[play] BANANA BOYS

신문에 바나나 보이스 라는 연극리뷰가 실렸다. 그래서 피터랑 연극을 보러갔다.

바나나 보이 라는것은 아시안 남자들을 칭하는 일종의 비유적인 언어이다.

일종의 카나다에서 태어난 아시안청년들의 자신의 아이던터티 사이에서 고민하며 

성장하는 이야기다.

부모는 의사,변호사,비지니스맨, 이런거 중에서 직업을 선택하라고 강요하는데, 

자신은 작가가되고싶다거나....그런부분은 공통적인 이야기다. 

가장 인상적인 연출장면은 칠판에 아시안여자들은 백인,흑인,유태인,,,

어느인종들과 선택의 가능성이 있지만, 아시안남자들은 게임, 버블티, 가라오키....

이런것들이 가지고 살수있다는식의 그래픽 차트의 프레젠 테이션인데...

일반화된 개념을 도표로 보여주는 기막힌 연출이었다.

다섯명의 남자배우들이 모두가 처음으로 데뷰하는 무대인데, 나름대로 연습을 많이 한듯하다. 

연기력도 괜찮은듯하다.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

There may be some debate whether Banana Boys is a classic Canadian play or not. If there is, I’m not interested in having it. In my world, where I’ve spent more than half of my career dedicated to the proliferation of Asian Canadian theatre and its artists on our country’s stages, it is. It just is.

Banana Boys, the novel, became an instant success when it hit the shelves. Why? Because it did something very rarely done in literary circles: it talked about contemporary Asian Canadians... and it talked about Asian Canadian men; the often disenfranchised, exotified, hyper-stereotyped subculture of Canadian multiculturalism. They’re either that too-keen railroad worker kid volunteering
for that uber dangerous job sticking dynamite inside the mine shaft, or the unattractive nerd (the bad kind) who is the side kick of the best friend (but still the butt of all the jokes at their high school), or – if they’re lucky – the sexy can’t-tell- what-kind-of-Asian-he-is dude driving that awesome fast car (sans Hello Kitty dangling on the mirror) but has all of 10 lines in the movie. This summates the Asian North American experience in contemporary entertainment over the last several decades.

Banana Boys – both the novel and the play – captured the “in-between-ness” essential to the Asian Canadian male identity. Handsome (yes, handsome) young men, trying to find their place in this world. Some sidekicks, some fools, but none of them a foil for a White hero. They talk about sex and ambition and love. They deal with loss and guilt and shattered dreams and everyday demons. They are modern day lovers, fighters, thinkers. Depicting Asian Canadian men like that was new territory 11 years ago. And here we are now, still trying to carve out this little space in between.

The first production of Banana Boys was a watershed moment for the next generation of Asian Canadian theatre artists. It was a bold, unapologetic (in structure and form), angry, loud and wildly funny play for a generation who grew up without a voice. What seemed like a fun, crazy, epic experiment for all of us back then is, eleven years later, a compelling, moving and ultra complex tale of five young people trying to find their place in this world. As we were, then.

In the spirit of nakedness, I’m looking forward to putting the playwright’s text front and center, rediscovering the beats and intentions, making sense of the impossible stage directions, allowing the fantastical to be just as fantastical as it was before and, really... embracing the complexity of it all. Because Banana Boys is complex and a monster of a play. It’s also a hard play, it requires us to let go of all of our preconceived notions of how an Asian Canadian story should be told.

We’ve gotten older and I think now, more than anything, I’m excited to share the talents of these five next-NEXT generation Asian actors with our audiences. It’s
a rare and sublime pleasure to go back and attack the text with wiser directorial eyes, and find a whole new layer to the ever changing Asian Canadian identity. Enjoy the manic, fun ride, listen with open ears and let your imaginations run wild.

Wo ei ni,

Nina Lee Aquino Director 

아메리카에서 아시안을 조명하는 문화매체가 그리 많이 다루어지지 않는편인데, 

토론토를 기반으로 아시안 그룹이 연극을 만들고 공연하는 단체가 선을보인듯하다.

그만큼 토론토에도 아시안인구가 많은편이다. 중국인이 삼분의일정도를 차지할정도인데...

그래서 그런지 이번 연극의 배우들은 젊은 중국인들이고 모두들 배우로서는 처음으로 데뷰하는 무대들이다. 

CLICK HERE FOR BANANA BOYS PRESS RELEASE.

 

CLICK HERE FOR BANANA BOYS HOUSE PROGRAMME.

THE CAST

DARREL GAMOTIN

SHELDON KWAN

PHILIP NOZUKA

LUKE YEUNG

MATTHEW GIN

MICHAEL CHAO

OLIVER KOOMSATIRA

DAVE LOWE

SIMU LIU

RICK WONG

 

 

 

 

THE TEAM

 

TERRY WOO

AUTHOR

CASEY HUDECKI

FIGHT DIRECTOR

LEON AUREUS

PLAYWRIGHT

JOANNA BARROTTA

STAGE MANAGER

NINA LEE AQUINO

DIRECTOR

ADRIANA DIMITRI

APPRENTICE STAGE MANAGER

JENNIFER LENNON

LIGHTING DESIGNER

 

 

 

 

“… The real reason the Asian race, as a people, as a movement, have not progressed forward … is motherfuckers just– like – you.”

 

Nina Lee Aquino revisits this seminal work of Asian-Canadian theatre in a powerful new production that examines the deep challenges of being torn between cultures and identities. Drawn together by the death of their friend and unofficial leader, five young Asian Canadian men must confront unrealized potential, devastating loss, and time travel, all while trying not to punch too many white boys in the face. This wickedly funny play, adapted from a celebrated book that is a ‘meditation for the restless,’ is a call to anyone who has felt out of place in the world.

 

About the Playwright

 

LEON AUREUS

 

Leon Aureus is a writer, actor, designer, filmmaker and the current Artistic Producer of Carlos Bulosan Theatre Company (CBT). As a playwright, Leon adapted the novel Banana Boys by Terry Woo and he also co-wrote the plays People Power and In the Shadow of Elephants with the CBT Collective. Select acting credits include: Aisha ‘n Ben (Theatre Ji); People Power (CBT); a nanking winter (Nightwood Theatre); Singkil (fu-GEN, receiving a Dora award nomination for Outstanding Performance) and Yogyakarta (Absit Omen/Bell Tower Theatre). He was also the Associate Producer of the Fringe production of Kim’s Convenience as well as a founding member of the fu-GEN Theatre Company where he served as Artistic Director and Producer. ongoing and upcoming projects include the premiere of the music video he directed for the band 30 Frames; City Curator for the culture and social innovation speaker series NextDayBetter; and the direction of Carlos Bulosan Theatre’s Tagsibol (Springtime/Rebirth) collective play creation unit.

 

 

About the Director

NINA LEE AQUINO

 

Nina Lee Aquino is an award-winning director and dramaturge. She was the former Artistic Director of fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company and Cahoots Theatre Company; and is now the current Artistic Director of Factory Theatre.

 

She is the editor of Canada’s first Asian-Canadian 2-volume drama anthology love + relasianshipsand the co-editor of the award winning New Essays on Canadian Theatre Volume one: Asian Canadian Theatre (Playwrights Canada Press).

 

Awards for her work include: the Ken McDougall Award 2004, the Canada Council John Hirsch Prize 2008 and two Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Direction.