All posts by Roger Tang

Submissions Open for UNLEASHED 2025

Unleashed 2025
New Plays for a New World

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Unleashed 2025 returns for a week-long festival of brand new genre plays by Asian Americans! Pork Filled Productions is sounding the call, once again, for one acts and full length plays that indulge in genre, upend expectations, and expand imaginations.  Deadline for submission is October 25th 2024.

From Roger Tang, executive director of PFP: “We have more stories in us than oppression or identity plays. We want to give writers 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.”

If you are accepted, you will be given actors, a director, and a dramaturge. Private workshops, writing time, and a public workshop at Theatre Off Jackson in Seattle, W.A.

Please Submit your Application Here.

Key info

  • Deadline for submissions – ​ October 25th 2024.
  • Send plays to – submissions@porkfilled.com
  • All submitting playwrights must complete the accompanying application form
  • We have a CAP of 50 eligible plays. We will close submissions early if we reach this mark.
  • We are only accepting 4 Play at this time for workshop readings.

Questions? – info@porkfilled.com

Plays 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.

Submission guidelines

​1 – ​We are looking for one acts (30-45 minutes) and full length plays (90+ minutes) by Asian American playwrights.

2 – ​We are specifically seeking bold,​ imaginative new work in genres such as noir, science fiction, fantasy, horror, action adventure, or any mashup in-between. We want your play to have FUN and FANTASTICAL universes and indulge in the idea of play! No living room drama plays please!

3 – ​Selected plays will receive a public staged reading in Seattle, WA. Local writers from the Pacific Northwest are strongly encouraged to submit.

4- We will prioritize local playwrights, but this application is open to a national call. If accepted, your play will have a private and public staged reading, but we are not able to offer accommodation or transportation to Seattle at this time.

5 – ​All submitted plays will be considered for a full production by Pork Filled Productions.

6– ​Deadline for submissions is October 25th 2024.

7 – ​Only emailed submissions with a completed Application Form will be considered. Please submit all materials as attachments in MS Word or PDF format to submissions@porkfilled.com.

8 – Playwrights may ONLY make one submission, and the plays must not have had a professional stage production at the time of submission. Readings and workshops are not considered productions.​

9- If accepted will receive a stipend of 300$ for you time and dedication to your work

10- Winners will be announced Early January 2025

11- In Feb/March/April- Private readings will be had and the playwright will have time to rewrite the script and have feedback from actors, the director, and the dramaturge

12- There will be a public reading of the play at Theatre Off Jackson the week of 6/16/25  

Past Unleashed Scripts Receiving Full Productions

  • Repossessed, by Greg Lam (Theatre Conspiracy, FL)
  • Reparations, by Darren Canady (Sound Theatre, WA)
  • She Devil of the China Seas, by Roger Tang (PFP, WA)
  • Persimmon Nights, by Seayoung Yim (Cafe Nordo, WA)
  • Utopia, by Angela Primlani (Otherworldl Theater Company, IL)
  • I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo and Juliet, by Andrew Rincon  (New Light, NY)
  • miku and the Gods, by Julia Izumi (ArtsWest, WA)
  • Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead, by Aimee Chou (Sound Theatre, WA)

New! SHE DEVIL Virtual Backgrounds Released!

Need some new virtual backgrounds for your Zoom meetings? Check out these new She Devil of the China Seas photos!

Tickets:

https://pork-filled.ticketleap.com/shedevil/ 

More Info:

https://porkfilled.com/wp/she-devil-page/

Go here for Fast Company virtual backgrounds! Go here for The Brothers Paranormal backgrounds! And go here for A Hand of Talons backgrounds! And just click on the photos!

Just added! The Tumbleweed Zephyr photos.

First Look at SHE DEVIL OF THE CHINA SEAS

Meet the She Devil herself, Yi Tse (Kristina Ota).
The She Devil (Kristine Ota) is stalked by her foe, the sorceress Moh Tse (Eloisa Cardona)
The She Devil (Kristine Ota) will do anything to protect her sister, Yi Her (Anna Saephan).
The She Devil (Kristine Ota) flirts with weapons with pirate lord, Zhang Ngoi (Van Lang Pham).
Yi Hei (Anna Saephan) does a little flirting of her own with the Captain’s son, Zhang Moh (Aaron Jin)
Pirate lord, Captain Zhang Ngoi (Van Lang Pham), with his adopted son, Zhang Moh (Aaron Jin).
Our heroes (Anna Saephan, Kristine Ota, Van Lang Pham, Aaron Jin) hunts for the sorceress Moh Tse (Eloisa Cardona).

All photos by Pork Filled Productions. Jewelry crafted by William Lau @xiaoquilt,

For more info on She Devil, go here.

Buy tickets to She Devil!

PFP Co-presents miku and the gods With ArtsWest

miku and the gods runs June 16 – July 3

Fresh from our Unleashed 2020 Festival, miku and the gods greets the world in its world premiere on the ArtsWest stage!

Miku wants to be a god. Ephraim wants to be an Olympian. Grandma Seiko wants to remember. And minor god Shara just wants people to include him in the conversation, you know? As they journey from the schoolyard to the river to the underworld and back again, Miku and company will learn what it actually takes to become a god. As funny as it is moving, miku, and the gods. is an epic adventure that braids together friendship, death, memory, time, rhythm – and power beyond what one could ever desire. 

More info at ArtsWest! Buy tickets at the ArtsWest website!

Runtime is subject to change: approximately 100 minutes with no intermission.

May 22: Let’s Have a Watch Party!

Da Head Hawg (and CAATA (Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists) Secretary) Roger Tang, and PFP are hosting a free community watch party at UHeights, on Sunday May 22nd, from 2 to 4 pm, to feature the area’s local representative in this national showcase, Susan Lieu. This watch party will feature a showing of Lieu’s work 140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother, along with a short conversation on producing your own work with her and Tang.

Free event open to all, please RSVP for entry code here!

About 140 LBS:

140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother is a theatrical solo performance written and performed by Susan Lieu, a first-generation American born to Vietnamese refugees. “140 LBS” is the true story of how Susan’s mother went in for plastic surgery and died due to medical malpractice. At the time of her mother’s death, Susan was 11 years old. The performance weaves together several through-lines: the multi-generational immigrant experience; body insecurity and shame; repression and subsequent examination of personal loss; and lack of accountability in the medical system.

Show Description:

Two hours into surgery, Susan’s mother loses oxygen to her brain and the plastic surgeon deliberately does not call 9-1-1 for fourteen minutes. Five days later, while in a coma, she flatlines. The surgeon is charged with medical negligence and her family falls apart; no one talks about what happened. Nineteen years later on her wedding day, Susan’s mother’s seat sits empty and Susan realizes she can no longer ignore what she’s always wanted: to know who her mother was. Sifting through thousands of deposition pages and reaching out to the killer’s family, Susan uncovers the painful truth of her mother, herself, and the impossible ideal of Vietnamese feminine beauty.

About Susan Lieu:

Susan Lieu is a Vietnamese-American playwright, performer, and author who tells stories that refuse to be forgotten. With a vision for healing, her work delves deeply into the lived realities of body insecurity, grieving, and intergenerational trauma with humor. She took her autobiographical solo theatre show “140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother” on a 10-city national tour with sold out premieres and accolades from L.A. Times, NPR, and American Theatre. Her forthcoming memoir, The Manicurist’s Daughter, will be published in 2023 through Celadon Books (Macmillan). You can hear her talk about race, priviledge, and parenthood as co-host of the podcast “Model Minority Moms.” Susan is an alum of Harvard, Yale, and Hedgebrook.

About CAATA:

CAATA is the nation’s pre-eminent advocate for Asian American theatre artists. In place of its biennial conference and festival (ConFest), CAATA is having a virtual showcase of national artists of the best in Asian American theatre

The watch party is a sampler of CAATA’s Virtual Showcase. To see the rest of the showcase (which is on demand and can be seen from the comfort of people’s homes), go to https://caata.swoogo.com/ConFest2022.

·  Existing CAATA members are eligible to register for the Showcase at no additional cost.

·  Non-members can register for the Showcase for $35 (individual) or $50 (organizational), which includes a year-long complimentary membership with CAATA.

Originally planned as an in-person convening, CAATA currently sees this virtual event as its best path forward. When CAATA accepted the invitation to convene ConFest in Honolulu, it pledged to center the voices of Kānaka Maoli and Pacific Islanders, the very communities hit hardest by the Covid 19 Pandemic; right now, in light of the Oʻahu water crisis and other structural concerns, many Hawaiʻi community leaders continue to say, “At this time, please don’t come.” CAATA offers this Virtual Showcase to celebrate the vibrance of our diverse community as a step towards forming deep, long-term connections between Hawaiʻi artists and Asian American theater artists on the continent while reaching out to artists throughout the Pacific. This showcase advances that objective by celebrating the excellence of scores of theater artists from Hawaiʻi, Guåhan and the continental US.

For more info on the Seattle Watch Party, contact Roger at oink@porkfilled.com. For more information on CAATA, email info@caata.net.

 

Thank you for your generosity in getting SHE DEVIL to the stage!  You’ve helped raise $6,181 to bring the pirate queen to the Theatre Off Jackson this August!

Many thanks to  Leah Adcock-Starr, Marc Amiscua, Scot Anderson, Anonymous, Stan Asis, Julia Buck, Julia Buck, Anthea Carns, Aimee Chou, Aya Clark, Khanh Doan, Luisia Gale, Suzanne Gerrard, Mona Grife, Kathy Hsieh, Intiman Theatre, David Kane, Catherine Kettrick, Agastya Kohli, Laura Lee, Maggie Lee, Hakme Lee, Patrick Lennon, Emily Leong, Mike Lion, Wei Low, Kayoko Mathews, Kyoko Matsumoto-Wright, Katrina Morgan, Chris Newell, Alena Nolder, Rebecca and Peter O’Neil, Chrissy Ong (Chin), Chris Parker, Roger Rigor, David Sebba, Kyna Shilling, Stephanie Sola, Sokha Song, Steven Sterne, Tim Takechi, Zheng Wang, Lindsay Welliver.

Support the She Devil Cast–GiveBIG Early!

Early giving is now live! Presented by 501Commons, GiveBIG carries the banner for Seattle’s non-profits, large and small, to magnify and gather funding for groups like PFP.

The first $750 in gifts gets matched, so scheduling your donation today can double your impact on May 3 and 4! 

Community supporters like you make our mission possible by helping us produce shows like The Brothers Paranormal and the New Providence steampunk plays.

In 2022, we are aiming for $6,000 to support our biggest production yet, She Devil of the China Seas, the true (more or less) story of the greatest pirate leader in history. We’re assembling one of the largest Asian American casts in recent history for this swashbuckling story that blends Chinese history and (yes, true believer!) Marvel comics! 

Schedule your gift now and help PFP keep making bright, bold, inclusive theatre!



Meet the Cast of SHE DEVIL!

At last, after extensive searches of the Puget Sound Asian American talent pool, PFP announces the cast for our big summer production, She Devil of the China Seas!

Heading the cast is Kristine Ota as Shih, the steel-eyed woman who rose from refugee to sex worker to pirate queen. Van Lan Pham is Cheng Ai,the pirate lord who’s more than her match. Anna Saephan is Shih’s sister, Xi, and Aaron Jin is Cheng Pao, adopted son of Cheng Ai and someone who has more than a passing fancy in Xi,



In opposition to this crew is ageless sorceress Wu Tsu, played by Eloisa Cardona, and the Man in the Golden Dragon mask. But who knows what role is played by Xuan Nu (Steph Sola), the goddess of war and love?

Rounding out the cast are Michael Latham, Alvina Hsiao, Archie Sugiyama, Kaughlin Caver, Michelle Lin, Dylan Smith and Andreya Pro. Carol Tagawa will understudy the role of Shih (and will be performing in a number of shows).

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 swashbuckler, one part Marvel comics = full length fun on stage in the mode of SHANG CHI and BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, complete with pirate queens, swords and sorcery!

She Devil of the China Seas is by PFP head honcho Roger Tang and directed by Kiefer Harrington. It will hit the Theatre Off Jackson August 11, 2022 and run through August 27, 2022. Keep your eyes peeled for the latest news on She Devil.

GiveBig to PFP for a Big Year of Art!

GiveBig to PFP for a Big Year of Art

GiveBIG, Seattle’s day of giving, returns May 3 and 4, 2022!  Co-ordinated by WashingtonGives and 501Commons, GiveBIGraises the banner for Seattle’s non-profits, large and small, to magnify funding for groups like Pork Filled Productions. 

Our goal for 2022 is our most ambitious yet! $6000 to produce and develop geek theatre (like our steampunk plays). And we imagine fantastical, inclusive, and FUN universes. The first $750 in gifts gets matched, so that doubles the wallop of your contribution!

 You got a taste of this with our Slow Cooker Unleashed!Reading  series with Cafe Nordo (and you know both groups have plans for Wolves on the Fold, The Rainshadow Distpatch and Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead!)

But we’re not finished. Here are some things to look forward to:

  • In June, we are co-presenting, with ArtsWest, the world premiere of miku and the gods—you saw it emerging from our 2020 Unleashed program 

  • In August, we are bringing you the greatest pirate queen of all time in She Devil of the China Seas. 

  • And we have a super secret project coming up that’ll knock your socks off!

LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN!                                     

Mark your calendars for GiveBIG on May 3 AND 4. Or avoid the rush and schedule your donation when early giving begins April 19. Keep an eye on our Facebook or Instagram accounts to stay current.

Get ready for GiveBig! And support PFP today!