Tickets are now available for Unleashed 2020: New Pulp Stories for the 21st Century. PFP’s staged reading festival features new scripts by playwrights of color, exploring the genres of horror, science fiction, fantasy and mythology.
All tickets are available at https://pork-filled.ticketleap.com. All shows begin at 7 pm and will be streamed to a YouTube address provided to ticket buyers.
Pork Filled Productions is using a Name-Your-Price structure to work with our audience and what they can afford to give. Thank you for supporting local theatre and local theatre artists.
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. Tickets for this show are available at https://pork-filled.ticketleap.com/i-thought-i-was-safe/.
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. Perennial PFP favorite Maggie Lee rounds out the night with a new version of her short The Sight. Tickets for these shows are at https://pork-filled.ticketleap.com/a-night-of-shorts/.
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? Tickets are at https://pork-filled.ticketleap.com/100-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. Tickets are at https://pork-filled.ticketleap.com/miku-and-the-gods/
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. Tickets at https://pork-filled.ticketleap.com/mustard-seeds/.
Festival passes for all shows are available at https://pork-filled.ticketleap.com/unleashed-2020/
Graphic design by Kayli Putaportiwon
“We’re following in the footsteps of our brethren at Theater Mu and Ma-Yi,” says Executive Director Roger Tang, “as we support the playwright at every step of the way, with dramaturgs and workshop readings to make the script the best it can possibly be.”
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.
Playwright Bios:
Mercedes Floresislas is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who writes trilingual plays to create opportunities for Deaf and Hard of Hearing actors to spread awareness of Deaf related issues and American Sign Language. Her first play, Tamales de Puerco revolutionized American Theater by introducing the first Latino Deaf characters. Floresislas first MFA play, Los Moreno, is the recipient of the 2016 Kennedy Center American Theater Festival Latinidad Award, the first alternate for the National Partners American Theater Award 2016, it was selected as the 50 Playwrights Project Best Unproduced Latinx plays 2017, Austin Latino Play Festival at Teatro Vivo, Milargo Theater Latinx Festival, and it was a runner up for Met Life’s 2017 Nuestras Voces. Floresislas is a recipient of the Gerbode Special Awards in the Arts.
Julia Izumi’s work has been developed at MTC, The Bushwick Starr, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, WP Theater, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor Residency and NNPN/Kennedy Center’s MFA Playwrights’ Workshop. She is a current member of Clubbed Thumb’s Early-Career Writers’ group and New Georges’ Audrey Residency. MFA: Brown University.
Michelle Tyrene Johnson is a public radio journalist, a writer and a former attorney. As a playwright, Johnson’s plays have been staged nationally, including in California, Texas, Illinois, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Kentucky. Several of her plays, such as Wiccans in the Hood, The Negro Whisperer, Trading Races: From Rodney King to Paula Deen, Echoes of Octavia, and Buried Roots have been in New York City festivals and readings.
Primarily a director of new and contemporary plays, Jesse Jou is currently on faculty at Texas Tech University. He is an alumnus of the Cherry Lane Mentor Project, the Drama League’s Directors Project, and the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. Jesse is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
Greg Lam is a playwright and podcaster who’s just moved to the Bay Area. His full-length play REPOSSESSED received its world premiere at Theatre Conspiracy in Fort Myers, FL in 2018. His newest play LAST SHIP TO PROXIMA CENTAURI received readings in 2019. For more about Greg, see https://greglam.wixsite.com/home.
Chie-Hoon Lee‘s credits include the short plays “For the Living” and “Half Life”. Chie-Hoon has worked in non-creative capacities for the renowned Belvoir and Griffin theatre companies in Sydney.
Patrick Zhang is a Philadelphia-born, but LA-based actor, writer, filmmaker, and student. He is inspired by the intersection of social justice and art. Patrick ultimately desires to democratize creativity through his work.