BY MARYJANE ALEJO (AND US!)

¡TEAR GAS!

1. Occupy Central is a very hot button topic. What inspired your team to cre-ate a play about it?

A. When Occupy happened, we were poised to announce our opening season’s slate of plays.  It seemed crazy not to respond to something so significant and dramatic for Hong Kong and Mary Jane Alejo, the script writer, agreed to work up something satirical.  She trained in agitprop theatre in the Philippines so she was really excited at the challenge.

 

2. What should audiences expect from the play?

A. It’s integral to the concept that the audience will play a big part in what hap-pens – much like the Occupy protests - which is why it’s credited as written by Mary Jane Alejo and ‘us’.

PRODUCER’S NOTE:

Q&A

TOM HOPE IN CONVERSATION WITH MEAGHAN MCGURGAN OF HKELD

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3. Many artists are creating work that can be enjoyed for free at the protest zone, so why should audience travel to your space and spend cash on your tickets?

A. Brave Heart is a new theatre project establishing a local theatre space for local people (actors and audience).  We have bills to pay so that’s why we’re charging for entry.  We hope it will help people think things through and be enter-tained in the process.

 

4. Will any proceeds from your ticket sales go to support the protestors?

A. We’re a start-up theatre company so proceeds from ticket sales go to pay for all the costs involved. If the show does well, we can consider contributing appropriately – not just by money but by performing the show in other ways and places.

 

5. What's the format of the production?

The basic set-up is a couple of female buskers have been displaced from their pitches in Admiralty – so they’re making a protest about the protests – and from this tell a story which has all kinds of resonances for what’s happening in Occupy.

6. Creating work about a currently evolving event will be challenging. How will your team deal with new events hap-pening daily during the run?

Good question – wait and see!

 

7. Any warnings for audience members?

We’re asking people to bring ‘protest-appropriate props’ – and to be ready to use them – and there will be some tear gas moments – but not with real tear gas, we promise.

 

8. Has the team spent much time at the occupy protest zones?

We all spent time there – that was important for our research – but we also spent time away from the protest zones, to get

other perspectives on what was happening and what others made of it all.

 

9. Was the creative team on site during the tear gas launches? No but we’ve talked to people who were and it was clearly no laughing matter to be there as it happened. 

 

10. Why will audiences enjoy Tear Gas?

There’s a risk that this show could be seen as belittling what people have been through – not just the tear gas and pepper spray but the collective trauma of the conflict and confrontation.  My own sense is that it doesn’t and is very much concerned with how ultimately one finds a way to make things work out for the better if not best – and the best way to find out, of course, is to come and judge for yourself.

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CAST  –  Maryjane  Alejo  &  Sandy  LauSCRIPT  –  Maryjane  AlejoSONGS  –  Maryjane  Alejo  &  Graeme  MorrisDIRECTOR  –  Tom  HopePRODUCTION  –  Emillie  Chiu  

With  special  thanks  to  the  following:

Scapa  ScandiaSinclair  Communica=onsPremium  Sofa  Club  managementHugh  Chinnick  of  Pacific  Ligh=ngEdward  Chin  of  D100  internet  radio  sta=on

All  who  have  contributed  to  the  Occupy  protest  movementAll  who  have  commented  publicly  on  the  Occupy  protest  movementAll  who  care  enough  about  HK’s  future  to  do  something  about  it…

CREDIT LIST

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Maryjane Alejo

As an Arts Studies degree holder from the University of the Philippines (UP), Maryjane has been a professional performance artist for more than a decade. A multi-talented musi-cian, her first love is drama and, as a founding member of Tag-ani Performing Arts Society, Inc., she has taught and hosted workshops on theatre, visual arts and song writing to comple-ment her performance repertoire. Aside from Tag-Ani, she has performed as actor, stage manager, production manager, tour manager, scriptwriter, songwriter, musical director and director on numerous productions with the following organizations and companies: Alay Sining, Tambisan, Cultural Center of the Philip-pines (CCP), Amado V. Hernandez Research Center (AVHRC), National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Concerned Art-ists of the Philippines (CAP), Dulaang UP, UP

School of Drama and Comparative Literature, World Theater Project, ST-Xposure, ASEAN-ROK Independent Cinema Project, Cinema One Originals, Habi Collective Media and Not-So-Loud Theater-Hong Kong.

Sandy Lau

Sandy Lau learned to sing, percuss and play trombone at Good Hope school in Hong Kong, where she was member of both the choir and the brass band.  She credits all her music teachers, the radio and her father for nurturing this musicality.  She credits the Landmark Forum & World Ventures with helping her ap-preciate this – and enjoy doing what she loves.  Performing is one of her talents which she shares and contributes through her com-pany Perma Grace, inspiring people to con-nect with God and the environment.  Apart from performing on stage, at weddings and events, in concerts or busking on the street, Sandy also works on Environmental, Spiritual, Education, Traveling, Community & Creative projects - food waste recycling, composting,

product design, green and spiritual tours, or-ganic farming and food, healthy lifestyles, but her principal passion is God. http://sandypermagrace.wix.com/sharegod 

Graeme Morris

Graeme is a seasoned musician and song-writer. He also teaches guitar professionally. With classical pieces and other virtuoso instru-mentals in his repertoire, he has played in almost every hotel and club in Hong Kong over the last ten years. Recently, his passion for music and the arts led him to embark on a ‘musical journey’ enjoining various musicians and artists in cultural exchange and artistic collaboration through the “Long Hai Project” (www.thelonghaiproject.com). Centering on a beautiful old Chinese sailing junk called Long Hai, Graeme captains this boat in its travels to different places to bring artists together in producing music and art and promote a cul-ture of peace, cultural diversity and love for nature.

Tom Hope Director

Tom has written, directed, produced and acted in Hong Kong theatrical productions since 1991 when he co-founded the Not So Loud Theatre Company while working as a lawyer here.  Now in its 21st year, Not So Loud continues to produce English language drama addressing Hong Kong issues in a dramatic way. Meantime, Tom retired from the law to work at The Old Vic in London (2003-6), pro-duced two professional London shows (The Mouse Queen and Slippery Mountain 2007-8) before returning to Hong Kong in 2009 to pur-sue his dream of founding an English lan-guage professional repertory theatre company in the territory.

Emillie ChiuTechnical & Creative Director

A Fine Arts graduate (BA hons) from the Chi-nese University of Hong Kong (2013) then further studied Stage Production and Sound Design in The University of Virginia, Emillie has exhibited her fabric sculptures and re-lated works in spaces around Hong Kong whilst freelancing on numerous theatre, filming and multi-media projects in art direction and set/costume designs.

Further info: http://emilliechiu.weebly.com/

BIOGRAPHY

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