fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company

Zombie Prom!

2012-02-01T17:43:00.001-05:00

Sketch it Out!

2011-11-03T17:03:00.003-04:00

Asiansploitation, one of our community partners, has a kick-ass show coming up on November 11th and 12th. Two nights only! Get out there and check it out. Also, our upcoming newsletter MAY have a contest you can enter in order to win FREE tickets!!!

Back by popular demand, Asiansploitation returns with their latest sketch comedy revue: ASIANSPLOITATION ALL GROWN UP. Winner of the 2010 Just for Laughs' Best of Toronto Fringe, Asiansploitation ushers in a new era of comedy that is edgier, smarter, sexier, more mature and just as messy. Franco mends his broken heart, Jeff's son moves out, Darrel is still expecting, and Lana bakes cupcakes for everyone. Growing up is never as you imagined, so it's time to implement: PLAN B. The show must go on!

ASIANSPLOITATION ALL GROWN UP: PLAN B

Presented by Asiansploitation

Written by and Performed by
Gene Abella, Lana Carillo, James Cheng, Darrel Gamotin, Andrea James Lui, Franco Nguyen, and Jeff B. Santos with additional writing by Byron Abalos

Directed by Andrew Currie

Fri Nov 11th 8pm, Sat Nov 12th 4pm & 8pm

$15 tickets from www.asiansploitation.com
For Early Bird or Group Discounts, e-mail asiansploitation@gmail.com

Theatre Creator's Reserve: Call for Submissions

2011-10-24T17:40:00.004-04:00

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

THEATRE CREATORS’ RESERVE 2011/12

Deadline November 18th, 2011

fu-GEN is pleased to be a recommender for the Theatre Creators’ Reserve (TCR) Program again this year. We are a company that exists for Asian Canadian artists and the work they create. We strive to make our artists and our stories visible in all contexts and cultures, theatrical and otherwise.

The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) Theatre Creators’ Reserve is a program that assists Ontario-based professional theatre creators – and informal collectives of individual creators – by funding them in the creation of new work. This program is assessed by theatre companies that act as third-party recommenders for the OAC. Recommenders receive applications directly from creators and forward grant recommendations to the OAC for authorization and payment.

SUBMISSION CRITERIA

Priority will be given to applications that fulfill our mandate. This includes but is not limited to:

• ASIAN CANADIAN ARTISTS “Asian” is inclusive of the Pan-Asian Pacific Rim

• ARTISTS OF COLOUR This is inclusive of all playwrights who are visible minorities

This is a wonderful opportunity for the creator to work on a first draft or a project in the early stages of development. If the applicant is a collective, the grant allows for initial collaboration and exploration. There is no prescribed theme, and playwrights are encouraged to submit all styles of work, including innovative pieces that involve multidisciplinary collaborations or test out new theatrical modes. We are open to a variety of approaches that each individual creator or collective may have. Each application will be reviewed individually on its own merits and needs. The maximum grant request is $5,000, although recommended recipients may not receive the full amount.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

We require the following support material from all applicants:

• An up-to-date CV or resumé (theatre and/or playwriting)

• A letter of proposal and/or an outline of the project that includes: (max 3 pages)

1. Artistic goals and objectives relating to your piece

2. Relevant information regarding previous workshops, readings or dramaturgy

3. A brief statement describing how the project contributes to your development as an artist

4. A work plan that outlines how the funds will be spent

• A writing sample (max 15 pages)

• 3 copies of the form available from the OAC website

• OPTIONAL: SASE with enough postage to cover the material you wish returned. All other materials will be recycled

Please note that the OAC has updated the guidelines for this program. We encourage you to review the program guidelines on the OAC website.

The deadline for submissions is NOVEMBER 18TH 2011 at 5PM.

Please send all submissions to 207-157 Carlton St. Toronto, Ontario M5A 2K3. Please address all submissions to Andrew Cheng, Associate Dramaturge. If submitting electronically, please package all materials into a SINGLE PDF file and email to andrew@fu-gen.org. Also note the copies of the OAC form must appear in triplicate and signed within the PDF. Electronic submissions failing to meet those requirements will not be considered.

Call for Resident Artists

2011-08-27T21:21:00.005-04:00

fu-GEN is searching for an individual or group/collective to be the Resident Artist for our 2011-2012 season.

Details:

Residency runs from October 1st to June 30th
150 hours of development time in our newly renovated rehearsal space
Access to music stands, chairs, folding tables, internet, printer and some admin support including photocopying

Criterion:

Only individuals or groups without artistic homes are eligible to apply
All performance disciplines (including Stage Management) are encouraged to apply
Applicants must submit with a specific project they would like to work on over the course of the residency

Please refer to the Resident Artist Application Guidelines below for your submission.

The deadline for submissions is 9:00 PM on September 9th, 2011.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

fu-GEN Guidelines for 2011-2012 Resident Artist

We aim to support vitality in the arts by selecting one group or individual to become resident artists with fu-GEN. As Resident Artist, you will have access to our resources, including up to 150 hours of our rehearsal space. fu-GEN’s rehearsal space is newly renovated and is now equipped with full-sized mirrors, a dance floor, a couch, and a kitchenette area. The successful applicant will also have access to music stands, chairs, folding tables and some admin support including photocopying.

It is our aim to nurture the creative process while respecting the individual needs of different artists. We are looking for groups or individuals willing to build a successful partnership to promote a sustainable, healthy arts community. We also welcome submissions from Stage Management artists who can articulate a need for these resources.

To apply, please send a letter of intent (maximum 2 pages) letting us know what you, your group, or your project is all about. We want to know how you will utilize your time in the space, and what makes us the best fit for you.

Please include in your letter:

a statement of intent
a description of the nature of your work
how you would use your time in the space
your mission or mandate

Submissions will be accepted by email ONLY, and can be attached in either PDF or Word format. Any material received by mail or delivered in person will not be considered. Please email all submissions to submissions@fu-gen.org with the subject heading “Artist Residency”.

Please note that as per our mandate, pan-Asian Pacific artists and artists of colour will be given first priority.

8th Annual Potluck Festival

2011-05-31T14:11:00.003-04:00

It’s that time of year again- fu-GEN’s Annual Potluck Festival!

This year’s 8th Annual Potluck Festival will feature readings of 6 site-specific plays throughout our home at St. Luke’s United Church. We’ve got 6 brand new short plays right out of the steamer by this year’s Playwrights’ Kitchen: Rong Fu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Jane Luk, Adriano Sobretodo Jr, Donald Woo and Nelson Yu; and a smorgasbord of local talent as well as our famous potluck dinner after-party. Come join in the fun!

Saturday June 4, 7:30pm
157 Carlton Street at Sherbourne St (buzz fu-GEN at the door on Carlton)
Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can ($10 suggested)- gets you admission to the show + dinner after!
*Capacity is very limited- First come first served*
*There will be walking involved- unfortunately this showing is not wheelchair accessible*

For more info call us at 416 920 2828 or email info@fu-gen.org

Super Happy Lucky Fundraiser

2011-04-07T14:16:00.003-04:00

Join us for a great night out at our fundraiser:FRIDAY MAY 6, 2011 6pm
Factory Theatre
125 Bathurst Street (at Adelaide St)

Join us for an evening of food, drinks, silent auctions, outrageous hijinks
and a special presentation of Brown Balls

$50 (with $30 charitable receipt)

For tickets and info, contact fu-GEN at
416 920 2828

For more info click HERE

PREVIEW: paper SERIES a play by David Yee

2011-03-18T18:30:00.000-04:00

NOW Magazine this week published a preview of our AD David Yee's play paper SERIES that Cahoots Theatre Company is producing. For more info click HERE

David Yee Hosts "A Conversation with David Henry Hwang"

2011-02-28T17:33:00.000-05:00

A Conversation with David Henry Hwang

fu-GEN’s Artistic Director David Yee will be hosting a conversation with Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang next week! Together they will discuss Hwang’s work, life and philosophies, delve into the sordid political-ness of being Asian in the arts... and maybe play a quick game of ‘Six Degrees of John Lone’. Hwang is best known as the author of M. Butterfly and Yellow Face, and is one of the most influential Asian American artists currently working in North America. fu-GEN is proud to be involved with the Toronto premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face, and excited to be part of a conversation that is so linked to our community. Tickets are only $5 for arts workers, which is an exceedingly cheap price to hear one of the pioneers of Asian American theatre speak and engage with the arts community.

When: Tuesday March 8th, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle
Cost: $10 adults / $5 arts workers, students and seniors
Box Office: www.uofttix.ca 416.978.8849

Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang

Yellow Face is a head-spinning backstage comedy from the Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang in which mistaken racial identities collide with family, media and politics. This ferociously funny, utterly unreliable memoir chronicles David Henry Hwang’s struggle to define racial identity in the mixed-up melting pot of contemporary America. Part fact, part fiction - provocative yet full of heart, Yellow Face is a tale of cultural politics, family fortunes, and artistic integrity; an insightful look at the pitfalls and promise of our “P.C.” world.

Yellow Face runs March 4^th – 12^th 2011 at Hart House Theatre.
Tickets: Adults - $25, Students/Seniors - $15
Contact Hart House Box office for more information: www.uofttix.ca, 416.978.8849

Nisei Blue

2011-02-15T00:49:00.001-05:00

Here's an interesting article about Mieko Ouchi's Nisei Blue, an Asian Canadian play currently playing at the Enbridge playRites festival in Calgary. Big shout out to our interim Artistic Director, Governor General Literary Award Nominee David Yee and Sean Baek- both of whom will be appearing in our upcoming May production of BROWN BALLS!

Bloggin 2.0

2011-02-08T16:36:00.002-05:00

We've redesigned the blog -- ooooh pretty!

Keep your eyes on this space for more articles, insights, random
musings and sneak peaks into what we're up to at the fu-GEN office!

"what did you hear?"

2010-09-27T16:58:00.003-04:00

sex tape project Ticket Reservations Now Available!

2010-09-22T18:02:00.004-04:00

Hello friends of fu-GEN,

We hope you've had a wonderful summer. After a hugely successful 7th Annual Potluck Festival and GENesis: Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference, we've been busy preparing for our new season, which promises to be innovative, exciting and sexy.

We're kicking the season off with a theatrical experiment called 'sex tape project' and ticket reservations are NOW AVAILABLE! This exciting new project positions the audience as voyeur witnesses to a steamy rendezvous and is the brainchild of our new Interim Artistic Director, David Yee. I can tell you it's involved a lot of hard work on the parts of all artists involved. Those of us in the office can tell it's gonna be good from eavesdropping through our office walls. I guess we're already voyeurs.

We've brought on some great talent to assist with this project. Playwrights Donald Woo (Wong's Garden), Adrienne Wong (Mixie and the Halfbreeds) and our very own David Yee (lady in the red dress) provide three different interpretations on what the audience is seeing. Actors Vanessa Smythe (who appeared in our Potluck Festival) and Christian Feliciano (2008 Banana Boys)are featured, under the expert direction of Esther Jun. We've also have Kiran Friessan providing assistance with choreography and Kevin Centeno as our tech wiz. And of course we have fu-GEN's Andrew Cheng and former intern Jenna Rodgers on the project as well. That's a lot of great people and we're excited to show you what they've been working on.

Phones have been ringing like crazy here with people reserving tickets, so call the office now to get yours. 416-920-2828.

We'll see you soon.

An exercise in interpretation, three writers provide possible explanations for a scene that erupts across the street from the viewer. Adrienne Wong (Mixie & the Halfbreeds), Donald Woo (Wong’s Garden) and David Yee (lady in the red dress) plunge you into their hypothetical worlds of passion, crime, chance encounters, sociopathic tendencies, true love and a one night stand gone horribly, horribly wrong. The scene unfolds in a hotel room in Toronto’s Chinatown with audiences viewing from the board room of the Centre for Social Innovation across the street.

Space is extremely limited (there are only 12 sets of binoculars after all) and reservations are absolutely necessary. Please call fu-GEN to book your ticket at 416.920.2828.

workshop presentation of sex tape project

Featuring Christian Feliciano and Vanessa Smythe

Direction by Esther Jun

Oct. 1 - 3, 2010 | 2 shows per evening: 8 & 9PM

Tickets are $10

Blog's Out For the Summer!

2010-06-09T15:22:00.003-04:00

As we come to the end of our fiscal year, the fu-GEN office has been hard at work wrapping up the 7th Annual Potluck Festival and GENesis Conference. We had our post mortem, cleaned out the office, and archived the Festival and Conference material. I'm even getting used to our new Interim Artistic Director (David Yee) being in the office all the time! It has been a monumental year for fu-GEN, hosting this first-ever conference, and we couldn't be happier with how it ran.

In the past few days I have been working on a thank you letter for the TD Bank Financial Group, who funded my position at fu-GEN as Administrative Intern. Writing the letter was a good opportunity for me to reflect on the past five months and how much I've learned and experienced with fu-GEN thanks to some extremely supportive colleagues and an exciting work environment. This experience has allowed me to make important contacts, and more significantly-- good friends.

My time as Administrative Intern with fu-GEN comes to an end on Friday. I can't speak enough to how much these past few months has influenced my future. I hope to be a force to reckon with in the years to come! For those of you who are wondering about the future of the blog, there won't be any posts for a while, but when we start up our next season with The Sex Tape Project, the blog will resume. I will continue to work with fu-GEN as long as they'll keep me around.

Thank you to all of our blog readers, check back for posts in the fall, and keep supporting independent theatre!

Photo Madness!

2010-05-25T16:25:00.015-04:00

I know it's been a long week of waiting, but we finally have some photos ready! No word of a lie, thousands of photos were taken at our 7th Annual Potluck Festival and GENesis Conference. After looking through ALL of them, I can say without hesitation that it was a great week for Asian Canadians.

The Beginning
photos by Karl Ang

Milling Outside Factory Theatre

The Set

Nina Giving Opening Remarks

Throughout the Week
Photos by Jon De Leon

Haiping Yan

A Big Audience

Huge Panels
(L to R Karen Shimakawa, Eleanor Ty, Elaine Chang, William Lau, Valerie Sing Turner, Jean Yoon, Leon Aureus, Bobby Del Rio, Nadine Villasin, and Daphne Lei)

And Huge Crowds

An Amazing Week
photos by Greg Wong

Our Wall of Headshots

Lotus Wall

Fin.

Winding Down

2010-05-14T22:26:00.004-04:00

fu-GEN's 7th Annual Potluck Festival featuring GENesis: Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference has come to an end.

(beat).

(pregnant pause).

(beat).

Eight full-length new play readings, 9 new play excerpt readings, 6 artist panels, 1 keynote speech, 20 academic paper presentations, and an uncountable amount of food have been presented over the course of the past week. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to summarize the week, but all that comes to mind is that you had to be there. I have never been in a theatre filled with so many Asian Canadians and so many people (from across the country) support of us in our movement.
It's been a week of highs with hardly any lows. I don't mean to be tooting our own horns, so to speak, but there's a feeling among the staff that we have been so high it's hard not to be dizzy on our way down. We are optimistic as we march forward into our new season here at fu-GEN and we hope to see another Asian Canadian theatre conference in the years to come!

This week has been slower and a little bit emotional. One of our wonderful photographers, Jon De Leon, brought in all of the photos he took for the week. We are going through all of them, so you should expect to see a bunch up on the blog sometime next week. Keep an eye out!

Guest Blogger: Byron Abalos

2010-04-27T16:17:00.005-04:00

“Check out my Brown Balls!”

That never gets old to me.

I can’t remember exactly how it happened but about 6 six years ago I decided I wanted to write a play called Brown Balls. Why Brown Balls? Because it made me giggle. And, it made me wonder what that play would be about. If I heard of a show with that name, I’d want to see it. Wouldn’t you?

Byron gets excited about his "Brown Balls"

I’ve been working on this play for about 5 years now and I’ve had some wonderful help on the way from the Ontario Arts Council, Cahoots Theatre Company, Carlos Bulosan Theatre and, of course, fu-GEN. In that time, it has completely transformed. Originally, it was a play for my ‘peeps.’ It was about friendship, nostalgia and old school R & B music. It was about my feelings growing up Filipino in Toronto. I wanted to write a feel good play because there’s so much crap in the world that some times you just want to laugh. But now, with the help of some friends, a special fiancé, gifted actors, and some of the best dramaturges I know, it’s become something I couldn’t have expected. My vision for Brown Balls has expanded. Now, it’s about the experience of Asian-Canadian men - not just Filipinos - in North America. It’s about gender, race, power and hegemony – not just about sex.

My goal is to take the audience for a ride. At first, I want them to laugh their asses off. But in the end, I hope that they can look at their selves and the people around them in a very different way.

To be honest, I’m always nervous when people see this piece. There’s some really uncomfortable stuff in it that even makes me cringe. But isn’t that the point? I hope to push myself and my audience to places that are foreign and scary and ugly and maybe when the house lights come up, we’re somehow different.

I hope you like my Brown Balls.

Our Lotus Photo Contest Winner!!!

2010-04-23T19:11:00.005-04:00

Congratulations Sylvia! You and your photo ROCK

K7 Words of Inspiration

2010-04-23T17:51:00.004-04:00

Juggling! 1.5 Weeks 'til Festival!

2010-04-21T17:32:00.006-04:00

I feel like this week in the office has been a little bit ephemeral. It’s not even halfway through the week and I can barely remember Monday. What I do remember from last week is that it was super busy until Wednesday and things started to cool down, but apparently it’s been busy enough to leave me with a lapse in my memory.

I don’t even know how to begin to summarize.

The War Wall as of April 21, 2010

Our wonderful producers, Byron and Matt have finally finished casting K7. It took longer than they’d have liked, but with over 30 actors, the whole event is monumental. The specs for the performance space are slowly being worked out, contracts are being signed and conference sponsors are being organized. Byron is constantly taking the time to teach me valuable lessons about the challenges one faces as a producer. This is a job that seems to require a lot of juggling.

Rehearsals for both K7 and the Potluck have started, meaning that the rehearsal space next door to the office is always busy. Pluses: good company, I finally get to meet all the people I’ve been e-mailing, there’s always extra food lying around. Minuses: the occasional loud yell that startles everyone in the office. I suppose that isn’t really a minus, I mean, at least it’s entertaining.

K7 Schedule- MADNESS!

Said rehearsals mean that we are seeing Andrew, Nina and David all around the office. Busy as ever, the three of them are managing to direct/dramaturg several readings. Their lives are all short on sleep, and their levels of health are questionable, but we love them dearly and it’s truly wonderful to see their faces.

Andrea’s getting all of our materials on the streets! She had a newsletter mailed out yesterday, we had a MASSIVE flyering event last week (thanks to our wonderful volunteers!). Look for our origami lotus flyers all over the city. If you fold it up and take a picture of it in a creative place, you can submit at www.fu-gen.org/secret to win a prize!

Carin has been in and out of the office. Despite the fact that Carin had a nasty case of the flu, she has been in constant communication with us. Making sure that things happen, that people are happy, and that artists and academics will arrive, Carin's life is never slow. She's refining budgets and ensuring our cash flow is steady. Scary job, eh?

As for me? I’ve been busy nagging people to do various tasks. I feel like a big part of my job right now is to hold on to all the loose ends and slowly figure out ways to tie them together without letting one slip away. I’m learning something every day and I feel really lucky to be writing e-mails to all of the incredible people across the continent that are coming to Toronto to be part of this explosive event.

We have one and a half weeks to go! Friday you can look forward to a post from our K7-ers and next week you will see our load in! Exciting times...

Guest Blogger: Donald Woo

2010-04-20T17:11:00.003-04:00

Wong's Garden and Donald Woo's Personal Ghost

It’s late at night and as I’m figuratively spinning a bunch of plates I’ve roughly labeled ‘plot’ and ‘character’ in order to get this draft of Wong’s Garden ready for the next workshop, I’ve got some chicken in black bean sauce cooking in the background and I’m checking the time to see when I should be giving my loved one a wake-up call since she’s in another time zone right now.

I’m busy writing a play that should be in an Artistic Director’s recycle bin: it’s well over two hours long, the action is divided into three acts with no scene breaks and everything takes place in a living room within the span of under 24 hours. Most people who’ve ever written a play like this are dead and here I am, very much alive, losing sleep over this piece I’m dying to ‘get right’.

And who’s looking over my shoulder while I do this? A ghost. He’s been dead since 1938 but he does make the odd appearance in my life. I used to have entire conversations with him in 2000 and into 2001 and he never quite leaves my side. Now before you think I’ve gone completely off the deep end (and you might not be entirely wrong), Ödön von Horváth has been a great source of inspiration for me since I was introduced to him in 1997 by my acting teacher, Joel Miller, while I drifted through the Concordia University Theatre Program.

Ödön’s plays are an Artistic Director’s nightmare: they’re too long, they have too many characters and even though the dramatic action is always tightly written, each scene and each line can be so dense so as to require a tremendous amount of energy and dramaturgical investigation to unpack.

Ödön looks on

I loved Ödön’s work from the beginning and when I found out a little bit more about this dead playwright, I really felt as if I’d found a kindred spirit. He was a linguistic and cultural mutt: Hungarian mother tongue, educated in German, grew up in Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Germany, and he wrote exclusively in his second language: German. I have a French-Canadian mother and a Chinese father and having been educated in English in Quebec while living in a French speaking area while surrounded by second generation Italians at school, I didn’t feel like I belonged to very much either. There was an outsider quality to Ödön’s work that felt honest to me and as a non-separatist in Quebec in the 1990s, I also felt like my society had gone ape-shit with stupidity with me caught in the middle (although by no means nothing at all like what Ödön, and everyone else, experienced in 1930s Germany).

Ödön, like most thinking people from his time and place, was appalled at how the world around him was fast deteriorating into a society that would embrace National Socialism as a one-stop, multi-faceted solution to all their woes. Ödön could have written didactic polemics against the people who thrust forward the policies, he could have felt so angered by what was going on around him so as to cast off all art and to holler, through his writing, about the injustices and stupidity committed in the name of patriotism… but Ödön didn’t exactly do this. Instead, he wrote plays (and a few novels) with tightly written dramatic action with characters from his time and place who struggled to preserve their sense of dignity (often with appalling results). It may sound like the ‘easy way out’ to not stand on a soap box and denounce didactically, with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, what you know deep inside is wrong with the world and to instead do something as lazy as portraying people as people, no better and no worse than what they are, but it wasn’t easy at all: Ödön was chased all over Europe by German authorities, he had his books burned, and he would have been put into a concentration camp had he not died in a freakish accident in Paris in 1938 at the age of 36.

At this point, my chicken in black-bean sauce is cooked (and eaten!) and I’ve already called and woken up my loved one. I’m about to start a major rewrite of Act III of Wong’s Garden and my head is full with raising the stakes of my characters and preserving a logical unity of action while going for the jugular at every turn. And there’s Ödön, peering over my shoulder, his eyes piercing into my soul and he asks me “How do your characters preserve their sense of dignity?” I want to answer but Ödön doesn’t want an answer, it’s not that kind of question. “HOW DO YOUR CHARACTERS PRESERVE THEIR SENSE OF DIGNITY?”, he repeats. I don’t know how, Ödön, they just will because you and I know that no other choice exists. Ödön is silent for now. It’s time to rewrite Act III.

Guest Blogger: Catherine Hernandez

2010-04-14T15:17:00.006-04:00

Eating with Lola
I tell my dramaturg and mentor, Ann Powell, that I don't know what I'm doing. Not in a "OMG, I am so screwed for the love of God, help me!" kind of way. More of a "I am so very honoured to finally meet you. Show me, guide me, teach me!" kind of way.

I love puppetry. I have for a long time. And there are a lot of things about puppetry that come naturally to me. I happily admit, though, to knowing little about the technique of it. Writing for puppetry is another challenge. Add the composition of music and we've got a potential nightmare. One would think I would shy away from writing a one-woman puppet show. One would. But not this one playwright. Eating with Lola is well underway.

Enter Ann. The Co-Artistic Director of Puppetmongers, I have admired Ann's work since I saw The Pirate Widow Cheng. Now I am so very grateful for the chance to be mentored under her while working on Eating with Lola.

Here is a list of things that have made me squeal with delight at the possibilities with my play:
*I can create the illusion of a "close-up" by creating larger puppets. (insert turning on of light bulb here)
*I will have to cut most of the dialogue since puppets are better at showing things rather than talking about things.
*The puppeteer has to look at the puppet. Once this is done, the puppeteer won't even exist to the audience.
*Lola will have to be reborn.

On the last point, let me explain. The puppet of Lola (grandmother in Filipino) is a basic muppet toy I found made to look like a Lola. Ann challenges me to see of I can work with a puppet without a mouth.

When she says that, my world is turned upside down. I am loving this process.

2010-04-14T15:07:00.004-04:00

Hello out there to all of our readers!

Things in the fu-GEN office are really picking up. This past week has been insanely busy to a point where I can barely describe it anymore. That's a lie-- but a clever lie that also serves as an excuse for me not wanting to take the time to try to describe the business. If you've ever worked for a theatre company and you're three weeks before a major production and rehearsals have JUST gotten started and, oh wait-- you're actually producing 8 plays (even if they are readings), a whole bunch of excerpts, and a monumental conference where artists and academics are flying in from all across the continent, and there's usually no more than 4 people in the office-- you have a good idea of our level of busy.

This week, instead of providing you, dear readers, with a summary of all things fu-GEN and fabulous, I will be posting something from one of our incredible Kitchen Playwrights, Catherine Hernandez! She has graciously written a blog post for us and provided us with amazing pictures.

Enjoy!

I Can't Believe It's Already April

2010-04-07T17:50:00.008-04:00

Lots of things happening at the office this week. I was fortunate enough to sneak away for the weekend and visit my family back in Edmonton for the holiday, but I could tell fu-GEN staffers were busy due to the frequent e-mails and the quick response rate to whatever e-mails I managed to send. I have decided that due to my absence from the office over the last few days, I have every right to let my imagination cut loose with regards to the goings-on of my fellow fu-GEN staffers. So this, dear readers, is a somewhat fictitious (though probably not entirely ridiculous) and probably not-entirely-accurate rendering of last week’s happenings.

THE WAR WALL (April 7, 2010)

Festival producers Matt and Byron continued to spend much of their time on the phone in an attempt to cast actors in all of the Potluck plays. Their next challenge will be to cast K7, the challenge being that they have to do it with all non-equity actors. Byron sits amidst an ever-growing stack of contracts as he waits for Nina and Carin to swing by and sign them out of his hands and into the actors.

Nina carries around her agenda in a briefcase—okay, it’s in her MacBook, but still, her schedule is insane. This woman is back and forth between here and Cahoots, doing interviews for college students, signing our paycheques, dramaturging like 50 plays and directing another 50 (I’m pretty sure my numbers are accurate), oh and raising a 3 year old to boot!

Carin (and our aforementioned producer Matt) is busy with a toddler of her own, the lively Miss Berkeley, yet somehow Carin still manages to make it in the office to sign away some of Byron’s ever-growing contract pile (pictured below), while simultaneously asserting her presence over the ladies at the bank to finally get us our company credit card(!!!). Lately, she’s been spending her time spending our money—almost finished with flight bookings, she’s now moved on to paying our actors!

And what of incoming Artistic Director David? I haven’t seen him in weeks, making me think that his schedule is comparable to Nina’s. However, a picture of him as a child has appeared on our War Wall (filling me with the desire to caption it “Our Fearless Leader”). I can only imagine David stumbling in tired one night, grumbling, plastering his photo on the wall and taking a swig of vodka before heading home for the evening.

Our Fearless Leader

I can’t take full credit for the “Fearless Leader” slogan, Andrea, our lovely Director of Marketing and Development came up with that one. She sits quietly in her corner, typing furiously away and fortuitously putting together our program (a seemingly never-ending process). She’s been working on a listserv, taking photos, sending out e-blasts to our followers and designing all of the materials that will eventually be handed out at the conference. No big deal, right?

As for me, I spent my weekend eating waaaay too much food. While running back and forth between my laptop and the table I managed to catch up with friends and family, never really being fully able to answer the question, “what exactly are you doing out in Toronto, anyway?”. Since when does the response “interning for a theatre company” not satisfy all of a curious parent’s questions?

To look forward to in the upcoming weeks: Mind-map from K7 Playwrights and blog entries from each of the Potluck Playwrights including: David Yee, Catherine Hernandez, Donald Woo, Camellia Koo, Romeo Candido, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and our office’s very own Byron Abalos.

Five Furiously Fast-paced Weeks to Go!

2010-03-31T13:30:00.008-04:00

The war wall hasn’t changed much this week, but that’s no reflection of how busy we’ve been this week. I would post a picture, but we don't have a functioning camera in our office today. I guess you'll just have to hold your suspense until next week... Without Nina in the office as frequently, we don’t have as many quotes on the wall, but here’s a good one from last week:
Speaking of GM’s, Carin’s been busy as ever, spending much of her time this week booking flights for visiting academics and artists, fanangling and printing off new budgets, going over our company GST report, and trying not to pull her hair out over the company credit card which has yet to arrive. She’s also probably busy doing lots of other things that I don’t even know about... every once and a while we hear her muttering, “kill, kill, kill...”

Andrea’s been spending late nights in the office, messaging me to go for dinner at 10pm when I’m almost ready for bed. Her report to the Trillium Foundation (which funds her position) is due tomorrow, which is causing an appropriate amount of stress she is currently balancing with her responsibilities in Marketing and Development. She’s revamped our website countless times, re-coloured our lotus logo, dealt with a new shipment of flyers, and worn heels to work almost every day. BAM. Did I mention that she was also performing in CBT’s Flipside Festival last weekend? No big deal.

Byron was also working with the Flipside Festival, directing a piece about a mother and son. So while a considerable amount of time was dedicated towards that in the last week, Byron has also been laying the foundation for the welcome packages that will be handed out to academic and artistic visitors upon their arrival, while simultaneously attempting to file his taxes. He’s also worked out several awesome deals with food sponsors for our festival such as Epicure (providing us with free food for opening)!! He’s also be working like a madman to make sure all the shows are cast... where are all the Asian actors?

Matt, our Potluck Festival co-producer, has been leaving a LOT of messages (e-mail and phone) that he fears are going nowhere in his attempt to cast plays. Good thing he has a blackberry, enabling him to frequently check his e-mail in fits of casting paranoia. He’s also helped me out a tonne by sending a mailout to his contacts in an attempt to get high school volunteers.

Nina is whirlwinding in and out of the office in a flurry of meetings, loose sheets of paper and venti cups of coffee. She pops in for a meeting, interview, and lunch and is gone before we can quote her for the War Wall. Incredibly busy as always, she is doing mysterious work and making important decisions that keep the company running.

Our incoming Artistic Director, David, is almost done with Monster (directed by Nina) at LKTYP and will again be a presence in the office (mainly there to harass us while we work) after the holiday weekend. In the meantime, he will continue to be BCC’d on all my e-mails and honor me with answers to my questions accompanied by an occasional sarcastic response. We miss you, David!

My week has been yet again by liaising with academics and artists. We’ve invited a few new people this week, and only have a few more people to confirm travel arrangements with and then I get to put a giant checkmark on my to do list. I worked with Matt to put out the aforementioned volunteer call, went to a Maple Leafs NAAAP mixer with Byron and practiced slinging business cards like ninjastars and worked on building a signup sheet for board members to pick up festival/conference guests from the airport. As a conference presenter myself, I’m only starting to realize how screwed I’m going to be if I don’t get my academic act together soon—whatever happened to living life contently as a simple intern?

Oooh boy, this has been a long freaking update. I’ll leave you with this: Kapisanan is launching a new website this weekend. We’ll be there to review it, and you should definitely go check it out!

The Weekly Update- 24/3/3010: T Minus 6 Weeks!

2010-03-24T14:52:00.006-04:00

"Six weeks away people! Only six weeks away!"

The havoc that is wreaked when I shout this aloud in the office is insane. Heads are clasped in despair, forehead veins pop, knuckles turn white, and keyboards click away with the fury of 100 pecking chickens? I don’t know... maybe I took it a little far, but this phrase certainly brings some distress into the office.

The Wall!

The last week we have kept ourselves busy by welcoming the lovely Nina Lee Aquino into the office almost every day. Here she sits, head to head with Byron churning out schedule after schedule. The reason the wall looks so tidy is because Byron and Nina have put up so many schedules they practically had to tear the whole thing down and re-post everything so it looked pretty again. Now the two of them are on to casting, and the feeling is that once the actors are in the schedule it becomes concrete. Exciting!

Andrea has been designing fabulous advertisements for our 7th Annual Potluck Festival featuring: GENesis Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference, submitting them for publication in Canadian Theatre Review, as well as creating ads and inserts for Native Earth and Carlos Bulosan Theatre respectively. She’s making sure flyers get distributed and managing the behemoth task of putting the (delayed) program together. With deadlines set towards the end of this week, Andrea’s life is only getting busier.

Carin is dedicating her life to masterminding our budget and drilling it in to us that we must protect her bottom line. Somehow, between her many jobs, Carin has got us a company credit card, which we will use to buy flights as soon as it arrives at the office. Sometimes Carin senses that we are desperate for coffee.

When we run out of coffee filters, we use Bounty!

Sunday saw the core team sitting together in one room (finally!) to make sure that we are all on the same page moving forward. Coffee was drank, snacks were had, and details were mulled over. We sorted out some ticketing snafus, talked about the budget, and in the end I know that I felt really satisfied that we had all met. There’s something nice about having everyone in the same room... it brings the whole picture together. While you can see the long road we still have in front of us, we know that we will travel it quickly, with the support of each other, and hopefully with great success. I definitely left the meeting feeling that I am so lucky—I am a young professional working in my field, in the arts! Woo hoo!

Oh yeah, now that everything is sorted, the Festival and Conference passes are now on sale through Factory Theatre. See all that info here, and we’ll see you there!

Updates!

2010-03-17T15:24:00.003-04:00

If last week was all about our massive flyer and online content launch, this week has only gotten more hectic. Last week, thanks to Byron, Andrea, Andrew Cheng (our Intern Company Dramaturg) and Donald Woo (our volunteer coordinator) we have managed to continue our flyering spree, covering the neighbourhoods of Kensington, the Annex, Little Italy, Queen West, Queen West West, Koreatown, Chinatown (new and old), and many, many more...

We went from George Brown, to York, to Ryerson, to U of T and back again, spreading our origami lotus flyers and the good fortune (2 for 1 tickets!) they bring. We stuffed Future Folk programs at Theatre Passe Muraille and only pausing to eat delicious spicy chicken teriyaki and answer e-mails.

Aside from flyering, last week we also faced some major grant application deadlines, meaning that most people in the office were functioning despite an enormous lack of sleep (compounded by the fact that David and Nina, our artistic visionaries) are currently working towards the launch of Monster Under the Bed with Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People, which has only just opened.

This week, Byron and Andrea have continued flyering in all of their spare time (ha!), but have also found the time to start work on preparing conference welcome packages , and update our website (schedule is posted!!). Mostly, the office space has completely transformed due to Nina being a constant force in the office this week who is miraculously helping us work out the details of our schedule. As Andrea posted on our twitter, the office bumpin’ and our fu-GEN heart is happy!!! (Or slightly stressed...judging by the look on Nina's face)

Carin continues to super organize our office, while completing our OAC grant applications for the 15th, meaning that she has become an expert at trying to run fu-GEN covertly from the bathroom stalls in her other place of employment, and spending her evenings typing up the grant with one hand while nursing her daughter in the other.

As for me? Nothing too interesting in the life of the intern, just answering the questions from artists and academics from across the continent as they roll in, spending my days wondering how the heck I got this job working with all of the people that I spent the duration of my MA writing about. That's all for now!

What's New @ fu-GEN? Introducing our WAR WALL!

2010-03-17T14:36:00.008-04:00

War Wall- AKA "Hope is not a Strategy"

This week saw the beginning of our office “War Wall”. First of all, let me clarify, the War Wall is not to be taken lightly. In fact, it took us almost a whole week of conversation to finally settle on naming it the War Wall, with the “Battle Board” losing out last minute due to the absence of an actual board on the wall. While I have to agree with Byron that War Wall will continue to remind me of a narwhal, I can’t really complain because the mental image of the whale world’s unicorn somehow serves as a distraction from the War Wall’s looming nature.

Here are some really good pictures (they're not posing, seriously!) of Byron pondering and Andrea assembling said wall.

All jokes aside, our War Wall is up and running. In the picture you can see our tentative ‘detailed’ schedule (I say detailed because the details have yet to be completely filled in), our ticket pricing strategy, our google calendar general schedule (including a very hectic tech week), descriptions of our panels, new plays, and a contact list. Stay tuned, we will post the evolution of our war wall weekly until our 7th Annual Potluck featuring: GENesis arrives! I expect this could get ugly in the weeks to come...

The Making of fu-GEN's Origami Lotus Instructional Video

2010-03-01T15:47:00.013-05:00

Greetings out there! So, as promised, here are some photos from the making of our Origami Lotus Instructional Video.

We spent two days working on this video, which is, granted, not that long.. but it did cause some hilarity and hysteria behind the scenes. Here you can see the face behind the folding hands, the man behind the video camera, and me (responsible for taking the partially blurry photos of the event).

This is Andrea, our Director of Marketing and Development, pre-shoot. Unbeknownst to her, the next few hours of her life will be poured into non-stop lotus folding.

Here we see Byron, our Asian-Canadian Community Developer and Festival producer getting the camera ready. All business here in the office.

And on the right you can see Andrea's magic hands in action!

Above is Byron watching (and coaching) Andrea from the sidelines.

Edit, edit, edit

That's me! All tuckered out after a hard day of taking pictures.

Told you! We are all work and no play here at the fu-GEN office...

That's all for now, folks! More to come later!

fu-GEN Origami Lotus Instructional Video

2010-03-01T15:39:00.003-05:00

Okay, this video took two days to make! That’s pretty good, considering that we collectively only have moderate experience with the video camera and that we wanted to capture the origami folding in one single take. After hours of furious folding by Andrea and exceptional editing by Byron, we have come out with this, the incredible “fu-GEN Origami Lotus Instructional Video”. Made on a Mac (much to the shagrin of David, who is definitely a PC).

Schedule

2010-03-01T15:36:00.006-05:00

Drumroll please.... today is the day we REVEAL our Master Schedule (subject to change... like, we’ll actually put in the names of the academic panels as they are dreamt up).

So, the image displayed above is what we are dedicating the next two months and a week towards creating. OMG I can’t believe we have so little time. Anyway, soon we will post the box office info so you can buy tickets if you’re interested in attending, for now all we have is this beautiful schedule for you to stare at. Enjoy!

PS you can click on it to make it BIG, and click here for more info

Meet the Office Staff!

2010-03-01T15:20:00.005-05:00

Jenna Rodgers- Administrative Intern
Hey all! I am fu-GEN’s shiny new intern, here to all of the incredible people in the office put together the 7th Annual Potluck Festival featuring: GENesis Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference. I am fresh off completing an MA in International Performance Research in a joint program between the University of Amsterdam and the University of Tampere, Finland. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, I’m trying to take Toronto by storm through the creative powers possessed by the fu-GEN collective. I’m in charge of this blog, so most of what is posted here will be written by yours truly, with the occasional post by my fantastic co-workers!

Nina Lee Aquino- Outgoing Artistic Director
We're in the middle of a transition in management at this moment, and Nina is sadly leaving the office—but not our hearts! fu-GEN is essentially Nina's brainchild, so without this incredibly brilliant and creative woman, we wouldn`t be.

David Yee- Associate Artistic Director
Taking over for Nina, David is the incoming Artistic Director. He is a well-known playwright and a talented actor who will bring a very exciting and different energy to the company. He is also my boss, which makes him awesome by default, but seriously, he's super-talented and plays a HUGE role in bringing this years` Potluck Festival into being.

Richard Lee- General Manager
A dynamic ball full of energy and spunk, Richard is our outgoing General Manager. When he is not busy handing the General Management of the company over to Carin, Richard spends his spare time sound designing, acting, fight choreographing and being a father. Needless to say, Richard is always on the go.

Carin Lowerison- Intern General Management
Taking over for Richard, Carin has her work cut out for her. She's the feisty one in the office, whipping us into shape and keeping the office organized. Without her, we would likely be working amidst piles and piles of stacked up file folders and scripts. Carin holds us together, making sure deadlines are met, e-mails are responded to, and that we get paid! She is also an amazing yoga teacher and busy mother who never ceases to entertain us with stories about her beautiful daughter.

Andrea Mapili- Director of Marketing and Development
Andrea is the beauty sitting in the corner of the office working away at all seconds of the day on designing the amazing origami lotus flyers, directing phone calls, answering all of my questions, working to create the fu-GEN brand, and occasionally breaking for a round of Monopoly Express. She is an amazing teacher and extremely hard worker, who will always be the first one sit down with you to enjoy red wine, good food, and excellent conversation.

Byron Abalos- Asian-Canadian Community Developer
Sitting directly across from Andrea, Byron spends most of his day with his back to me. That being said, I can always see what's on his computer (usually YouTube), but when he's not playing office DJ, Byron is busy making important contacts with Asians in the GTA. Oh yeah, he's also the producer of the 7th Annual Potluck Festival, meaning that it is his job to liaise with all of the artists in the Potluck and make sure that our show hits the stage running!

For now, these are the players in our little office game. I hope you enjoy reading!! To see our pictures, you can click on this link, but know that picture will be coming as this blog progresses... and in the lucrative "Making Of" post, that will follow the launch of our Origami Lotus Flyer instructional video.

Welcome to fu-GEN's 7th Annual Potluck Festival Featuring: GENesis Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference's Blog!!

2010-03-01T15:11:00.004-05:00

This blog is here to give the world wide web an opportunity to see what goes on in the office and behind the scenes of an independent theatre company. Working towards our 7th Annual Potluck Festival featuring: GENesis Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference, being in the office can be quite an adventure, so click on the about us link and find out who the players are in this zany backstage world!

Over the course of the next few months, this blog will track our progress in preparing for the festival—in the best and worst of times. You will be able to see our office, the characters that work in it, and be exposed to our fluctuating stress levels and subsequent coping mechanisms. We hope you enjoy the read, and invite you to post comments as you see fit—giving us suggestions of what YOU would like to see posted, and sharing your opinions on what’s going on in our world. Happy reading!