Review by: Kendra Plant
June 25, 2016
June 25, 2016
Mu Performing Arts has reached an important milestone this month: In the 24 years they have been telling stories by, for, and about Asian Americans, they have staged a total of 50 new works for Twin Cities audiences. They are currently staging their 50th world premiere, Tot: The Untold, Yet Spectacular Story of (a Filipino) Hulk Hogan by Victor Maog at Park Square Theatre. It plays through June 26, 2016, so you'll want to move fast get your ticket. I recommend this show for fans of wrestling as well as for people who don't "get" wrestling. This play will resonate with those who have experienced immigration in their own families. Mu pulls off an imaginative telling of a tender human story that explores the concept of home and the "American dream."
"TOT: The Untold, Yet Spectacular Story of (a Filapino) Hulk Hogan" Tot (Randy Reyes) and Mo (Hope Nordquist) Photo credit: Keri Pickett
"Our goal is to create a place for Asian American playwrights to share their voice and for our community to be more in touch with our history and to help create the canon.” ~ Randy Reyes
Starring in the show as Tot is Mu Artistic Director Randy Reyes, who also directs this production. The immigration story in Tot is told through the eyes of a child, and the audience experiences much of this through his fantasy wrestling world. Tot's parents left him in the Philippines with his grandmother while they moved to the United States to pursue the American dream, and sent for him when they felt they could. The setting of the play shifts in and out from the Phillipines to the San Francisco Bay Area and to the imagined world of the WWWA, where Tot imagines himself as pro wrestler The Orbiter (played by Torsten Johnson) to help him cope with his stressful new American life. Soon, the "entertainment violence" of the wrestling world that young Tot has surrounded himself with in his play time spills out into his real life. Watching the sweet, funny animal-loving Tot deal with abandonment and separation was heart-wrenching. In the post-show discussion I learned that the circumstances of this play have not been uncommon in the real world and there are many families that have been separated by immigration.
Reyes directed this play in the round, and the audience surrounds a wrestling ring where all the action takes place. The play is split up into different rounds, like a wrestling match, that focus on Tot's relationships. One challenge for audiences sitting near the front of the stage was that the floor of the wrestling ring was lower than the rest of the stage to allow for a multiple levels and much of the action happened out of sight, like Tot playing with his wrestling action figures or laying on the floor with his mother (pictured above).
This play pushed me out of my comfort zone in a couple ways. First, a bunch of words and references were in Tagalog, one of the official languages of the Philippines. This authentic language may have been included to expand audiences' horizons (translations of Tagalog words were posted in the theater lobby and on the Mu website) and also to welcome those who had firsthand knowledge of the language and culture. Then when the language combined with the sometimes fragmented storytelling there were times that I couldn't quite follow the things that were happening. I took that as part of the experience, since Tot was also learning about a new language and culture and he often had frustrations about not understanding everything. Second, I didn't have a lot of knowledge about the Philippines and the military rule of Ferdinand Marcos. It was helpful to read the program notes and the supplemental content on the website and in the lobby, but by far the most impactful moments happened at the post-show discussion when the guests Marlina Gonzalez and Marina Feleo Gonzalez talked about their personal experience of life under martial law. Post-show Q&As can be hit and miss, but I often find them to be well worth the risk.
Mu Performing Arts continues its legacy of culturally relevant work with Tot. See it before it is too late!
Reyes directed this play in the round, and the audience surrounds a wrestling ring where all the action takes place. The play is split up into different rounds, like a wrestling match, that focus on Tot's relationships. One challenge for audiences sitting near the front of the stage was that the floor of the wrestling ring was lower than the rest of the stage to allow for a multiple levels and much of the action happened out of sight, like Tot playing with his wrestling action figures or laying on the floor with his mother (pictured above).
This play pushed me out of my comfort zone in a couple ways. First, a bunch of words and references were in Tagalog, one of the official languages of the Philippines. This authentic language may have been included to expand audiences' horizons (translations of Tagalog words were posted in the theater lobby and on the Mu website) and also to welcome those who had firsthand knowledge of the language and culture. Then when the language combined with the sometimes fragmented storytelling there were times that I couldn't quite follow the things that were happening. I took that as part of the experience, since Tot was also learning about a new language and culture and he often had frustrations about not understanding everything. Second, I didn't have a lot of knowledge about the Philippines and the military rule of Ferdinand Marcos. It was helpful to read the program notes and the supplemental content on the website and in the lobby, but by far the most impactful moments happened at the post-show discussion when the guests Marlina Gonzalez and Marina Feleo Gonzalez talked about their personal experience of life under martial law. Post-show Q&As can be hit and miss, but I often find them to be well worth the risk.
Mu Performing Arts continues its legacy of culturally relevant work with Tot. See it before it is too late!
"I came to California when I was six-and-a-half. The experience was jarring—I didn’t have the language to communicate. Though I was born and raised in the Philippines during a period of Ferdinand Marcos’s martial law, the sepia version of my life in metro Manila had a steady stream of characters, lively parties, abundant love, and a deep and rigorous religiosity that blurred with superstition. It was a world built for me. All that changed when I landed in the Bay Area." ~ Victor Moag, The Question of Home
“Victor Maog wrote a play that I connect with in so many ways, it's scary. It's as if he wrote
it about me. Not literally, but emotionally and spiritually. This is a very rare experience for
an actor, at least for me. I think it's because the play taps into the Filipino side of my
psyche, and it's a side I hardly ever get to exercise in a theatrical setting. I've never had that
privilege so I'm very thankful, excited and a little scared for the opportunity.” ~ Randy Reyes
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