PFP UNLEASHED – New Plays for a New World

Pork Filled Productions presents UNLEASHED 2025: NEW PLAYS FOR A NEW WORLD, a staged reading new works festival celebrating and showcasing Asian-American playwrights in five tales of wonder that span AI, psychological horror, vampires and more.

UNLEASHED 2025: NEW PLAYS FOR A NEW WORLD is presented in partnership with Theatre Off Jackson from Friday, June 20, 2025 to Sunday, June 22, 2025 (409 7th Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98104).

The lineup includes

  • Hail/Mary Maria, a heartfelt queer story about finding and loving who you are by Chicago playwright RJ Silva;
  • BLOOD/SUCKER, a thriller centered on our education system by local Seattle playwright Anamaria Guerzon;
  • Eggshell; or Vỏ Trứng, a play centered on internalized whiteness through the lens of a dysfunctional family by San Francisco Bay Area playwright Anthony Doan;
  • C[Y]PHER, a play that explores AI and the digital afterlife by local Seattle playwright Harold Taw; and
  • The Machine a play that uses technology and the ideals of finding one’s true and authentic identity by New York City playwright Magpie Park.

Tickets are $10/$15/$25 per reading and can be bought at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/unleashed-2025#.

“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 Asian-American descent—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 Asian-American descent–and they’re loads of fun!”

Unleashed opens with BLOOD/SUCKER by local Seattle playwright Anamaria Guerzon on Friday, June 20 at 7pm. “Ryan, a high school social studies teacher, is tired. He’s been spending late nights grading homework, as well as fending off parental complaints about his Asian-American History class, who claim that he is using ‘Critical Race Theory’ to indoctrinate the students. Then Hillary, the new Principal, arrives. And the students are beginning to act very strange…”

On Saturday, June 21 at 4pm and 7pm, UNLEASHED continues with a presentation of 2 plays:

  • C[Y]PHER by local Seattle playwright Harold Taw (presented at 4pm): “Fourth-grade math teacher ZARA CHADHA discovers that her father, a recently deceased AI pioneer, may have uploaded a digital copy of his mind onto a vast network. Clues point to Zara’s memories serving as the decryption key—the “cypher”— that will permit entry into where her father resides in his digital afterlife. How are her mother’s suicide, her father’s obsession with fixing the past, and Zara’s sense of abandonment linked?”
  • Eggshell; or Vỏ Trứng by San Francisco Bay Area playwright Anthony Doan (presented at 7pm): “Everything’s coming up roses at the Ly family’s Christmas Eve dinner. That is until Rose arrives, hoping to make a good impression, as she’s meeting her fiancé’s family for the first time. Despite her best efforts, the mood turns frigidly vicious when secrets are brought to light, forcing everyone to confront the fragility of their individual nature. “Eggshell; or Vỏ Trứng” tiptoes between farce, dark comedy, tragedy, and thriller as it follows a hauntingly dysfunctional family and unearths the fangs of internalized whiteness, self-acceptance, and the lengths we go to in order to survive.”

On Sunday, June 22 at 2pm and 5pm, UNLEASHED concludes with 2 plays:

  • Hail Mary/Maria by Chicago playwright RJ Silva (presented at 2pm): “Kid, short for Kindness, gets slapped with his first real crush. He relies on his three Marys for guidance: his Filipina mother Marie, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his favorite pro wrestler Maria. And although he feels like he’s blindly top-rope diving into love, will he be able to stand as a champion for himself? A coming-of-age story with the electricity of a live wrestling show, the comfort of your Filipino family, and the warmth of a budding romance, HAIL MARY/MARIA is a heartfelt adventure of finding and loving who you are.”
  • The Machine by New York City playwright Magpie Park (presented at 5pm): “When Claudia, a 13-year-old, first-generation Korean-American is selected for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be one of three medical volunteers for a fantastical new piece of technology that has the ability to change any physical aspect of any person, she gives herself red hair in the hope that Penelope, the girl she has a crush on, will like her. However, she finds herself obsessed with this newfound access she has to change and the chance to live in the skin of those she is not. Ultimately, she has to decide: What does it take to live as your own authentic self?”

Theatre Off Jackson (TOJ)’s mission is to help maintain a vital and diverse arts culture in Seattle. They accomplish this by offering and operating an affordable, sustainable venue dedicated to performance, art and community. We amplify the voices of Seattle’s diverse artistic community by supporting new and established artists through the production process, and assisting them in achieving their unique vision on our stages. For more info, go to https://theatreoffjackson.org/about/

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. PFP is an award-winning theatre that uses the genres of science fiction, noir, horror and steampunk to 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. PFP is 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.