New Harlem Productions & Eventual Ashes present
A Song For Tomorrow By Christina Wong
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The performances are exceptional. -Wayne Leung, Mooney on Theatre
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Playwright: Christina Wong Director: Gein Wong Jasmine Chen (May) Jeff Yung (Ping) Set and Costume Designer: Jackie Chau Lighting Designer: David DeGrow Sound Designer: Gein Wong Dramaturge: Philip Adams Stage Manager: Beth Wong Production Manager: Rae Powell Production Photography: Nir Bareket Artists contributing to development: John Ng, Diana Tso, Marjorie Chan The play was originally produced for SummerWorks Festival 2012.
“A drama that invites us to think about time and the evolution or devolution of relationships.� -Donna g, The More the Merrier, ciut
SYNOPSIS
May stands with a suitcase. She looks at a photo of her husband. It’s the first time she’s going to meet him. It’s also the moment she decides to leave him forever.
In his Annex home, Ping holds May’s photo in one hand, a lottery ticket in the other. He paces back and forth anxiously.
A Song For Tomorrow is an elegy to the choices and sacrifices both May and Ping make to find love and happiness, while attempting to make sense of their own lives in Canada.
“Especially innovative is the projections of Spadina Avenue and Chinatown streetscapes thrown onto the back wall of their apartment. Likewise, the lighting and set effectively evoke the claustrophobia of May and Ping’s lives together.” -Zoe Erwin-Longstaff, The Charlebois Post
LOGISTICS Cast size: 2 Crew size: 2 Duration: 75 minutes Load in: 1—2 days Set: The set consists of a single table and chair. There are several running props. Design: Lighting and sound cues are extant and require 4 floor floats. The design incorporates projections from two projectors (one mounted, one grounded), with back wall of set rigged to grid. Personnel: One technician will be required to operate lighting. Sound and projection operated by stage manager. Venue: It is our preference to play in studio theatres with proscenium setup, wings and a capacity no larger than 200 in order to preserve the intimacy of the narrative.
“Delicate is an understatement for the subdued tone of this powerful portrayal of a marriage as it unravels against the backdrop of the stresses and tensions of new immigrant life “ -Melania Daniel, The Annex Gleaner
DEVELOPMENT HISTORY A Song For Tomorrow was developed through Nightwood Theatre’s Write From The Hip program where it received a public reading in August 2008 under the direction of Marjorie Chan;. The play was selected for participation in Diaspora Dialogues’ mentorship program in 2009. Ontario Arts Council supported a workshop by New Harlem Production with director/dramaturge Philip Adams in 2010. The play had a public reading in 2010 at Diaspora Dialogues event. Eventual Ashes and New Harlem Productions came together to produce the play under Gein Wong’s direction for the 2012 Summerworks Theatre Festival.
ABOUT NEW HARLEM PRODUCTIONS Good stories. New stories. True stories. New Harlem Productions seeks to create, develop and disseminate engaging artistic work from equity seeking communities. Past works include the acclaimed production of Yvette Nolan’s Job’s Wife at Summerworks 2009, the four times Dora nominated production of Gas Girls, a presentation of Cake in partnership with Dynamo Theatre at the 2011 Bayimba Festival, Uganda and the world premiere of Keith Barker’s The Hours That Remain in partnership with Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company. NHP is a member of the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, Theatre Ontario and the Ad Hoc Assembly, as well as an affiliate of the Indigenous Performing Arts Association. The work of New Harlem Productions is supported through project funding from Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts as well as our generous individual donors. Contact: newharlemproductions.wordpress.com newharlemproductions@gmail.com
ABOUT EVENTUAL ASHES ‌.everything new arises from what was there before.... Eventual Ashes is a Toronto-based Performing Arts company that produces and presents interdisciplinary work by people of colour and queer/trans people. Formed in 2008, director, playwright, composer and video artist Gein Wong serves as the Artistic Director. We create three types of productions, all of which contain strong narratives: 1) interdisciplinary works that incorporate multimedia and technology; 2) Audience interactive and immersive pieces in non-traditional performance spaces; 3) pieces that combine traditional and contemporary art forms. Our productions have incorporated the work of professional theatre artists, visual artists, Chinese and Western classical musicians, rock/pop/ electronic musicians, traditional Chinese and modern dancers, filmmakers, video artists, poets and performance artists. Eventual Ashes is currently developing work in Toronto, New York and Los Angeles. We are collaborating on a HERE Arts Centre residency and are the 2011-12 company in residence with fu-GEN Theatre company. As well, Gein Wong holds a 2012 Canadian Stage BASH Director’s Residency.