Filipina Playwright Explores Immigrant Stereotypes & Alt-Right

Marie Barlizo's latest drama, LUCKY, examines the harmful stereotype of Asians as the "model minority"-submissive, intelligent, well behaved-and the consequences of such simplistic preconceptions. This workshop production, inspired by a 2010 Toronto murder in the Asian community, world premieres at the Montreal's 2018 St-Ambroise Fringe Festival from June 1 to 17 at Too Close to the Sun Studio. It is directed by Sophie Gee, who directed last summer's Fringe hit, Pluck'd, which was later remounted as part of Centaur Theatre's WildSide Festival. LUCKY is an exploration of how fear of the "other" affects the perception and treatment of immigrants, and how cultural expectations can affect happiness and self-esteem.

Nina, a Filipina who feels she can no longer meet her parents' high expectations, decides to end it all. Sylvain, a former skinhead who now drives subway trains, is haunted by his violent and hateful past. Suffering from PTSD after hitting a woman who jumped in front of his train, he intervenes when Nina's attempts suicide by jumping onto the Decarie expressway and invites her back to his apartment. When Nina discovers who he is, she tries to tempt him with an offer that could solve all her problems. As Sylvain begins to realize that Nina is not who she claims to be and urges her to confront her own self-loathing, he too must face the question: can we ever break free of our past to become who we truly want to be?

Jennifer Pan is a Vietnamese student-turned-murderer who, after failing to graduate from high school in Toronto, deceived her parents into thinking she was a model student by forging report cards and eventually, contracted a hit on them. For authenticity, Ms. Barlizo consulted Christian Picciolini, a former skinhead with the Alt-Right who now advocates for peace through his organization Life After Hate and is the author of "Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead", which details his life as leader of one of the earliest North American skinhead organizations.

LUCKY was developed at the Banff Centre Playwrights' Retreat and through support from Playwrights' Workshop Montreal. Excerpts of Lucky were also read at Imago Theatre's Her Side of the Story Cabaret and at PlayShed's Multi-Disciplinary Showcase at the MAI this past December.

Born in the Philippines and raised in Montreal, Ms. Barlizo is a playwright, dramaturg and emerging TV writer. She was the first visible minority graduate of the National Theatre School's Playwriting Program and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from UBC. She is a playwriting mentor for Black Theatre Workshop's Artist Mentorship Program and for the MAI, where she is the current Artist-in-Residence. She writes to introduce theatre audiences to different stories that reflect the vibrant multicultural society she knows and to give Asian actors opportunities to work.

Warning: Coarse language, violence, nudity, and explicit sexual activity. 18 yrs+

General Admission: $10 + $2.50 service charge

TICKETS: 514-849-3378 or www.montrealfringe.ca

Actors: Jeremy Cabrera, Christian Jadah, and Katharine King

Dramaturg: Emma Tibaldo

Stage Manager: Emlyn van Bruinswaardt

Assistant: Jill Morton

OFF FRINGE VENUE E:

Too Close to the Sun Studio

5445, av. de Gaspé, #408 (4th floor)

Photo: Katharine So and Christian Jadah.

Photo by Katherine Dydyk

 

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