Civilians Associate Artist Cindy Cheung and peers Rodney To, Sekiya Billman, Paul Juhn, Peter Kim and Hoon Lee have revived their theater company, Mr. Miyagi’s Theater Company, after a fifteen-year hiatus to present a continuation of their popular show “SIDES: The Fear is Real…” Adapting the piece to a digital format, Cindy and Co. have begun to release “SIDES: Zoom Edition” on YouTube.
Mr. Miyagi’s Theater Company began in the early 2000s when a group of friends and Asian American actors wanted to work on something where they, as one member put it, “didn’t have to pretend to see America for the first time. Again.” The group played with Shakespeare and John Hughes, but eventually landed on the ridiculous auditions and sides (the pages an actor auditions with) they’d experienced. “SIDES: The Fear is Real…” was the group’s send-up of these auditions, a show which grew from living-room performances to a hugely popular off-Broadway run in 2005. Now, in 2020 and 2021, the company has re-emerged, and finds auditions as ridiculous as ever – only this time, it’s all online. They’ve adapted the show for the present moment and film their performances on Zoom now, like the actual auditions they go to. “It’s kind of crazy, what we have to do…but it provided Miyagi with situations primed for things to go terribly terribly wrong, which is our favorite thing to play with,” said Cheung.
Crazy or not, the revival of Mr. Miyagi’s Theater Company marks a welcomed breath of humor and wit into the quagmire of Zoom theater. Upon speaking with Cindy Cheung about the project, it becomes only more evident the joy the group finds in one another. “We…found the laughter and creativity that emerged was so welcome and needed during this extremely challenging time. We’ve always appreciated one another, but I think that has only grown over this last year.”
Episodes DING DING’S PLAY and CASS are available on the company’s YouTube Channel. A third episode is planned for late spring. Updates can be found via Mr. Miyagi’s Theater Company’s YouTube Channel and will be announced via The Civilians’ social media.
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