Review: DRAGON MAMA at Diversionary Theatre

Playwright and performer Sara Porkalob brings an extraordinary, funny, and touching performance to the Diversionary Theatre in DRAGON MAMA through October 15th.  This 90’s song-filled one-woman adventure spans from Hawaii, Seattle, to Alaska and showcases the love and struggles of a Filipino woman who is growing up and coming into her own. 

DRAGON MAMA is the second in Sara Porkalob’s DRAGON CYCLE, which is a trilogy about her family's impressive matriarchs and each of their hero’s journeys. The first play is  DRAGON LADY, which is about her grandmother, and DRAGON MAMA is about her own mother, Maria Jr.  DRAGON BABY is the third in the cycle and is currently in development for television.

Aside from her prolific playwriting ability, Sara is a gifted actress, comedian, and singer.  In DRAGON MAMA she plays her mother Maria Jr, from childhood into adulthood, along with an impressive number of other characters.  Blending comedy, tragedy, and an impish mischievousness, Porkalob is able to bring a truly impressive performance to the stage as she deftly brings to life all of these characters.

Maria Jr. is the oldest of five kids, living in an impoverished situation and taking care of her siblings while her mother works.  She chafes against having to be the sister and the parent to her siblings, though she loves them dearly.  She chooses instead to lose herself in the music she listens to on her Walkman, and defies her strict mother’s rules whenever she can. Even after graduating high school, she is struggling to find herself, having had to conform as best she could to what her family needed her to be instead.  Soon those choices led her to some difficult decisions on how she can embrace who she is, provide love and support to those who need it, and build a life she can call her own.

The show was extraordinary and truly an exquisite example of how touching, evocative, and engaging theatre can be. Sara’s specificity in telling this story about her family, both in the writing and the performance aspect, is done with healthy doses of humor, humility, and love.  Because of that, it transcends into a story that audiences of all backgrounds can find something of themselves reflected within. 

Sara’s performance is especially impressive as she rapidly juggles multiple characters in scenes with lightning-fast volleys, and switches from humor to pathos just as easily.  But the true beauty can be found in the delicate and small moments, like two characters that are holding hands or reaching towards each other, and the tenderness and clarity of which character is which shines through clearly.

DRAGON MAMA is a show you should not hesitate to go see; it made me laugh, it made me tear up, and it has great music.

How To Get Tickets 

 DRAGON MAMA is playing at Diversionary Theatre through October 15th.  For ticket and showtime information go to www.diversionary.org

Photo Credit: TalonReedCooper.com 

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