Ma-Yi Theater Company

Very few people in this country are aware of the existence of the New York based Ma-Yi Theater Company, one of the most dynamic Asian-American theater companies in the United States. The New York Times calls it "one of the emerging theater companies to watch," and A. Magazine cites it as "one of the most important incubators of Asian American theater in the country today."

The company was founded in 1989 by six former students at the University of the Philippines. The Off Off Broadway group specifically devoted its creative energies to developing plays about the Filipino-American experience. Now it has moved on to writing and presenting plays on the Asian-American experience.

We had occasion to visit with the Ma-Yi Theater Company executive director, George Z. Ortoll, who is in town to meet with people from media, academicians and big businessmen to draw attention to the theater company as well as to launch a fascinating book entitled Savage Stage, which contains 12 plays and essays written by member playwrights of the company.

George said Ma-Yi has endeavored "to develop, produce and present plays and performance works that explore and affect the Filipino-American and Asian-American experience." And it has succeeded in establishing "a venue for Filipino-American and Asian-American artists willing to tackle relevant issues in their changing world. Through its work, the company bridges the gap that exists between two peoples created by distance and cultural misconceptions."

At the core of Ma-Yi's programs are two main stage productions per season – new plays written by today's most exciting and forward-thinking playwrights; the Ma-Yi Writers' Lab which provides a venue for experimentation and discovery to the brightest minds writing for theater today; The New Works Development Program which commissions and develops new works by Asian American playwrights; the Asian American Directors Initiative, a mentoring program for aspiring Asian American theater directors, and Touring, which brings Ma-Yi performances to US cities.

A not-for-profit theater company, Ma-Yi is a tax-exempt organization maintaining equal opportunity in all aspects for its artistic and social policy. Its name is taken from the pre-colonial name for the Southeast Asian islands that the Spanish named the Philippines. The company's founders were "exiles" of the Marcos dictatorship. Ralph B. Pena, a founder and Ma-Yi artistic director since 1994, got reunited with colleagues at a gay bar in Greenwich Village, and they talked about the difficulties of finding work in the theater as Asian-American actors. They finally decided to start their own company.

The anthology "Savage Stage" prints the texts of plays written and produced by Ma-Yi playwrights, actors and directors. Falling under the category of "Tropes of Danger and Deceit" are "Middle Finger" by Han Ong; "Woman from the Other Side of the World," by Linda Faigao-Hall; "Wave," by Sung Rno, and "Trial by Water," by Qui Nguyen.

Under "The Exotic as Seapory" are the plays "Savage Acts" by Kia Corthron, Jore Ignacio Cortinas, Hang Ong and Sung Rno; "Flipzoids" by Ralph B. Pena, and "peregriNasyon" by Chris B. Millado.

Under "Cosmopolitan Nationalisms" are "The Romance of Magno Rubio" (which won eight OBIE awards, by Lonnie Carter) and "Project: Balangiga" by Ralph B. Pena and Sung Rno.

Selected essays in the anthology are "A Hunger for History," "The Politics of Romance," "Performing the Philippines," and "Beyond Self-Exoticism."

Jessica Hagedorn, author of Dogeaters, has been commissioned to do a script of her book for a play to be mounted this coming November.

What really got Ma-Yi on its feet was bringing in Loy Arcenas to direct Pena's play, "Flipzoids" in 1996. Born in the Philippines and trained in London, Arcenas had become one of the busiest and most respected designers Off Broadway.

George who used to act in the Manila Theater Guild and Repertory Philippines, went to Columbia University for a degree in business, and became a real estate broker. He joined Ma-Yi when it was nearly floundering for lack of money to sustain operations and performances. Ticket sales, up to today, are not nearly enough to continue the group's initiatives.

"We used to meet in my living room in Manhattan," said George, who is not acting or writing, but is satisfied with the attention the Ma-Yi company and artists are getting. But the playwrights and actors work outside the company for survival. As a member of the theatrical union, the artists are assured of decent wages, and some of them have landed roles in other theatrical companies – with Ma-Yi's blessings.

George works out the details of picking out theaters for performances. The company not having its own playhouse, which would be too costly to do, rents office space and theaters for performances.

The biggest of grants George was able to wangle is the two-year Artography grants. Funding has enabled such major activities as the world premiere of a piece by Vietnamese American playwright Qui Nguyen, "Trial by Water," which is the first ever theater piece in the US that deals with the Vietnamese Boat People and their plight as they traversed the China sea in search of a better life in the US.

Another beneficiary was director Han Ong, who presented his "Suitcase Trilogy" in various theaters. "Suitcase" deals with the struggles of Asian American families in search of identity and missing relatives throughout the US. For his work, Han Ong, the NEA/TCG resident of Ma-Yi theater, received the MacArthur "genius" award.

Artography also funded the publication of pieces in the anthology "Savage Stage," the holding of a two-week LABFEST as playwrights critiqued one another’s work, the hiring of a full-time marketing director, and finding effective measures to increase earned income. The result was a 20 percent higher income last year over the previous year.

Sources of pride are the awards received by Ma-Yi. In May 1997, the OBIE award, one of the most prestigious awards for theater in the US, was presented to Ching Valdes-Aran for her performance in Ma-Yi's production of "Flipzoids." In May 2002, an OBIE grant was awarded to Ma-Yi to continue its enterprising work as a home to nurture the works of Asian American theater actors, designers, playwrights and directors. In May 2003, Ma-Yi received eight OBIE awards – for direction (Loy Arcenas), playwriting (Lonnie Carter), lyrics (Ralph Pena) and the cast (Orlando Pabotoy, Jojo Gonzalez, Ramon de Ocampo, Ron Domingo and Art Acuna).

"Ten years ago," Pena said, "I could not cast a six-character Filipino-American play with all Filipinos. I like to think we had some small part in developing the talent pool, because it has grown. And we have a core audience of people who have stayed with us as we slowly got riskier with the work. Every time, people say, I can't believe you did that. "I hope they keep saying it."

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