Blood in Your Blood in Ma-Yi’s Fall LabFest

I found a tree troll.

My newest play Blood in Your Blood will be heard publicly for the very first time ever as part of Ma-Yi’s 2017 Fall LabFest next Monday. Once again I have a stellar team (how do I get so lucky? — seriously, now), and I’m so excited to share this play for the first time.

Details are below but beyond just plot and characters, this play could probably use a bit of context. Between A Power Play: Or, What’s-its-name, Tilda Swinton Betrayed Us, and a little one act I wrote called A Thing, it’s pretty clear that my playwriting post-2016 election has become more directly political. In particular, unseating ideas of white supremacy, male supremacy, and white male supremacy has sort of taken over my brain.

This play started when I was in residence this past January with Serenbe Playhouse who tasked visiting artists to create plays inspired by sites within Serenbe. During my time in that lovely, progressive, rural Georgia community, I sketched out a few scenes that took place under a tree. The scenes weren’t inspired just by the site; I wondered what had been in this idyllic environment before Serenbe existed. Were their secrets buried in this community’s origins? (It’s America, so, I mean, aren’t there always?) How do people live knowing the difficult, possibly violent history of the land they occupy? And with racism shoving itself into the foreground of every conversation these days, that’s what I’ve been writing about since January.

And about a dirty ol’ tree troll who talks about popping wood when young men sit on his face.

Come join us Monday! There’s something for everyone.

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Blood in Your Blood

by A. Rey Pamatmat

Directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar

Star-crossed lovers, fractured time, and a lusty troll are all connected to the violent, buried history of Cora’s family. In her quest to find out how, Cora discovers an enchanted tree that might have the answers tangled up in its roots. But once she digs up the past, what will she do with it?

with Alton Alburo, Wyatt Fenner, James Lloyd Reynolds, Maureen Sebastian, and Ching Valdes-Aran

Ma-Yi’s 2017 Fall LabFest
Ma-Yi Studio, 260 West 35th Street, Room 203
October 30 @ 7pm

Admission is free. Reservations are recommended. Please email chris@ma-yitheatre.org.

 

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A Power Play is at The Atlantic TONIGHT!!!

Wait — to win an election a politician gets in bed with unscrupulous forces that then prove uncontrollable when they empower unstable people and incite violence? I wrote a play about that???

Yep.

Last night at The Atlantic Theater Company‘s Asian-American Mixfest you got to see some actual Nazi-punching thanks to Qui Nguyen and the War is F**king Awesome! team. Tonight the A Power Play; Or, What’s-its-name team will take on our political establishment for embracing systems that somehow put us in a position of having to punch Nazis again. Also, cocklebread (link NSFW).

We’ve had a great time in rehearsals crafting this sucker. Join us tonight at 7pm!

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A Power Play; Or, What’s-its-name

by A. Rey Pamatmat

Directed by May Adrales

After State Assemblywoman Alex Hathaway’s district suffers a terrible tragedy, she goes to great lengths to capture a House seat in the next election. She even employs a strange, nameless thing to gain victory over her enemies through supernatural practices. But with all that determination and those ancient powers on her side, how did Alex end up with a community in shambles and a gun pointed at her head?

with Ethan Dubin, Will Hochman, Jason Liebman, Teresa Avia Lim, Sarah Nealis, Maulik Pancholy, Tijuana Ricks, Mirirai Sithole, Luis Vega, and Rocky Vega

Asian American MixFest
Atlantic Stage 2, 330 West 16th Street
August 17 @ 7pm

Admission is free. Reservations are required. Please email readings@atlantictheater.org.

 

A Power Play; Or, What’s-its-name in The MixFest

ZOIKS! One of my most topical, experimental, ambitious, fun, and bizarre plays is getting a workshop and reading next week!

The Atlantic Theater Company is doing something amazing with their new work festival this month: they’re presenting the some of the awesomest playwrights in their first ever Asian-American MixFest! Not only are so many of these playwrights, directors, and actors my friends, colleagues, and the people to whom I literally owe my career (and, at times, sanity), but I get to present this crazy piece of which I am so, so proud.

Also, some of you might know that back in the day Sweet Baby Rey was an actor training at the Atlantic Theater Company through NYU. I’m sure you can imagine how excited am I to make a return as a grown up playwright. I’ve seen many a show there and admired (and hired) their graduates, but this is a whole other level.

To say, then, that A Power Play; Or, What’s-its-name in the Asian-American MixFest directed by May Adrales at the Atlantic Theater Company alongside the work of Carla Ching, Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, Rajiv Joseph, Qui Nguyen, Jiehae Park, Ralph Peña, Madhuri Shekar, Lloyd Suh, and Leah Nanako Winkler is a dream come true is not an exaggeration. And the directors — ! And the casts — ! Take a look at all the folks involved in this Playbill article. (Also, look: Rajiv and Lauren Yee are in their 2017 – 18 season!)

This MixFest is going to be a weeklong party of ass-kicking theatre artists at the height of their artistic powers. Come join us for the kick-off panel this Wednesday at 5:00pm, see the readings the whole week through, and then join my team as we close out the festival with A Power Play on August 17 at 7pm!

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A Power Play; Or, What’s-its-name

by A. Rey Pamatmat

Directed by May Adrales

After State Assemblywoman Alex Hathaway’s district suffers a terrible tragedy, she goes to great lengths to capture a House seat in the next election. She even employs a strange, nameless thing to gain victory over her enemies through supernatural practices. But with all that determination and those ancient powers on her side, how did Alex end up with a community in shambles and a gun pointed at her head?

with Ethan Dubin, Will Hochman, Jason Liebman, Teresa Avia Lim, Sarah Nealis, Maulik Pancholy, Tijuana Ricks, Mirirai Sithole, Luis Vega, and Rocky Vega

Asian American MixFest
Atlantic Stage 2, 330 West 16th Street
August 17 @ 7pm

Admission is free. Reservations are required. Please email readings@atlantictheater.org.

 

Winter LabFest Flashback

[Hi! I’m cheating! After being swamped all winter, I’m retroactively adding some items of note to my website. This is one of them.]

Some of you are probably thinking, “Wait… isn’t this play old? You’re having a reading of it now?”

Here’s the thing: I’ve given this old chestnut a complete overhaul, and rather than being a standalone piece, Picture 24 is now the first part of a much larger project. I’m not quite ready to talk about it in full, but suffice to say that this is pretty much a reading of an all new play. Less in a Star Wars: Special Edition way, more like a Marvel Ultimate line kind of thing. If you don’t speak nerd, just ask your nerd friends what that means. If you don’t have any nerd friends, why do you like my plays?

Image by Scum Bag Fag Mag

Picture 24

by A. Rey Pamatmat
directed by Kareem Fahmy

Joey meets Max, and it’s love at first sight… sort of. Joey meets Chuck, but love has nothing to do with it. While preparing an autobiographical photo series for a public showing, the romance and pornography in Joey’s private life start blurring together. Dot com parties, safe sex that’s hot sex, and dial-up Internet welcome you to a queer love story in the year 2000.

With Gideon Glick, Mark Junek, and Jon Norman Schneider

Ma-Yi Writers Lab’s Winter LabFest
Ma-Yi Studio, 260 West 35th Street, Room 203
Wednesday, January 13 @ 7:00 pm

Edith Press, a Final terrible Week in Boston, and House Rules, Round 2

Company One’s Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them is in full swing, and Boston is loving it!

Review: Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (Theatermania, June 15, 2015)

Theater: Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (Joyce’s Choices, June 12, 2015)

Company One’s ‘Edith Can Shoot Things” hits the spot (Wicked Local, June 8, 2015)

They’ve got two weeks left in their run. Click here for tickets and info about some special events coming up. I only wish I could make it up to Boston one last time to see them!

Also, if you haven’t caught after all the terrible things I do at The Huntington yet, this week is your final chance. THIS IS THE FINAL WEEK. GO. NOW. GO. They’ve continued to get one impressive notice after another.

Thank you to all those folks who have reached out to personally tell me your stories and the connections you made with both plays. Even when one writes something meaningful to oneself, it’s such a surprise when it’s so meaningful to others.

Speaking of personal connections, we’ve got one more reading of House Rules at The Lark today at 3:00pm. Come on down and laugh with me in the face of death! And maybe cry a little. The cast had an amazing first go at it last night, and I learned so much from that audience. I’d love for you to take part in this stage of the play’s development, too, as we bring it into the world.

House Retreat

I apologize for the delay in posting this and am hopeful that folks can still make arrangements to come. I basically got back from Boston and plunged right into rehearsals for a workshop of House Rules at my home away from home The Lark Play Development Center. Info about the play and reservations are here, Sam Hunter and I talking about the creation of the play and some of its themes is here.

House Rules

Or, The Wrong Dude
by A. Rey Pamatmat

Rod knows the game is fixed. JJ hates his hand. Twee doesn’t think winning is enough. Momo’s learning the rules. And why the hell is Henry still playing? Two pairs of siblings (and some guy named Henry) panic when they realize their parents won’t always be around holding all the cards.

With Jojo Gonzalez, Mia Katigbak, Teresa Avia Lim, Michael Sazanov, Jon Norman Schneider, Rodney To, and Tiffany Villarin

The Lark Play Development Center
311 West 43rd Street, 5th Floor
Monday, June 15 @ 7:00 pm
Tuesday, June 16 @ 3:00 pm

House Rules, Take Two

Remember when I had that reading of that play oh, so many years ago that just kind of appeared and then disappeared just as quickly? Probably not, because I didn’t invite too may people.

In case you haven’t figured it out: I really hated that play. It was an unfocused mess, lacking a strong raison d’être, and too scared to be about what it was really about.

So… I rewrote that play. Not like, revised. Like, I actually started over, wrote it again, and this time managed to shoot closer to the mark. This new draft of House Rules is very clearly about mortality and that feeling of panic when you realize the elders who guide you are eventually all going to be gone. The play also explores what this means when you’re the child of immigrants and your primary connection to your parents’ native country is about to be severed. Also, it’s funny.

Ma-Yi will be doing a reading of the newest draft next weekend as part of Winter LabFest, and I’ve been blessed with an amazing cast. It will be a very exploratory affair — the actors may even be sitting around a table reading with no staging. I would love for you to join us, though, for this first look (take two) as I test out what works and what doesn’t, what’s moving and what’s falling flat.

Details are below — see you next Sunday!

House Rules

Or, The Wrong Dude

by A. Rey Pamatmat

Rod knows the game is fixed. JJ hates his hand. Twee doesn’t think winning is enough. Momo’s learning the rules. And why the hell is Henry still playing? Two pairs of siblings (and some guy named Henry) panic when they realize their parents won’t always be around holding all the cards.

With Jojo Gonzalez, Mia Katigbak, Teresa Avia Lim, Evan Maltby, Jon Norman Schneider, Moses Villarama, and Tiffany Villarin

Ma-Yi Writers Lab’s Winter LabFest
Ma-Yi Studio, 260 West 35th Street, Room 203
Sunday, February 22 @ 3:00 pm

All LabFest readings are FREE. To make reservations, RSVP to info@ma-yitheatre.org.

A Private Shotgun Reading

Tonight’s the night! I’m thrilled to be rehearsing all day and then presenting this filthy piece of sex panic-inducing anxiety in the living room of Kathleen Chalfant’s private Brooklyn home. No, really.

The reading was fully booked before you could say, “You’ve got mail!” However, there is a wait list and given the weather and this nasty flu that’s going around, I’m sure we’ll squeeze in anyone who shows up somehow (two of my own friends have already cancelled due to illness).

Details are below. Directions to the location will be sent to you after you RSVP.

The Shotgun Message

by A. Rey Pamatmat

directed by Evan T. Cummings

Journalist Kent MacDonald is no saint and certainly no savior. At least he never meant to be until 17-year-old Jared — the primary source of his article on teenage camwhores — winds up missing after turning in his pedophile clients to the FBI. In a lurid world of online sex, naïve parents, and kids who know too much, it’s up to Kent to find Jared, bring him home, and save both their souls in the process.

with Dominic Fumusa, Jennifer Ikeda, Harvey Gardner Moore, Teresa Avia Lim, and Jeffery Omura

Wednesday, January 7th @ 7:00 p.m.

RSVP to rsvp@theprivatetheater.org for location and directions.

A Shotgun New Year Before Edith Shoots Again

Every once in awhile I write a play that stuns people into a horrified silence. What can I say? Like Austin Powers, Danger is my middle name… yuk yuk.

My most recent play of this kind is The Shotgun Message, the murder mystery I wrote about teen camwhores, fathers and sons, and saviors who need saving. It is for noir lovers; it is not for the faint or heart. Luckily for me (and you?) the folks at The Private Theatre are of the stout-hearted sort, and they’ll be presenting a reading of this lurid trip to the underworld on Wednesday, January 7 to cap off their Winter Reading Series.  Evan Cummings is directing, and I’ll post more information once we’re cast!

Following Shotgun‘s return, a certain 12-year-old girl with a gun will start making her way across the US again in productions of Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them at First Floor Theater in Chicago, Crowded Fire in San Francisco, Pandora Productions in Louisville, and the aforementioned Company One production in Boston. The San Francisco and Louisville productions have gotten a couple of mentions in American Theatre here and here (and take a look at the amazing playwrights and plays with whom I’m sharing seasons — WOW!).

Not a bad start for 2015, but I’ve got a couple of other irons in the fire, for which I’ll hopefully have something to show you soon! Until then, happiest of holiday to you and yours.

Out of Joint It.42 — Studio 42, That Is

IT’S ALIVE! IT’S ALIIIIIIIVE!!!

Yes, my monster of a time travel play Out of Joint is being read in Studio 42‘s aptly dubbed Unproducible Plays Series. Okay, yes, the short one-act version of Out of Joint has been produced, but let’s be frank: it’s a beast. And within a commercial New York City environment, it’s a challenge to present. So please come enjoy the bizarre 14-character, 7 set, time-bending adventure into the metaphysical souls of scientists, mall workers, refugees, and cult leaders.

Photo by Ben Arons

Out of Joint

by A. Rey Pamatmat

directed by Victor Maog

Dr. Kajish creates a time travel formula to save mankind by giving it endless second chances. But as people skip indiscriminately through time humiliating enemies, saving lives, and negotiating perfect vacations, the universe unravels in this romp through the recent future, the distant present, and a past still to come.

with Monica Bergstrand, Lauren Blumenfeld, Cindy Cheung, Cleo Gray, Ethan Hova, Jennifer Lim, Peter Kim, Lakisha May, LeRoy McClain, Erik Olson, Christina Pumariega, David Ross, Michael Vitaly Sazanov, and Steve Stout

Presented by Studio 42 at the MTC Rehearsal Studios
311 West 43rd Street, 8th Floor
Sunday, November 24 @ 6:00 p.m.
Wine will be served!

This cast is truly stellar, so don’t miss out.

Oh, and you haven’t seen that photo before, have you? That’s from the workshop of the play Victor and I worked on with projection designer Jared Mezzochi at The Lark thanks to The Flea’s Bats and funding from The Princess Grace Foundation. That’s Crystal Arnette as Dr. Kajish sending a signal across the time plane from 00,000.00, a.k.a. the beginning of time, obviously. When I have a moment, I’ll add the rest of those photos to the Out of Joint gallery.