Upcoming Shows - In the Works:

APPEARANCES:
January 29, 2012
Sunday 5-7pm
Latino Theater Company Play Reading
Los Angeles Theater Center
514 S. Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA 90013

March 13, 2012
UCLA Asian American Studies 187A
Professor Valerie Matsumoto
"Exploring Ethnic Cultural Arts through Oral History"

March 29, 2012
Thursday 6:30-9:30pm
Break the Silence Open Mic held at
The Manazar Gamboa Community Theater
1323 Gundry Ave. Long Beach, CA, 90813
http://oneimagination.weebly.com/events.html

April 4, 2012
Wednesday 11-1pm
Cal Arts in Valencia
Theater History
Professor Chantal Rodriguez E108

UPCOMING SHOWS:
Los Angeles, CA
Produced by TeAda Productions and The Latino Theater Company
May 31 - June 24, 2012
Thursday-Saturday 8pm, Sunday 3pm
General $30|Students/Seniors/Groups: $20
Los Angeles Theater Center
514 S. Spring St
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Fall 2012-Portland, OR
Fall 2012-Vermont
Stay tuned for times and locations.


Sunday, November 18, 2007

Closing but not done

The "saibai" silence of a Sunday morning at dawn in Homer welcomes me after a very, very exciting yesterday filled with a snow-opera, packed house performance and some good-byes. Yes, we are coming to a close here in Homer and in a few days Alaska and though the performances are done, I know for a fact, the work continues.
The Snow Opera or "Sliding Light"
What could be more exciting then to leave Homer with a Homer experience. It was a cold day yesterday. Gray skies and the pounding sea forewarns pending worries and possible doom. Snow...beautiful falling snow continually covers the earth giving the illusion that life is calm and peaceful. Unbeknown to us all that we'd come face to face with...the "ICE" below. All we wanted to do yesterday was spend some down time with Asia Freeman our benevolent Homer host before we left. Driving to her place, me and Jen in the 16 passenger behemoth and Asia in the lead vehicle with Leilani, May and Jake. We were seriously a few blocks from the house going up an inclined stretch when suddenly...the van starts to slide...slide....slide. What do you do? Well, one DON'T PANIC. Two PULL THE VIDEO CAMERA OUT. Three MANEUVER THE MUTHA'F VEHICLE WITH CARE. Four KEEP JEN SMILING. So we slide sideways as the ass of the van starts to turn CRASH! The rear tires slump down a small ditch. I rev the gas...no luck...we are stuck! Perpendicular to the driveway and blocking 3/4 of the road. Good thing it's not a busy drive. Next thing you know we see Asia and her vehicle with passengers turn around and coming towards us...but SUDDENLY...yes, ICE underneath. Her vehicle starts to slip...slide...slide and passengers jump out and the car continues to slide...Asia LEAPS out just in time before CRASH! the vehicle goes off to the side of the road into a 3 foot ditch! STUCK. Ahhh...the snow opera. Both vehicles are stuck down both ditches of each side of the road. Luckily...NO ONE IS HURT. We all shrug our shoulders and calmly walk up the road a quarter of a mile up to her house. It's getting dark. The snow continues to fall and WE HAVE A SHOW IN 3 hours. What to do? What to do? One DON'T PANIC. Two CALL THE MOUNTAIN MAN. Three SMILE AT JEN. In the end everything was fine. We had literally a sip of tea and both vehicles got pulled out of the ditch and we made it back to the gallery filled with adrenaline and excitement to perform.

The final performance or "Open the Door it's Freezin' Out Here"
By the time we get back to the gallery. We needed to warm up and calm down. So we did. It was the last night of our performance in Homere and word got out from Friday night's show that "Refugee Nation" is a must see and Homervillians need to see this before we wave "aloha". We'll, by 7:15pm we had a line outside the door of over 50 people in the cold and snow waiting to get in. Once the door opened up...the house was PACKED! We had to pull out extra chairs and even sat people along floor in front and on the side of the stage. Those that sat along the side got to see two shows as they could also see backstage where we were changing. The excitement didn't stop there...

Saying GOODBYE or "La Gon" to May Lee Yang
After the show the audience was so riveted they had so many overwhelming thoughts to share about the performance raving about our skills as actors, the content, the energy...all the while May Lee had to say goodbye as she needed to head for the airport to catch her flight at 10:00PM. We hugged her deeply and were a little concerned about the conditions of the weather, which was still snowy and slippery. We send our friend, colleague and fellow artist off. Her commitment and "open" attitude really gel with our sense of work and adventure. THANK YOU MAY LEE for joining us on this journey and also throwing some of your skills on this blog! Safe journey back to Minnesota and keep in touch. We may be together again...oh...one more thing MLY...it's okay to be afraid of drugs.

Thank you so much Bunnell St. Art Gallery, Fireweed Academy and Homer for this beautiful exchange. We head to Anchorage where we will do our final activity...doing an excerpt of the show at McLaughlin Youth Center and School for youth at risk. It would be a great honor to share a piece of this show with them in hopes to give them thought to become better citizens.

This is just the beginning. Where the land may end, the sea begins and we ready ourselves to board the ship and bring Refugee Nation onto other shores. So, if you are interested or know anyone who is interested....PLEASE contact us, we'd like to talk. Refugee Nation deserves to be in your community because it will engage, enlighten and empower...I guarantee it!
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