Found in Translation: SKINLESS
When:
Friday, Nov 17, 2023 7:00p -
10:00p
Friday, Nov 17, 2023 7:00p -
10:00p
Where:
Pao Arts Center
99 Albany Street
Boston, MA 02111
Admission:
FREE
Hosted by:
Categories:
LGBTQ+, Shows
Event website:
https://www.paoartscenter.org/
WHO:
Found in Translation, a collaboration between Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston (AATAB), CHUANG Stage, and Pao Arts Center, is a series of multilingual staged readings and community gatherings activating Chinatown. Since 2021, Found in Translation has amplified the power and complexities of being multilingual, immigrants, or identifying as Asian American in Greater Boston; these performances connect the pan-Asian community through conversations about race, language, identity, and experiences when it comes to belonging and a collective more just future. The second play of the current Found in Translation season, SKINLESS, is written by liqing xu and directed by Tianding He.
WHAT:
SKINLESS reimagines the ancient Chinese legend The White Snake as a queer, gender-bending modern fairy tale.
Two snake demons, White and Green, come to Earth to experience being human. White transforms into a human and immediately falls passionately in love, but Green cannot successfully become human. Instead, Green’s soul gets separated from their body, and they are cursed to inhabit different human and non-human bodies. In each new form that Green takes, they chase both White and the recognition of their own carnal desire. Green’s feelings for White become blurred through these experiments with embodiment, and Green gets closer to their true self, which is a self that perhaps does not align with any particular body at all.
Blending text with music and projection, this play creates a dynamic visual world where the crossing of boundaries between species, genders, and sexualities, takes place through inner and outer transformation.
Playful and mysterious, SKINLESS examines the fluid and relative nature of identity. It shows the pitfalls and joys of being perceived or not perceived, and ultimately, is a queer coming-of-age story that’s also about the power of reinvention.
The Found in Translation Series is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts' Public Art for Spatial Justice program, with funding from the Barr Foundation.
WHERE:
Pao Arts Center at 99 Albany Street, Boston
PERFORMANCE DATES:
Friday, November 17 at 7:00 pm
Saturday, November 18 at 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm
PRICE:
FREE, suggested donation $10
TO REGISTER:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/skinless-by-liqing-xu-tickets-724042579847?aff=oddtdtcreator
About liqing xu (Playwright):
liqing xu is a playwright and screenwriter. Their work has been developed/presented/supported by Theater Mu, Second Stage, the María Irene Fornés Institute Writers Workshop, The Orchard Project, the Sewanee Writers' Conference (as a Walter E. Dakin Fellow), Breaking the Binary Festival, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, among others. They are a proud inaugural member of the Mu Tang Clan. Currently, she is a 2023-2025 Many Voices Fellow at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. BFA: NYU, Film and Television. MFA: Hunter College, Playwriting. Born and raised in Northern California, they are often between Los Angeles and New York.
About Tianding He (Director):
Tianding He, originally from China, is an experimental theatre director, playwright, multidisciplinary artist, and arts leader based in New York City. She is the founding artistic director of B·O·N·D International Virtual Performance Festival, an arts leader of NYFA’s Incubator for Arts & Culture Leaders of Color, and a SDC associate member. Her work, an authentic exploration of societal phenomena, is a testament to her dedication to unveiling lesser-known realities. She was a resident artist of Object Movement Residency, Orchard Project Performance Lab, Dumbo Six Foot Platform, and Observership recipient of Stage Director and Choreographer Foundation and Green Theatre Grant winner. She received her first MA in Performance Studies from NYU, a second master’s degree in Theatre of Hunter College, and PhD from UC Irvine and UC San Diego.
About CHUANG Stage:
CHUANG Stage is Boston’s Asian American theatre company, cultivating joyful and challenging pan-Asian stories that pioneer a translingual activism in the arts. www.chuangstage.org
About Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston:
A social collective that empowers and connects Pan-Asian theatre artists in the Greater Boston area. www.instagram.com/AATABoston
About Pao Arts Center:
Pao Arts Center was established in 2017 as a visionary program collaboration between Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) and Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC). Located at 99 Albany Street in downtown Boston, Pao Arts Center is Chinatown’s first arts and cultural center. Pao Arts Center represents the belief that investing in arts, culture, and creativity are vital to the health and well-being of individuals, families, and vibrant communities. Through its innovative approach, Pao Arts Center empowers creativity, connection, learning, and support. paoartscenter.org
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