Ma-Yi Theater Company Announces Spring 2021 Season

Following the recent opening of Ma-Yi Studios, a digital streaming center and live capture studio, Ma-Yi has announced programming for its Spring 2021 season which includes collaborations with artists in the Philippines and Japan. The season, running February 11-May 3, 2021, illustrates that by putting artists and craftspeople to work, despite the coronavirus pandemic, innovation and compelling storytelling can thrive.

Ma-Yi's Spring 2021 season includes three live readings and begins on February 11 with Clippy and Ms. U, written by Ohnobu Pelican and directed by James Yaegashi. This reading, presented in partnership with Japan Playwrights Association, Tohoku Branch, marks Ma-Yi's participation in 10 Years from the Great East Japan Earthquake of 3/11: A Reflection Through Plays, an international event reflecting on the shinsai triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown) in northern Japan through the prisms of Japanese plays that tell stories of the intervening years.

Additional readings include Stefani Kuo's timely new play, Final Boarding Call (March 10-14), presented in partnership with WP Theater. It tells the stories of the current Hong Kong protests. The final reading of the season is Once Upon A (korean) Time (April 7), a new play by Daniel K. Isaac that mixes traditional Korean fables with the horrors of the Korean War.

Launching February 25, Rest is a 16 minute audio meditation exploring the meaning of silence and space in our pandemic lives following "the longest and most coherent global seismic noise reduction in recorded history" (New York Times). Using data collected from seismographs around the world following the coronavirus shutdowns as well as recordings of quarantine living, composer and sound designer Frederick Kennedy has created a personalized sonic experience.

Written and directed by Ma-Yi Theater's Artistic Director Ralph B. Peña in collaboration with puppeteer Tom Lee, Vancouver (April 19) centers on a Japanese American family who returns to the U.S. from Japan to settle in the Pacific Northwest, and the challenges they face as they try to recalibrate their identities. Presented in partnership with The Chicago International Puppet Festival Theater.

Building on the critically-acclaimed success of "Sophocles in Staten Island," Obie-winner and Ma-Yi affiliated artist Ron Domingo, along with his charming family, move beyond the Greeks to embrace the social protest theater of American playwright Clifford Odets in Odets in Staten Island (May 3).

Additional details and events as part of Ma-Yi's Spring 2021 season will be announced at a later date. Please visit www.ma-yitheatre.org and www.ma-yistudios.com for more information.

Ma-Yi Theater Company'S SPRING 2021 SEASON

Clippy and Ms. U

Written by Ohnobu Pelican
Directed by James Yaegashi
Featuring Ann Harada, Jennifer Ikeda, Thom Sesma, and Olivia Oguma
Streams February 11 - April 30; Performed in English with Japanese subtitles; Free

Marking the 10 year anniversary of Japan's Triple Disaster, Ma-Yi is participating in 10 Years from the Great East Japan Earthquake of 3/11: A Reflection Through Plays, an international event reflecting on the shinsai triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown) in northern Japan through the prisms of Japanese plays that tell stories of the intervening years. Ma-Yi Theater presents a reading of Clippy and Ms. U by newcomer Ohnobu Pelican and directed by James Yaegashi. In the play, three strangers are all looking for a woman. As their paths cross they discover a reality they'd rather not face. Reversing the course of time, Clippy examines the complex layers of home, nature, technology, and human longing in the context of devastating loss. Presented in partnership with Japan Playwrights Association, Tohoku Branch.

Rest

Composed and written by Frederick Kennedy
with Emily Reilly & Hugh Farrell

Launching February 25; Free
On July 23, 2020, a team of international researchers in seismology released a paper detailing their finding that Coronavirus shutdowns had led to "the longest and most coherent global seismic noise reduction in recorded history" (New York Times). Seemingly overnight, humanity had stopped moving and the resulting silence was measurable on a global scale. Sound designer Frederick Kennedy has collected data from seismographs around the world as well as recordings of quarantine living and numerous other inputs and blended it together to create a personalized sonic experience. From the surface of the planet to the depths of its core, and from the very human to the global, what does the earth sound like during this pandemic? Has it changed-and has it changed us? Rest is a 16-minute audio meditation inspired by this shared moment, exploring the meaning of silence and space in our lives.

Final Boarding Call

Written by Stefani Kuo

Directed by Mei Ann Teo

Presented in Partnership with WP Theater

March 10-14
Ma-Yi Theater Company and WP Theater are pleased to present a reading of Stefani Kuo's timely new play, Final Boarding Call, which tells the stories of the current Hong Kong protests. Directed by Mei Ann Teo, Final Boarding Call revolves around the interconnected stories of seven characters whose backgrounds and perspectives run the spectrum - a protesting brother and flight attendant sister struggling to keep her job; a Mainland Chinese mother and her estranged Hong Kong daughter; a non-Cantonese speaking reporter and her Indian partner; and an American expat CEO and Hong Kong lover living in the shadows. The play begins and ends with a flight, an entrance into the Hong Kong protests and how the politics we see on the news every day affects the citizens of Hong Kong in their day-to-day lives. It gives the audience a window into China's grip on global capitalism. How far will they go to fight for family, freedom, and the right to be heard?

Once Upon A (korean) Time

Written by Daniel K. Isaac

April 7 at 3pm
Mixing traditional Korean fables with the horrors of the Korean War, Daniel K. Isaac's new play is a funny and deeply moving analog for the experiences of the Korean American diaspora. Isaac deftly moves his characters through time, tracing the legacies of trauma that are passed from one generation to the next, and the various coping mechanisms each one uses to soldier on. Presented in partnership with New York University.

Vancouver

Written and directed by Ralph B. Peña
Puppetry Director and Principal Puppetry by Tom Lee
Presented in association with the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

April 19 at 7pm
Written and directed by Ma-Yi Theater's Artistic Director Ralph B. Peña, Vancouver was conceived immediately after live theater was shuttered in March 2020, when Peña reached out to Puppet Director Tom Lee to ask about a collaboration. "I've always wanted to work with Tom on this story," says Peña, "and the form seemed like a perfect fit for the safety requirements of working during the pandemic." Vancouver centers on a Japanese American family who returns to the U.S. from Japan to settle in the Pacific Northwest, and the challenges they face as they try to recalibrate their identities. Presented in partnership with The Chicago International Puppet Festival Theater, Vancouver is an American story told through puppetry.

Odets in Staten Island

Written by Michi Barall and Sung Rno
Directed by Jack Tamburri
Featuring Ron Domingo and family
May 3 at 7pm
Building on the critically-acclaimed success of "Sophocles in Staten Island," Obie-winner and Ma-Yi affiliated artist Ron Domingo, along with his charming family, move beyond the Greeks to embrace the social protest theater of American playwright Clifford Odets.

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