The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and Ma-Yi Theater Company, in association with Tanghalang Pilipino and Philippine Air Lines and with the support of Stage Craft International, will stage Asian-American playwright Lloyd Suh’s The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra Go! at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theater) from Sept. 16 to 25.
This English-language production, helmed by Ralph B. Peña—and which will use a mixture of action-driven storytelling, puppetry and visual magic—is about two superpowered characters, Violet and Bruce Wong, who travel to outer space to stop an evil beast called the Space Chupacabra.
The Filipino cast is made up of Aldo Vencilao, Blanche Louise Buhia, Aika Zabala, Jonathan Tadioan, Marco Viaña and Juliene Mendoza.
The New York Times praised the US production of Wong Kids as an “exuberantly imaginative adventure for children…[that] embeds its messages in fun and its insistence on being extraordinary proves the upside of standing out,” while the Times Square Chronicles called it “a must-see [play] filled with imagination, spontaneity, comedy and heart” that’s “both moving and hilarious. Multilayered, it is geared toward children and adults.”
Ma-Yi develops new plays that explore Asian-American experiences while challenging the perceptions of what culturally specific theater should be. By producing forward-thinking plays by today’s emerging playwrights, the company believes that theater can play an important part in breaking down barriers and increasing the understanding and appreciation of the cultural and ethnic diversity of contemporary society.
Ma-Yi has won a number of accolades, including the 2010 Special Drama Desk Award, for its more than two decades of excellence and for nurturing Asian-American voices in stylistically varied and engaging theater.
Since its establishment 24 years ago, Ma-Yi and its affiliated artists have garnered nine Obie Awards and numerous Henry Hewes Award nominations. The company is under the guidance of Artistic Director Peña and Executive Director Jorge Z. Ortoll.
For inquiries, call the CCP Marketing at (632) 832-3704 to 3706 or Tanghalang Pilipino at 832-1125 loc. 1620 or 1621.