People Picking People

SARA: Look, you don't want to inject any guy's sperm into your womb.
VALERIE: We basically are anyway, right? We're supposed to trust that whoever interviewed these people asked what we needed to know? I'm rethinking this whole thing.
SARA: Because of some personality profiles?
VALERIE: No, not like "the whole thing" the whole thing. But what are we doing? Deciding what kind of person with what hair and what eyes and what job and what temperament deserves to, like, be reproduced?
SARA: What do you think straight people do when they date? What did you do when you met me? People pick people.

How do people pick people? I mean really?

I'm so anxious at the moment about the first Mabou Mines meeting tonight. I have to talk for five minutes about myself and my work, and I have this horrible daymare knocking around in my brain that everyone else will be way cooler and more avant garde than I am. And that they'll have slides and paintings and music to play. And that I'll just be the poor sap who says, "Hi. I'm Rey. I write plays."

Our stumble through for DEVIANT on Saturday was awesome (if you're in the cast and reading this, I re-iterate: DON'T GET LAZY). If was great to see how it all strung together rather easily.

Oh, and - before I forget - tickets have already started selling! So if you haven't gotten yours yet, please click here to do it do it do it!

What I Really Want

VALERIE: I'm just saying that you got what you wanted. And sometimes you have to just let go of some of the shitty stuff that got you to that place.
JAMES: This is freedom of whatever - expression -
VALERIE: This is hurt. Okay, yes, you've had to deal with a lot of shit in your life -
JAMES: You don't -
VALERIE: I have, too. But you can't let it put you in this place where you think everyone's out to get you. You got what you wanted.
JAMES: I WANTED my scholarship to be devalued by the same journal that published it?
VALERIE: It's called compromise.

Ouch!

This is the scene that sort of started the play for me. The seminal scene as I said when we rehearsed it the other night (not that it has anything to do with semen - though, there are scenes that do indeed deal with semen for all you sperm lovers out there, so don't despair).

Aside from stirring up all the ooky feelings I have about the times when I was censored/sabotaged by other theatre artists, watching the rehearsals for this scene really made me think about academia again. Let's face it: I'm an idea man. Are plays really a good way of communicating real ideas? Is that really why people go to the theatre? I don't think so. I think people are going for fun.

But on the other hand, what have you done more recently: seen a play or read an article of cultural criticism? Which ultimately is the reason I turned away from academia. What good is a good thought if no one ever hears it?

Gettin' All Greek and Shit

So Vortex liked my DEVIANT postcard so much, they've asked me to design a postcard for another show of theirs. This is for Agamemnon, which is running concurrently with our show. It's a little hard to see from this .JPEG, but there are slightly transparent, floating, glowing Greek letters in side of the title letters. What do you think?

Maybe I should start a cottage industry. 'Cause that's what I really need: another hobby.

Queerest of the Queer

I just posted some thoughts on gay marriage I've been trying to articulate for awhile on BigQueer.com. Take a look at the specific post by clicking here.

Cultural Tourism: Take 2

No Kodak this time, though. Live theatre.

I saw No Foreigners Beyond This Point at The Culture Project on Saturday with the rest of the Ma-Yi Writer's Lab. All told, the production is very good: well-directed/designed, solid performances, and a space that greatly complements the play. I, personally, am not a fan of Warren Leight's, though. He rides the line between plays as landscapes and plays as engines of action, and to me it just feels ambivalent. Either go for the environment/setting or the plot; devoting little time to both ends up making me feel like neither type of storytelling achieved it's full potential. Plus, he does that thing where each scene builds up to this one moment and then stops, which always makes me go: what happened in that scene after the blackout? That seems to be the meaty part. The big revelation comes and then... blackout? Why?

Anyway, the strangest thing about the evening was that the play centered on two young (white) Americans teaching English in late 1970's China (The Gang of Four are on trial throughout the play). The other characters were of Asian descent and were relatively well-rounded, but seeing a theatre devoted to the Asian and Asian-American experience producing this play seemed a little off - the play is definitely China from a (white) American perspective. Not even a non-Chinese perspective, definitely (white) American. So I felt like I wasn't really the audience for the play.

Should Ma-Yi take for granted that I am their audience? Not if they want to survive and make money. They need everyone else to see the shows, too. So how do you get people interested in theatre that they perceive does not relate to them? I'm not trying to highlight any wrong doing; I'm just mulling over the complexity of a problem faced by many ethnically/culturally linked producing organizations.

Taste? Truth.

"WAYNE kisses down JAMES' chest and is about to bite his nipple. JAMES stops him.

JAMES: Wait.
WAYNE: Why?
JAMES: One more.
WAYNE: Taste?
JAMES: Truth. I'm not really... I mean, I'm a grad student, but I also... I'm a-"

Lots of tastes (by which I mean pics).

Here's a truth: it's crazy working on this play again. To be frank, I wasn't the happiest man with this script; I really thought it was the least of my plays. Probably because I'm a structure freak and I like to know what I'm writing, and think about each play as some kind of humanistic educational experience (if that makes sense, as ridiculous as it sounds). And DEVIANT came from such a raw, emotional, and (in my eyes) uncontrolled place.

But seeing these actors really go for it and seeing the play develop with a creative staff that are really into it (okay -- and maybe the two added scenes and the one cut scene); I really feel the play has come of age. I'm also getting a chance, with four years of distance, to see that I'm not really just Valerie. There's so much Sara in me it's frightening. And I do think I've come to the place where I've tamed my James.

As you can see, rehearsals have been awesome. More tomorrow.

DEVIANT Postcard at last

Here's what we're printing! It's kind of a large file, because I wanted y'all to be able to read the text. Of course there'll be an official show announcement in the weeks to come, but tickets are already on sale if you just want to get it over with (which I know you do, right?). Just click here to go to our page on theatermania.

Say hi when you come see the show, and feel free to e-mail this post to anyone you think might be interested.

I'm Now an Eff-ing Famous Queer and Don't You Forget It!

So a friend of mine whose behind BigQueer.com has been following my blog and really likes my style. So I'll be writing for him every once in awhile. I'm going to stick to Play Rey Play for my more regular posts, but I'll probably write something for BigQueer at least once a week. And, naturally, the posts will always have a queer slant (like I'm really just not gay enough on here).

Check it out; for my first post at BigQueer, click here!

"Patriot" Day

I was thinking of just letting 9/11 pass without a word, but that's just the wrong thing to do, isn't it?

In case you haven't figured it out, I'm so far left on the political spectrum that I've fallen off of it. The only liberal policy thing that I seem not to agree with is gun control, but that's a whole other post.

So knowing the above, I'm sure you won't be surprised that I hate Patriot Day. What started as a horrible high-jacking tragedy was then high-jacked by an administration that refused to stop until it squandered and eventually exploited any sympathy, charity, and brotherhood proferred to the United States by the people of the world. We've made it even harder for Islamic peoples to trust us; we've ruined our economy and our realtionships with any country that might help us through; and instead of stopping the killing we've decided to perpetuate it.

I am a patriot. I love this country. I know how hard it is in other places in the world, and how lucky we are. I just don't think everyone in it is either with us or against us. And I haven't had any reason since September 11, 2001 to be anything but disappointed in my fellow Americans as a collective, self-governing body.

I hope those who have died are resting in peace. I hope those who will yet die do so with as little pain as possible. And I hope that eventually we will all take a moment to heal instead of continuing to shake in our boots and blindly (and almost nonsensically) mete out revenge.

DEVIANT Press Photos, Take 2...er, 3

3 more that is.

So Josh Randall (Artistic Director at the Vortex, in case you haven't been reading regularly) before the photo shoot was all, like: "Yeah, Rey you should do it. Yeah, but just be sure to think sexy, sexy, sexy." So what did I do? You got it: I thought sexy sexy sexy.

Apparently, too sexy.

Josh thinks my first postcard idea only shows the sex part, so I've got a few alternatives to post. If people are into the commenting thing, I'd be curious to know how you feel about all four designs. To get a look at the first one again, click here.

And here are the newbies...



Here's one that cuts the sexy in half and acknowledges the more soul-searchy, we're all alone in this world aspects of the play.



This one is kind of just a cast montage.



And here's a simple, introspective one. I love the picture, but I do wonder about what seeing this picture would make people think the play is about.

DEVIANT Press Photos

We had the press photo shoot for the show today, and it was smooth as silk! The picture above is one idea I've had for postcard design, but it's all still up in the air. Please bear in mind that these are just quickie versions - there's still some small tweaking to do. For example, I'm thinking the word "VORTEX" up there should be red red red. [As you can see, I have since uploaded an updated pic with the red :-)]

Although I never had a chance to post headshots of the cast. Here are the publicity shots we took. These are in order of appearance...

James Foley (as played by Daniel Zaitchik)






Valerie LaSalle (as played by Cournie Sauls)










Sara Lai (as played by Jennifer Lim)






Wayne (as played by Jacob Blumer)










Tell me what you think!!!

It's Mabou Mines for Me

I have just been invited to take part in Mabou Mines 05 - 06 Resident Artist Program!

My proposal involved writing a play based on my experience as a gay Filipino-American growing up in Michigan. The group of friends I hung out with was quite diverse in terms of cultural/ethnic background, gender, and sexuality - I'm always so surprised by everything from "Everwood" to "American Beauty" and they're portrayal of never-ending sameness. The "fly-over" states deserve some attention for all the quirky and strange things that happen there.

So, I've got to have some draft of the play ready by February. And I present five minutes of the play once a month, every month until then. I'm also planning on scheduling readings of the work in progress whenever I manage to schedule space at Mabou Mines.

I'm so incredibly honored to be involved with such an amazing, forward-thinking group of theatre artists. I hope I do not disappoint them - wish me luck!

DEVIANT Second

It's been strange in rehearsals hearing my play all over again, and it's been bringing back a lot of strange memories.

The first workshop of DEVIANT at the Yale School of Drama was done in November 2001 - right after 9/11, when the US was mucking around in Afghanistan. And there was this real sense everywhere that things as they stood just didn't f***ing work. In addition, I had real issues of casting at the school because: 1) I couldn't get actors of color for the play and 2) the role of Wayne was re-cast four times because people were uncomfortable with the sexual content. I'd also just come out of a really bad first year at school, during which I was "blessed" with the moniker The Porno Playwright.

Doing the play this second time around with people who want to do it has been such a pleasure. I really feel like I can pay attention to the play on its own merits. On the other hand, though, a lot of the anger in the play now seems so incredibly strong, in a way that nothing could seem strong during the 9/11 aftermath and the war in Afghanistan. For example, I felt at the time that the rebellious character of James was incredibly heroic. This time, however, I feel his rebellion is coming as much from hurt as it is from strength.

I think we're in for an amazing ride...

DEVIANT First

First in your minds, your hearts, your souls...not really. It's just the first rehearsal tonight. YAY!

Still no actor photos or anything of the kind, but I might as well do an official cast announcement. Hopefully, I'll be able to post their headshots and such later on. Here's who we've got (alphabetically by actor's last name):

Jacob Blumer as Wayne
Jennifer Lim as Sara Lai
Courtnie Sauls as Valerie LaSalle
Daniel Zaitchik as James Foley

Two of them (Jacob and Jen) are old friends; two of them (Courtnie and Daniel) are new collaborators; all of them are talented as $#!?. I'm deeply grateful and honored to be working with them all.

As for our creative staff (if y'all are interested in such things) we've got:

Director: Kara-Lynn Vaeni
Dramaturg: Christie Evangelisto
Sets: Mikiko Suzuki
Costumes: Daniel Urlie
Lights: S. Ryan Schmidt
Sound: Daniel Baker
and our two awesome as hell producers: Ryan King and Josh Randall, Artistic Director of The Vortex Theater Company.

Wish us luck, and here's to a fun ride!

Hooray for Labor Day!

I don't know if many people really think about it anymore, but since I worked for 2 years at Actors' Equity, I think we should think about it.

Labor Day is for laborers. Working class, skilled workers and craftspeople that make the lives of the middle class pretty damn easy. Don't take them for granted!

And if you're one of those doofi (is that the plural for doofus?) who thinks the usefulness of organized labor is a thing of the past, let's think about all of those web professionals, designers, and tech people who were fired from their jobs and then re-hired as freelancers by the same companies sans health care, regular hours/pay, vacations, child care, and job security. I think tech jobs are skilled labor, and I think those folks would be smart to organize - not just here but globally.

So think about Labor. Think about it in a world economy. Just think.

Cultural Tourism: Kodak in Kenya

Okay - yes, the colors in Mereilles' The Constant Gardner were like National Geographic on crack, leading one to all of the age-old arguments about articles, images, and narratives using the third-world as an exotic back drop to first world problems. And, yes, the movie centered on a whole bunch of white people who, saint-like, made forays among the teeming crowds of sick Africans by day and attended parties in cocktail attire by night. And fine, we were left with a pat little ending where the villian of the human story was caught making us feel like there was justice in the world even though the true villains - the fictional pharmaceutical firm KDH - never really received their comeuppance.

BUT I LOVED THIS MOVIE.

I get the criticism. This visual vocabulary has racist baggage. But since the topic of the movie was a rather damning post-colonial reassessment of the first world's involvement in developing nations, I think it's the appropriate vocabulary to employ. Besides, usually these stories have our heroes stuck in a world whose strange and exotic ways mire them in inescapable, often fatal problems. Then we go home and get all scared of those ooga-booga tribal people who would have a much better life if they were just civilized. In The Constant Gardner it's the strange ways of the developed world that are causing all the inescapable, fatal problems, and I went home afraid of my civilization and my own complicit participation.

Not a bad effect for a Hollywood thriller, I'd say.

At L-ASS-t

So today was the day that I finally had nothing to do regarding my staph infection! No more anti-bacterial soaps, no more creams, no more bandages, packing, pills or anything. I just got up, hopped in the shower, packed my bag, and went to the gym.

It's the little things.