China’s Five Year Plan Video Is Trippy, Man

China's Five Year Plan Video is a Trip to 1973 How do you make China’s 13th five-year plan, a far too dense document laying out the country’s future economic strategy from 2015-2020, appeal to the masses? Make a crazy ass video that's the love child of Schoolhouse Rock and Joseph Goebbels. “If you wanna know what China’s gonna do, best pay attention to the shí sān wǔ.” Shí sān wǔ are the Chinese words for "13-five." So you better pay attention to it, man. [...]

China’s Five Year Plan Video Is Trippy, Man2017-02-11T05:49:11+00:00

Evil is a Yellow Face in NYC

Marcus Choi and Evil is a Yellow Face Jon Jon Briones and Marcus Choi If there's one thing Broadway performers like doing more than singing in a Broadway musical, it's singing the night away with other Broadway performers on a Monday night. Stroll over to Joe's Pub any Monday night and there's probably some sort of benefit going on with Broadway performers. In fact, my friend Sharone Tannenbaum just produced Artists for World Peace on Broadway at Joe's Pub. Now [...]

Evil is a Yellow Face in NYC2017-02-11T05:49:12+00:00

Arkansas New Play Festival

The Arkansas New Play Festival Update Well, it's not really an update since I haven't written anything about The Arkansas New Play Festival but I couldn't think of anything witty. In the Dallas airport with Mark Jacobson I'm here in Fayetteville, Arkansas at TheatreSquared for the previously mentioned Arkansas New Play Festival, to workshop my play The Quest for Don Quixote. And it's going swimmingly. I'm fortunate to be in the featured play slot. That means the show gets 2 1/2 weeks [...]

Arkansas New Play Festival2017-02-11T05:49:13+00:00

Tiananmen Square Massacre Anniversary

Tiananmen Square Protest Today marks the 26th anniversary of the brutal crushing of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Or as it's known in China - Thursday. I was in China 10-years ago to adopt my daughter. In our tour of Tiananmen Square, not one word was uttered by our tour guide about the massacre. Nothing. It was the same reaction I got from every girl I ever asked out on a date. But on our bus ride back to the airport, [...]

Tiananmen Square Massacre Anniversary2017-02-11T05:49:13+00:00

Eastchester Players Club Going Around the World

Eastchester Players Club I got a Google alert that the Eastchester Players Club in New York will be doing my show Around the World in 80 Days this weekend. Yeah, I get Google alerts about my shows. I like to see is there's anything I need to know about my shows. Like whether I'm having an Off-Broadway production, or being awarded Outstanding Musical, or having a World Premiere. Was that shameless promotion noticeable? Anyway, when I found the kids at the Eastchester [...]

Eastchester Players Club Going Around the World2022-01-18T05:52:16+00:00

The Good and Bad of Being Published

The Good and Bad of Being Published Getting your play published is thrilling and I get extremely excited when one of my publishers decides to publish one of my scripts. (I work with Dramatic Publishing and Samuel French). The reach of a good publisher is worth its weight in gold. Without a publisher I never would have had all the productions I've been fortunate to have. But one down side of it is you don't really know if people are reading [...]

The Good and Bad of Being Published2017-10-30T03:26:23+00:00

China the Whole Enchilada on the IHSA Circuit

China the Whole Enchilada on the IHSA Circuit A few weeks ago I received an email from Natalie Bozzetti. My first reaction was, "Good God, another restraining order?" Happily, it turns out Natalie is a high school senior outside of Chicago and a member of her school's speech team. She and her speech team partner, Nisha Riley, want to use China the Whole Enchilada in the IHSA Speech competition. What!? How do two high school girls outside of Chicago know about China [...]

China the Whole Enchilada on the IHSA Circuit2022-01-18T05:52:14+00:00

Abandoned-Baby Station Receives 51 Kids in 13 Days

China has been rolling out  safe havens, little shelters, where parents can abandon their child without fear of facing charges or revealing their identity.  At Guangzhou's first safe haven,  51 children were abandoned in the first 13 days of operation, according to China Daily. Not all the children were babies. Some were 5 and 6 years old. But all of the children were critically ill or disabled. There's been a lot of controversy about the program, as some feel it will just [...]

Abandoned-Baby Station Receives 51 Kids in 13 Days2019-01-21T06:43:22+00:00

China Celebrates Mao’s 120th Birthday

If he was still alive, Mao Zedong would have been 120-years old today.  If the 45-million people who died during Mao's failed Great Leap Forward were still alive today, they'd be -- well -- they'd be alive. To commemorate Mao's birthday, here's a demo recording from my musical China - The Whole Enchilada, written with my friend Paul Mirkovich. In the show, the song is sung by Joseph Stalin.   To read more about the muted celebrations China, [...]

China Celebrates Mao’s 120th Birthday2017-02-11T05:49:30+00:00

The Rafu Shimpo

At first, this was going to be just a quick little post saying there's an article in The Rafu Shimpo about my song "Evil is a Yellow Face," from my musical China - The Whole Enchilada, being part of the Japanese American National Museum's “Marvels & Monsters Unbound,” a showcase of short performances to kick off the new exhibition “Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986.” Then I was going to say how I just wrote a long-ass sentence. [...]

The Rafu Shimpo2013-11-20T22:59:08+00:00
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