MediaRites’ Theatre Diaspora Announces “Here On This Bridge: The –Ism Project” Original New Work in January 2019

PORTLAND, Ore.,Nov. 21, 2018— MediaRites, a nonprofit organization that provides innovative, award-winning documentary,theatre and outreach programs, today announced its first full production andoriginal work for its Theatre Diaspora program.  Here…

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The Brothers Paranormal – supernatural story of love, grief and displacement

Savira Kambhu & Samson Syharath

The Brothers Paranormal
by Prince Gomolvilas

A workshop staged reading
directed by Kate Duffly
with live music by Joe Kye
January 19 & 20 at 7:30pm
1620 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR 97201

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Refugee Dreams Revisited – Youth Performances

Refugee Dreams Revisited
Produced by MediaRites Productions.

Starting with the fall of Saigon in April 1975, refugees from Vietnam awaited approval to move to the US and other countries. By 1979, there were almost 62,000 Vietnamese in refugee camps, with more than 140,000 people displaced from Cambodia and Laos. Portland, Oregon, was one of the medium-sized US cities that dealt with the relatively sudden influx of every major ethnic group (Vietnamese, Lao, Hmong, Mien and Cambodian) from Southeast Asia.
Fifteen former refugees were interviewed for the Refugee Dreams Revisited project, which was created for the Peabody award-winning series Crossing East that ran on 230 public radio stations.

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Crossing East Archive Project

More than 10 years ago, MediaRites debuted Crossing East, (Our Stories, Our History, Our America), the first and to date only Asian American/Pacific Islander history series on public radio.

In 2016 we embarked on an exciting project to save more than 150 hours of oral history recordings gathered for this groundbreaking Peabody Award-winning radio series hosted by George Takei and Margaret Cho.

We digitized all the interviews, transcripts and photos online for the public to use for educational purposes. This act of preservation is called the Crossing East Archive Project.

MediaRites was awarded funding from the Oregon Arts Commission, the Oregon Cultural Trust, the Regional Arts and Culture Council , the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition and the PGE Foundation and built the multimedia Crossing East archive. We created two projects to celebrate the 10th anniversary year. See the Archive at: http://www.crossingeast.org/crossingeastarchive/

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A Language of Their Own

MediaRitesTheatre Diaspora presents 

ALOTOA Language of Their Own
by Award-Winning Playwright Chay Yew

at Portland Center Stage , Sept. 10 at 7:30pm
and Portland Actors Conservatory, Sept. 18 at 2pm

With funding support by a grant from The Equity Foundation, 

Chay Yew’s A Language of Their Own focuses on Oscar and Ming who had been together for four years. They break up after Oscar is diagnosed with AIDS, however, neither is able to let the other go completely. Both begin relationships with new boyfriends and find navigating these relationships just as complicated as when they were together – like learning and creating the nuances of a new language.

NOTE: The play contains strong sexual language and situations so parental discretion for minors is advised.

Theatre Diaspora will perform two staged readings of A Language of Their Own, directed by Andrew Klaus-Vineyard, co-artistic director at defunkt theatre) with associate director Samson Syharath, atPortland Center Stage  (128 NW 11th Avenue, Portland) on Saturday, September 10 at 7:30 p.m. and atPortland Actors Conservatory,(1436 SW Montgomery St., Portland) on Sunday, September 18 at 2:00 p.m.Tickets are $10 for general seating and $5 for Oregon Trail cardholders, students and AIDS Walk participants (provide registration). Tickets are available for purchase now at PCS.org for the Sept 10th show and at  www.brownpapertickets.com/ for the Sept 18th show.

The Portland production is produced by Wynee Hu with co-producers Samson Syharath and Alex Haslett, all producing ensemble members of Theatre Diaspora. The cast is comprised of local actors: Jess Ford, Ming Young, Samson Syharath, and Ken Tang. Paige Rogers is the stage manager for this production.

About Playwright Chay Yew

YewChay_288x375Chay Yew, playwright and artistic director of Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, is a recipient of the Obie and DramaLogue Awards for Direction. His productions have been cited by the Los Angeles Times and New York Times as one of the “Ten Best Productions of the Year;” Seattle Times and Strangers’ Best Achievement in Theatre; and was named Best Director by Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He has directed world premieres by playwrights Jose Rivera, Naomi Iizuka, Kia Corthron, Julia Cho, David Adjmi and Jessica Goldberg, and performance artists Rha Goddess, Universes, Alec Mapa, Sandra Tsing Loh and Brian Freeman.

Yew is the recipient of the London Fringe Award for Best Playwright and Best Play, George and Elisabeth Marton Playwriting Award, GLAAD Media Award, Asian Pacific Gays and Friends’ Community Visibility Award, Made in America Award, AEA/SAG/AFTRA 2004 Diversity Honor, and Robert Chesley Award; he has received grants from the McKnight Foundation, Rockefeller MAP Fund and the TCG/Pew National Residency Program.

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