, intricate and complex world. But, she's also managed to make this world accessible to the casual viewer. You don't need to have seen the other plays set in this world to enjoy and understand Talons. Lee has created a complex world but to any fan of this genre of literature, it's clear and concise. It's a broadly drawn, melodramatic world of violent passions and emotions…."
Michael Strangeways, Seattle Gay Scene
"This is a really fun evening and a strong contender for awards time. It represents the best of what small theater productions can achieve. Don't miss it! "
Miryam Gordon, Seattle Gay News
The Tumbleweed Zephyr (2015)
Nominated for Outstanding New Play by the Gregory Awards
Nominated, Gypsy Award for Set Design (Small Theatre)
Honorable Mention, BroadwayWorld Seattle, Costume Design
"Amy Poisson directs this crazy mix of characters and makes the most of all the surprises in this charming and silly steampunk experience that manages to offer a few lessons too."
Nancy Worssam, Artsstage Seattle Rage
"The winning cast attenuates the sometimes enervating narrative curlicues, particularly Lin, who sells the humor and the romance with his mounting exasperation at Cawaling's impish antics and his cautious pursuit of Ingalls' courtesan, a dreamer whose desire for a different life lends a touch of poignancy to the trip."
Dusty Somers, Seattle Times
Fast Company (2014)
Misha Berson named Fast Company one of the top plays on smaller stages in her 2014 Footlight Awards for the Seattle Times!
"These Chinese-American blood relations
engage, for our amusement and occasional amazement, in an intricately
plotted and neurosis-filled caper...Ching (a writer on TV’s Graceland)
has a flair for crackling noirish dialogue...Under Amy Poisson’s crisp
direction, on a minimal set “fleshed” out with projections, the
committed cast stays on point..."
Seattle Times
"Well what a fun story!...the cast of
“Fast Company” is quick, funny, engaging, and believable, with
excellent chemistry as a family and fingers on the pulse of what real
people act like at this point in the twenty-first century...If you
enjoy fun and funny acting, exciting and quick plots, and juicy family
drama, this play is right up your alley."
Drama in the Hood
Plus a lengthy feature story on the show and the playwright!
The
Clockwork Professor (2013)
“The Clockwork Professor is
earnest and good-natured and even a
little subversive. (There are rebel bands of dissidents who anonymously
smash things up and get hunted by secret police! Just like in real
life!)…But I suspect there are enough nerd-nerds out there who are also
theater-nerds to keep Clockwork Professor afloat...“
The Stranger
“…the story is a winner. Lots of intrigue and twists and even a few red
herrings to keep you guessing…Ably directed by Poisson the show never
bogs itself down or becomes stayed.”
Seattle BroadwayWorld
“This isn’t ethnic theatre. It’s just fine theatre.”
Arts Stage - Seattle Rage
Yellow Face (2011)
“…this is an
extraordinarily accessible way to explore race and our
personal identities…The play hits Hwang and us in our political
correctness and while it doesn’t answer questions, it certainly stirs
the pot. Make no mistake: this play is for everyone, not just Asian
Americans. “
Seattle Gay News
“Presented in its Seattle premiere by ReAct Theatre and the Pork Filled
Players, Yellow Face is an often-hilarious lampoon of racial
typecasting, American media, the immigrant experience, and the
playwright himself…Trying to figure out how much of the plot was
invented by Hwang and how much actually happened is part of the fun of
Yellow Face, which snagged
both an Obie Award and a Pulitzer
nomination. The other, larger, part lies in realizing that that doesn’t
matter: It is a riotous mockery in all its measures.”
The Stranger
“The dialogue is some of the funniest and most articulate ever written
for the stage. The direction and the acting suited the script extremely
well, the comic timing was superb and the inherent tragedy came
through. ”
Drama in the Hood
Living Dead in Denmark (2008)
“Funny enough to keep even the most jaded audience member
laughing…Go
see the show, and take a sense of wonder with you, and know this is
like no Shakespeare you've ever seen, unless the Bard wrote something
while under the influence that I've never heard of.”
Seattle Gay News
"The show boast some strong acting, a bit of interesting singing and
loads and loads of martial arts, gymnastics and just plain meaningless
violence. It’s all pleasantly ludicrous and a professional triumph for
fight choreographer Lisa Marie Nakamura.”
Seattle PI
Big Hunk O’ Burning Love (2007)
“Sure, you say, spontaneous human combustion is a myth, but it's a myth
made moderately believable by the boundless internal energy of the Pork
Filled Players cast …Despite the inherent zaniness of the premise,
Gomolvilas' play actually has quite a bit of dramatic heart….One can't
help but root for the actors, for the characters and for Winston in
this unconventionally romantic tale.”
Seattle Times
“I can't imagine
anyone hailing from a traditional background—Baptist,
Jewish, Korean, whichever—and not liking this peppy play at least a
little bit…The actors are stoked and loud. Arreola is sharp as Dad, his
timing and gestures smooth and practiced…Big Hunk is a fun, fast-paced
look at intergenerational angst. “
The Stranger
“The first play by Prince Gomolvilas, a Thai playwright, is as engaging
as it is funny -- something typical of PFP -- and this first attempt by
the group at a longer effort is also centered and moving. I loved that
there were an equal number of laughs with an equal number of awkward
and touching moments between the actors onstage….And the choice of
actors to bring this 'touching 30' story to life was/is very
appropriate, and this group works together well as an ensemble…In
short, it's a play worth seeing, especially if you're already a fan of
PFP. And if you're not, this is a good chance to see them really
stretch their acting muscle.”
Seattle Gay News