Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Events
[PAST EVENT] ROLLING THE R's, A Zoom Show Directed by Francis Tanglao Aguas
Location
Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) Memorial Hall, ZOOM, tinyurl.com/rollingzoom601 Jamestown Rd
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Access & Features
- Paid event
- Ticketed event
Filipino American R. Zamora Linmark’s play “Rolling the R’s” will be performed online. The play will have a staged reading streamed live, helmed by theatre director and playwright Francis Tanglao-Aguas with a cast from across the US including actor Giselle Tongi, playwright Jeannie Barroga and poet Joi Barrios.
In the play set in 1970s Hawaii, teenager Edgar Ramirez–who “looks like a Filipino John Travolta” and is openly gay–and his friends Katrina, the fiesty and fierce one, and Vicente, the closeted one, all figure out who they are as they dodge judgmental gossips Mrs. Arayat and Mrs. Cayabyab.
The play is Linmark’s adaptation of his own novel of the same title. In addition to poetry collections, Linmark has also written the novel Leche and the young adult novel The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart.
PROWESS
Aguas hopes to “show the world the prowess of Asian American and Pacific Islander talent as foregrounded by Linmark’s masterpiece.”
“When people watch this, they will discover how our creativity is unbound even by a pandemic so that we can continue to entertain our audiences and our actors can continue to make a living.”
The production accepts donations, the total of which will be split among the cast, but some actors may link with any charity of their choice. “We want to create a new paradigm of actors sustaining their livelihoods online.”
MASTERPIECE
Ever since Aguas saw the original workshop staged reading of the play in San Francisco directed by Loy Arcenas at Bindlestiff Studio in the mid-1990s, he has always wanted to produce and direct this play. “I delayed it for so long because of the casting limitations of my current location in Virginia.”
Aguas is Professor of Theatre and Asian American Studies at William & Mary and Founding Director of its Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies program.
--by Walter Ang, Philippine Daily Inquirer, USA edition online
https://usa.inquirer.net/54492
Contact
[[fjtang, Francis Tanglao Aguas]]