My Experience at the NAMT Festival of New Musicals

As part of my 2014 career map, I set a goal of attending a musical theatre festival in New York. Thanks to funds provided by Theatre Bay Area's Titan Award and the influence of my mentor, Leslie Martinson, I was able to tag along with TheatreWorks to NAMT’s Festival of New Musicals last week at New World Stages in NYC (Holy Hyperlinks!). My main objectives were to observe, learn and get a pulse on what is happening in the musical theatre industry.

I was so excited to receive my packet and name badge!!!

Here’s how the two-day festival worked. Eight writing teams, who were chosen prior to the festival, prepared 45-minute versions of their current projects for presentation on one of two stages. Festival attendees were assigned one of two show-tracks. On the first day, we waited in line to enter a theatre, watched one team present their 45-minute snippet, exited into the lobby where the writers handed out demos and made themselves available for conversation, then immediately queued up again to re-enter the theatre to watch the next presentation. This repeated until we saw four shows that day. The second day was nearly identical, except we watched the remaining four shows in the second theatre. There was also a special songwriting showcase on the first day, during which four writing teams were able to share two songs from their current projects. Basically, it was a full two days of musical theatre. I should say, NEW musical theatre.

I won't go into too much detail (if you're curious about the line-up of shows, click here). I will say that there was such a refreshing breadth of musical theatre styles represented in the festival. Some were very contemporary and varied, while others stayed true to a particular culture or time-period. There were love stories and tragedies and hilarious comedies. And my God, the talent! From the writing to the musicians to the actors, it was clear to me that these were not mere dabblers in the art of musical theatre. These folks took what they were doing seriously and poured themselves into their projects.

I think that’s what stood out to me most about the Festival of New Musicals. Everyone there loved musicals and wanted to catch a glimpse of where the art form is headed. Theatre companies were interested in finding a work they could invest in and help develop into a fully realized show. I was surrounded by people who loved musical theatre as much as I do. I come away from the festival with great, practical insight into what gets a show to its next steps. But perhaps more importantly, I come away feeling like my passion for musical theatre is not silly or ungrounded - it's a passion shared by others - and I am invigorated to jump right back into my own writing.

Issei Insights

Usually, when we think about Japanese immigrants, we immediately remember the egregious internment camp period during World War II. The knowledge of a "Japanese immigrant experience" prior to the 1940s was murky for me, until I encountered Henry Kiyama's The Four Immigrants Manga. But even after reading Kiyama's book with detailed notes by translator Fred L. Schodt, I knew there was so much more to the history of the Issei (first-generation Japanese immigrants) to discover.

I just finished reading The Issei: The World of the First Generation Japanese Immigrants by Yuji Ichioka. It is a passionate, historical account that unabashedly, and in my opinion, rightfully, argues that the early Issei pioneers faced much discrimination in their day. Particularly in the early 1920s, the Japanese in America faced wave upon wave of anti-Japanese legislation and sentiment. They were excluded from citizenship. They could not join most labor unions. They were prohibited from owning land. On July 19, 1921, in Turlock, California, Japanese farm workers were herded into the back of pick-up trucks at gunpoint, and after being driven out of the city, were warned never to return again. Kiyama captures this Turlock Incident in one of his comic strips, and somehow manages to find humor in it. But the prospects of making a life for Japanese immigrants in the 1920s were quite dismal. Ichioka's work culminates with the 1924 Immigration Act which prohibited the admission of "aliens ineligible to citizenship," a phrase which specifically singled out the status of Japanese in America at the time. Remarkably, the finale to Kiyama's comic episodes takes place in 1924, using the Immigration Act as a key plot device.

Ichioka's book also helped paint a more complex picture of the first Issei in America. Two things stand out to me as I try to form my lead characters.

1. The Issei were pioneers, full of spirit and with progress on their minds. They were ready to take on Western culture & society, even dressing the part. They weren't war refugees or escapees of an oppressive regime (well, at least not most of them). They were often educated, bright-eyed, and eager to learn the ways of America. Many originally hoped to bring what they learned back to Japan. But the longer they stayed, the more they began to consider the US their home. Planting roots in a foreign country meant a lot of new forays for the Issei: quite a few organized Japanese American Associations, formed newspapers, and engaged heartily in the political sphere. One man even created what is arguably the first graphic novel! I want this pioneer spirit to be embedded in the tone of my show, just as it is in Kiyama's work.

2. The Issei came with their own prejudices. This is evident in both Kiyama's work and Ichioka's account. The Japanese had just proved themselves a formidable world power with their victory in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War (only a year after Kiyama's characters arrive in the States). They saw themselves as superior to other Asian groups, particularly the Chinese who were already on US soil. For the Issei, the Chinese weren't trying hard enough to assimilate into American culture. Imagine their frustration when the distinctions they saw so clearly between themselves and the Chinese no longer seemed to matter to the rest of America. Lest I portray all of the characters in Kiyama's work as virtuous idealogues, I want to keep the less attractive attributes in mind as I write. The characters on stage should be flawed as well as likeable.

All of this to say that I am glad that my foray into "research-mode" has not been for naught. Each tidbit of information I gather about the history and the context of Kiyama's America helps me get a fuller picture of the world I want to portray on-stage.

Creativity Quotation #2

“I will pass on the best advice that I have been given: Stay true to your instincts as a writer, because they are what make you unique. At every turn there will be ‘experts’ who offer their opinions and you will want to follow their advice, but in the end you have to be the final judge on what is right for you and your work.” - Neil Bartram

My Week at TheatreWorks

After college, when I was in the throes of the corporate world and when the thought of pursuing a career as a theatre writer/composer was merely a musing, I learned about a company called TheatreWorks. As far as I could tell, TheatreWorks was one of the few theatre companies in the Bay Area dedicated to the development of new musicals. Other companies were seeking new plays and might occasionally include a musical; some explicitly stated they weren't looking for musicals at all, thank you very much. TheatreWorks stood out like a bastion of hope for me in the Bay Area, an aspiring musical writer. I had no idea how it might happen, but I knew I wanted to work on a musical there.

So, when I got the invitation from TheatreWorks' Associate Artistic Director Leslie Martinson - who is also my mentor as a result of Theatre Bay Area's Titan Award - to work on The Four Immigrants Manga project at their week-long Writers Retreat, I may have squealed a little bit (of course, I waited until after I hung up the phone call with Leslie). And, not only was I going to have the privilege of spending a week at TheatreWorks, but I was also being given an impetus to start work on my next project.

The week started off with a lovely dinner on Monday where I got to meet my fellow retreaters, as well as the TheatreWorks staff who would be helping us out during the week. I had the opportunity to have a great conversation with Artistic Director Robert Kelley, discussing what TheatreWorks was about and what kinds of shows gets Kelley excited. (Tell the ten-years-younger me that I'd be discussing musicals with the Artistic Director of TheatreWorks, and I'm sure he would have laughed with disbelief in his all-too-corporate button-down shirt and tie.) I also had the fortune of sitting next to Alex Mandel, who was collaborating with playwright Lynne Kaufman on a musical about Norman Rockwell. Nerds of different stripes have heard Alex's work as musical director of public radio show Snap Judgement, and his songs for Disney/Pixar's Brave. Alex is an altogether friendly and personable fellow who, you can tell, is passionate about his work as a composer and musician. It was fun to check in with him occasionally during the week and share thoughts about our respective projects.

My creative den for the week.

Tuesday and Wednesday mainly consisted of my sitting alone in a room with a piano, my laptop, and my thoughts. After having done a decent amount of research, one of my goals for the week was to come away having solidified the tone and style of The Four Immigrants, as this would inform exactly what kind of show it was. People joked with me about cabin fever, but I didn't experience that at all. In fact, there were times when, after writing/thinking/plotting/mapping, I'd look at the time and wonder how it was already late afternoon. And then I'd realize I was hungry and then go treat myself to the unhealthiest food, telling myself that this was a "cheat-week" because I needed "thinking-fuel." (Rest assured, I am now trying to make up for my transgressions with better diet & physical activity)

The first two-and-a-half days would oscillate from exhilarating to disheartening as I toiled over whether the conceit I was pursuing for the show would actually work. So when I finally got to work with actors on Thursday afternoon, and saw that the play-universe I was constructing did indeed seem to hold up, I was on a high for a good hour-and-a-half afterwards. When the actors left, instead of plunging back into work-mode, I went for a nice celebration drive into the Belmont hills.

Friday and Saturday involved more work with actors, especially as we approached the Sunday presentation. Now, the point of the retreat is by no means simply to do a presentation. But the endpoint of a public performance of one's work is a great motivator to get somewhere on one's project, especially if there was nothing written down prior to the retreat week. With the help of the actors - both their brilliant work and insightful feedback, I was able to forge the opening moments of the show which consists of a prologue, an opening number, and a scene of dialogue. By Saturday afternoon, I felt like I had accomplished my goal of getting a tone set for the show, and I was ready for Sunday's showcase.

Rehearsal for the first-ever live-anything of The Four Immigrants.

Sunday whizzed by in somewhat of a blur. There was excitement in the air among the writers and the actors as we rehearsed prior to the presentation. And before I knew it, the presentation had begun! As the different performances unfolded I was struck by two things. First, each project had such a unique personality and voice, and I could truly see each one having a future life on-stage. Second, I was captivated by how the actors were so adept at transforming themselves to fit the world of each piece.

It was a somewhat sad moment when I handed in "my" keys and emptied "my" room that Sunday. But overall, I came away from the week deeply grateful to have been given the opportunity to etch away at this new work. The future-life of The Four Immigrants is uncertain, and I enter back into a murky phase of development. But the show has now moved from existing in a vague cloud of ideas to having a new-found direction. Thanks to TheatreWorks for a week of letting me play and sketch and try, and for helping me to find the personality of my next musical.

Mountain Rehearsals - Tech Week

We are in the final week of rehearsals! Nina Meehan, Executive Director of Bay Area Children's Theatre, asked me to write the latest post for their blog. So, instead of doing double-duty, I shall re-direct you to that posting instead:

Writing Mountain - A Blog Post by Playwright/Composer Min Kahng

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon opens this weekend! I hope you are all able to come see the show!

Tickets and more info: http://bit.ly/JT4rJ6