HOME / 2022-23 SEASON / New Eyes Festival

THEATER MU’S LONGEST RUNNING TRADITION

This series of staged readings, taking place during Theater Mu’s AAPI Generations Conference, features new works from Asian American playwrights and is an artistic incubator for thoughts and ideas looking to be born onto the stage. For the 2023 festival, our playwrights are Katie Chin and Madhuri Shekar. Also part of the festival are excerpts of plays by Asian American theater elders David Henry Hwang, Rick Shiomi, Philip Kan Gotanda, Diana Son, Velina Hasu Houston, and Amy Hill.

A staged reading is a form of theater without sets or full costumes. The actors read from scripts and incorporate minimal stage movement. The purpose is to gauge the effectiveness of the dialogue, pacing and flow, and other dramatic elements that the playwright or director may wish to adjust. Audience feedback also contributes to the process. Past works at New Eyes include Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay’s Kung Fu Zombies Vs. Shaman Warrior, Katie Ka Vang and Melissa Li’s Again (fully staged in Theater Mu’s 2023 season!), Keiko Green’s Exotic or Deadly: or the MSG Play, Leah Nanako Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow, and Lloyd Suh’s Charles Francis Chan Jr.’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery, but those are only a handful across the festival’s legacy since 1993.

To learn more about the other the events during the AAPI Generations Conference, check out our three-day schedule.

GENERAL INFORMATION

TICKETS

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited, so please RSVP.

VENUE INFO

New Eyes Festival will take place at Park Square Theatre, located at 20 W 7th Pl, Saint Paul, MN 55102.

THE SERIES

Saturday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m.

AAPI TRAILBLAZERS: SIX PLAYS THAT CHANGED OUR LIVES

directed by Rich Remedios & Jennifer Weir

In this special New Eyes Festival event, six Asian American theater elders each picked one of their works that represents a watershed moment for them, even after all of their other career successes. See excerpts from Yellow Face (David Henry Hwang), Yellow Fever (Rick Shiomi), Yankee Dawg You Die (Philip Kan Gotanda), Stop Kiss (Diana Son), Tea (Velina Hasu Houston), and Tokyo Bound (Amy Hill, who is also performing), and take a walk through Asian American theater history.

Sunday, May 21, at noon

HOLY SHITAKE: A WOK STAR IS BORN

written and performed by Katie Chin | directed by Beliza Torres Narváez

Filled with pathos and humor, this one-person show chronicles chef Katie Chin's true journey as a fish-out-of-water Chinese American girl growing up in Minneapolis, where she was raised by her mother, seamstress-turned-restaurateur Leeann Chin. After Leeann’s death, Katie is forced to make a choice that drastically changes her life. Now, in this emotional love letter to her mother, Katie finally learns to love herself and embrace her heritage by honoring her mother's culinary legacy.

Sunday, May 21, at 1:30 p.m.

HOUSE OF JOY

by Madhuri Shekar | directed by kt shorb

Fierce women, epic fights, and complex (and steamy) relationships make up this thriller set in the 1600s. While the kingdom’s House of Joy seems like a dazzling utopia, when a new guard joins the emperor’s army, she discovers it’s more prison than paradise.

PHOTOS

Photos by Wesley Mouri

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