Do you believe in ghosts?
Test your resolve with THE BROTHERS PARANORMAL, a new play by Prince Gomolvilas and directed by Mimi Katano.
Since 2007, Pork Filled Productions has guided audiences on larger than life adventures with Chinese American con artists, Shakespearean zombies, and steampunk heroes and villains. This fall, we’re piercing the veil between the world of the living and the world of ghosts with Prince Golmovilas’ THE BROTHERS PARANORMAL.
Max and Visarut, two Thai American brothers, have been struggling to make ends meet with their ghost-hunting business, and when Delia comes to them asking for help with an “Asian-looking ghost,” Max smells an opportunity. What began as a cash-grab soon becomes something much more serious and everyone’s notions of reality will soon be tested.
PFP has loved THE BROTHERS PARANORMAL ever since we partnered with Prince for a workshop reading in 2015. We’re excited to bring this to fruition as part of the play’s rolling world premiere.
THE BROTHERS PARANORMAL is a deeply intersectional play, as it brings together Thai and Black characters in the American Midwest, explores questions of immigration and displacement, and tackles the topic of mental illness and grief within communities of color -- all while telling a spooky story that will delight fans of THE GRUDGE and THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE.
What do we need?
Our budget currently covers stipends for our actors and designers and all minimal production costs, but we would love to be able to do more. All funds raised through this IndieGogo campaign will be used directly for this production: approximately 70% will be added to the design budget, 20% will help offset rental fees, and 10% will go toward our marketing costs. Our main goal with this fundraiser is to give our designers more financial freedom to create fantastical props, sets, and costumes to give our audiences the most terrifying experience possible.
Meet the team.
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Featuring (top row, left) Kathy Hsieh, Sean Nguyen, Van Lang Pham; (bottom row; left) Selena Whitaker-Paquiet, Margaret Luxamon Hotchkiss, and Ronnie Hill.
Written by Price Gomolvilas
Directed by Mimi Katano
Josh Valdez (Stage Manager), Alan Alabastro (PR Photographer), Kim Douthit (Dramaturge), Carolina Johnson (Lighting Designer), Janelle Kimbrough (Costume Designer), Troy Lund (Sound Designer), Robin Macartney (Set and Prop Designer), Merri Ann Osbourne (Community Consultant), Chanya Swartz (Cultural Consultant), Troy Tsukahara (Graphic Designer), Lydia Valentine (Cultural Consultant)
Not easy. But worth it.
Producing new work may not be as scary as encountering a ghost in your new home, but it certainly carries some risks with it. The PFP producers aren’t scared of the dark, though, and we’ve assembled a team of talented artists to help us out. Director Mimi Katano has a long track record of stellar work as Artistic Director of Youth Theatre Northwest. Moreover, as part of our commitment to producing thoughtful, well-informed, authentic work by artists of color, we’re working with dramaturgs and cultural consultants from Thailand, local Thai and African American communities, and Seattle’s horror fandom, who can bring their lived experience and subject matter expertise to the project.
THE BROTHERS PARANORMAL is in many ways a new kind of play for Pork Filled Productions: we’ve dipped our toes into the horror genre before with Qui Nguyen’s Living Dead in Denmark, but this is our first time producing a ghost play. That comes with new special effects challenges. It’s also a kind of play that Seattle audiences don’t get a chance to see much: one that centers a cross-cultural cast of characters and supernatural elements to tell a rich, emotional, humorous story. That gives us the opportunity to tell a new kind of story to a new audience -- once we reach them.
Part of Pork Filled Productions’ mission has always been to bring the best of genre theatre to mainstream audiences. We put a (literal) spotlight on how fantasy, horror, and sci-fi investigates big questions and deep truths. We’ve also always been dedicated to telling stories with and creating opportunities for artists of color; with this play we’re excited to be employing six talented actors of color onstage and a diverse production team of local theatre artists.
Special announcements
THE BROTHERS PARANORMALis supported by the Office of Arts & Culture Seattle and 4Culture. PFP is fiscally sponsored by Shunpike. Our community partners include the Mahogany Project and the Southeast Asia Center in the Jackson School for International Studies at the University of Washington. Shunpike is the 501(c)(3) non-profit agency that provides independent arts groups in Washington with the services, resources and opportunities they need to forge their own paths to sustainable success. Pork Filled Productions is a proud member of TeenTix.
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