Five Points Variety Hour, Friday, June 29!

Come celebrate the end of June with us in Chinatown, NYC!

The Five Points
30 Mott Street
inside Silk Road Mocha

8pm

$13 regular/$8 with student ID
(includes 1 drink minimum)

Dear San Diego

For all of those living in San Diego who keep asking for a show, WE WOULD LOVE TO COME!!!

But us not going has nothing to do with our own choice to go. You have to do your part and write to your school administration department (whichever is the appropriate office whether its multi-cultural, asian students or poetry/literature) and tell them you'd like to sponsor us. Or better yet, if you are part of an arts or social organization or creative collective write to your local arts funder and tell 'em you wanna bring us to the West Coast. If you need our help, dont be shy - we wanna be out there as much as you want us.

Keeping our fingers crossed...

- C

Come See EDGE OF THE WORLD in Philly or NYC!

IN PHILLY:

Friday - Sunday, June 8 - 10

The Asian Arts Initiative presents

3 nights of Asian American artists going to the
first-ever National Asian American Theater Festival

Friday, June 8, 7 p.m.
Cooking Con Karimi (Con Castro)
A live cooking show with food & politics
for your heart, mind, stomach & funny bone

Saturday, June 9, 7 p.m.
Hanalei Ramos in
Guns and Tampons: A History of Violence Against Women I Know
Poetic portraits testifying to a legacy of survival & strength

Sunday, June 10, 6 p.m.
F. Omar Telan and an all-star cast in
Edge of the World
A night of 5-minute-or-shorter plays about Asian American artists & culture

Asian Arts Initiative
1315 Cherry Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA

$10 per show, $25 for a weekend pass to see all 3 Festival shows
20% discount for Asian Arts Initiative members

www.asianartsinitiative.org or 215-557-0455 for more info or tickets


IN NYC:

Join the Asian Arts Initiative in New York for the first-ever
National Asian American Theater Festival!
THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
A night of 5-minute-or-shorter plays about Asian American artists & culture

Featuring Regie Cabico, John Castro, Royd Hatta, Robert Karimi, Traci Kiriyama, Dan Kim, Michelle Myers, Gary San Angel, Anula Shetty , Ryan Suda, F. Omar Telan, and Kristina Wong

Friday, June 15, 10:00 PM
Sunday, June 17, 5:30 PM
Thursday, June 21, 10:00 PM
Saturday, June 23, 10:00 PM

LaMaMa, e.t.c.
74A East 4th St. New York, NY 10003

$20 at the door, or on-line at http://www.naatf.org/index.php?page_id=47

$15 if you purchase in advance through the Asian Arts Initiative: 215-557-0455 (ask for Jo)

*****

Part cabaret, part object d'art, part truth or dare. In a night of all new 5-minute-or-shorter "speed plays" asking and addressing the question of what Asian America wants, a rotating cast from around the country throw their lives onto stage full tilt and take you on a roller coaster ride of comedy, drama, serious reflection, and pure theatrical entertainment.

The Edge of the World is a great big art experiment. We invited a dozen of the decade's most inventive artists and dared them to go beyond the traditional identity piece while creating a show that's grounded in personal experience. From the diverse and intersecting worlds of spoken word, comedy, writing and performance we've found unique ways to ponder: Are you what Asian America is looking for? So, what don't you want people to know about you? What meaning do you find in a piece of bread? And, are you going to bother to vote?

Join the artists in the Edge of the World collaborate for an evening of performance art that will make you laugh, should make you mad, might make you proud, and no matter what will challenge your expectations of Asian American theater.

Featuring Regie Cabico, John Castro, Royd Hatta, Robert Karimi, Traci Kiriyama, Dan Kim, Michelle Myers, Gary San Angel, Anula Shetty , Ryan Suda, F. Omar Telan, Kristina Wong. Conceived and directed by F. Omar Telan. Co-produced by Gayle Isa.

This project is made possible in part by a grant from the National Performance Network's Performance Residency Program. Major contributors of the National Performance Network include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), Altria and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.



For more info or advance ticket purchases contact Joanne at
joanne@asianartsinitiative.org or 215-557-0455.

East Coast Reppin'

Ok, ok so it's more like reppin yourself and your art on the East Coast. Anyhoot, if you happened to be in the Philly-NYC this weekend and/or the next, be sure to check out our friends in the Asian American Theatre Festival. As you remember this was the same festival I attended in Los Angeles a couple years which turned out to be a promising start for the next festivals to come. This year will include spoken word, visual art and youth participation with traditional theatre works, and will have ongoing shows for almost the entire month of June.

Artists to be featured include our friends Adriel Luis and his group Ill-Literacy, Kristina Wong (whose birthday it is today and has a very interesting dialogue on her blog regarding scantily clad Asian women on a flyer for the CSUN's FASA benefit titled "Pimps and Hos" Fundraiser), Robert Karimi, Anida Yoeu Esguerra, Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, D'lo, Omar Telan (who will be directing a show of 5-minute-or-shorter "speed plays" called Edge of the World) Regie Cabico, Gary San Angel (who was the founder of Somethig to Say workshop where Michelle and I met), Anula Shetty and Dan Kim from Asians Misbehavin' and Michelle of course is also participating.

For a full preview of shows and participants during the NYC festival (June 11-24) go to www.www.naatf.org

If you can't make it to the NYC shows, there is a Philly preview happening this weeked (June 8-10) at the Asian Arts Initiative.

Get some theatre in your life! Go see these cutting edge artists while they're all here in one area! Hope to see you at ones of these!

Catzie