Final Boarding Call
An Irons in the Fire Project
March 9, 2020 @ 5:30pm
Abrons Arts Center as part of the @Abrons Series
Written by Stefani Kuo
Directed by Mei Ann Teo
This venue is wheelchair accessible.
Feel free to contact us with any questions on accessibility.
Seating is extremely limited.
E-mail info@faultlinetheatre.org to reserve a seat
Synopsis
Final Boarding Call tells the stories of the current Hong Kong protests. The play revolves around the stories of seven characters whose backgrounds and perspectives run the spectrum – from extremist Hong Konger to pro-democracy yet financially driven American, Mainland Chinese mother to Hong Kong journalist. The play begins and ends with a flight, an entrance into the Hong Kong protests and how the politics we see on the news every day affects the citizens of Hong Kong in their day to day lives. But most importantly, it gives the audience a window into China's grip on global capitalism. Both in America, and in the small cramped apartments of Hong Kong, China and the Communist Party is an inevitable force we have yet to fully reckon with.
Performed By
Ya Han Chang
Rob Chen
Rohan Kymal
Kenneth Lee
Rachel Lin
Jay Russell
Wei Yi
Xingying Peng (Stage Directions)
Playwright
Stefani Kuo (郭佳怡) is a native of Hong Kong and received her B.A. from Yale. She is a playwright/performer and writes in Mandarin, Cantonese, French, and English. She is a member of writers groups Interstate 73 with Page 73 and Speakers Corner with Gingold Theatrical Group. She has been a finalist for the National Playwrights Conference, Jerome fellowship at Lanesboro Arts Centre, Jerome Fellowship at PWC, Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, NAP Series, DVRF Playwrights' Program, semi-finalist for the Page 73 playwriting fellowship, Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and the Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep. Her play, Architecture of Rain, premiered at the Iseman Theatre at Yale and received a reading in the DVRF Roundtable and Checkmark Theatre Company series. She was commissioned to write a play for the Rubin Museum's Spiral Magazine. Her play delicacy of a puffin heart was recently produced as part of the 2018 Corkscrew Theatre Festival and The Parsnip Ship. As a performer, she is performing in Bedlam Theater Company's upcoming production of King Lear at Bristol Riverside Theater. She is represented as a playwright by Kevin Lin at CAA. www.stefanikuo.com
For more on Hong Kong: www.parachutehongkonger.wordpress.com
Director
Mei Ann Teo (she/they) is a queer immigrant from Singapore making theatre & film at the intersection of artistic/civic/contemplative practice. As a director/devisor/dramaturg, she creates across genres, including music theatre, intermedial participatory work, reimagining classics, and documentary theatre. Profiled in American Theatre’s Role Call: Theatre Workers to Watch, Teo’s work has toured the U.S. and internationally including Belgium's Festival de Liege (Lyrics From Lockdown, “Truly polished, meaningful and entertaining” -New York Times), Singapore Theatre Festival (Building A Character - Hit List of the Business Times, “Dynamic staging”), Edinburgh International Fringe (MiddleFlight, “Stunning” -Scotsman), M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (The Shape of a Bird, "Superb staging" - Straits Times), INFANT Experimental Theatre Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, Beijing International Festival (Labyrinth - Top 8 in Beijing News), Dumbo Arts Festival, and the Shanghai International Experimental Theatre Festival (Official Selection - Caucasian Chalk Circle). She has directed and/or developed new work at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Phil Killian Fellow 2015), Goodman Theatre, Public Theater, Berkeley Rep (Ground Floor), Crowded Fire, History Theatre and the National Black Theatre. She directed the world premiere of Dim Sum Warriors by Colin Goh and Yen Yen Woo, composed by Pulitzer Prize winner Du Yun at Stan Lai’s Theatre Above in Shanghai, which went on a national twenty-five city tour in China in summer 2018. www.meiannteo.com
Poster Art by Sean Devare