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MediaRites, a nonprofit organization that provides innovative, award-winning radio, theater and documentary programs, today announced its Theatre Diaspora performance of The Theory of Everything by Thai-American playwright Prince Gomolvilas.
MediaRites' Theatre Diaspora is Portland's first Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) theatre, providing staged readings followed by audience talkback discussions on cultural diversity. Set at a weekly UFO-spotting party at a Las Vegas wedding chapel, The Theory of Everything begins with Grandma May who declares to the pan-Asian gathering of family and friends that she has encountered extra-terrestrial visitors. Soon, irrepressible secrets come out from the guests, forever changing their lives. The first performance will be at Portland Center Stage (PCS) on Sunday, August 23 at 2:00 p.m., and the closing performance will be at Artists Repertory Theatre (ART) on Saturday, August 29 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $10, but a $5 economic discount code is available at TheatreDiaspora@gmail.com. No one will be turned away at door if seating is available.
The Theory of Everything premiered at the Singapore Repertory Theatre as a co-production with LA-based East West Players in 2000. Playwright Prince Gomolvilas is scheduled to participate in a Skype Talk with the cast and audience after the PCS performance at 4:00 p.m. The Portland production will be directed by noted actor and director, Rusty Tennant, and stage directions by Samson Syharath. The cast is comprised of actors, Toni Tabora-Roberts (Patty), Elaine Low (May), Kat Templeton (Shimmy), Larry Toda (Hiro), Wynee Hu (Lana), Kimo Camat (Gilbert) and Heath Houghton (Nef).
"With shades of the existentialism of Waiting for Godot, this play tugs at the part of us that wants our lives to be exceptional, special, meaningful. We hope, wait and pine for our dreams, or the dreams of others, to manifest, but in the end it is what we have already been given, rather than what hope to attain, that is truly exceptional," says director Rusty Tennant about the play.
About the Playwright: Prince Gomolvilas is a Thai-American playwright. His plays include BIG HUNK O' BURNIN' LOVE, THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, and the stage adaptation of the Scott Heim novel, MYSTERIOUS SKIN, which have been produced around United States, as well as in Canada, Singapore, and the U.K. He received the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Drama; Julie Harris/Janet and Maxwell Salter Playwright Award; International Herald Tribune/SRT Playwriting Award; East West Players' Made in America Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for the Asian Pacific Islander Community; and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.
For more information and to order tickets (by clicking the Paypal link), visit: http://www.theatrediaspora.org
MediaRites provides innovative, award-winning radio, theater and documentary programs. Previous programs include The Breast Cancer Monologues, the Grief Project, Ellen McLaughlin's Tongue of a Bird and the eight hour-documentary radio series Crossing East. Our artistic documentaries have garnered two Peabody awards, Asian American Journalists Awards and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism award. More info: www.mediarites.org.
MediaRites' Theatre Diaspora is Portland's first AAPI theatre company and features staged readings focusing on AAPI identity and cultural issues. The project includes established Asian American theatre artists and playwrights dedicated to giving Asian American theatre more visibility and to engage the public in insightful talkback discussions. More info: http://theatrediaspora.org/?
