Read Our First Review!
“Putting the story on paper is, of course, only part of the challenge. It still has to be delivered, and that’s what this Pork Filled Productions cast does, and very well. Each actor embodies their characters with a good deal of honesty, and heart.”
Big shoutout to Greg Heilman, of Heilman & Haver, who provided a wonderful review of She-Devil of the China Seas!
Read his full review by clicking on the image above!
A Message from Pork Filled Productions,
Dear Friends,
Due to complications from illnesses striking the staff and production problems, PFP has postponed the opening of SHE DEVIL OF THE CHINA SEAS from August 11 to August 13. The production will run
Saturday August 13 8pm
Monday August 15 8pm
Thursday August 18 8pm
Friday August 19 8pm
Saturday August 20 8pm
Sunday August 21 2pm
Tuesday August 23 8pm
Thursday August 25 8pm
Friday August 26 8pm
Saturday August 27 8pm Closing Night
If you had tickets for the 9th, 11th or 12, we’re sorry, those performances have been cancelled. Contact us to let us know what performance date you would like to change your tickets for and we will make that change. Refunds are available if you are not able to attend.
Thank you so very much for your support of PFP. We look forward to seeing you at the theater!
Presenting LIVE readings of 3 world premiere plays in Nordo, themed around Pacific Northwest Lore.
Mondays in March, join us for cocktail hour 6-7 PM before each new play reading in Nordo’s intimate venue in the heart of historic Pioneer Square.
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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Dylan Thomas Elwood, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, has been a member of Red Eagle Soaring Native Youth Theatre, located in Seattle, Washington, for sixteen years. He has acted in and co-written numerous productions and engaged with the Seattle Native community, culminating in the premiere of his production Killer Whale and the Black Rush at ACT Theatre in August 2019 as part of the ACTOne festival. He currently serves RES and YTT (Yesterday – Today – Tomorrow) as artistic associate.
ABOUT THE PLAY
Wolves on the Fold draws a lot of thematic and visual influence from the poem “The Destruction of Sennacherib” by Lord Byron, as an explosion of unexpected violence and uneasy peace that precedes and follows it. I drew a lot of tonal inspiration from narrative video games as well, cribbing themes of loneliness, isolation, and revenge from works like Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and The Wolf Among Us (based on Bill Willingham’s Fables Comic Series). This play began as a meditation on hope, and now stands as a monument to the idea that buried hatred is seldom forgotten.
FEATURING THE TALENTS OF
Nicole Suyama (Direction)
Kiefer Harrington (Dramaturgy)
Alissa Cattabriga
Heidi Cheyenne
Asia Gellein
Marion Jacobs
Sydney Maltese
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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Maggie Lee is an award-winning Seattle playwright who creates diverse and imaginative new worlds on stage in genres like science fiction, fantasy, and horror, with productions in Seattle, New York, Seoul, Chicago, and San Francisco. Her play Sheathed was the recipient of the 2019 Gregory Award for Outstanding New Play, the 2019 Gypsy Rose Lee Award winner for Excellence in Local Playwriting, and a semi-finalist for the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Her other plays include A Hand of Talons (2016 Gypsy Rose Lee Award nominee for Excellence in Local Playwriting), The Tumbleweed Zephyr (2016 Gregory Award nominee for Outstanding New Play), The Clockwork Professor, The Flight Before Xmas, and The Journey of the Bell. She was recently a 2021 Hedgebrook writer-in-residence, and currently the Resident Playwright at Macha Theatre Works, a board member of Rain City Projects (an organization supporting Pacific Northwest playwrights), and a member of the Dramatists Guild. Her plays are available on New Play Exchange and published by Mneme Press (mnemepress.org).
ABOUT THE PLAY
The Rainshadow Dispatch is a 3-part horror anthology that takes historical events and lore in the Pacific Northwest on a fantastical journey, peering below the surface of our familiar landscape into strange, dark places. Some influences include The Twilight Zone, Channel Zero, The Terror season 1, Stranger Things, the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Devolution by Max Brooks, Occultation by Laird Barron, and podcasts like Tanis, Limetown, Forest 404, and From Now.
FEATURING THE TALENTS OF
Gavin Reub (Direction & Dramaturgy)
Michael Blum
Christi Cruz
Pearl Lam
Alanah Pascual
Michael Wu
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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Aimee is a Taiwanese-American theatre multi-hyphenate. She recently performed in an outdoor pandemic production of Children of a Lesser God (Hope Summer Repertory Theatre), a green-screened Please Untranslate Me (IRT Theatre), and has understudied at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Offstage, she loves writing stories that meld imaginary scenarios with real-life elements. Writing credits include Thoreauly Zoomed Out (Ars Nova), Motherclucker! (Theatre Battery), Humanly Possible (Deaf Spotlight), and Plumb Crazy Pipe Dream (Deaf Spotlight and RIT/NTID Deaf Performing Arts). This Spring, you can catch her onstage as Nancy in Sound Theatre’s production of Gaslight (Angel Street). Fun fact: Aimee is squeamish about horror movies and wouldn’t be caught deaf watching them solo.
ABOUT THE PLAY
Genre-wise, I jokingly label my play “dumblecore mumblecore.” It has young adults who sit around yakking a lot, while coping with the fantasy/sci-fi elements intruding in their lives.
More seriously though, if you’re a fan of horror flicks, sign language, police procedurals, irreverent comedy, and the home invasion genre, this play is for you.
If you’re living in a Seattle technopolis yet (sometimes) pine for simpler analog days, you’ll probably relate to the storyline.
If you’ve ever wondered how the heck Deaf people live in a haunted house that goes bump in the night, then pull up a seat at Nordo. You’re about to find out.
RUNTIME: 1 hour 30 minutes with a 15-minute intermission
FEATURING THE TALENTS OF
Darren Frazier (Stage & ASL Direction)
Kayla Walker (Dramaturgy)
Jake Merz (Stage Manager)
Van Lang Pham
Brittany Rupik
Lindsay Welliver
Kai Winchester
Zerek White
Aaron Johnson (voice)
Jacque Larant (voice)
Malcolm Reed (voice)
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Pay-What-You-Will tickets are available for each reading, as well as festival-style ticket packages for all 3 plays.
What is a Pay-What-You-Will ticket? You choose the price of your ticket. All ticket proceeds help us curate more events like this and pay our artists. Higher-tier tickets subsidize the ticketing fees for the lower-tier tickets. PFP thanks you for your generosity and collaboration in making new works accessible.
Questions? Email info@porkfilled.com
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UPDATE: Due to some projector technical issues, each play’s text will be available via QR code to all audience members.
Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead will also feature ASL/English interpretation for the reading and talkback.
Nordo’s space is wheelchair accessible. If you have specific questions about navigating the space, please contact the venue at info@cafenordo.com.
A 24-HOUR PLAY FESTIVAL FEATURING ALL AAPI ARTISTS Through Covid and an ever-mounting tide of anti-Asian hate, Asian Americans have gone through the wringer in the past two years. Well, guess what—we’re still here, persisting and resisting all your efforts to stuff us into boxes to define us. We’re striking back with our whole voice, creating 7 new plays in 24 hours themed around resilience, representation and better, bolder futures. Live-streamed performance November 13, 2021 at 8:00 PM PST.
UNLEASHED IS BACK! LIVE & CO-PRESENTED WITH CAFÉ NORDO We’re combining our Unleashed program with Nordo’s Slow Cooker program for a festival of new works. We will co-present three brand new works by local playwrights of color, exploring Seattle myths, legends and folklore. These pieces will be presented in person at Cafe Nordo’s Knife Room space in February or March of 2022.
JOIN OUR 2022-2023 DEVISED SHOW COHORT We’re launching a devised theatre group, designed for writing, developing and presenting new work in a collaborative format. Recruitment and development of the devising cohort will begin in Summer 2022 for a public presentation in 2023.
CO-PRESENTATION WITH ARTSWEST JUNE 2022 PFP will co-present with ArtsWest the world premiere of miku and the gods in June 2022. This piece was developed in our 2020 Unleashed festival, and we brought this piece to the attention of the ArtsWest band of Associate Artists and the ArtsWest staff.
We will be participating in ArtsWest First Look previews (which will give a behind-the-scenes look at miku and the gods) and more!!
FULL, IN PERSON PRODUCTION IN AUGUST 2022 We’re presenting a full, in person mainstage production of an original, full length show penned by our very own Roger Tang in association with Theatre Off Jackson in August 2022. This piece was developed in our 2017 Unleashed festival.
Synopsis:
Shih knows one thing in life: survival. She clawed her way up from refugee using every means to support her injured sister. But when China’s pirate lord offers her a chance at something more, the sorceress Wu and her dark forces gather to destroy her before she can even accept…and fulfill a destiny from the gods!
Based on the real-life pirate who commanded the largest pirate fleet in history, SHE DEVIL is one part true history, one part action fantasy, and one Marvel comics, which equals full length fun on stage in the mode of SHANG CHI and BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, complete with pirate queens, swords and sorcery!
Café Nordo’s Slow Cooker program is teaming up with Pork Filled Productions Unleashed! Festival for a fresh-served presentation of 3 brand new genre works by local artists of color! We’re calling this partner presentation Slow Cooker Unleashed! PNW Lore.
We’re sounding the call for short and full length stories that specifically explore Seattle and Pacific Northwest Lore, Monsters and Myth while indulging in genre, upending expectations, and expanding imaginations. These stories can be plays, movement/dance pieces, or something we’ve never seen before! Deadline for submission is September 19, 2021.
Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of PFP producers. Selected artists will receive
Café Nordo’s Slow Cooker program was developed to give artists the thing that is harder and harder to come by in Seattle. SPACE. The empty canvas to dream upon. With this free space these new works can receive workshops, structured feedback sessions, and an open-to-everyone staged public reading.
The mission of Unleashed in the words of Roger Tang, executive director of PFP: “We embrace the gamut of genres, from detective stories to horror to science fiction and fantasy to super heroes. What we’re looking for are larger than life characters, with strong adventure-flavored storylines and plots.
“We have more stories in us than oppression porn or identity plays. We want to give writers of color free rein to let loose their full storytelling potential on stage. And we want the audience to have fun and we get to tell our stories.”
In partnership, Nordo and PFP are offering space, support and a platform for regionally rooted genre works from local artists of color. Our goal is to give you a blueprint for a full production.
1 – We are looking for one-act (30-45 minutes) and full length (90+ minutes) pieces by artists of color that reside in the Seattle or Pacific Northwest area. Selected projects must require no more than 5 performers.
2 – We are seeking projects that explore Seattle or Pacific Northwest Lore, Monsters and Myths, that play in imaginative genres such as noir, speculative fiction, fantasy, horror, exploration, action adventure, or any mash-up in between.
3 – Selected plays will receive production support, space for up to 15 hours of in-person rehearsal, and a public workshop presentation at Café Nordo’s Knife Room in February or March of 2022.
Note: While this is a partnership with Café Nordo, plays will not be presented in Nordo’s Culinarium and do not need to incorporate a food menu into their story.
4 – All submitted plays will be considered for a full production by Pork Filled Productions or Café Nordo.
5 – Deadline for submissions is September 19, 2021.
6 – You must complete an application form to be considered. In the application, we request you provide the following materials:
FOR TEXT-BASED PIECES, please submit: (1) the most recent completed draft of your play, OR (2) 10 pages of your in-progress piece with a less than 300-word synopsis.
FOR NON-TEXT-BASED PIECES please submit a one-page or less description of your piece. You may also send a relevant video component within your description document as a YouTube or Vimeo link.
7 – You may submit multiple projects, but NO MORE THAN 3. If you submit more, we will only consider the first 3 project applications that you submit. If you are submitting a play, it must not have had a stage production at the time of submission. Readings and workshops are not considered productions.
8 – While PFP is primarily an Asian American theatre company, this festival is open to all artists of color.
Questions? – info@porkfilled.com
Stories are not required to have specifically diverse casts or racial themes; however, Pork Filled Productions is dedicated to casting all of our shows with at least 51% actors of color, so please keep that in mind when considering your submissions.
Pork Filled Productions has set directors and dates for its third Unleashed festival, a celebration of new plays by POC playwrights. These scripts push past the bounds of conventional theatre to tell exciting new BIPOC-led stories in genres like horror, science fiction, fantasy and beyond.
Unleashed: New Pulp Stories for the 21st Century will take place November 10 through 14 as an online festival. Directors include Anny Ly, Grecia Leal Pardo, Zenaida Rose Smith, Nabra Nelson, Kiefer Harrington and Valerie Curtis Newton. Shows are at 7 pm.
The lineup begins Tuesday, November 10, with I Thought I Was Safe, by Patrick Zhang, directed by Anna Ly, with dramaturgy by Daniel Rector. An amalgamation of the noir and horror genres, I Thought I Was Safe explores multigenerational immigrant trauma as it converges with decaying urban America.
Next, on Wednesday, November 11, will be a night of shorts. The Golden Disc, by Greg Lam, directed by Gecia Leal Pardo, dramaturgy by Lydia K Valentine, is about two friends who have their day interrupted by the sudden arrival of an alien object. For the Living by Chie-Hoon Lee, directed by Zenaida Rose Smith, dramaturgy by Lydia K. Valentine, introduces us to a world of scientific reincarnation, and asks profound questions of where one life ends, and another begins. Maggie Lee rounds out the night with The Sight. They always knew they must lose their sight to become true Oracles of the Goddess. But now that the day of Initiation has arrived, two young novice seers struggle with their choice to live in darkness in order to see the light within.
On Thursday, November 12, PFP presents 100 Hungry Ghosts, by Jesse Jou, directed by Nabra Nelson, dramaturgy by Gavin Reub. Graham lives on the most haunted road in America. After multiple tragedies upend his life, he begins to see spirits, as his neighbors’ own painful histories surface. Will he learn to let go of grief or will he meet a grisly end at the hands of one hundred hungry ghosts?
Friday, November 13 sees miku and the gods, by Julia Izumi, directed by Kiefer Harrington, dramaturgy by Stephanie Kim-Bryan. Miku wants to be a god. Ephraim wants to be an Olympian. Grandma wants to remember. And Shara wants people to just include him in the conversation, you know? miku, and the gods is an epic and small adventure that braids friendship, death, and power beyond what one could ever desire.
Finally, the festival caps off with a co-production with The Hansberry Project: Mustard Seeds, by Michelle Tyrene Johnson, directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton, with dramaturgy by Martine Kei Green-Rogers. On the banks of the Missouri River, a group of researchers gather at a former site of the Underground Railroad where slaves fought for their lives and swam for freedom. Under a full moon, old friends and colleagues are at each other’s throats as they struggle to reconcile their past. Nearby, spirits watch, as spirits do, trying to make sense of these mortals and find a way out.
A seventh show, CJ: An ASpanglish Play, by Mercy Floresislas, directed by Ana Maria Campoy and dramaturgy by Melanie Queponds, is being prepared for a special presentation in 2021.
Anna Ly is a Seattle-based director and a graduate of WWU. The current Directing Associate for Macha, she has also worked locally with PFP, REBATEnsemble, Mount Baker Repertory Theatre, Village Theatre KIDSTAGE, Evergreen Middle School and Foundry10. She is also a member of the 2018 Directors Lab at Lincoln Center Theater.
Grecia Leal Pardo graduated from the University of Washington in Drama and Classics in 2019. Previously, Grecia has directed Aesop’s Fables: a Devised Piece and The Penelopiad through UW’s Undergraduate Theatre Society. Grecias is also a stage manager, who’s gotten to work with Pratidhwani, eSe Teatro, and Off-Road Shakespeare.
Zenaida Rose Smith is Producing Director for MAP Theatre, Asst Production Manager & Casting Associate for Book-It Repertory, a freelance actor and a director. Directing credits: co-produced workshop of The Way Back; In the Grey City (Asst), Young Playwright’s Festival (Schmeater); selections of Spoon River Anthology (North Seattle College).
Nabra Nelson is a theater creator from Egypt, Nubia, and California. She is also the Director of Arts Engagement at Seattle Rep. Directing credits include: BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!) (Renaissance Theaterworks), 26 Miles (UW-Milwaukee), Rep Lab (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), Exile From The Land Of Gold (Tessellate Festival).
Kiefer Harrington (he/him) is excited to be back with PFP! Last time he was here, Kiefer got to direct the virtual reading of She Devil of the China Seas. Kiefer was also involved with UNLEASHED 2019, working with Kendall Uyeji on his play Old & New. Other credits include: Hitchhiker (By the Seat of Your Theatre Company), Snow White (Assistant Director, Seattle Children’s Theatre).
Currently the Head of Directing at the University of Washington School of Drama, Valerie Curtis Newton serves as the Founding Artistic Director for The Hansberry Project, a professional African American theatre lab. She has worked with professional theatres across the country including: The Guthrie Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Seattle Rep, Playmakers Repertory Company, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, The Mark Taper Forum, New York Theatre Workshop, and Southern Repertory Theatre among others.
Since 2006, The Hansberry Project is a professional black theatre company dedicated to the artistic exploration of African American life, history and culture. From initial sketches to fully-realized productions, the Hansberry Project promotes and supports black theatre artists of diverse interests and disciples, speaking on a range of themes and working in a variety of styles.
The oldest Asian American theatre group in the Pacific Northwest, Pork Filled Productions centers Asian American and POC artists to imagine fantastical, inclusive and FUN universes. Through the genres of science fiction, noir, fantasy, steampunk, horror, 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, Unleashed receives support from the Hansberry Project.
Pork Filled Productions is fiscally sponsored by Shunpike, 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.
For generations, the Yao clan has ruled the criminal underworld in New Providence with an iron fist. But as the family empire threatens to crumble, Wilhelmina Yao must do whatever it takes to win at in a high-stakes game of power and betrayal. Descend into the hazy underground gambling den of the Fortuna Mews to explore the dark world of steampunk noir in this thrilling third installment of the New Providence series.Mother of Doom! The Tumbleweed Zephyr is back and it’s roaring down the tracks!
Join us for this special presentation of the second New Providence steampunk play, September 4, Friday, 7 pm PDT! It’s going to be a Live Video presentation on the PFP Facebook page and the Northwest Arts Streaming Hub Facebook page and YouTube channel! Join us and author Maggie Lee and Director Amy Poisson for this special event!
Two brothers, Atticus and Kai, climb aboard the Tumbleweed Zephyr, a transcontinental train headed from New Providence for the wilds of the Western Territories. But what starts as a simple journey by rail soon veers off-track, with airship bandits, twists of fate, wayward sparks of romance and the lonely call of a train whistle echoing across the clear desert sky.
Great Galloping Thunderturtles! It’s coming back! They’re all coming back!
In conjunction with the Northwest Arts Streaming Hub and the Theatre Off Jackson, PFP is pleased to present a special live-streaming of our famed New Providence steampunk trilogy!
It starts with an encore presentation of The Clockwork Professor, Friday, August 21, at 7 pm, hosted by PFP and the Theatre Off Jackson. And the rest of the trilogy (The Tumbleweed Zephyr and A Hand of Talons) will be hot on its heels on September 4 and 18!
This initial presentation features an intro from the PFP and TOJ crew and a few words from playwright Maggie Lee and director Amy Poisson. This will be simulcast free of charge on the PFP and NASH’s Facebook pages (though donations are always welcome!)
So doff your goggles, unwind your gear stems and break out your favorite confectionary as we revisit New Providence and Professor Pemberton for the first time since 2013!
PFP rolls on with our blockbuster series with a reading of Night Parade: The Ghost Forest, a co-production with Nordo:
When Justin, a white Youtuber, and Mari, his hapa assistant and girlfriend, go to Japan, they are spirited away by the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. Now yokai want to devour them for their wrongdoings and they must tell the story of what happened when they visited the Aokigahara forest or the “Suicide Forest.” But both have secrets that get revealed; Mari has to wrestle with what Justin did and what her role is in defending him or letting him go.
By Kendall Uyeji
Directed by Tom Dang
CAST
Carol Tagawa – Mari
Lee Yang – Kamishibaiya / Salaryman
Rachel Guyer Mafune – Kiko the Kitsune
Eloisa Cardona – Yuwaku the Spider Woman
Matt Dela Cruz – Nurarihyon / Ensemble
Duncan Pound – Justin Matters
Night Parade: The Ghost Forest was originally commissioned by Nordo for their 2019/20 season which was delayed for Covid-19. Pork Filled is presenting a reading of this piece with Nordo as part of its continued development. Tickets are available at Click4Tix (buyers will get a link for an unlisted YouTube channel). Go get yours today!
