An opportunity to see an actor of extraordinary talent, intellect, and heart.
Jared Bowen, GBH
In Porkalob’s plays, storytelling is an act of transformation.
WBUR The ARTery
Stream Dragon Mama on demand anytime through December 10. Purchase a household ticket for access to the event until December 10 at 11:59PM.
How does a Dragon earn her wings? Maria Porkalob, Jr., yearns for a gayer, more POC-filled life than Bremerton, WA, can offer. When presented with an opportunity to make a quick fortune, Maria must make an important decision: leave her debt-ridden mother, four young siblings, and newborn daughter Sara for the wild unknown of Alaska, or stay close to home, family, and intergenerational trauma. Traversing 25 years filled with queer love in a barren land, the 2019 Elliot Norton Award-winning Dragon Mama features ghosts, Filipino gangsters, and a dope ’90s R&B soundtrack.
Virtual Premiere Celebration
Join us at on November 12 at 7PM ET to celebrate the virtual premiere of Dragon Mama! Interact with fellow audience members, enjoy a special live welcome from the creator Sara Porkalob, and toast the Dragon Cycle team with Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus.
Created and Performed by Sara Porkalob
Directed by Andrew Russell
Notable dates
Virtual Premiere Celebration: 11/12 at 7PM ET
The Wellspring: 12/10 at 7PM ET
On Demand Thru: 12/10
Press Coverage
Reviews
Jared Bowen, GBH
Sara Porkalob inhabits her grandmother all throughout the OBERON space…with extraordinary skill. She is going to be a major, major star. I cannot stress enough how much you’ll enjoy the show.
Listen below
Explore
Credits
Creator & Performer
Sara Porkalob
Creator & Performer
Sara Porkalob
(she/they) A.R.T.: Dragon Mama (2019 Elliot Norton Awards for Best Original Script, Best Solo Performance); Dragon Lady. Sara Porkalob is an award-winning artist-activist, cultural worker, and creator of the Dragon Cycle, a trilogy of matrilineal musicals about her Filipino American gangster family, with one play for each generation built around a central female protagonist. Dragon Lady premiered at Intiman Theatre and was the recipient of three 2018 Gregory Awards (Outstanding Sound/Music Design, Outstanding Actress in a Musical, Outstanding Musical Production). Dragon Mama premiered at the A.R.T., which has commissioned the third play, Dragon Baby. saraporkalob.com, @sporkalob.
Actors’ Equity Association member
Director
Andrew Russell
Director
Andrew Russell
Andrew is a writer and director whose work focuses on real-life figures who have changed the world, usually through the form of musical theater. As a director this includes Stu for Silverton, a new musical about America’s first transgender mayor, which will premiere in 2020 at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, and as a writer this includes The Long Game, a new musical about whistleblowing and truth-telling in America through the stories of Dorothy Kilgallen, Jack Ruby, Edward Snowden, and Laura Poitras, and American Bounce, an unconventional musical based on the life of Big Freedia.
Lighting Design
Amith Chandrashaker
Lighting Design
Amith Chandrashaker
The Lucky Ones (DD Nom., Ars Nova), Blue Ridge (The Atlantic), Boesman and Lena (Signature), Cardinal (2ST), Twelfth Night (The Public), Fairview (Soho Rep), Fire in Dreamland (The Public), Her Requiem (LCT3), Time’s Journey… (PlayCo.), Stuffed (The Westside Theatre), FADE (Primary Stages), [PORTO] (The Bushwick Starr/ The Women’s Project), Quiet, Comfort (Hoi Polloi). Opera: The Flying Dutchman (Houston Grand Opera), Falstaff (Opera Omaha), The Scarlet Letter (Opera Colorado), Abduction from the Seraglio (Atlanta Opera).
Sound Design
Erin Bednarz
Sound Design
Erin Bednarz
A working performer, producer, dramaturg, DJ, and designer of 10 years, Erin’s off-Broadway, national, and institutional work includes Red Bull Theater, Magic Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, On The Boards, and A Contemporary Theatre Seattle, among others. She has held sound design residencies at University of Washington, Seattle University, and Cornish College of the Arts, and recently became the first female recipient of the Gregory Award in Outstanding Sound Design. She is resident sound designer at Washington Ensemble Theatre and artist liaison with LiveGirls! Theater.
Production Stage Manager
Kate Hausler
Production Stage Manager
Kate Hausler
A.R.T.: Stage Manager: HEAR WORD! (2018), Dragon Cycle, The Donkey Show; Assistant Stage Manager: HEAR WORD! (2017); Production Assistant: The Night of the Iguana (Sub to James Earl Jones), Fingersmith (and Child Wrangler); Stage Operations: Endlings, Jagged Little Pill, The White Card. Stage Manager/Crew Swing: Blue Man Group Boston. Stage Management Intern: Mystère, Cirque du Soleil. Assistant Stage Manager: Cirque of the Dead2016 and 2017. Education: BFA, Stage and Production Management (Cum Laude) 2017, Emerson College.
Assistant Director
Michael Rosegrant
Assistant Director
Michael Rosegrant
Michael A. Rosegrant (any pronouns said with respect) is a theater artist whose work centers stories of identity, family, and history as a way to combat oppression. She has performed her spoken word poetry at various events including A.R.T.’s New Year Celebration and ACI’s Arts Equity Summit. He serves on the steering committee of the API Arts Network, and is studying Theater and Sociology at Boston University. Love to my pamilya.
Special Thanks
Jennifer Zeyl, Matt Starritt, Mara Elissa Palma, Maile Wong, Theatre Off Jackson, Anna Porkalob, Meme Garcia, Tosten Haugerud