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This Saturday, May 7, Nancy Wang of Eth-Noh-Tec performs “Bittersweet,” on healing her relationship with her mother. Join us in a day of remembrance at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetary, 1051 Harder Road in Hayward, California. Performance begins promptly at 10am. Tea service and refreshments will be served.
Back from our summer tour of the North-West, Eth-Noh-Tec brings our own form of kinetic story theater to the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival on August 28 and 29 at 11am and 12:15pm each day. Enjoy this free family show in the oasis of the South of Market, the Children’s Garden at Yerba Buena Gardens, Howard Street between Third and Fourth Streets. Stories include “The Kingdom of Fools,” a political, satirical folktale from India, “Monkey in the Tree,” a comic commentary on greed from Tibet, and several other stories from their our repertoire.
Dear Friends,
It’s Springtime 2010! The Earth is waking up and creativity is abundant everywhere we look! New fragrances, vibrant colors, and green, green, green! Those and Eth-Noh-News, Spring 2010.
Speaking of abundant creativity, Nancy was recently commissioned by RaceBridges.net/Just Stories to write the story of her mother and the first three generations that preceded her. “Bittersweet” took seven months of research, readings, rewriting, and more rewriting until it met the Just Stories’ concert and commissioned requirement of 35-40 minutes. This was so hard, especially since it started as a 75-minute piece. The process was like painfully cutting off one finger at a time! Talk about ‘bittersweet’!
Premiered in Chicago this spring, “Bittersweet” was a success. The presentation revealed some real and necessary history of Chinese Americans since 1850, and their tribulations and contributions. Audience members were inspired to talk with their moms, get to know them as the amazing women they are despite mother-child strains and the past.
Robert is renewing his own stories of his grandparents and parents and, as a matter of fact, we have pledged to write 12 new stories this spring through summer.
With our gigs down 70%, due to the economy, we will have time!
We are also keeping the arts alive through:
Salons: We’re producing our fifth year of monthly salons in our space, nine salons each year. We offer artists a small payment along with a free venue and the opportunity to perform in front of an intimate, live audience. With five performing artists or groups each salon, we all get to witness the continuing creativity that abounds in our Bay Area. The artists and audience also dialogue at the end of each program. The essence of ‘what is community’ thrives each month!
You can read more about our projects and view photos in our Spring 2010 Eth-Noh-News and take part in our contests for prizes! Read the latest news now.
Please help us get through the economic difficulties with a generous contribution. Thanks to an NEA Recovery Act grant, a percentage of our costs have been covered, but this support ends June 30. With your help, we’ll fulfill our important projects and continue our good work. Let us hear from you!
Peace and Blessings always,
Nancy & Robert
Enjoy an evening of performing, literary, media and visual arts. Each month Eth-Noh-Tec hosts a plethora of local Bay Area talent. Eth-Noh-Tec, a kinetic story theater company will perform a selection from their repertoire of Asian mythology along with:
Cio Casteneda (spoken word artist) aka the Hiphop priest is a positive Emcee coming up out of San Francisco trying to make the world a better place in the name of the Universe. We met Cio on that stage at last years Art Expo in Golden Gate park, a festival of local talent of all art forms. Cio brand of spoken word and rapport with the audience is upbeat and positive as are his messages. His craft moves beyond the stage as he often features local guest artists to promote the local Hip Hop scene in the SF Bay Area through the radio program that he runs on the East Bay.
Na Leo Nahenahe (Hawaiian acapella choir): “Sweet Voices” was founded in 1999 by artistic director John Lehrack. Our current director is Leolani Grace Renaud. The purpose of the group is to promote and preserve Hawaiian language, culture and song through choral music. The chorus performs around the Bay Area, including at the annual Aloha Festival at the Presidio, the Makana o Hawai’o Festival in Hayward, the Metropolitan Community Church in the Castro and other places. The chorus has also performed with Hawaiian artists such as Patrick Landeza, Kawika Alfiche, Steven Espaniola, Pili Moreno, and Pulama. Current plans for the group include a tour and performances in Hawai’i and a professional CD recording.
Folawole Oyinlola (dancer) is a performance artist, choreographer, director and movement coach. Born in Chicago to Nigerian parents, lived there for a month then lived and performed in many countries before residing in San Francisco. Trained extensively with San Francisco ballet and with international artist of contemporary dance, theater, singing and improvisation. Folawole’s work is fully improvised and guided by audience interaction.
Rose Khor (Asian American filmmaker): The documentary “In Your Hawaiian Way,” directed by Rose Khor, embarks on a journey of discovery of the Mormon religion and its influence on Hawaiian culture. We are guided through a Polynesian living museum filled with cultural artifacts and “native” performers, a ukulele class learning pop Hawaiian melodies, and a tour through the Mormon Temple led by missionaries from Australia and China. This film looks deeply into lives of Hawaiians as they negotiate complex cultural, indigenous, and religious histories.
Lian Guow (writer) was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, then a Dutch colony known as the Netherlands’ East Indies. Her short stories and poems have appeared in Quietus Magazine, Writing for our Lives, Voices and Visions, The Highland’s Low Down and Reflections. Her Predicament, an earlier version of the first chapter of her novel, Only A Girl, was included in the 2006 anthology of the SF Writers Conference, Building Bridges from Writers to Readers. In her writing, Lian explores themes of human relationships, connection with animals, and fable-like fantasy. She is particularly interested in the lives and struggles of women.
What makes the salon so special is the not only the variety of artists and art forms presented, but also the post-performance dialogue where artist and audience engage in conversation about the creative process, upcoming performances, and other artistic projects in the community. To top off the evening, each Salon culminates in a social gathering garnished by lovely array of refreshments and all of this for the amazing unheard of admission sliding scale price of $5-$15 dollars (you choose the price that you can afford). Very recession friendly!
Location:
Eth-Noh-Tec Studio
977 South Van Ness Ave
between 20th and 21st Street
close to 24th Street BART Station
San Francisco
Admission:
$5-$15 sliding scale
Nancy and Robert performed in Nancy’s old hometown Chicago! We were at the 8th JustStories Storytelling event which commissions one storyteller annually to create a story around justice or racial equality – a personal story that reveals history not usually heard or learned. This year that commission went to Nancy! My story is called ‘Bittersweet’.Storyteller Sue O’Halloran and Father Derek Simons of the Society of the Divine Word co-produce and sponsor this amazing project with a brilliant webpage called Race Bridges.
“My story is about my mom. It’s a story that looks at me trying to figure out who this lady was. Was she the mean mama I grew up with? And why was she so mean? Or was it just the limited perception of a young girl, a daughter attached to the ignorant and shallow illusion of a Donna Reed or a Father Knows Best show? Guess which one!? By going through the period after my mom’s heart attack in which she completely changed to this sweet soft and funny person, I was left with ‘really, who is this person?’”
“I go through trying to figure it out by looking at our history in this country: our 1st generation came in 1850 and started the fishing industry despite the hatred and unprovoked anti-Chinese violence rampant up and down the west coast, and continues through the 2nd and 3rd generation challenging this prejudice to finally the 4th generation, my mother. And, like a healing story, a happy ending. I discover how amazing my mom was and the noble sacrifice her life was so that I could be who I am today”
“I’m a 5th generation American. My children are the 6th, and there are already 7 generations in our family. But if I am walking down the street with a friend from Australia, which one of us will be seen as the foreigner?”
And so, it is hoped by JustStories and Eth-Noh-Tec that these kinds of stories, made available to schools with a curriculum guide, will correct the errors and replace the paucity so prevalent in teaching the full history of this country.
Our performances this week took place in several locations between Chicago’s Chinatown and Evanston on the Northshore. We performed at St.Teresa’s School across from the Chinese American Museum. Afterwards we got a quick private tour of the new museum (still in repair after a devastating fire). Special thanks to Margaret Larson and the staff who helped make the Chinatown collaboration concert a wonderful turn out. They had a great turn out of 100 people- best crowd they’ve ever had for a show.
These performances were especially significant to Nancy who has deep roots here in the Chicago Chinese American community. The show became a gathering point as relatives drove in from far away to attend the premiere of this piece. Thank you Brother Ed and Sis-in-Law Rachel Wang, Cousins Roger (& Elaine) Foin, Debbie (& Gary) Alderman, Jordan and June Wong, and nieces: Michelle Cheung (and kids Hannah and Jakey) and Marcia Wang and all the other friends of the Wang Tribe in the area.
One of the events in the tour was video taping shorter versions of Asian American family history at the “SPACE” (Society for Preservation of Arts and Culture in Evanston). Hours of prep condensed into 10 minute excerpts which later will be rendered for the website of Racebridges to be used by educators in schools to advocate for racial, ethnic and religious tolerance. Kudos to Sue O’Halloran and Father Derek Simon! The storytelling community should be so proud of their work!
On a final note from Nancy: “I wish to thank all the storytellers, artists, writers, film makers and friends who’ve been a part of the this creative process: Olga Loya, Mimi Motoyoshi, Erica Lann-Clark, Nancy Gaglio, Lynn Mueller, Canyon Sam, Felicia Lowe, Ginni Stern, Anne Shimojima, Nancy Donoval, Beth Horner, Sue O’Halloran, Ann Scroggie, and Robert. And for their stories thanks to: my mom Gladys, Gramma Yokelund, and Aunt Mary”.
Check out: www.RaceBridges.net/JustStories
