tHeater
Do you know where I'm never worried about being typecast? In the theater, of course! I appreciate how playwrights, directors, and most importantly, audiences, don't get hung up on an Asian guy like me playing the ancient king of Thebes in a Greek tragedy. Having opportunities like these can make everyone--audience and actors alike--envision a more diverse and equitable world where we can all understand and respect each others' differences. Like this world we're living in now.
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Here are some highlights from my theater days.
'maid - crowded fire theater
I was cast to play the sailor who falls in love with a mermaid in the world premiere of Erik Ehn's imaginative, surreal retelling of the little mermaid myth, 'Maid. The set was built like a pier, with a thin pool of water on the floor for the actors to splash in every night. It was one of the physically demanding plays I've ever been in, and I had the opportunity to work with acrobats and dancers who climbed all over the set. And yes, I was upside-down during all my scenes until the very last one...the audience and I had to earn my character's verticality.
Antigone - cutting ball theater
This was a dream job--we were able to work from a new translation of the Greek tragedy commissioned by Cutting Ball AND we were able to workshop the script for almost a year, including a trip to work with members of the Grotowski Institute in Poland for a month. Yes, it's called Antigone, but Kreon is in almost every freakin' scene!
I broke a toe during the workshop. I learned that every story has two (or more) sides to it. And much like how Michelle Obama described her relationship with many traditional conservatives (including the Bushes), I learned that deep down we all probably want the same good things for our country; we just have different ways of trying to get there.
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(Oh, I was also described as "athletic" in an article in American Theatre magazine. I was, as the British say, chuffed.)
Porcelain - crowded fire theater
I wish this play could get produced again today, because we're still trying to address all the same issues of race and LGBTQ dynamics as playwright Chay Yew brought up 30 years ago. Even thought I received critical praise for my accent (of all things..!), I wish the focus could have stayed on all the problems and larger topics that plagued my character: internalized racism, racism in the LGBTQ community, and homophobia in the most civilized of societies.
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Just speaking the lines each performance was like a magical incantation for tears and a heaving, messy breakdown every night. That's the power of the amazing, descriptive writing from the playwright.
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Our production had an intense scene take place in total darkness. When I saw the 2019 revival of Oklahoma! in New York that used the same technique, I thought to myself, "Been there, done that. And damn, it still works!"
The Exiled - No Nude men productions
As a Gen-Xer, I was approached this play from a Singles perspective, but I'm amazed and delighted to see how it continues to resonate with millennial and Gen-Z productions around the country now. There must be something universal about being in your twenties and all the drama that surrounds those friendships and relationships. I portrayed my character Abel as a creative, sexy, magnetic louche, and--in the parlance of our times--as sexually fluid as possible. There's a reason why he got spat on every night during one very intense scene. But as the song goes, "when you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with."
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(A side note on wardrobe--I had so much fun with that tie, which I still have! It went from being loosely draped around my neck a la Jessica Drew in the OG Spider-Woman cartoon, to a cuff wrapped around my wrist, to a handband, and finally stuffed into my back pocket, hanging like a little tail tucked between my legs after having learned some very hard lessons.)