LA in SF - Presented by Locus April 2, 2004

L.A. in S.F.
L.A. comes to Locus when the Big Bad Chinese Mama herself - Kristina Sheryl Wong, theater artist Ova Saopeng, and Kennedy Kabasares, Traci Kato-Kiriyama, and Edren T. Sumagaysay of the spoken word trio zero 3 bring their Southern Cali brand of performance to San Francisco. It's going to be a very special night as we welcome prodigal son Kennedy back to the Bay, and Kristina back to her grandpa's old butchershop. Yep, that's right - Galeria used to be Kristina's grandpa's butchershop.

On Kristina: "Who knew that 21st century performance art might look like stand-up comedy without cocktails?" --Los Angeles Times and "A much needed minidose...of humor and irony..." --Ms. Magazine

Bios:


zero 3: Emerging out of distant parts of Los Angeles come three supporters of the written word: Kennedy Kabasares, Traci Kato-Kiriyama, and Edren T. Sumagaysay. Working together since February of 2000, their original works focus on world, personal and social issues and extend from poetry, prose, monologues, scenes, stream-of-consciousness meditations to songs about "sitting on things." Prior to forming zero 3, Kato-Kiriyama and Sumagaysay honed their performance skills with the hereandnow theatre company. At the same time, Kabasares was also fine-tuning his skills as a theatre and television actor and as a stand-up comedian. Kato-Kiriyama also brings several years of dance experience to the ensemble, as does Sumagaysay who continues to teach ballroom and modern dance techniques. zero 3 made their debut in April 2000 at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center's Fresh Tracks series at the David Henry Hwang Theatre in Little Tokyo. Since then, zero 3 has been performing in various venues across Southern California including the Vogue Theatre in Hollywood, Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, and the Armand Hammer Museum in Westwood. zero 3 are also artists-in-residence and teach spoken word workshops at Visual Communications in Los Angeles, the nation's oldest Asian American media arts group. Visit their website zero3.org for more info.

Described as "Amy Tan on crack," Kristina Sheryl Wong subverts performance art pretentions and provides a lovable mix of self-loathing, sentimental elegance and social satire. Kristina is a writer, solo performer, actor, educator, and filmmaker. She is the writer/ performer of two solo shows, "Miss Chinatown 2nd Runner Up" and "Free?". She has also created and performed numerous short theatrical solo pieces and public performance installations. Her first solo show, "Miss Chinatown 2nd Runner Up" was commissioned for development by the TeAda Works New Works Festival ("An LA Times' "Best Bet"). She was also recently commissioned by LA's Mark Taper forum to create a piece for "LAsians", part of the Asian Theater Workshop. She's also the recipient of the Durfee ARC grant and an Artist-in-Residence grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs department. A former field news reporter for KPFK radio, she produced and directed her first short documentary, "Beat the Bus" with Visual Communications' "Armed with a Camera" Fellowship. She's the notorious webmistress behind www.bigbadchinesemama.com, a mock mail order bride site visited by perverts, academics, activists and klansmen worldwide. Visit her website for more info.

Ova Saopeng is performing excerpts from his show "Lao as a Second Language" that explores the American experience as a Lao refugee. If the only Lao family you know is the Souphanousinphones of"King of the Hill" then you have to attend LSL! "Welcome to Lao as a Second Language," an engaging, enlightening and interactive solo performance piece that twists the experisnce of the ESL class. Through the portrayal of several characters including his mother, himself, and the Lao Elvis, Ova takes you on a complex journey behind the silence of Lao America. Ova is a graduate of the School of Theatre at USC -- he has performed with We Tell Stories, Water's Edge Theater, East West Players, hereandnow, the Mark Taper's P.L.A.Y. Program, and The Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis.
April 2, 2004, 8pm
Galeria de la Raza
2857 24th St at Bryant

Admission: $5