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The Body’s Midnight: New Spring Play by Tira Palmquist Opens at Boston Court this April

By Hayden Dobb, Pasadena Weekly Staff Writer Apr 4, 2024

    The Body’s Midnight: New spring play opens at Boston Court this April
    “The Body’s Midnight” cast. (Makela Yepez/Submitted)

    A new play is coming to Boston Court this spring. “The Body’s Midnight,” written by playwright Tira Palmquist, is a co-production with IAMA Theatre Company. Directed by Jessica Kubzansky, “The Body’s Midnight” explores the idea of what it means to get lost in America — characters Anne and David are set to search for this meaning while they embark on their version of the perfect American road trip. With them is a map, a long list of sights to see and an itinerary that is planned to land them in St. Paul just in time for the birth of their first grandchild. Soon, however, their tidy plans are disrupted by a troubling diagnosis and the breathtaking, fleeting world around them. As the two are skewed from their initial path, they are met with an unavoidably messy and bewildering journey of their lives.

    “It’s beautiful and it’s incredibly funny,” Kubzansky said. “It’s a play about a rite of passage in some ways. It’s a play about different relationships regarding husbands and wives or parents and children. It covers the beautiful impermanence of our lives and the choices that we start to make when something in us feels threatened. I think everyone can relate to this, especially through what we all experienced with the pandemic — it’s really a play about what happens when something disrupts and limits your life.”

    The cast that will be acting out this grand story is Keliher Walsh, playing Anne; Jonathan Nichols-Navarro, playing David; Sonal Shah as Katie; and Ryan Garcia as Wolf. Before these characters were conceptualized, an acting friend of Palmquist noted that at the peak of her talent in her career, it was becoming harder for her to find roles in theater due to the lack of middle-aged and older women in plays.

    “I accepted the challenge, and know that there are things I’m really interested in as a playwright — one of those is the stories I choose to tell. I want to be mindful of the stories and represent all ages in theater, and to mostly represent women without the ties to being a mother or caregiver, showing that side of womanhood is important to me,” Palmquist said.

    Another aspect to “The Body’s Midnight” is Palmquist’s nod to the good, stable marriage that is showcased in the play, juxtaposing broken relationships that are usually told in the industry.

    From her home state of Minnesota, Palmquist also finds joy in writing stories involving the state, along with highlighting the sense of adventure shared throughout the country.

    “This intensely theatrical and wondrously strange piece leans into the visually arresting and textually rich — it’s what IAMA Theater Company and Boston Court values in new playwriting. ‘The Body’s Midnight’ shows the best and worst parts of a road trip experience, and the most interesting characters are met along the way. It’s a great performance on how vast and odd it can all be,” Kubzansky added.

    If Palmquist had to sum up “The Body’s Midnight” in three words, they would be “discovery, bravery, legacy.”

    Palmquist is known for her writing that merges the poetic, personal and political. Her most produced play, “Two Degrees,” was produced by places like the Tesseract Theater in St. Louis and Prime Productions at the Guthrie, after its premier at the Denver Center. As an established playwright, her work “The Way North” was a finalist for the O’Neill, an Honorable Mention for the 2019 Kilroys List and was featured in the 2019 Ashland New Plays Festival.

    Tickets for the preview shows from April 18 to April 26 cost between $19 to $39 as the play is honed, and tickets through opening night to the play’s close from April 27 to May 26 cost between $24 to $59. Please view the Boston Court website for ticket price details.

    With special events surrounding specific showings of “The Body’s Midnight,” guests can expect pre- and post-show illuminations following themes of the play or examining closely at how the play came to be. Special events include an art reception, playwriting conversations with Palmquist, ASL interpreted performances, Mother’s Day celebrations and more.

    For more information on show details, ticket prices and before and after show events, visit bostoncourtpasadena.org.

    “The Body’s Midnight”
    WHEN: April 18 to May 26
    WHERE: Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Avenue, Pasadena
    COST: Tickets start at $19
    INFO: bostoncourtpasadena.org

    Contemporary Asian Theater Scene (CATS) Collaborate with Jeffrey Lo on Inaugural Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Playwright Festival

    Read more from the Digital Journal here.

    CATS collaborates with local award-winning director and playwright for a one-of-kind AAPI theater experience.

    Jeffrey Lo

    SAN JOSE, Calif. – Contemporary Asian Theater Scene (CATS), in collaboration with award-winning director and playwright Jeffrey Lo, announces the launch of its inaugural Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Playwright Festival, a one-of-a-kind theater arts experience that fosters and showcases the talent of existing and emerging local Bay Area AAPI theater artists, from writers and actors to directors, stagehands and others. Scheduled for Saturday, July 27, 2024, at San Jose Stage theatre (The Stage), the CATS 2024 AAPI Playwright Festival is proudly co-produced with San Jose Stage Company, amplifying the vibrant creativity of both organizations.

    The inaugural AAPI Playwright Festival features staged readings of six AAPI short plays written by the following AAPI playwrights: Victoria Chong Der, Anthony Doan, Reed Flores, Kausar Mohammed, Conrad Panganiban, and Christina Ying. The plays will be performed by local Bay Area artists.

    “This festival shines a spotlight on these works and their creators, as well as encourages young, emerging artists to discover new and existing plays, performed on stage in front of a live audience who love live theater,” says Leianne Wong Lamb, president of CATS.

    Lamb continues, “It also brings in new community members who have never experienced live theater and want to support AAPI artists.”

    Jeffrey Lo, the Artistic Producer for the AAPI Playwright Festival, adds, “It is an exciting time to be an Asian American Theatre maker in the Bay Area. From the early roots of the Asian American Theatre Company to the works being done today by playwrights like Lauren Yee, Jessica Huang and Madhuri Shekar – the Bay Area has always been a center for the development of new AAPI voices and stories. This festival helps us continue that history of lifting up the next generation of storytellers and highlight exciting and emerging artists in our community.”

    CATS has committed to presenting The AAPI Playwright Festival for at least three years, as it is deemed a notable addition to CATS’ roster of high-quality productions. These presentations include, but are not limited to, three prior staged readings with a fourth staged reading in June 2024, its upcoming 10th Annual Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest in October 2024, past music concerts, most recently Hiroshima in 2022 and last fall’s Maui Benefit concert featuring Hawaii-based pop boy band Crossing Rain.

    In addition, CATS showcases AAPI artists with intimate artist interviews throughout the year on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and the CATS website.

    Collectively, the productions and programs further CATS’ mission of supporting and showcasing AAPI artists locally in San Jose and Silicon Valley and beyond.

    About the Contemporary Asian Theater Scene (CATS)
    Founded in 1995 by the late Dr. Jerry Hiura, the late Steve Yamaguma, and Miki Hirabayashi Bellon, CATS has been a beacon for Asian American artists in the South Bay and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. With a rich history of supporting, mentoring, and presenting Asian American artists and cultural disciplines, CATS has become a pivotal platform for showcasing talent through events, including comedy nights, music concerts, film festivals, and now, the AAPI Playwright Festival. CATS also produces the annual Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest (formerly known as San Jose J-Town FilmFest). CATS continues to fulfill its founders’ dream of enriching the cultural landscape of San Jose and Silicon Valley by promoting AAPI artists and their stories. CATS is in San Jose’s Japantown and is a 501c3 non-profit organization. More info at CatsAsianTheaterScene.org.

    About Jeffrey Lo
    Jeffrey Lo (He/Him/His) is a Filipino-American playwright and director based in the Bay Area. He is the recipient of the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artist Award, the Emerging Artist Laureate by Arts Council Silicon Valley and Theatre Bay Area Director’s TITAN Award. Selected directing credits include The Language Archive, Little Shop of Horrors and The Santaland Diaries at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Chinglish, The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin and Hold These Truths at San Francisco Playhouse, Vietgone and The Great Leap at Capital Stage, A Doll’s House, Part 2 and Eurydice at Palo Alto Players and  The Grapes of Wrath, The Crucible and Yellow Face at Los Altos Stage Company. As a playwright, his plays have been produced and workshopped at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, BindleStiff Studio, City Lights Theatre Company and Stanford University. He is the Associate Producer of Casting and Literary Manager at the Tony Award Winning TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, a graduate of the Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute and a proud alumnus of the UC Irvine Drama Department.

    About San Jose Stage
    San Jose Stage Company (The Stage) is recognized as the South Bay’s leading professional theatre company, having earned a reputation for artistic excellence through imaginative and edgy theatrical experiences that spark ideas and dialogue with the audience. Through powerful, provocative and profound theatre, San Jose Stage Company (The Stage) seeks to expand community, forge creative partnerships and challenge individuals in order to illuminate the human condition. The Stage is a multi-award-winning theatre company, including the 2018 Paine Knickerbocker Award for continued contributions to Bay Area theatre from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. The Stage has produced over 200 productions, including 20 world premieres and 50 new works and is ranked as the 2nd largest professional theatre and 8th largest performance arts organization in Silicon Valley attracting over 30,000 patrons to downtown and employing more than 150 local artists annually, San Jose Stage Company is a vital force in the region’s economic and creative landscape. More info at www.thestage.org.

    WINDOWS A New Play by Tawni O’Dell

    Tawni O’Dell‘s new play WINDOWS illuminates the changes that have washed over us these past three years. Starring Avantika, Craig Bierko, Tony Danza, Erin Darke, Jeffrey Donovan, Tovah Feldshuh, Adam Kantor, Carolyn McCormick, Jesse Nager, & Tonya Pinkins. FIVE PERFORMANCES ONLY at Town Hall. March 25-27. Who have you become? Learn more.

    11 lives, 8 stories, endless frustration.

    Fear, hilarity, anger, loss, and love unfolding behind curtains, blinds, broken glass, and bars. Whether navigating the self-reflection of isolation, or the unease of a chance meeting between strangers in need, or the simple realization of how much we value our most basic connection with others, Windows delves into the devastation and new beginnings found in a world forced to face an abyss together but alone. What we each endured as individuals when time suddenly stood still may have differed, but we were all changed by the experience. Our characters reshaped. For better or worse.