A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Reset’

November 9, 2023November 9, 2023 Edward Hong

How often does one get to see a sci-fi play? Better question, how often does one get to see a sci-fi play done well? This is the challenge that Moving Arts Theatre was more than able to meet in the extremely intriguing Reset, written by Howard Ho and directed by Darin Anthony. It’s also noticeably different from most of the plays I’ve seen this year, where the ethnicity of the actors were essential to play the characters they would portray and the stories that were being told. Reset utilizes diversity in such a way that went beyond these limited requirements while also being color conscious of the characters in a subtle manner. Truly, more theatre companies should do this.

Reviews, Theatre

‘Rise’ is an Inspired Story of Love and Legacy

October 19, 2023October 23, 2023 Elijah Isaiah Johnson

Theater is a wide and wonderful world; a place of imagination, depth, and hundreds, if not thousands, of years of historical relevancy. It’s given us the gift of Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, August Wilson’s Fences, and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, among so many other classics that have affected not just audience sensibilities but have helped frame and define stage storytelling and become mainstays of conventional cinema a well.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘How’s It Gon’ Be’

October 18, 2023October 19, 2023 Edward Hong

Full transparency: this is a rather late theatre review for a show happening at the Echo Theater Company, but I am glad to have caught it with one more performance week left as How It’s Gon’ Be, a gorgeous coming-of-age play written by JuCoby Johnson and directed by Ahmed Best (yes, that fantastic Ahmed Best), is a terrific reminder of Los Angeles theatre at its absolute finest and that plays which are centered around underrepresented people does not have to revolve around trauma.

Interview, Theatre1 Comment

God Built Us Different: A Conversation with the Women of ‘Rise’

October 13, 2023October 16, 2023 Elijah Isaiah Johnson

Pulled away from the Company of Angels Theater at Hazard Recreation Park as the lights were dimmed and the locks were shut after a lively post-production reception, and into the dark of the studio parking lot, I had the opportunity to discuss the makings of COA’s newest community play — Rise by Kimba Henderson — with the cast and creators themselves.

Reviews, Theatre1 Comment

Preston Choi’s ‘This is Not a True Story’ Examines the Dark History of Asian Heroines

September 30, 2023September 30, 2023 Laura Sirikul

“Why do I have to die so you can learn your lesson?” says Kim (Chacha Tahng), the ill-fated character from the Tony Award-winning musical Miss Saigon, in Preston Choi’s This is Not a True Story. She continues on her tirade with her fellow doomed counterparts, CioCio (Julia Cho) from the tragic Madame Butterfly, and Kumiko (Jo Yuan) from the 2014 film, Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter.

Theatre

‘Every Brilliant Thing’ to be Performed by Daniel K. Isaac

August 8, 2023August 9, 2023 Edward Hong

Rehearsals have begun for Geffen Playhouse’s production of Every Brilliant Thing, written by Olivier Award–nominated playwright Duncan Macmillan (Lungs; People, Places, and Things) with Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, and Off-Broadway Alliance Award nominee Jonny Donahoe (Thirty Christmases, Forgiveness).

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Hamlet’

May 23, 2022May 23, 2022 Edward Hong

You would be hard pressed to find me wanting to watch a Shakespeare production willingly. While I am painfully aware his works are considered the echelon of fine performance arts training, my distaste for it only grew as a vast majority of Shakespeare productions only utilize white actors for the meaningful parts.

Until now.

Reviews, Theatre

The Gift of Sanaz Toosi’s ‘English’

March 9, 2022March 9, 2022 Swara Salih

What goes into learning a foreign language for your livelihood? How does one prepare to become a foreigner in an unfamiliar country? Encapsulating the migrant experience through the microcosm of a TOEFL class in 2008 Karaj, Iran, Sanaz Toosi’s searingly beautiful play English, directed by Knud Adams, answers all of this and much more, running at The Atlantic Theater in New York City to critical acclaim.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Celestial Events’

March 9, 2022March 12, 2022 Edward Hong

As in-person theatre is making more of a return throughout the United States and particularly in Los Angeles where I reside, there’s been a surge of plays that deal with traumatic topics of race when all or most of their cast members are that of Global Majority.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Poor Clare’

November 19, 2021October 5, 2023 Edward Hong

To be watching plays again inside a theatre after 18 months was certainly a strange experience considering that Poor Clare, now playing at the Echo Theater Company, was something I was supposed review right before the pandemic shut everything down and drastically altered our lives for many months to come. To finally be able to watch this play (written by Chiara Atik and directed by Alana Dietze) was made all the worthwhile in how utterly fantastic it was and how much its themes struck even harder after everything we experienced during this chaotic time.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘An Octoroon’

July 12, 2021October 5, 2023 Edward Hong

During intermission while watching An Octoroon (written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and directed by Judith Moreland) at the Fountain Theatre, an old white woman randomly came up to me and asked what I found so amusing in this play. First, I had to get over the shock that a live human being was touching me (without permission) and getting up in my face to ask this question because after all, this was my first time watching a play with a live audience (albeit in an outdoor theater) in 16 months. Second, what WAS I and primarily all the other POC audience members laughing about?

Podcasts, Theatre

Southern Fried Asian: Edward Hong

May 13, 2020May 7, 2020 Southern Fried Asian

This month’s guest on Southern Fried Asian, Edward Hong, has been tapped to deliver the commencement address for the APIA students of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. A fitting tribute to the college’s first ever Asian American Studies graduate in the 300-year-old institution’s history.

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Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Antigone, Presented By The Girls of St. Catherine’s’

March 11, 2020October 5, 2023 Edward Hong

They all have a million secrets. What’s so bad about this one? The St. Catherine’s drama club is struggling to put up its first school play – Sophocles’ “Antigone.” As if staging this tragedy in an all-girls Catholic school isn’t challenging enough, the cast’s beloved director ends up betraying them in an unforgivable way — and it’s almost opening night! The cast must figure out the right course of action, all while rehearsing a classic play about impossibly difficult choices. What is the right thing to do? And must the show go on?

Antigone, Presented By The Girls Of St. Catherine’s came with much eager anticipation. Presented by Sacred Fools (which put up a fantastic world premiere production of Gifted), written by Madhuri Shekar, and directed by Reena Dutt (who knocked it out of the park with her previously directed play Defenders), did the play met my expectation? More after the jump below:

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘West Adams’

February 24, 2020February 25, 2020 Edward Hong

Earlier this month, I watched the opening premiere of West Adams at the Skylight Theatre Company and the first immediate thought I had when it finished was:

“Oh damn, this is Rich Liberal White People (And One Chinese Woman) Gone Crazy.”

I’ll definitely go more into this after the break as there were tremendous things to be praised for this show (acting, directing, and production design aspects) but at the core of it was a very troubling and, at times, a baffling story. Who was the intended audience? That aspect remains unclear but more on this later:

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Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Gifted’

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020 Josephine Chang

Co-written with Edward Hong

What do you do when you’re born with a superpower but it’s really not that super? Especially if it’s a power that can accurately pinpoint the success or failure of any romantic relationship? Gifted, which is currently playing at the Sacred Fools till February 29, explores this question in a world not at all too different from our own. Written by Bob DeRosa and directed by Rebecca Larsen, the play takes a somewhat absurd premise into a truly in-depth and touching story that is a feast for the eyes, ears, and the heart.

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Hard N.O.C. Life, Marvel, Movies

Hard NOC Life: ‘Spider-Man’ Into the Multiverse

May 10, 2019May 8, 2020 Hard NOC Media

This week on Hard NOC Life, Dominic Mah returns as guest co-host to join Keith for additional spoilery Endgame thoughts. This time with more Spider-Man: Far From Home!

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Books, Fantasy1 Comment

10 Things to Consider If You Haven’t Read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Yet

August 1, 2016 Clara Mae

The script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth and probably final story about Harry Potter, was finally released yesterday. Written exclusively for the stage by Jack Thorne, JK Rowling, and John Tiffany, the London play is nearly all sold out through December 2017, and Potterheads everywhere celebrated the midnight release with costume parties. Fanfare aside, the big question is, is it worth the read? Here’s ten things to consider (without plot spoilers!):

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Fantasy, Literature4 Comments

Harry Potter and the Fact That Hermione is Black

December 21, 2015December 21, 2015 Constance Gibbs

Hermione Granger means so much to so many girls, myself included. She’s smart and brave — the smartest witch of her age — and saved the world. She’s someone who prefers books to people (except a select few) and can be brass and bold at times when girls are usually told not to be. She’s a role model and a mirror. And because her race is never specified in the Harry Potter series, many girls around the world can picture someone who looks like them as her character. She was of course, cast as white in the Hollywood adaptations of the books — because Hollywood gonna Hollywood — but that doesn’t mean that she has to be white in all adaptations of the series. Buzzfeed already showed us the mounds of Hermione-as-black fanart that exists in the world. And now that dream that so many of us had is coming true.

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