To change this blog column up a bit – as it is currently the only blog column of its kind (on the Ricepaper website) – I will narrow my focus from the hundreds of events and concerts and lectures to shine a light upon an artist, who as it just so happens, has been a contributor to Ricepaper.
Norman Yeung
- Norman Yeung, illustrator, painter, journalist, filmmaker, playwright, and actor was last profiled in the Ricepaper 13.1 comics issue by former editor Aaron Leaf. He also contributed the eye-catching and thought-provoking (I still don’t know what a party photo blog is) cover illustration:
No, this back issue isn't available on our website, but it will be soon.
- What’s Norman up to in the next few weeks?
Pu-Erh
, which runs May 6-15 in the Backspace at Theatre Passe Muraille, and May 21, 22 & 23 at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. Written by Norman Yeung, directed by Keira Loughran, and produced by k’Now Theatre, Pu-Erh was “a hit at the 2005 and 2007 SummerWorks Theatre Festival in its early stages” and “a finalist for the 2009 Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition, receiving an Honourable Mention.” (k’Now Theatre Press Release)“A son is leaving. Hours before the flight, son and father try to have a conversation. The father speaks only Cantonese, the son only English. They drink tea. They have decades of regret and silence to reconcile. The son returns five years later to a changed family, to a mother he hardly recognizes. She has gone on a journey of her own. She must rediscover the joy of being a parent to her child; the son must learn the responsibility of being a child to his parents. A story of unfulfilled hopes and remarkable achievement, Pu-Erh shows how language can challenge, divide, and unite a family. With dialogue in English and Cantonese, this fresh and urgent examination of a modern immigrant family will speak to anyone who has wondered if life begins when you move away.” (k’Now Theatre Press Release)
This play is being produced to coincide with Asian Heritage Month in Toronto. If I was in Toronto, this would definitely be one of the my top picks. Buy your tickets for Pu-Erh
at https://www.artsboxoffice.ca and read a blogTO profile of Norman here.