home    buy tickets      donate online    join lists     auditions     contact us     directions
The Chance Theater Home Page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orange County Premiere!

Porcelain
by Chay Yew
Directed by Oanh Nguyen

2006 GLAAD Media Award Nomineee - Outstanding Los Angeles Theatre
Back Stage West Critic's Pick

 

 

 

THEATER REVIEW

A gay murder in a public men's room in London's East End
by Anne-Margret Bellavoine, Northern Lights

March 21, 2005

The title "Porcelain" refers to the material in restrooms and "cottag¬ing" to casual encounters in such public places. Chay Yew's award-winning drama is set in the tough world of contemporary London's East End, where cultures and mores clash as worlds collide in uneasy cohabitation.

Oanh Nguyen directed this harsh but brilliant piece with its explicit language and staging. Albeit definitely not for prudes, the soul-searching plight of 'John' Lee (Nghia Luu), straddling conflicting cultures and sexual identities, remains elegant in its handling of difficult to watch scenes of love between two men.

Nineteen year old Lee killed his lover, Will Hope (Casey Long), in a Bethnal Green's Tube's toilet known to gay men looking for casual passes. While in custody awaiting for trial, he is examined by prison psychiatrist Jack Worthing (Beach Vickers), whose job is to determine whether the youth is not guilty by reason of insanity or if he should stand trial. Through a protracted interview process, the mental health professional gradually wins over his obstinate client's trust, seducing him into revealing the story behind the crime. Lee was found cradling the older man lying in a pool of blood after he shot him six times at point blank, sending conflicting messages.

Grueling and gruesome as the murder is, society is as much on trial with its patronizing intolerance of both Asians, inpolitically correctly - by US standards - referred to as Orientals, and homosexuals. The media relishes the story with a Channel 4 announcer (Ricky Culbertson) conducting his own inquest into the matter, attempting to expose corrupt forensic psychiatric practices and police misconduct, and interviewing Lee's father (Dimas Diaz), in complete denial about his son.

The images of birds run through the piece, with the metaphor of crows and sparrows attempting to learn to accept each other, and the compulsive origami folding of a thousand cranes in Lee's hands.

Lee's white outfit and dark hair stand in complete contrast with the black clad figures of the four voices, with Culbertson, Diaz, Long and Vickers taking on different personalities through outrageous snippets of conversations delivered in various British accents as they share their take on the gory headline and how it relates to their lives.

Katherine Futterer's diagonal set design, in a clever adaptation from the co-running Anne Frank, takes on an M.C. Escher like quality with five silver chairs as unique props. The Rorschach and bird flight sequences echo this geometrical arrangement in ballet like fashion, picked up by the chorus of overlapping voices and sounds which resonate in Lee's tormented mind.

At the core of the play is the universal human need for relationships, and the tragic consequences their lack can lead to. As Lee develops a bond with his psychiatrist, he is desparate also for that link to continue beyond the needs of his case.

Stereotypes of Asian culture, with sensual eroticism and perceptions of obedience, are fundamental pieces of the complex puzzle explored by the script. The dialogue, deliberately written to shock, rises above its rawness in explaining society and Lee's states of mind.

White arrogance, the use of power and control leading to violence, especially in relationships, are on trial as much as Lee. Although he did not commit a murder, much of the playright's material is autobiographical, especially in its cultural dichotomy.

The absence of any sound effect is a powerful device counterbalanced by intense lighting effects by Jon Langrell.

A wounded mind is a beautiful but fragile thing waiting to disintegrate into chaos and catastrophy, as Lee's path unfolds to its lonely conclusion of life behind bars without parole. Looking past the graphic harshness empowers the audience to question their own biased views and see Lee as a sympathetic victim much more than a sick criminal.

[top]

 

 

 

 

THEATER REVIEW

Not just for the Toilet-Sex Crowd
Chance's Porcelain: No shock, just brilliance
by Stacy Davies, OC Weekly

March 24, 2005

Probably the last thing on your cultural to-do list is to see a play about a gay Chinese youth who shoots his lover in an English public toilet. We know what you’d think—it sounds disgusting, shocking, fetishy—but you’d be wrong. Chay Yew’s Porcelain is an exceptionally moving tale of assimilation and desire for acceptance that’s not just brilliantly written, but also tastefully executed. And not only do you never have to see a toilet, but you also never get to see a penis, which I guess evens things out.

It’s the story of John Lee (Nghia Luu), told through Lee’s recollections while in prison after the murder and by brief monologues and dialogues delivered by Lee and four men in black, billed merely as “Voice 1,” “2,” etc. The Voices take on various personas: there are a series of soundbites from TV-news interviewees who are gay, straight and that other orientation—straight-but-enjoy-getting-a-little-oral-from-other-men-in-the-lavatory-on-lunch-break (the latter offering humorous, sometimes poignant observations on the state of “cottaging,” code for “getting it off in a public loo”). The Voices eventually become people we get to know more intimately: the psychiatrist (Beach Vickers) who interviews Lee in prison; Lee’s heartbroken father (Dimas Diaz); William Hope (Casey Long), the “straight” lover who is killed; and the smarmy TV interviewer himself (Ricky Culbertson). The stage is stark, with abstract platforms hovering above a sea of miniature origami swans, and the dramatic effects are summoned by intricate lighting cues that probably number in the hundreds. It’s goddamned beautiful. It’s also devastating.

A sordid gay-murder scenario would seemingly evoke little empathy, but as we’re taken into Lee’s world of loneliness and rejection, we begin to understand his struggle and his extremities. Being Asian in White America can be hard enough—but if you think straight white women have to work hard to get a man, try being a non-white gay man in a community that only celebrates white gay men and perverted scenarios of Madame Butterfly. Add to this the fraud perpetuated by closeted men who are suffocated by homophobia yet still take on clandestine lovers, and you get a picture of one fucked-up reality.

Director Oanh Nguyen takes advantage of every artistic visual onstage, as well as of the fine group of actors he’s assembled to bring this troubling story to life. It’s funny, sad and insightful—and translates no matter who you are.

PORCELAIN AT THE CHANCE THEATER, 5552 E. LA PALMA AVE., ANAHEIM, (714) 777-3033. SAT., 4 P.M.; SUN., 6 P.M. THROUGH APRIL 17. $17-$35.

[top]

 

 

 

 

THEATER REVIEW

'Porcelain' delicate yet durable
In its Orange County premiere in Anaheim, the 1992 play expertly etches a portrait of alienation.
by Eric Marchese, Special to the Register

March 25, 2005

Can anyone ever truly understand another person's thoughts, feelings or motives? It's a question that has endured for centuries, one only the bravest of artists are willing to tackle head-on.

Add playwright Chay Yew to that company, for in "Porcelain," he lays out a foundation, in almost schematic fashion, based on that question.

In East London, John Lee, a 19-year-old Chinese homosexual, is arrested for killing a 26-year-old Caucasian in a public lavatory - a crime the media dubs the "toilet sex murder." For John, being gay as well as Asian is bad enough; being tagged with the label "accused murderer" is the third strike.

"Porcelain" captured the award for Best Play at the 1992 London Fringe Awards. In its Orange County premiere, courtesy of the Chance Theater Repertory Company, it gets a sympathetic ear not only from director Oanh Nguyen, the troupe's artistic director, but also from a cast and crew dedicated to making us think about our own biases, inherent or otherwise.

To frame the play's central issue, Yew uses the character of a criminal psychologist, Dr. Jack Worthing (Beach Vickers), assigned to examine John (Nghia Luu). A BBC interviewer (Ricky Culbertson) questions Worthing's objectivity: "Can a heterosexual white male be unbiased in the case of a gay Oriental?" Worthing doesn't hide his distaste for the gay lifestyle and uses sexual and racial slurs to describe John; John's perspective is summed up in a line he repeats to Worthing: "You'll never understand."

The characters' names point up Yew's schema: The doctor's name is straight out of Oscar Wilde, the gay British playwright; the interviewer's last name is White; John's victim (Casey Long) is named Will Hope, while many of the subjects interviewed by White are men who obtain sex from gays, making them "johns." Even Yew and Lee's first and last names are similar.

With its focus on the relationship between John and Worthing, "Porcelain" may remind many of "Equus." By contrast, though, Yew's text is a densely layered stream of consciousness that shifts from Worthing's psychological exam of John to White's interviews of a wide variety of sources. The story is told as a mystery Yew gradually unravels for us. Despite the rough, graphic sex depicted, "Porcelain" is, like every Chay Yew script, poetic: A not-so-subtle allegory about a misfit crow trying to fit in with a group of sparrows intertwines with the main story, while a description of the manufacture of porcelain is meant to represent John himself - ingredients put into a crucible of intense heat and pressure, yielding something "fragile, delicate and beautiful."

The script indicts the media for overplaying the crime's more sensational aspects; in "Rashomon" fashion, it also suggests that the nature of the thing being viewed depends on the viewer. Gays, sociologists, the cops on John's case, and even John's stoic father (Dimas Diaz) are interrogated, their answers contributing to our understanding of the young man.

Nguyen's sensitive yet self-assured direction keeps us riveted on the refined, soft-spoken, white-cladLuu, who delivers a credible portrait of alienation. Scorning himself for being Asian and gay, scorning whites for their callousness yet wishing he were white, Luu reveals, in his deeply expressive eyes and delicate build and facial features, John's conflicted nature, deep yearning, primal agony, stark isolation and a lifetime of sadness.

Vickers counters with a Worthing privately exasperated with John and, in public, a bit of a blowhard. The way John's gentle nature eventually heals some of Worthing's own wounds may feel a bit too pat, but Vickers' on-stage responses to Luu aren't: Desperate to bond with John, and prying the truth from his patient, Worthing's explosive anger yields to a plaintive tone. By the story's end, John's case has honestly shaken him.

Long's Will is alternately easygoing and violent, with an all-too-casual disdain for Asians such as John. His attraction to John is subtle and mutual, and he keeps insisting he's not homosexual even as he and John become more than just physically involved. In Yew's universe, though, something has to give.

Clad in black, and listed in the program as Voices One, Two, Three and Four, Vickers, Diaz, Culbertson and Long portray a dizzying plethora of distinctive characters with an expert array of dialects. Culbertson's Andrew White is a supercilious prig, while Diaz is most memorable as John's father, bitter at the shame his son has brought upon the family.

Erika C. Miller's black-and-white costume scheme underscores the either-or nature of the "Porcelain" universe, while Jon Langrell's lighting creates intriguing contrasts. Dialect coach Glenda Morgan Brown, dramaturge Henry Ong and production stage manager Sal Ponce all deserve mention for aiding Nguyen in fine-tuning a carefully wrought piece of stagecraft.

[top]

 

 

 

 

THEATER ARTICLE

Orange County Play Covers Bigotry and Homophobia
'Porcelain' debuts in Anaheim
Blade Magazine

March 25, 2005

The Chance Theater will host the Orange County debut of the critically acclaimed "Porcelain" until Sunday, April 17 in Anaheim.

Created by award-winning and critically lauded writer Chay Yew, "Porcelain" has been hailed by the London Times as "a most remarkable achievement ...a drama of racial grief, generating the urgency of a thriller and the power of an archetype."

"'Porcelain' is a play that I've wanted to do for a long time," said director Oanh Nguyen. "In a whirlwind span of 90 minutes, 'Porcelain' covers a lot of ground, including bigotry, homophobia and the dark side of all-consuming passion."

The play follows a young Asian man's quest for love, meaning and self-worth in the public toilets of London's Bethnal Green District. After confessing to shooting his lover in a public restroom, 19 year-old John Lee must face racism, homophobia and murder in his struggle to find himself.

Tickets are $20 for general admission and $35 for the dinner show and package. The Chance Theater is located at 5552 E. La Palma Ave. in Anaheim. For more information or for ticket reservations, call (714) 777-3033 or visit http://www.chancetheater.com/.

[top]

 

 

 

 

 

THEATER REVIEW

Porcelain
Melinda Schupmann, Back Stage West

April 6, 2005

Playwright Chay Yew, whose many successes include his new directorship of the Mark Taper Forum's Asian Theatre Workshop, created an intensely personal piece of poetic art in this, one of his earliest endeavors, which considers alienation and prejudice. It is poignant, stunning, and violent—words reflective of a work that lays bare the soul of a lonely young man.

John Lee (Nghia Luu) is 19, an Asian gay man in a society that has made him nearly a cipher. In an encounter in a public toilet in London's Bethnal Green, he meets a "straight" man, and they begin a passionate sexual affair. When the man eventually breaks off the relationship, Lee's fragile instability leads him to kill his lover. At play's beginning he is in prison. A court-appointed psychiatrist (Voice One: Beach Vickers) has been sent to find out whether he was sane or insane when he executed the crime. Although Lee is hostile at first, the psychiatrist begins to gain his trust, and the young man slowly recounts the series of events that led to his crime.

Three other actors (Voice Two: Dimas Diaz, Voice Three: Ricky Culbertson, Voice Four: Casey Long), plus Vickers, act as a stylized chorus, representing people's attitudes towards homosexuality and race in Yew's highly evocative and graphic prose.

These roles are not for the faint of heart. There are explicit sexual acts portrayed, crude male posturing, and a sense of desperation that grips the audience when Lee is brutalized.

The men do yeomen's work, slipping in and out of the roles of British, Asian, and American characters.

Luu does fine work as the conflicted protagonist, balancing a sympathetic and antagonistic persona. As Lee's immigrant father, Diaz delivers a heart-wrenchingly painful rejection of his son. Vickers' character is homophobic and a boorish charlatan, but he has vulnerable, revealing moments. Long plays a sexual opportunist who can't reconcile his feelings, and Culbertson is effective as a probing inquisitor.

Oanh Nguyen's taut, precise direction builds a chilling yet revelatory production. It is emotionally hard to watch, yet it achieves Yew's purpose: to make us look into a vivid microcosm and confront ourselves.

"Porcelain," presented by the Chance Theater Repertory Company at the Chance Theater, 5552 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim. Sat. 4 p.m., Sun. 6 p.m. Mar. 19-Apr. 24. $17-35. (714) 777-3033.

[top]

 

 

 

 

THEATER REVIEW

Gay-themed theater behind the Orange Curtain
IN Magazine

April 18, 2005

A gay Chinese man shoots his lover. Anonymous sex in a public bathroom. Men who "aren't really gay" get it on with men who are. Yes, this is really happening in Orange County - onstage at The Chance Theater.

However, Porcelain is not one of those "porn on stage" plays that lacks depth and a story line. On the contrary, it is a brilliantly written piece that explores the psychosexual dimensions of shame, sexual compulsion, and internalized homophobia, as well as the cultural issues of discrimination, addimilation, and the universal search for love and acceptance. Is is also a poignant story of John Lee (Nghia Luu), revealed in monologues and flashbacks after the murder of Lee's lover (Casey Long), a London man who abandons him for bathroom sex ("cottaging") when their relationship becomes too intense, too personal, and too gay for him to handle.

Created by award-winning and critically lauded writer Chay Yew, Porcelain captured the award for Best Play at the 1992 London Fringe Awards. The Orange County premiere took place under the direction of Oanh Nguyen, Chance founder and artistic director. Founded in 1999, the 50-seat Chance has been one of the most prolific small companies in Southern California. The Chance Theater prides itself on taking chances, having brought scores of unseen works by unknown playwrights to first life, as well as providing cutting edge theater to Orange County.

Porcelain plays at The Chance Theater, 5552 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim Hills, through April 24, Saturdays at 4 p.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m. For more information, call (714) 777-3033.

[top]