San Francisco Playhouse to Present World Premiere of Minna Lee's MY HOME ON THE MOON This Winter

San Francisco Playhouse will ring in 2024 with the World Premiere of Minna Lee's My Home on the Moon. In this epic sci-fi journey into the metaverse, business is booming for a formerly failing pho restaurant in the middle of a gentrified neighborhood after it receives help from a mysterious marketing consultant. Things are not all they seem as the restaurant's waiter Mai discovers artificial intelligence-powered simulations may be taking over reality. With the help of astral projecting friends and ancient Vietnamese ancestors, and armed with bánh xèo, ch? giò, and delicious pho, Mai must balance the perfection of artificial life with the harshness of reality. A finalist for the 2024 Bay Area Playwrights Festival and semi-finalist for Ashland New Plays Festival, My Home on the Moon received developmental readings at UC Santa Cruz's Rainbow Theater Festival and Bucharest Inside the Beltway. This imaginative new play is helmed by Mei Ann Teo. My Home on the Moon will perform January 25 – February 24, 2024 (opening night: January 31, 2024) at San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street. For tickets ($15-$100) and more information, the public may visit sfplayhouse.org or call the box office at 415-677-9596.

 

San Francisco Playhouse has assembled a talented cast of talented actors to bring this innovative play to life. Jenny Nguyen Nelson (she/her) makes her Playhouse debut as Mai, a Vietnamese American chef at a failing pho shop. Nelson is a Vietnamese American theater artist from the Bay Area who has also performed at American Conservatory Theater, Clubbed Thumb, Ars Nova, Trinity Repertory Company, California Shakespeare Theater, and Pacific Conservatory Theatre. She has been seen in workshops and readings at Ojai Playwrights Conference, Playwrights Center, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre's The Ground Floor.

 

Seen in San Francisco Playhouse's productions of Starting Here, Starting Now; Groundhog Day: The Musical; and King of the Yees (San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics SFBATCC Award), Rinabeth Apostol (she/her) returns as Vera, a mysterious marketing consultant from megacorporation Novus Corp. She has appeared at American Conservatory Theater, Actors Theater of Louisville, Seattle Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, California Shakespeare Theater, The Magic Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, East West Players, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's The Ground Floor, San Jose Stage Company, Marin Shakespeare Company, Capital Stage, 42nd Street Moon, among others. Offstage, she can be heard on Sirius XM/Marvel's “Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show!”

 

Sharon Omi (she/her) makes her Playhouse debut as Lan, the restaurant's owner. Omi works in theater, film, and television, and has appeared in plays at Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre, Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Repertory, American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and East West Players, among many others. She starred in the film Eat with Me (streaming on Amazon/Peacock/Tubi) for which she won an award for best actress at the Out on Film Festival in Atlanta. She also appeared in the films Yellow, Terminal USA, and Only The Brave. Her television credits include Apple TV's “The Afterparty,” Hulu's “Maggie,” ABC's “General Hospital,” Amazon Prime Video's “Forever,” Hulu's “The First,” CBS' “Young Sheldon,” Fox's “The Resident,” ABC's “How to Get Away With Murder,” CBS' “Criminal Minds – Beyond Borders,” among many others.

 

Seen in The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin and King of the Yees, Will Dao (he/him) returns to the Playhouse as Beau, the restaurant's waiter who is often absent, and other characters. Dao has also acted with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, L.A. Theatre Works, American Conservatory Theater, Ma-Yi Theater Company, WP Theater, Playwrights Foundation, Powerhouse Theater, The Magic Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Crowded Fire Theater, Central Works, Bay Area Children's Theatre, Golden Thread Productions, and Asian American Theater Company.

 

Erin Mei-Ling Stuart (she/her) makes her Playhouse debut as Gigi, a security bot, and other characters. Stuart has performed with American Conservatory Theater, Shotgun Players, The Magic Theatre, and is a company member of Shotgun Players and Detour Dance. Film credits include The Girl in Golden Gate Park.

 

PRODUCTION TEAM:

My Home on the Moon features scenic design by Tanya Orellana, costume design by Kathleen Qiu, lighting design by Michael Oesch, noodles design by Jacquelyn Scott, projections design by Hao Bai, and sound design by Howard Ho. Ada May is the stage manager.

 

CREATIVE TEAM:

Minna Lee (Playwright, they/them/she/her) is a Hmong-Vietnamese American playwright and animator who uses their work to celebrate queer love and summon portals into fantastical worlds. They are a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a 2022 Sesame Workshop Writers’ Room Fellow, and an MFA Playwriting candidate at Hunter College (class of 2024). Past work includes Acting Stranger written and performed with Andrew Schneider and Fox Whitney (On the Boards, Los Angeles Performance Practice) and the audio drama One Horse Town (Annex Theatre). Their short stories have been published in various literary journals including the Bricolage, You Flower/You Feast, and Call Me [Brackets]. Up next, they'll be developing an installation called "Memory Bear" with support from The Assembly Theater’s Deceleration Lab.

Mei Ann Teo (Director, they/them) is a queer immigrant from Singapore making theatre and film at the intersection of artistic/civic/contemplative practice. As a director/divisor/dramaturg, they create across genres, including music theatre, intermedial participatory work, reimagining classics, and documentary theatre. Teo works internationally at festivals including Belgium's Festival de Liege (Lyrics from Lockdown by Bryonn Bain), Edinburgh International Festival and Beijing International Festival, and Singapore Theatre Festival. They have directed and developed work across the country including at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, TheaterWorks Hartford, The Playwrights Realm, Goodman Theatre, The Public Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Crowded Fire Theater, History Theatre, Page 73, Musical Theatre Factory, and the National Black Theatre. Recent work includes Madeline Sayet’s Where We Belong (film and national tour), the U.S. premiere of Amy Berryman’s Walden at TheaterWorks Hartford (Best Production and Director- Connecticut Critics Award), and the English U.S. premiere of Stefano Massini’s 7 Minutes at Waterwell. Teo received the League of Professional Theatre Women’s Josephine Abady Award and is the inaugural recipient of the Lily Fan Director Lilly Award. They formerly served as the Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory, as well as at Oregon Shakespeare Festival as the Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Work. They are an artistic leader at Ping Chong and Company.

SAN FRANCISCO PLAYHOUSE:

Founded by Bill English and Susi Damilano in 2003, San Francisco Playhouse has been described by The New York Times as “a company that stages some of the most consistently high-quality work around” and deemed “ever adventurous” by The Mercury News. Located in the heart of the Union Square Theater District, San Francisco Playhouse is the city's premier Off-Broadway company, an intimate alternative to the larger more traditional Union Square theater fare. The Playhouse provides audiences the opportunity to experience professional theater with top-notch actors and world-class design in a setting where they are close to the action. The company has received multiple awards for overall productions, acting, and design, including the SF Weekly Best Theatre Award and the Bay Guardian's Best Off-Broadway Theatre Award, as well as three consecutive Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Best Entire Production in the Bay Area. KQED/NPR recently described the company as “one of the few theaters in the Bay Area that has a mission that actually shows up on stage. Artistic director Bill English's commitment to empathy as a guiding philosophical and aesthetic force is admirable and by living that mission, fascinating things happen onstage.” The Playhouse is committed to providing a creative home and inspiring environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and theater lovers converge to create and experience dramatic works that celebrate the human spirit.

TICKETS:    

Single tickets ($15-$100) and subscriptions are currently available for San Francisco Playhouse's 2023-24 Season. For more information, the public may visit https://www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/2023-2024-season/my-home-on-the-moon/ or call the box office at 415-677-9596.

Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli