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| A scene from "Monstress" |
The Brothers is from Tenorio’s debut collection, "Monstress" (HarperCollins, 2012).
Tenorio had this to say about the origin of “The Brothers:”
"There’s a bar in San Francisco called Asia SF, which is famous for its “gender illusionists”: the transsexual and transgendered Asian-American waitresses who perform hourly atop the bar/runway, lip-syncing disco classics and power ballads. I wouldn’t call them drag queens; they don’t really possess that winking camp that lets everyone know they’re in on the act. Instead, the women of Asia SF have worked and sacrificed to turn themselves into the people they truly want to be.
"On one visit, I met a Filipina-American waitress who told me about her family in the Philippines, and how they weren’t necessarily cool with how she was living her life. I was moved by her story, and immediately thought of ways to render that kind of experience in fiction, to imagine a life so defined by change. But as I worked on the story, I found myself more compelled by the opposite, by someone who utterly lacked the daring and guts to break free of the role he’s expected to play – that of the dutiful and obedient son, the one who sacrifices his own happiness to maintain the familial order."And so The Brothers, became the story of Edmond, a man who couldn’t even begin to imagine the difficult but ultimately fulfilling life his recently deceased transsexual brother, Eric, had the bravery to live. In this way, Eric isn’t the lonely, isolated, and tragic brother; Edmond is.
The story is adapted by Colman Domingo, who stars in the TV spinoff Fear The Walking Dead. No, he is not Filipino but he says since he grew up in the Bay Area, he has Filipino friends and is familiar with the community.
His website is www.lysleytenorio.com.
His website is www.lysleytenorio.com.
The Brother(s) by Colman Domingo
Adapted from a short story by Lysley Tenorio
Friday, October 16, 10 p.m.
Sunday, October 18, 12 p.m. & 7 p.m.
A.C.T.'s Costume Shop, 1117 Market Stre
*Tickets are free but reservations are required.
***
THE TWO one-act plays presented in ACT's Monstress were Remember the I-Hotel and the title story Monstress - in that order.
The latter is an out-and-out farce that has some funny lines about Daly City and other Bay Area cities, which might play well outside of the Bay Area. Taking place in the 60s and 70s, it is a tale of immigration, of improbable, lofty dreams gone awry, as reality hits the characters.
The storyline is a little forced (farced?) but the cast is excellent. I shouldn't be surprised but I'm continually amazed at all the talent that's in the Asian/American community that is going largely untapped and unnoticed.
The same corps of actors in Monstress play different roles in the opening play, Remember the I-Hotel.
The I-Hotel has a totally different tone. It is more bitter-sweet, touching and full of irony. It touches on larger societal issues without hectoring the audience.
As regular readers may recall, the International Hotel was the last remaining residential hotel in old Manilatown, west of Chinatown. The struggle to keep the low-cost housing for its elderly tenants, mostly Chinese and Filipino men sparked the tenant rights revolution even though the tenants were eventually evicted in the 1970s. This is the setting of Remember the I-Hotel.
At the end of the play, you can almost hear the audience let out their breath after trying to keep their emotions in check. Some couldn't ... and tears were rolling.
I don't know why the director doesn't reverse the order and let Monstress open the couplet of plays and let I-Hotel be the final act. It would be a more powerful thought-provoking evening.
As it is, I left the theater, located on the edge of the new Manilatown, South of Market, happier perhaps, because of the farcical Monstress but still wondering about the fate of the characters in the poignant Remember the I-Hotel.
RELATED: Two Filipino American stories debut
The storyline is a little forced (farced?) but the cast is excellent. I shouldn't be surprised but I'm continually amazed at all the talent that's in the Asian/American community that is going largely untapped and unnoticed.
The same corps of actors in Monstress play different roles in the opening play, Remember the I-Hotel.
The I-Hotel has a totally different tone. It is more bitter-sweet, touching and full of irony. It touches on larger societal issues without hectoring the audience.
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| Vicente (Ogie Zulueta) is comforted by Fortunado (Jomar Tagatac) in “Remember The I-Hotel" |
At the end of the play, you can almost hear the audience let out their breath after trying to keep their emotions in check. Some couldn't ... and tears were rolling.
I don't know why the director doesn't reverse the order and let Monstress open the couplet of plays and let I-Hotel be the final act. It would be a more powerful thought-provoking evening.
As it is, I left the theater, located on the edge of the new Manilatown, South of Market, happier perhaps, because of the farcical Monstress but still wondering about the fate of the characters in the poignant Remember the I-Hotel.
Monstress,
A.C.T.'s Strand Theater, 127 Market Street, San Francisco
Running time: 2 hours, plus one 15‑minute intermission
For tickets, click here.
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