Culture as a Hedge Against This Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

Tonight on Medium Cool we will be talking about She Devil of the China Seas, written and produced by Balloon Juice commenter (and playwright) gwangung.

In case you missed the post that introduced this piece a couple of weeks ago:

She Devil of the China Seas by playwright gwangung (Open Thread)

I asked gwangung if he could share a bit of his backstory for our discussion of She Devil of the China Seas.  What motivated him to write this play.  What he’s trying to accomplish with the play.  The various roles he played in this particular production.  And anything else he wanted to tell us.

Straight from gwangung:

Well, now….that’s an interesting question (and might make me drone on a bit, so bear with me).

I’ve spent most of my artistic life being an advocate for Asian Americans on stage and telling Asian American stories on stage (it’s not hard to fall into this when one of your college dorm mates is David Henry Hwang, and you helped him stage the world premiere of his Obie-award winning play in our dorm lounge)(unfortunately, I can’t claim any credit for his subsequent Tony Award winning play M. Butterfly).

In particular, I want to promote stereotype breaking stories for Asian American actors. And that’s why I founded my company, Pork Filled Productions, where we specialized in breaking the expectations, whether it was doing comedy when there were no Asian American comedians, or in genre work like SF or steampunk (you noted it took Ke Huy Quan 30 years to get cast again after being in The Goonies and Indiana Jones).

And one of the stories I was REALLY jonesing to see was the story of Ching Shih, the woman who rose from prostitute to wife of pirate leader to leading that pirate fleet, that some people said numbered over 10,000 ships and 70,000 crewmen.

But nothing ever came. There was a rumor of a mini series starring Maggie Q (good choice). There was a side mention of her in Pirates of the Caribbean—but they showed her as a dowdy middle aged matron—and Ching Shih became a commander in her 20s, fresh off her rep as one of the most beautiful women in Canton.

Clearly this could not stand. And I had the cojones to think I could do it myself. So I sat down and began to write. I’ve been produced before (the aforementioned sketch comedy and I’ve done a number of short 10 minute plays around Seattle), but I had never done a full length show before. Well…no time like the present….

After some fits and starts (one theatre company chose the play for production, but demanded to replace the director, which I didn’t do) and some last minute changes (I changed all the names from the Mandarin pronunciation to the arguably more accurate Cantonese)—don’t ask me, I’m more of a Cantonese/Hakka bastard speaker,

I finally had a script I was happy with (folks who saw an earlier reading will note I changed the godly presence to Yuen Loh, the goddess of war and erotic arts—which was an irresistible choice for patron of this pirate queen.)

Folks will note there’s a lot of resonance with Marvel comics in this script, in particular, with Marvel’s 1970s Conan the Barbarian and his female counterpart Red Sonja. All I can say is…write what you love. And there are fights. Lots of fights. I share that love with another Asian American playwright, Qui Nguyen (who some may recognize as co-writer of Raya and the Last Dragon); I’ve had a long relationship with him and produced the Northwest premieres of some of his shows.

I decided to go with my own theatre company to produce my script—there’s an inherent advantage in that (no arguments with the producer on artistic intent, fewer arguments with the director). But that also means you do a lot more work—you’re not just the playwright, you also do the PR, the grant writing, the administration, the finance and budgeting, and even the graphic design and photography for the show. (Don’t worry, I saved enough for other folks to do work—I lucked out and got great lighting design and fight choreography.)

But enough about me—what do you guys think? And what else you want to know?

We’ll let gwangung moderate this post about She Devil of the China Seas, but don’t be surprised when BGinChi chimes in with comments.

Medium Cool – She Devil of the China SeasPost + Comments (37)

In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.  We’re here at 7 pm on Sunday nights.

In this week’s Medium Cool, let’s talk Documentaries.

It’s been a while since we covered this subject, and watching the Paul Newman-Joanne Woodward doc (“The Last Movie Stars,” HBO) reminded me that I’m probably missing lots of good stuff. So let us know what’s good and why, both recent and classic.

Reminder:

You may have seen gwangung mention his new play – She Devil of the China Seas.

They taped a show for video on demand, and tickets are now available here. I asked gwangung if he would be interested in a discussion on Medium Cool, and he took us up on our offer, so mark your calendars – his play will be the subject of Medium Cool next week ( Sept 25).

Tickets are $10! If that’s cost prohibitive, just let me know by email – I am confident that there are a few jackals who will happily comp tickets for anyone in a tight spot this month.

What’s it about? Here’s what gwangung has to say about it:

The logline is “Pirate Queen vs. Immortal Sorceress in 19th Century China”, but it’s REALLY a mash up of comic books, Red Sonja/Conan, and the real life pirate queen Ching Shih—all combined into something I tried to get as close as an MCU movie (Marvel Cinematic Universe) on stage as I possibly could.

Behind the Scenes vdeo https://youtu.be/lfC9Iin9rCs

60 second trailer https://youtu.be/iz-No6sXJ2s

30 second trailer https://youtu.be/ZRVFxWZ-RHU

So if that looks/sounds interesting to you, watch the play and come all with us on the Sept 25 Medium Cool.  The playwright and our Medium Cool host will facilitate the conversation.  Even if you don’t watch the play, I’ll bet the thread will be interesting anyway!

WaterGirl

P.S.  Here’s the post that went up about this at some point during the week.

Tonight, let’s talk Documentaries!

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Documentaries!Post + Comments (104)

In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.  We’re here at 7 pm on Sunday nights.

Well, it’s after Labor Day, and the summer is winding down. At least the season, if not temps in the West!

What’s the most summery artwork you can think of?

There are films where it’s damn hot, where people sweat, where the heat drives them mad. There are books and plays, paintings and songs that try to capture the essence of summer. What says “summer” to you?

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Summer!Post + Comments (137)

In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.  We’re here at 7 pm on Sunday nights.

In this week’s Medium Cool, let’s talk about work.

This summer I’m between book projects and have been doing some carpentering. I put up a new ceiling of rustic wood in our kitchen and lounge area, as well as new crown molding, and it looks good. A lot of hard work, attention to detail, learning.

Which has me thinking about the kind of patient labor we read about in books, see in films, or on TV shows. People working. Laboring. Not at fancy things but at what needs to be done, made, built. What are good examples of this?

Have you done some work you want to talk about?

Expansive definitions welcome.

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Work!Post + Comments (150)