June 19, 2006

• My Return to ‘The Stage’

  
  

  Eleven old friends.
  One week to create a show.
  Let’s go…
         
  June 30 and July 1 

  
  

  Date and Times: 
  - Friday, June 30, 8:30pm
  - Saturday, July 1, 2:30pm
  - Saturday, July 1, 8:30pm
  
  Location:
  -GTC Burbank; 1111-B West Olive Avenue, Burbank 91506 (In the George Izay Park between Victory Blvd. and N. Griffith Park Blvd.)

  
  

  Price:
  - $11, for everyone.  CASH only, in person, at theatre on day of performance.
  
  Reservations:
  - 818.749-1374, You’ll only receive a call IF there’s a problem with your reservation.
  
  Box Office/Parking:
  - Box office will open 45 minutes prior to show time. Theatre Doors to open for general seating 15 minutes prior to show time.  Parking is available on both sides of Olive Avenue and Clark Avenue.

  
  

  Cast: Armando Gutierrez, Bryan Yamami, Debbie Cheng, Edren T. Sumagaysay, George Huang, Jason Oymun Fong, Keiko Agena, Parry Shen, Ryan Suda, Tammy Yamada, Traci Kato-Kiriyama.

  
  

  During 1995-2000, I used to be a member of a theatre company with the folks above.   And for years, we traveled and performed material that was partly improvised and partly scripted at colleges across the country.

  
  

  Flash forward to present-day:  We’ve all since left the theatre company and have moved into our own endeavors (visit everyone’s respective links above).  But we’ve still remained close; having shared some of the best times of our lives while touring. 

  
  

  For the last 3 years, we’ve gotten together every once in a while to just “play”– improvise scenes and simply crack each other up for ‘old times’.  And the great work that resulted from each gathering always prompted excited talks of us doing a show for the public. 

  
  

  But then reality hit: Schedules conflicted, we all began to realize the undertaking involved in securing a theatre & handling sales, people got on TV shows, some had kids, others moved out of state — or both. 

  
  

  Look at our first poster on the right and you can see just how long this idea’s been gestating — it was originally scheduled for ‘Sometime in 2004′!

  
  

  But a grant from API/2 (Asian Pacific Islander Artist Presenting Initiative), has allowed us to fly in those that need to be flown in, secure a theatre, pay for the electricity — and make all the ‘what if’ and ‘wouldn’t it be cool’ talk for the past 3 years a reality… for one weekend.

  
  

  Seven days before the show, we’ll all be getting together to workshop scripted material from some of the improvised workshops we’ve done over the past 3 years and infuse it with some purely improvised work.  You can check here for photo/blog updates of rehearsal each day that week (June 24-29).  

  
  

  I’ve gotta admit – it’s exciting but scary at the same time. 

  
  

  There’s nothing like the rush of live/improvised theatre where there’s that chance of falling on your face and adjusting on the fly for the unplanned but when everything comes together in spite of that — it’s magic.  Several times during our “play dates” over the years, I’ve so wanted an audience to be witness to the incredible/touching/hilarious stories that were being conjured out of nowhere from these people. 

  
  

  I think that’s one of the reasons why I gravitate towards Film/TV, because when that magic’s captured — at least it’s on celluloid forever for others to see.  

  
  

  So if you’re in the Los Angeles area, I truly hope you’re free one of those days to catch some of what we’re trying to bottle. 

  
  

  I’m sure we’ll be rusty when we first get together but that one week intensive will definitely whip us all back into shape because when we’re on — you’re really going to be in on something special and close to the heart: The pure joy of creativity and what a bunch of good friends doing a project for themselves can achieve.  Our “official” description of the project is below:
         
  THE PROJECT:   The content of the show is improvisationally-created, and is based off work facilitated and directed by Jason Oymun Fong.  Jason oversaw the workshops the group of 11 met up for over the past three years.

  
  

  THE ORIGINS:   The project started as a conversation between two friends in a parking lot, reminiscing about a period of time when a particular set of people got together to create and perform on a regular basis.  The conversation expanded and before we knew it, we were getting folks together to convene for a number of hours on various dates to simply “play” – to workshop and workout the creative muscle together; to have fun and improvise exercises into full stories.
    
  Eventually, with no means for an ‘end goal’ of sorts, attendance became sloppy and the meetings were sporadic.  We had to acknowledge that we were 11 very busy people with very separate schedules. 

  
  

  So, things with the 11 took a backseat. 

  
  

  That’s where the API/2 initiative came in and played a huge role in our next step.
    
  THE ‘END GOAL’:   A grant from API/2 is allowing Oymun’s 11 to move forward and bring some of the group’s work/process to fruition.  Without it, we probably would have just stopped meeting altogether.   The Grant will provide us with two major aspects to our work:
    
  1) The ability to produce a show and take our casual meetings with Jason Oymun Fong to the next level, rather than let the process simply fall by the wayside.  The show will be an extention of some of the work previously created, as well as new material created the week before the show. 

  
  

  The 11 will begin work together on Saturday, June 24th and go through an intensive weekend of workshopping, continue to rehearse through the week and culminate in a performance at the end of the week on Friday, June 30th and Saturday, July 1st.
    
  2) The ability to experiment with a model for production, process, presentation.  The idea is to get 11 very busy folks with very separate schedules together for 8 days to create and refresh/re-learn material, rehearse, and present 3 shows at a small theatre, with the support of the grant, minimal donations from family and friends, and production support from our peers.  For more info visit: www.myspace.com/oymunseleven 

  
  

  Reserve Your Tickets at: (818) 749-1374

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