Part of the "Christmas Closet" series of short plays staged in 2005 by Rude Guerrilla, "Christmas Kisses" is the story of a young girl and her Christmas presents. It features Jami McCoy, Shannon Lee Blas, Barbara Gibbs, and Alex Walters, and was directed by Erika Tai.
| A wild assortment of plays, dance pieces, and puppetry with a world premiere at RudeGuerrilla Theater in Santa Ana, California from January 7, 2005 to January 22, 2005. Note that some of the plays contain adult language and situations. For a complete list of plays and reviews, click "Asian Acting" under "Plays" on the left. For more pictures, visit the Asian Acting page at the Rude Guerrilla website. |
| Directed by Scott Barber, Sharyn Case, Sara Guerrero, Steven Parker, Jody J Reeves, and Erika Tai. Assistant: Heather Enriquez. Lighting Designer: Dawn Hess. Artistic Director: Dave Barton |
| Dates January, 2005:
| Location Rude Guerrilla Theater Company |
| Showtimes Thurs-Sat: 8 pm Sun: 2:30 pm | Admission $20 opening night (Jan 7) includes reception. |
Directed by Scott Barber. A short commercial visits the Thai sex industry.
 Jon Apostol |  David Cramer |  Jenny Lee | |
 Yuki Matsuzaki |  Stephen Oyoung |  Naoko Okamoto |
Directed by Erika Tai. A Chinese spy brings a peaceful end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
| |  Peter Balgoyen |  Keith Bennett | Yuki Matsuzaki |  Erika Tai |
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Directed by Sara Guerrero. A Filipino fable comes magically to life.
Peter Balgoyen | Jenny Lee |  Marc Macalintal | ||
| Yuki Matsuzaki | Stephen Oyoung | |||
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Directed by Erika Tai. A man fights for the right to marry outside his race.
| Jon Apostol |  Wendy Braun | David Cramer | ||
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Directed by Jody J Reeves. A timid mom decides to stand up to the bigots in her neighborhood.
| Naoko Okamoto | ||||
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Directed by Sharyn Case. A Japanese-American woman sits down for a last cup of tea before going to an internment camp.
Keith Bennett |  Trina Mendiola | |||
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Directed by Jody J Reeves. A vicious predator discusses bloody thoughts.
Keith Bennett | Marc Macalintal | |||
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Directed by Steven Parker. Crouching Tiger, Pregnant Woman.
| Keith Bennett | Jenny Lee |  Jalin Hsu | ||
| Stephen Oyoung | Erika Tai | |||
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Orange County Register Review: January 14, 2005
A versatile ‘Asian’ collectionIt’s a fortuitous coincidence that the current heightened consciousness regarding southern Asia will probably help attract patrons to the Empire Theater for Rude Guerrilla Theater Company’s world premiere production of "Asian Acting."
If that tragedy somehow causes Orange County theatergoers to sit up and take notice of Aurelio Locsin’s finely crafted evening of one-act plays, so much the better. Locsin, who describes himself as "mostly Filipino," followed several relatives into a writing career – technical writing. He discovered the world of theater in 1997, became an RGTC company member in 2000 and began dabbling in playwriting. "Asian Acting" is his first completed work, and as co-directed by six of the troupe’s company members, it is an auspicious debut.
The evening is bookended by stories about interracial relationships, each played for their light comedic value despite any underlying sociological message. The whimsical nature of "The Legend of the First Banana" is further underscored by the use of life-size puppets designed by Sean Cawelti. Operated by the actors who give them voice, they’re full-blown characters marked by Locsin’s deft writing in a fairy-tale-type story about Malaya (Jenny Lee), a Filipino maiden who volunteers to negotiate with Chinese merchants on behalf of her ailing father (Marc Macalintal). She winds up falling for Li (Stephen Oyoung), a young Chinese man, and he for her.
The sticking point is Father’s condemnation of their relationship based on Li’s non-Filipino lineage; underlying this is the gentle quality of a fable, narrated by two spectacularly silly monkeys (Peter Balgoyen, Yuki Matsuzaki). The playlet gains humor through its use of naughty X-rated material in a lightly comic vein, and the puppets are charming and ingenuous, given suitably expressive voices by their actors.
The show closes with "Marriage Monkey," based on a landmark 1933 California court case regarding a Filipino and a British woman who were denied a marriage license in Los Angeles on the basis of their racial differences. Locsin gives the tale a comedic spin, leaving the impression that the couple were more intent upon being wed than on breaking legal ground, and director Erika Tai gets sharply etched portrayals from Jon Apostol as the Asian man and Wendy Braun as both his lady love and as the fast-talking lady lawyer who helps them win the case.
Well-directed by Jody Reeves, "Midnight Maneuver" is a monologue wherein a Filipino mother (Naoko Okamoto) analyzes her complex thoughts and feelings toward her son, who has just confessed to her that he’s gay. The text has an ironic tone, and Okamoto plays her character with a confidential air and only the slightest comedic edge.
Reeves also gets the call, and delivers, on "Tongue Lashing," a far more brutal take on homophobia. Rico (Macalintal) mistakenly wanders into a gay bar and is hit on by Todd (Keith Bennett). Punishing Todd for his own error, Rico bounds the gay man to a chair, subjecting him to physical and emotional torture. The only playlet not directly inspired by Asian concepts or characters, "Tongue Lashing" is a harrowing experience driven by Macalintal’s rage, venom and frightening sadism. His Rico is a truly hateful figure.
On the flip side is "Mrs. M’s Tea," a lovely, deeply moving script given masterful direction by Sharyn Case and performances to match by Bennett as a young G.I. and Trina Mendiola as Mrs. M., the elderly Japanese-American woman who has known him since his childhood. Locsin ingeniously places these kindred spirits at odds when Bennett’s soldier is ordered to "escort" Mrs. M. to the internment camp at Manzanar. In the few minutes they take to share a cup of tea, we come to know a kindly but spirited old woman and a gentle young man who has been like her surrogate son. The play not only puts a human face on one of the United States’ most controversial episodes; it’s well-written, with credible dialogue and an ingeniously crafted payoff.
Interspersed with these five tales are two brief skits and an equally brief, nearly wordless tale. The latter is "Xian," something of a mystery until it clearly draws a clever analogy between the world of a pregnant woman battling masked assassins and that of the 21 st-century technicians assigned to combat computer viruses. The skits are "American Express," a ruthlessly efficient parody of credit-card commercials wherein an American tourist indulges his kinks via the Thai sex industry, and "How China Defused the Cuban Missile Crisis," which paints the 1962 incident as a fast-moving sendup of spy flicks, with an inventive explanation of the crisis’s resolution.
The inclusion of these sketches with the longer dramas and dramedies paints Locsin as a versatile, multigenre playwright, at least in the compact short-play format. The result is the debut of a dazzling mind whose talents are well-showcased in Rude Guerrilla’s production.
Joel Beer's Unedited Review for the OC Weekly
Apparently, it takes a really big series of waves for Americans to give much of a shit about
Bombing
Twice.
The eight plays that comprise local playwright Aurelio Locsin’s surprisingly engaging (surprising because it’s funny, well-written, thought-provoking and never predictable) Asian Acting aren’t overwhelmingly concerned with politics or racism. But those concerns are seldom too far away. Like the American soldier who has to deal with sending his surrogate mother to an internment camp during World War II. Or a young Filipino musician who falls in love with an English immigrant only to find that, in the great state of California in 1933, it’s illegal for any Caucasian to marry someone of the Mongol race.
The refreshing thing in this series of short plays isn’t what they’re about as much as how they’re delivered. There are moments of poignancy and solemnity but, for the most part, the plays are so different in context and tone that the ride never gets boring or tired. Following one short sketch about a credit card company touting the necessity of having its card if you’re thinking about nailing a prepubescent Thai girl, is a searingly intense play about a sadistic Filipino-American whose pretended to be gay just to bring a white dude home and fuck with him in ways he’s never dreamed about.
It’s a diverse and interesting evening of theater. Best of all, Loscin has refused the temptation to craft some highly personal narrative that attempts to explain what it’s like being an Asian-American in 2005. Praise Allah, Christ Jesus, Buddha, the Great Spirit and Zeus for that. I’m all for the postmodern notion that every person has their story, but if I have to sit through one more fucking play about the challenges and tribulations of being an Asian-American, or an Armenian-American, or a Latvian-American, or a Lapland-American or any other kind of ethnic-American, I’m going to scream.
Nope, Asian Acting isn’t some wearily self-referential tome about assimilation or losing one’s identity; it’s a bunch of stories about people who hail from the same general geographic area. But by sticking to a playwright’s real mission—telling a good story, not pushing an agenda or clumsily trying to make some important statement—Locsin manages to get us to care not just about this play, but about his personal concerns. And that is a dual achievement very difficult for any playwright to pull off.
OC WEEKLY Vol. 10 No. 20. January 21 - 27, 2005
The eight plays comprising local playwright Aurelio Locsin's engaging Asian Acting aren't narrowly concerned with politics or racism. But those concerns are seldom far away. In one, an American soldier sends his surrogate mother to an internment camp during World War II. In another, a Filipino musician falls in love with an English immigrant only to find that, in 1930s California, it's illegal for Caucasians to marry someone of the Mongol race.
There are moments of poignancy and solemnity, but the plays are so different in context and tone that the experience is anything but repetitive. One short sketch considers a credit card that's terrific if you're thinking about nailing prepubescent Thai girls. A strikingly intense piece concerns a sadistic Filipino-American who pretends to be gay just to seduce a white dude and fuck with him unimaginably.
It's a diverse and interesting evening of theater, in other words, in part because Asian Acting is neither wearily self-referential nor predictably ethnocentric; it features people who hail from the same general geographic area, but remains true to the playwright's mission: it tells good stories instead of clumsily making big statements.
ASIAN ACTING: AN EVENING OF ONE-ACT PLAYS, RUDE GUERILLA THEATER COMPANY AT THE EMPIRE THEATER, 200 N. BROADWAY, SANTA ANA (714) 547-4688. THURS.-SAT., JAN. 20-22, 8 P.M.CLOSES SAT. $12-$15.
Los Angeles Times: January 14, 2005
An eclectic octet of Asiatic one-acts at Rude Guerrilla Theater Company, and more.
Hybrid invention decorates "Asian Acting," an eclectic octet of Asiatic one-acts by Rude Guerrilla Theater Company stalwart Aurelio Locsin.
Sara Guerrero stages the opener, "Legend of the First Banana," a free-trade fable of Filipino/Chinese forbidden love, with pornographic abandon. Jenny Lee, Marc Macalintal and Stephen Oyoung make selfless puppet principals; Peter Balgoyen and Yuki Matsuzaki are shameless monkey narrators.
"Midnight Maneuver" is a restrained monologue confronting homophobia. Naoko Okamoto's immigrant mother is convincing under Jody J. Reeves' direction. A dance scenario, "How China Defused the Cuban Missile Crisis," thrives on choreographer Erika Tai's kicky moves.
Old-school naturalism graces "Mrs. M.'s Tea," a WWII-era saga of a young GI (Keith Bennett, never better), his Japanese godmother (the wonderful Trina Mendiola) and internment. Director Sharyn Case sustains the pull of a superior "Hallmark Hall of Fame" entry.
"American Express," a commercial for Thai prostitution, is a throwaway, despite Scott Barber's staging, David Cramer's tourist and Jon Apostol's MC. "Tongue Lashing," a Thomas Harris-flavored chiller, has unsettling force. Macalintal portrays a blood-curdling psychotic, Bennett is heart-rending as his prey, and only director Reeves' awkward exit maneuver dulls the horrific thrust.
In "Xian," Steven Parker's stylish direction masks the spy-ware embedded in this allegory of pregnant ninjas Tai, Lee and Jalin Hsu. "Marriage Monkey," based on a landmark California court decision, needs expansion, though director Tai and actors Apostol, Cramer and Wendy Braun do yeoman work.
The erratic aspects, a liability of multiple directors and omnibus structure, are fleeting. Tech is respectable, notably the costumes and Dawn Hess' lighting. But it's all about Locsin's writing, which is original, sometimes inspired and superbly played.
"Asian Acting: An Evening of One-Act Plays," Rude Guerrilla Theater Company, 200 N. Broadway, Artist Village, Santa Ana. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20 only. Ends Jan. 22. Mature audiences. $15 (714) 547-4688. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.
