An evening of theatre and food that won’t bust your boredom bubble or budget, 'Morsels From The Heart' showcases Brisbane’s finest emerging Asian-Australian playwrights.
Handpicked as part of Playwriting Australia and Performance 4A’s Lotus Program artists will present bite-sized portions of new work alongside dim sum and drinks in a fun, relaxed atmosphere of cross-cultural conversation and exchange. Ngoc Phan, artist-in-residence at La Boite, pens an open letter, writing her DNA:
"All I see is white. But there, in the top left corner, a slender black lined temptress keeps winking at me. She appears and disappears, then appears and disappears. For a second, I think she won’t reappear. Great! I am no longer accountable to her. But like a weed finding its way through concrete she comes back asking ‘so… what’s your story?’ Her flashy curiosity never misses a beat.
Ngoc PhanI start writing about zombie unicorns taking over the planet but the temptress suddenly moves forcefully to the left, swallowing up the words, so it’s back to white. ‘Why do you avoid what you know?’ she perseveres. I know what she wants. She wants my words next to her, my story, my DNA, my Vietnamese-Australian lens of the landscape and the stories that reside there. The story of how my family escaped Vietnam and ended up in Alice Springs.
I am dropped into my life-warren with nothing to get me out. There are burrows I’ve seen before and I know where they lead – but hidden, covered over with jagged rocks are tunnels, which seem foreign. I look up and see other women facing their own hidden burrows. We look at each other, nothing is spoken, but suddenly I am not so alone. We start to remove the rocks and enter our wonderlands. The temptress flashes, waiting to see what emerges.
As part of Playwriting Australia and Performance 4A’s Lotus Program, I along with four other emerging Asian-Australian playwrights have been supporting each other through the creation of new stories. We will each be reading 15min excerpts of our work at 'Morsels From The Heart' as part of Brisbane City Council’s BrisAsia Festival. Let us take you into the wonderland of our burrows."
– Ngoc Phan
I am dropped into my life-warren with nothing to get me out. There are burrows I’ve seen before and I know where they lead – but hidden, covered over with jagged rocks are tunnels, which seem foreign. I look up and see other women facing their own hidden burrows. We look at each other, nothing is spoken, but suddenly I am not so alone. We start to remove the rocks and enter our wonderlands. The temptress flashes, waiting to see what emerges.
As part of Playwriting Australia and Performance 4A’s Lotus Program, I along with four other emerging Asian-Australian playwrights have been supporting each other through the creation of new stories. We will each be reading 15min excerpts of our work at 'Morsels From The Heart' as part of Brisbane City Council’s BrisAsia Festival. Let us take you into the wonderland of our burrows."
– Ngoc Phan
'Morsels From The Heart' takes place at La Boite Theatre 18 February.
