DIS-ORIENTED: A trio of solo performances by Asian-American women

"DIS-oriented"
A trio of solo performances by Asian-American women

Thursday, August 19 @ 8pm
Stage Werx Theater, San Francisco
Presented by the Solo Performance Workshop Festival



DIS-ORIENTED. Cultural indigestion, color-blindness and inter-ethnic vertigo. Is there a cure? Is it treatable? Is it contagious? That's what three women, Zahra, Thao and Coke -- Iranian, Vietnamese and Okinawan/Japanese -- try to find out as they aim to DIS-orient themselves from external stereotypes and internal expectations.

This show features a dynamic trio of performers whose individual solo pieces will lead you across a Muslim-Atheist supper table, the Mekong Delta, and Diagnostic Systems of Sexual Dysfunction. In between each solo performance are smart and biting vignettes -- comic sketches, audience improv games, and contemporary dance -- that will leave you happy to be as DIS-oriented as they are.


THE PERFORMANCES:

"All Atheists Are Muslim"
Written & performed by ZAHRA NOORBAKHSH
How hard can it be for Zahra, an Iranian Muslim girl in her mid-twenties, to move-in with her Atheist White-American boyfriend and cheerfully tell her father that she doesn't need his blessing?

"Soft Tissue"
Written & performed by COLLEEN "Coke" NAKAMOTO
What's a woman to do when her vaj-j says 'No!' and refuses to come out and play? See what happens when one girl's dreams of true love and professional go-go dancing get derailed by speculums, visiting spirits and the F word.

"Fortunate Daughter"
Written & performed by THAO P. NGUYEN
Thao, 25, wakes up on a good morning in Vietnam, dons her full-metal jacket and goes deer hunting on Hamburger Hill with Forrest Gump and Martin Sheen. Only she survives. Later, her mom takes her to meet her grandmother for the first time.



WHAT:
DIS-oriented: A trio of solo performances by Asian-American women
Featuring Coke Nakamoto, Zahra Noorbakhsh, and Thao P. Nguyen


WHEN:
August 19
Thursday @ 8pm


WHERE:
Stage Werx Theater
533 Sutter St, SF (Map)
Near Powell St BART


TICKETS:
$20 General Admission
$15 Student / Senior / Low-income
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/113314



ARTIST BIOS:

ZAHRA NOORBAKHSH is a solo-performer and stand-up comedian, who's performed with Maz Jobrani from the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, and Shazia Mirza from Last Comic Standing. Her one-woman show "Hijab and Hammerpants," recently debuted at the SF Theater Festival, under the direction of W. Kamau Bell (SF Weekly's performer of the year, 2008). Find out more about her comedy and solo shows at http://www.zahracomedy.com.

COLLEEN "Coke" NAKAMOTO is a solo performer, curious about where words meet the body. Coke has presented her work at the David Henry Hwang Theater (LA), the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts (Carmel), and locally at NOHSpace, Stagewerx, CounterPULSE (Words First, APAture, Asian American Dance Performances), The Marsh, SOMArts (APICC/Eth-Noh-Tec), the San Francisco Theater Festival, and the Joyce Gordon Gallery (For Colored Girls Only). "Soft Tissue" is the second piece she has developed under the direction of W. Kamau Bell and the Solo Performance Workshop.

THAO P. NGUYEN has been writing and performing solo shows since she joined the Solo Performance Workshop in 2007. Her director, the critically acclaimed W. Kamau Bell ("Four Stars" in Time Out New York and SF Chronicle), has awarded her with the coveted "W. Kamau Bell Solo Performance Black Belt," a distinction which to this date has been awarded only four times. She also co-produces two monthly solo performance series in San Francisco: "Words First" at CounterPULSE and "City Solo" at Off-Market Theater.



FUTURE PERFORMANCES:

October 6
Wednesday @ 7:30pm
Presented by "Words First" at CounterPULSE
1310 Mission St, SF
Near Civic Center BART

October 3, 10, 17
Sundays @ 7pm
Presented by "City Solo" at Off-Market Theater
965 Mission St, SF
Near Powell BART