Welcome to GungHaggisFatChoy.com
Home to my passions for my inter-cultural adventures,
Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner event.
Save Kogawa House campaign,
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team,
Find what you are looking for by
1) scroll the topics links,
2) use the search function
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2009 TICKETS Available in October 2009
WHAT: GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner - 12th Annual Dinner, celebrating 250th Anniversary of Robert Burns' birth + Chinese New Year's Eve.
WHEN:
6PM January 25 2009, SUNDAY
doors open 5pm
WHERE: Floata Chinese Restaurant,
#400 180 Keefer St.
CULTURE:
Our Performers
create something special for us every year with traditional and contemporary performances featuring everything in-between and beyond!
FOOD: A quirky fusion/mix/buffet of
Scottish Canadian and Chinese Canadian culture 10 course Chinese banguet dinner
In 2004, we presented the debut of Gung Haggis Won-Ton including haggis served with plum or sweet and sour sauces.! For 2005 it was haggis lettuce wrap! 2007 saw the creation of Haggis dim sum appetizer buffet - Watch for more surprises in 2008!
On-line tickets at
Tickets Tonight - Vancouver's Community Box Office
or NEW PHONE NUMBER 604-631-2872
$2.50 extra
Description of 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner featuring performers: Rick Scott & Harry Wong, The Shirleys, Joe McDonald & Brave Waves, Sean Gunn, author Joy Kogawa, with co-host Prem Gill .
Media Inquiries
Call Gung Haggis Productions 604-987-7124
cell: 778-846-7090
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Join the
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team
for lots of summer fun, fitness and friendship. We are a social team full of cultural vigor, that likes to eat.
We have been featured on television, local, national and international. We have a unique and internationally famous fundraiser dinner event.
We practice Sundays 1pm -3pm and Tuesdays 6pm-7:45pm
We meet at Dragon Zone clubhouse - just south of Science World in Creekside Park above the Aquabus and dragon boat docks.
Our coach Todd Wong has over 12 years of experience including novice, recreational and competitive levels, and both community and corporate teams.
Our 2005 Season brought us the David Lam Award for being the team that best represented the multicultural spirit of the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, and Bronze medals at the Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race. We also raced at Harrison Lake and Sea Vancouver regatta.
For more information:
Click on
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team information
phone: 778-846-7090
e-mail: gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GungHaggisFatChoy 2007 Performers
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Monday, April 28

Rita Wong and Gary Geddes big winners at BC Book Prizes Gala
by
Todd
on Mon 28 Apr 2008 11:41 PM PDT
Rita Wong and Gary Geddes big winners at BC Book Prizes GalaApril 26, 2008, Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, Vancouver
Children's author finalist Meg Tilly and Poetry Prize
winner Rita Wong shared a story about reading one of Rita's poems
together during the BC Book Prize tour in the Kootenays - photo Todd
WongThe winners of seven BC Book Prizes, as well as the recipient of the fifth annual Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence, were feted before an audience of authors, publishers, media and friends. Todd Wong and Leanne Riding, co-presidents of Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop attended the ceremonies. ACWW secretary Ann-Marie Metten is also on the board of the BC Book Prizes.
Todd Wong with Gary Geddes, winner of the Lt. Gov. Lifetime Achievement Award. Only just a few days earlier at Government House in Victoria, Gary and Todd had celebrated Todd becoming a recipient of the BC Community Achievement Award. - photo Leanne Riding
 ACWW/Ricepaper gang
Marisa Alps, Megan Lau, Rita Wong, Walter
Lew, Todd Wong, Leanne Riding.
Todd and Leanne celebrated with friends and winners, Gary Geddes,
recipient of the 5th annual Lt. Gov. Lifetime Achievement Award. Meg Tilly, finalist for children's literature George McWhirter, finalist for poetry Shaena Lambert, finalist for fiction Patricial Roy, finalist for non-fiction
Brian Lam, publisher of Arsenal Pulp Press Howard White, publisher of Harbour Publishing Marisa Alps, editor Harbour Publishing
For a full list of winners see: http://www.bcbookprizes.ca/winnersTodd Wong - where's your kilt? Todd poses with kilt wearers Bill Horne, a book layout specialist from Wells BC, and Pipe Major John Mager.
"Where's your kilt" asked the Lt.Gov. Stephen Point to me at the BC Book Awards. Sometimes people just don't recognize me if I am not wearing a kilt. Funnily, It had taken Lt. Gov. Stephen Point a moment to recognize me after presenting me with the certificate for the BC Community Achievement Award a few days before on Wednesday in Government House. see more pictures from Todd's Flickr site:
Saturday, April 26

Raymond Louie hosts Wayson Choy reading
by
Todd
on Sat 26 Apr 2008 05:25 PM PDT
Wayson Choy Reads for Raymond Louie
Raymond Louie is hosting celebrated author Wayson Choy for a special reading in support of Raymond’s campaign for mayor.
When: April 28, 7-9PM Where: Mekong Restaurant, 1414 Commercial Dr. Admission: Free I have known both Wayson Choy and Raymond Louie for a number of years. I find them both very genuine people, dedicated to their communities. I first met Wayson while I was on the inaugural One Book One Vancouver committee. I first met Raymond while his wife was on the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society. And we all worked wonderfully together. The Mekong Restaurant plays a special role in Wayson's forthcoming new book, "Not Yet." It will be the sequel to his first critically acclaimed memoirs book "Paper Shadows."Wayson says this about Raymond Louie:
"Raymond emerges from the world I’ve described in my stories. His
parents came here with next to nothing, and he worked his way up and
proved himself again and again. He understands the struggles immigrants
face because he’s been there. His success is an amazing Canadian story.
Fortunately, there are still chapters yet to be written, and I would
trust Raymond to invest his integrity and his wisdom of the past to
secure in those pages a just and equal future for all.
Wayson Choy, author of “The Jade Peony”
Sunday, April 20

BC Book Prizes Soiree: meeting authors
by
Todd
on Sun 20 Apr 2008 11:43 PM PDT
We went to the BC Book Prizes Soiree, held this year at the swanky Metropolitan Hotel, home to Diva Restaurant. All the nominated authors for the 2008 BC Book Prizes were there, and it was announced that Gary Geddes was being awarded the 5th Annual Lt. Governorès Award for Literary Achievement. Gary wasnèt there as he lives outside of Victoria and will be there next week for the BC Book Prizes Gala. But attending were other award nominees such as Meg Tilly and Mike McCardle. more »
Saturday, April 19

Poet Gary Geddes recieves 5th annual Lt. Gov's award for Literary Excellence
by
Todd
on Sat 19 Apr 2008 05:19 PM PDT
Gary Geddes is descended from Scottish ancestors from the Northern tip of Scotland. He wrote me: "Just Scots fisherfolk from the north coast who fished in Orkney waters for herring, until they were all fished out. Then they came over here and did the same nasty thing to the salmon. The family name comes from the ged, a North Atlantic sea pike. The people of the geds, totem animal and all that. Nasty little bite they have, too.".... more »
Friday, April 11

Joy Kogawa reads "Naomi's Tree" at Vancouver Kidsbooks.
by
Todd
on Fri 11 Apr 2008 11:59 PM PDT
It was a good event for the launch of Naomi's Tree. So good that all the books that had been delivered in advance to Kidsbooks sold out. We were holding two extra copies, so I passed them on to two people who didn't have any. They were both very thankful..... It's a beautiful story that spans across an ocean, beginning in the "Land of Morning" - Japan, and travels over the Pacific Ocean to the "Land Across the Sea" - Canada. The story also spans many generations. And along the way it also briefly tells about the internment of Japanese Canadians during WW2. more »
Thursday, April 10

Tonight: Joy Kogawa reads her new book "Naomi's Tree"
by
Todd
on Thu 10 Apr 2008 05:44 PM PDT
Place: Vancouver Kidsbooks - 3083 West Broadway, Vancouver ... Please Note: Tickets are fully redeemable toward Joy Kogawa's books on the night of the event ... more »
Thursday, March 13

Courier: Wong celebrates Celtic Fest's kilty pleasures
by
Todd
on Thu 13 Mar 2008 01:18 PM PDT
Last week the Vancouver Courier interviewed me for a Celtic Fest story about tonight's Battle of the Bards. Photographer Dan Toulgoet met me at the Robert Burns statue in Stanley Park, which had been erected 80 years ago.
It's always interesting to find out how other people perceive Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and what they think about my persona as "Toddish McWong." more »
Wednesday, March 12

Wayson Choy gives "spirited" reading for Vancouver Cultural Olympiad
by
Todd
on Wed 12 Mar 2008 09:31 PM PDT
Wayson Choy came back to Vancouver to read from his upcoming book, "Not Yet a memoir of living and almost dying," Wayson is famous for his first novel "Jade Peony" and its' subsequent prequel "All That Matters"which was nominated for a Giller Prize..... On Tuesday night, Wayson talked about his second heart attack, and his conversations with ghosts. more »

Celtic Fest opens in Vancouver: Robert Burns (Toddish McWong) is guest poet on Co-op Radio's Wax Poetic
by
Todd
on Wed 12 Mar 2008 08:36 PM PDT
Wax Poetic recognized the first day of Celtic Fest by highlighting the "Battle of the Bards" event featuring celtic poets Dylan Thomas, William Butler Yeats and Robert Burns, played by Todd Wong.......
Diane and Steve asked Todd about the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com and how he became interested in Robert Burns......
Todd also read poems "My Luv Is Like a Red Red Rose" and "A Man's a Man For A' That and A' That". more »
Monday, March 10

Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC honours Brandy Lien-Worrall
by
Todd
on Mon 10 Mar 2008 11:22 PM PDT
On Saturday Night, CCHS honoured Brandy Lien-Worrall for leading the CCHS writing workshops, which singlehandedly helped fund and make a reality the Edgar Wickberg scholarships for students studying Chinese-Canadian history. Brandy really is an amazing and inspiring person. Not only did she succeed in editing the Eating Stories anthology over the summer and seeing it through to publication in November, but she did it while fighting a serious bout with breast cancer. On January 1st, I named Brandy to a list of Chinese Canadians that inspired me for 2007. more »

Recommended Robert Burns poems for Celtic Fest "Battle of the Bards"
by
Todd
on Mon 10 Mar 2008 12:12 PM PDT
We will go on a pub crawl reciting poetry to (un)suspecting patrons starting at Doolin's Irish Pub at 5:30pm. Then we will go to Atlantic Trap and Gill for 6:05. Johnny Fox's Irish Snug at 6:45. Then the finale at Ceili's Irish Pub and Restaurant for 8pm, where we will be accompanied by a DJ and a celtic fiddler..... Not being a complete expert or scholar on Robert Burns, I asked my friends in the Burns Club of Vancouver, as well as Ron MacLeod, Chair of the Scottish Cultural Studies program at Simon Fraser University for advice. They readily obliged: more »
Thursday, March 6

BC Book Prizes short list announced: features Rita Wong and George McWhirter for poetry
by
Todd
on Thu 06 Mar 2008 11:56 PM PST
It's wonderful to see how many people you know who are nominated for the BC Book Prizes. Rita Wong, Forage (Nightwood Editions) and George McWhirter The Incorrection (Oolichan Books) are both nominated for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. I am just going to list some of the people I know, or what I think are some Chinese-Canadian and Scottish-Canadian highlights. See www.bcbookprizes.ca for the full list. more »
Monday, March 3

Toddish McWong to appear as Robbie Burns in "Battle of the Bards" literary pub crawl
by
Todd
on Mon 03 Mar 2008 12:17 PM PST
The word is out. Scotland's favorite poet son, will be represented in Vancouver CelticFest's Battle of the Bards by 5th generation Chinese Canadian Todd Wong aka Toddish McWong - creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, and other intercultural events. 
Wong first participated in Celtic Fest's first St. Patrick's Day parade, when he put a Taiwanese dragon boat on a trailer and towed it down the street in the parade. Seated in the boat were bagpiper Joe McDonald, and guitarist Andrew Kim, the Brave Waves.
Both McDonald and Kim were also featured in the CBC Vancouver television performance special Gung Haggis Fat Choy - another spin off from the Todd Wong creative braintrust.  View Clip
Check out official CelticFest promotional blurbs from event organizer and poet Stephen Duncan http://www.poetryradio.blogspot.com/With CelticFest and St. Paddy's day fast upon us, we decided a tribute
to the Scotch and Irish would be appropriate, so we are raising the
dead for this show and bringing in William Butler Yeats and Robbie Burns to help celebrate. Yeats and Burns (really two great performers, Mark Downey and Todd Wong) will be going head-to-head, along with Dylan Thomas in a unique literary event this year on Thursday, March 13: The Battle of the Bards Literary Pub Crawl, a
combination pub crawl/poetry slam where the legendary poets go from pub
to pub downtown performing their works and being judged by members of
the audience armed with scorecards. The event culminates in a Jack Karaoke-style match at Ceili's Pub, where they must do their pieces accompanied by a DJ (All Purpose's Michael Louw) and fiddler Elise Boeur. Once the contest is over much drinking and dancing is done into the wee hours.
Click on the image below for more details.
Sunday, February 24

Sharon Butala packs Kogawa House for reading, and a workshop on memoir writing
by
Todd
on Sun 24 Feb 2008 12:14 AM PST
Author Sharon Butala mesmerized the packed audience at historic Joy Kogawa House on Friday night. The Order of Canada author talked how she helped
established a writer in residence program at Wallace Stegner's childhood home in
Eastend, Saskatchewan.
Butala is giving a weekend writing workshop about memoir writing at Kogawa House, marking the start of turning the historic literary landmark into a true writers-in-residence program for the City of Vancouver and the Canadian literary and writing community.
Butala read from her Governor General award nominated memoir book, The Perfection of the Morning: An Apprenticeship in Nature, and her new book Lilac Moon: Dreaming of the Real West She also talked about the CBC Fifth Estate documentary she inspired and was a part of: CBC: The fifth estate - Death of A Beauty Queen - which investigated the unsolved 1963 murder of Butala's former high school friend.
She answered a few questions, some about her writing, and some about how she helped create a writers-in-residence program in Eastend SK. Then afterwards, she signed copies of her books and chatted with the audience members.
For this past month, Butala has been living as a guest at Joy Kogawa's Vancouver appartment, while Kogawa lives in her primary residence in Toronto. On Feb 3rd, Butala attended the Vancouver opera production "Voices of the Pacific Rim" with members of the Joy Kogawa House Society, and was introduced to some of the singers who had performed the Naomi's Road opera, based on the children's novel by Joy Kogawa.
Sharon Butala and Historic Joy Kogawa House seem like a perfect fit. This house where the 6 year old Joy Kogawa grew up in, and remembered through years of internment during WW2, and for years afterwards became realized in a memoir of sorts, the award winning novel Obasan. Butala and her husband Peter, are also nationally recognized conservationists. In 1996, they donated their 13,100-acre (5,300 ha) ranch near Eastend
to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to establish The Old Man on
His Back Prairie and Heritage Preserve (OMB). It was in 2006, that Joy Kogawa House was purchased by The Land Conservancy of BC, to become Vancouver's first literary and historical landmark. As a member of the Joy Kogawa House Society, I know that we are deeply appreciative of Sharon's work to help us develop a writer's-in-residence program for Historic Joy Kogawa house. We thank Sharon for her wonderful spirit and commitment to our project.
Friday, February 8

Banana Boys: everything you never wanted to know about Canadian born Asians
by
Todd
on Fri 08 Feb 2008 11:42 PM PST
Theatre review: Banana Boys jabs and pokes fun at Asian-Canadian inferiority complex...
Banana Boys Firehall Arts Centredirected by Donna Spencer until February 9th. Bananas are everywhere in Canada. They are the Canadianized Asians that are yellow on the outside and white on the inside. Terry Woo wrote the novel, and Leon Aureas turned it into the play being performed at the Firehall Arts Centre. Everybody knows a Banana. They straddle in between the Mother tongue culture trying to distance themselves from the FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) new immigrants who still speak with an accent, and they don't quite fit in with the Mainstream White-Canadian dominant culture - because everywhere they go, people still refer to them as Chinese because of their skin colour. In a negative perspective, Bananas are sometimes accused of denying their racial and cultural heritage, by trying to be mainstream. Former Governor General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson, could be considered a Banana, even though she was born in Hong Kong and came to Canada at age three. She doesn't even use her maiden name Poy anymore, keeping the name of her ex-husband political scientist Stephen Clarkson. In a positive perspective, Bananas emphasize Canadian values, and the integration (or assimilation) of Chinese culture into becoming good Canadians of Chinese ancestry. My friend David Wong calls himself a Banana, and like myself, is proud of his multigenerational Chinese-Canadian pioneer ancestry. But in both the book and play, Banana Boys are college friends at the University of Waterloo. They are called losers by one of their girlfriends. And the most successful of them, is at odds with trying to distance himself from them and fit into the rising corporate class of new Chinese-Canadian immigrants. They are 5 friends that each represent many of the Asian-Canadian male stereotypes: unassertive romantically delusioned male, family values dominated number one son that goes to medical school, computer/math/tech geek, commerce faculty BMW or Accura Integra driving Chuppie (Chinese yuppie). What is wrong with being a Banana? Nothing... and everything! The play opens with the 5 friends declaring their friendship in a prologue. The real action starts when we discover that main character Rick Wong (Victor Mariano) has died by self-impalement of a piece of mirror into his heart. The rest of the play explores each of the character's relationship to their "Banana-ness" and how they relate to each other. Simon Hayakawa plays Michael Chow, the medical student who is in charge of documenting Rick Wong's life, struggling between following his bliss of becoming a writer or his family expectations of becoming a doctor. It is a manic romp through many issues of being Asian-Canadian such as: dating white women or Chinese Women; following parental expectations for academic achievement; facing racial discrimination and cultural stereotypes; and trying to blend in with the mainstream or immigrant cultures. Simon Hayama, Victor Mariano, Parnelli Parnes, and Vincent Tong, are all back for this return engagement after closing the 2007 Western Canada premiere with sold out shows. The first act is fast paced with some brilliantly insightful and funny scenes. A scene addressing why Banana Boys are at the bottom of the relationship desirability ladder, begins as a mock battle scene with the boys playing soldiers fighting with machine guns, but transitions into a description of Venn diagrams explaining the intersections of Asian women with White men, but not White women or Asian women with Banana Boys. It's a hilarious tribute to the mathematical geek stereotype of Asian males. But this play goes beyond mere racial issues, it also tackles the tough issues of identity, drug addiction, friendship and learning to love oneself. Kudo's to Firehall Arts Centre for premiering this wonderful play to the West Coast, and having the strong belief in it to re-launch it a year later, in the wake of Firehall's remount of Urine Town. Director Donna Spencer has tightened up the production, and the actors seem much more comfortable with the material. The actors are all amazing, as this play pushes them to over the top performances that exaggerate the issues to extremes. Highlights include two of the actors dressing up with blonde wigs, as go-go dancing game show hostesses with Chinese accents, or dressed up in a big Sumo Wrestler outfit as Michael Chow's mother wrestling his personal ambitions against family expectations. Metaphor is big in this play, and it hits you with big outrageous scenes and imagery. When the play premiered last year, Terry Woo the Banana Boys author, came out for the opening and was happily amazed by the production. The play had originally been workshopped in Toronto, but still translated well to Vancouver. While the original material was written with a Chinese-Canadian specific culture in mind, the actors come from a diverse Asian ancestry including Filipino, Chinese, Japanese and Hapa-Canadian. The issues are universal enough to relate to all Asian-Canadian and Canadian immigrant community groups. I was amazed by all the pop-cultural references and Asian Banana Boy cultural specifics such as dragon boat racing, driving Acura Integras, and drinking Coca-cola - which I do personally in my life. As a 5th generational Chinese Canadian, am I that much of a Banana Boy? Or are some of these issues relatable to all Canadians? Judging from the laughter in the audience, lots of people, White or Asian, were enjoying the play.
Tuesday, February 5

Chinese New Year week... Gung Haggis Fat Choy style
by
Todd
on Tue 05 Feb 2008 05:36 PM PST

It's Chinese New Year week....
here are some FUN events this week.... after recovery from Gung Haggis Fat Choy Chinese Robbie Burns Dinner recovery....
Tuesday February 5, 2008 - 6:00 PMChannel 13 in Metro Vancouver Our cooking dragon boat chef Dan Seto (Chinese Canadian Historical Society of B.C.)- Lotus Root Soup
- Steamed Pork with Salt Fish
- Green Beans with Fooyi Bean Cake
  Check out TUESDAY to Saturday FEB 5 - 9thBANANA BOYSFirehall Theatre The fun play by Leon Aureas, based on the Terry Woo novel Back from a hit run last year... manic comedy and Asian identity... or Asian confusion. THURSDAY Feb 7 CHINESE NEW YEAR DAY - Kilts Night at Doolin's Irish Pub FREE pint of Guinness if you wear a kilt. 8:00pm - Raphael to greet you. Hockey game starts a 7:00 pm - expect music by Halifax Wharf Rats to begin afterwards around 9:30
FRIDAY Feb 7 - 16 THE QUICKIE - Playwrights theatre centre on Granville Island - this is the play excerpted at Gung Haggis dinner - this is by the same group that did Twisting Fortunes last year
purchase tickets online via PayPal at www.scriptingaloud.ca/quickie. Tickets
are selling fast, especially for the Friday, February 8 show. Don't
miss it. Last year, seats sold out 36 hours in advance. Friday and Saturday Feb 9 & 10OOZOOMAY! UZUME TAIKOwith special guest Ben Rogalsky Japanese Taiko drums with a multi-instrumentalist who plays accordion along with mandolin, tenor banjo and Javanese gamelan - how can Gung Haggis not resist??? Norman Rothstein Theatre 950 West 41st Ave. SUNDAY FEBRUARY 10, CHINATOWN
NEW YEAR PARADE12 noon
Place: Parade starts from the Millennium Gate (Pender
and Taylor St.), winds through Pender, Gore and Keefer.
Remember to bring your camera along with family and friends!
Visit www.cbavancouver.ca
for more info. Poster
Flyer front
/ back Sunday February 10 CHINESE NEW YEAR CONCERT Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden Courtyard (part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad) 10:30 -11:30 1:30 - 3:30
- featuring Silk Road Music + Uzume Taiko + Loretta Leung Dancers + many many more!!!
download the program: click herehttp://www.silkroadmusic.ca/sitefiles/olympiad.htmDEAD SERIOUS at CHAPEL ARTS (CANCELLED due to illness)2:30pm featuring soprano Heather Pawsey and pianist Rachel Iwassa but see them: Friday, February 15 concert of DEAD Serious 7:30 p.m. at Vancouver Memorial Services and Crematorium / Hamilton-Harron Funeral Home, 5390 Fraser Street) will TAKE PLACE AS SCHEDULED. If you would like to make reservations, please call 604-325-7441.
Friday, January 18

Adrienne Wong playing "My Name is Rachel Corrie" about the peace activist killed by a bulldozer while defending a Palestine house
by
Todd
on Fri 18 Jan 2008 06:28 PM PST
Rachel Corrie was 23 years old when she was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer on March 16, 2003. She was working with others trying to protect the home of a Palestinian pharmacist from demolition in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine. “My Name is Rachel Corrie” is a powerful....
Adrienne Wong is playing Rachel Corrie in the Push Festival's "My Name is Rachel Corrie." Wong was also similarly driven by her passion to play the young activist. Read the article: Hour.ca - Stage - My Name Is Rachel Corrie to learn about Wong's unusual audition for the role. more »

Banana Boys back again at the Firehall Arts Centre
by
Todd
on Fri 18 Jan 2008 05:40 PM PST
Banana Boys Firehall Arts CentreJanuary 17 - February 9 , 2008 Last year Firehall Arts Centre brought back Urine Town the following year, after a smash initial run. This year, they have brought back Banana Boys. I saw the play last year and found it a hysterical, fast-paced, action-packed with both ideas and physical comedy.
Some of our female dragon boat team members said "Hey what about the Banana Girls?" This play hits the nerves about Asian-Canadian identity. What is it like to be considered a banana? Yellow on the outside but White on the inside. No doubt many Canadian-born Asian Canadians are considered more and more banana with each passing generation, as they lose their mother tongue language, and traditional customs.
But can you lose something you never really had? Often times this 5th generation Chinese-Canadian bristles at being asked "Where are you from?"
On the other hand, the Asian traditionalists and new immigrants have often asked me "Are you Chinese? You look Chinese... You should speak Chinese!"
This play addresses all these issues... the push and pull of living between cultures, while trying to establish your own identity.
This Leon Aureus play is based on the original book by Terry Woo. Terry came to Vancouver last year for the rehearsals and the opening night performance, and was really pleased with the Firehall's production. No wonder the play sold out its final nights and has been brought back for 2008.
Wednesday, January 16

The Quickie - New Asian Canadian play sneak preview excerpt featured at 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner event
by
Todd
on Wed 16 Jan 2008 12:12 AM PST

Another Gung Haggis Fat Choy exclusive!!!TF Productions' playwright Grace Chin is back with another "set in Vancouver" play that resonates sexual and racial intercultural politics and social customs. Last year Grace and her writing partner Charlie Cho previewed their first play Twisting Fortunes at the 2007 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner which I reviewed Twisting Fortunes is just like "real dating.This
time the writing is all Grace... and she will be performing a sneak
preview excerpt onstage with fellow actor Emily Chow, as characters
Susan Fan and Regina Cho. What do women really want? Did Robbie Burns have the answer? We know that Robbie Burns LOVED the fair sex and wrote many many poems dedicated to them - the most famous being "My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose." But does a rose smell as sweet whether it is red, or white, or yellow? And what about men and women.... do they smell as sweet whether they are white or yellow? Check out this spicy excerpt that will be presented January 27th at the 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy : Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.  Can you really know someone in five minutes? And is speed
dating a shortcut to happiness, or a slippery slope to heartache? TF
Productions, the team that brought the city its first "accidentally
Asian" romantic dramedy, Twisting Fortunes—which played to a sold-out
house at the Playwrights Theatre Centre on Granville Island last
year—presents The Quickie, a Vancouver-based, contemporary romantic
comedy that rips a strip out of speed dating, making whoopee, and
cultural collision. In all the wrong places. The Quickie is directed by Ross Bragg (Producer, CBC) with
lighting design by Darren Boquist (Walking Fish Festival) from a script
by Grace Chin (Event Producer, Scripting Aloud), one half of the TF
Productions writing/producing team that includes Charlie Cho (Associate
Producer, CBC). TF Productions is grateful to receive in-kind support
from the CBC, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (VACT) and Scripting
Aloud. "A 'quickie' can mean a lot of things. This is a fun play about
dating in Vancouver, but it's not only about sex; it's about how
readily we judge people before we know who they are, about love at
first sight," says Bragg. In this take-out love story, Richard "The Rich" Gupta (Raahul
Singh) wants everything, while his buddy Darryl Chu (Alex Chu) just
wants the right woman. Susan Fan (Grace Chin) is willing to settle for
a man she can put up with, while her best friend Regina Cho (Emily
Chow) won't settle at all. The four meet their matches quickly enough
at the same speed dating event, yet find the follow-through far from
tidy. An amorous woman (Allison Riley), a party girl (Kit Koon), a
pretty boy (Phil Gurney) and a toothsome dentist (Victor Khong) further
complicate the "girl meets boy" dynamic. The
Quickie is the second theatrical production, after 2007's Twisting
Fortunes, to be staged after being workshopped at Scripting Aloud, a
monthly pan-Asian Canadian scriptreading series active since 2005. A
short excerpt from The Quickie will be read live at the Tenth
Anniversary Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner event on January 27, 2008 at
Floata Chinese Restaurant, 400-180 Keefer Street, downtown Vancouver. Performances: Thurs. Feb. 7, Fri. Feb. 8, Sat. Feb. 9, 8 p.m. Sun. Feb. 10, 2 p.m. Fri. Feb. 15, Sat. Feb. 16, 8 p.m. Venue: Playwrights Theatre Centre (1398 Cartwright Street), Granville Island
Tickets: $15 at the door, $13 online via PayPal at www.scriptingaloud.ca/quickieMedia: Charlie Cho Co-Producer, TF Productions 778-288-5933
quickieplay@gmail.com
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