"You asked for it, Xander": Updates and thoughts

OK, ok, so this post is a personal apology to Xander from San Diego who requested a new blog post, and since we don't have any shows planned for San Diego anytime soon (hint, hint--you guys have to invite/bring us out! That's how our bookings work :), I thought I'd oblige him. Hopefully, Catzie will post soon as well.

First, some updates: I did manage to put together a new post at Anti-Racist Parent. It's about when parent-child relationships go to shit, and it also talks about my experiences as a troubled youth growing up in a racist family. I believe the post went up on Friday, March 2. I'm behind getting another post together for Anti-Racist Parent, too, but I'm planning to write about the complexities of raising children in multiracial households and, in particular, my concerns as a mixed race mother of children who are 1/2 black. I'll let you know when it goes up.

Also, an amazing performance artist from LA is in Philly right now. Kristina Wong is here performing her one-woman show "Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (if you recall, I talked about Kristina in the post about our LA performance back in September 2006). Here is the announcement released by the Asian Arts Initiative and The Painted Bride.

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The Asian Arts Initiative and Painted Bride Art Center invite you to experience the offbeat humor of artist, writer, and filmmaker Kristina Wong as she explores and upstages the blunders of society in her one-woman show entitled Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Known for her culture-jamming and insurgent style, Wong takes a look at the epidemic of mental illness among Asian American women and challenges the issues of obtaining health care within marginalized communities.

Kristina Wong
Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Friday & Saturday, March 23 & 24, 8 p.m.
Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine Street (Old City, Philadelphia)
$20 admission, $10 for members

Special discount with this e-mail
25% off! $15 Tickets! When you mention code: KWA20

Or visit www.asianartsinitiative.org to become a member and get 50% off NOW!
Box office: 215-925-9914

Incisive writer and performer Kristina Wong mixes sharp humor and psychology in Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a semi-autobiographical, serio-comic portrayal of anxiety, depression and incidence of mental illness among Asian American women. The show asks the evolutionary questions: Which came first? The chicken or the egg? The suicides of Asian American women or the maddening world? Wong's irreverent and provocative work has given her a national cult following for "politically charged art with unapologetic humor." Knitters-cuckoo and not-are invited to knit in the audience during the shows.

Wong Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is a National Performance Network Creation Fund Project commissioned by Asian Arts Initiative and La Peña Cultural Center. Funding for Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Ford Foundation, and La Peña's New Works Fund supported by The James Irvine Foundation. Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is also a Project of Creative Capital.

*****
And don't miss...

Kristina Wong, Finding Your Language Workshop
Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia
March 24, 2007, 10-1 p.m.
Registration: $20

Spaces are limited! Please RSVP to Chon at chon@asianartsinitiative.org
For more information: 215-557-0455

Finding Your Language: Playing with Different Performance Tongues

You don't have to be the best actor, singer, or dancer to tell an
amazing story. Finding the honest place and dabbling between different
disciplines might be where you find your strongest voice. Sometimes your
award-worthy performance may work best offstage for an unsuspecting
audience. This workshop is focused on process rather than product. We
start with some warm-ups, movement and theater games-- the rest is playing!
Be dressed to move! In a non-judgmental space, participants will play with
movement, text, visuals and working in site-specific contexts to forge a new
performance language all their own.

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On a final note, I've been preoccupied by the movie Pan's Labyrinth, which I saw for the first time this past weekend. It is sad, beautiful, horrifying, lyrical, and haunting all at once. I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone, so I won't go into detail here, but I've been thinking about the events in the movie and its dominant themes, and I've been struggling with what I want to take away from it. On the one hand, it's about the horrors of reality, and it questions layers of reality--What is the actual reality we can't escape? What is the fantasy we seek to escape into? Does the fantasy ever really quite live up? Who are we at the very essence of our being? The way you interpret and answer these questions in many ways will determine how you will view the end of the movie: whether tragedy or triumph. My husband didn't like it as much as I did, but I think perhaps people were anticipating something like The Lord of the Rings, and that's why many people (at least from what I've read online) were disappointed with it. What people want is an escapist fantasy; Pan's Labyrinth to a certain extent offers a critique of such escapist desires by shoving your face violently into reality--at least as far as a film can do so. But remember, the real question is: How many layers are there to "reality"?

Next time: I will post about our recent show at Messiah College. April is a busy month for us in terms of performances. We will do our best to keep up with you all.

Thanks for the kick-in-the butt, Xander.

Best,
Michelle