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"Plastique," written by U Shin Kim & Daniel
Kim
L to R: Regie Cabico, U Shin Kim (seated), Daniel Kim
Premiere: NY International Fringe Festival 2002
(photograph by Tyrone McCloud)
2002 New York Fringe Festival
Asians
Misbehavin' 2002 at CSV-Milagro Theatre is
an hour and forty five minutes of comic skits and performance poetry
by Asian Americans looking more like original Americans than our
current Caucasian population.
Three
writers/performers and three supporting cast members fire up wit and
passion to enact stories of their lives with humor and sometimes
not-so-underlying sarcasm. The skits are set off by Michelle Myers’
poetry—angry, proud, anguished. She performs passionately, with
nuanced emotion, but I found the fast-paced, intense rush of words
sometimes hard to follow. What I heard was compelling; I wish I'd
understood more.
The comic skits
cover just about every cliché regarding Asians—primarily Chinese,
Japanese and Koreans (who inhabit 16 million square miles of this
earth)—from their point of view. They’ve come to America (roughly a
third the size, if size matters), to realize their dreams or the
dreams of their parents: to escape poverty and oppression in their
homeland: to honor their ancestors and culture, but in America; to
become the next Yo Yo Ma or Silicon Valley whiz. Instead, this crew
slams into the realities of prostitution, sweatshop labor, and
discrimination.
Daniel Kim
highlights the universality of racism by opening with a hilarious
exchange in a Korean deli, and as Model Minority Man, he and his
sidekick, Backlash Boy (F. Omar Telan) heroically come to the
defense of their fellow Asian Americans. Or do they? The audience
laughed and cheered enthusiastically at their attempts.
I particularly
liked the skit "Plastique": an Asian youth (U-Shin Kim) decides
plastic surgery is the answer. The doctors do the job, but the
results are surprising, and thought provoking.
The pace is brisk,
the acting (I did not mention Regie Cabico and his wonderful
character acting) and directing by Deborah Nishimura are on the
mark. No credits are given for lighting, set, or costumes, but
everything works well for the pieces. For a refreshing look at the
Asian American experience from a slyly funny and illuminating slant,
this is a worthwhile evening of theatre.
-- Pamela Butler, www.nytheatre.com
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2001 New York Fringe Festival
Asians
Misbehavin' is a highly entertaining and
very funny collection of well‑written skits and spoken word
performance pieces about being Asian in America, and features a
special appearance by the spoken word duo Yellow Rage,
featured in this year's HBO Comedy Festival. The actors'
performances are excellent. The writing was superbly sharp.
-- Wynn J. Salisch, www.themoviesmagazine.com
This collection of
absurd sketches, parody songs, and reflective monologues features a
cast of "angry Asian-American underachievers" from the
Philadelphia-based Asian Arts Initiative. Though far from the
slacker status they claim, there's plenty of misbehavin' going on
here--including helpful shoplifting tips for the klepto-fabulous
set. Anula Shetty's monologue work recall her upbringing in Bombay;
Daniel Kim leaves a lasting impression, portraying his timid high
school self and, later, using mathematical formulas to examine the
essence of Korean philosophy: "Either you have it, or you don't."
-- Scott Makin, www.newyork.citysearch.com
2002 Philadelphia Fringe Festival
From the auspices of the Asian Arts
Initiative comes outstanding spoken word performance, channeling the
hopes, fears and brilliant observations of Asian-American
performers. From Michelle Myers' "Yellow Rage," decrying the twin
Asian stereotypes of yellow devil and asian cutie, to Dan Kim's wry,
excruciatingly funny ode to mandatory childhood piano lessons; from
Regie Cabico's advice on how he came out to his poetry students, to
Anula Shetty's "Katti Uncle," a heart-stopping tale of secrecy in
her Bombay childhood home, this show collects together these voices,
without ever limiting the agenda or dictating rules. Intelligent.
Contradictory. Fabulous.
-- Juliet
Fletcher, City Paper
The 2003 Philadelphia Fringe Festival
The new material
Asians Misbehavin' have written is sharp, witty and brilliant, as
usual. Taking on subjects from Asian stereotypical film roles,
including the docile, back-stabbing villager and the dragon lady, to
America's track record of attacking nonwhite countries post-World
War II, the troupe is right on target about many subjects.
-- Helen I-Lin Hwang, City Paper
Model Minority Man Insignia
(created by Daniel Kim) |
