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THE MAKING OF BLIND NESS

THE MAKING OF BLIND NESS: A video casebook by Professor Yuko Kurahashi BLIND NESS: The Irresistible Light of Encounter is a multidisciplinary theater work…

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Ping Chong's OTTO RENE CASTILLO AWARD FOR POLITICAL THEATER Acceptance Speech Given on May 18, 2014 at The Castillo Theater

Compassion Kindness Empathy Fairness

The World of men has never been fair.  And those who have, always want to have more at the expense of those who have not. This is largely the history of the world. If therehave been moments in human history where this has not been the case then it is only further evidence that the former is the norm.

On this day, I would like to accept this award in honor of those both living and dead who have found this norm to be unacceptable, who have been willing to stick their neck out in whatever way to fight for a more just and equitable world despite the formidable odds, who down through the ages, across oceans, continents and nations, never gave up believing that such a world is possible, who implicitly believe that to be a truly civilized human being the qualities of Compassion, Kindness, Empathy, Fairness must form the essence of our being in our every day lives.

In closing I would like to congratulate this year's fellow recipients of the Otto Award. I would like to thank Genny Pickett for her lovely introduction and many years of friendship; the terrific team at Ping Chong and Company, Bruce Allardice, Sara Zatz, Talvin Wilks, and Jane Jung without whom making art that supports social justice would not be possible; my sister, Betty Chong who is here today, who has taught me more about compassion, empathy, kindness and fairness in its purest sense than anybody I know and last but not least all the folks at the Castillo theater for this much appreciated honor. As a token of my appreciation let me share with you one of my favorite quotes:

 "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For indeed, that's ALL who ever have." -Margaret Mead.

Thank you.

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Ever wonder about the stories that all those people walking down the street have to tell? In Brooklyn '63 we get to hear some of those Brooklyn tales.

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That's a photo of Ping in front of a model of Deshima, on Deshima, doing research for Deshima. Oh, and that's a map of Deshima, just to help paint the picture.

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An interview from '91. What kind of theatre do you want to make?

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A greenroom photo of the cast, writer, and director of the Anniversary Show, performed at The Greene Space in November 2012.  

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Ping on the evolution of the Undesirable Elements during an interview with Made Here.

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A shot from Truth & Beauty.

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Lounge Lizard, Lady-Big, and the Twins live in paradise, from the Astonishment and the Twin.

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Aren't these puppets from Obon beautiful? The puppet designer on the show was Atsushi Yamato.

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Program from the UE Tokyo Show.

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[My Grandmother] would sit on a chair surrounded with tables (prepared to put the things she bought) in front of her house, which was on the way to market. When farmers passed by (about 5 AM) she would say “I will buy all these and then you can go home to your families. You don’t need to walk further to the market (which is about 1/2 km from her house).” I remembered eating all those fruits and vegetables, [they] had to be distributed to nearby houses. We could not eat all those. I would see this picture every morning when I was on the island.

From an interview conducted with Dr. Krisana Kraisintu during the creation of Cocktail. Dr. Kraisintu fought hard to make HIV medication more affordable. How do you teach compassion?

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From the Pojagi archives.

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What a lovely program cover. But what could this play be about, you might ask. Read about it here!  

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Ping with Meredith Monk, Yoshi Yabara, Gail Turner, and other Meredith Monk company members during the making of the Games in Berlin, 1983. It was a stuck moment, so they created some levity.

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“When have you been treated like an outsider?” “What was it like when you walked into the store and they followed you?” You just can’t ask these questions at a cocktail party. Nowadays a simple question can seem coded and it can be challenging to ask, “Where are you from?” In Undesirable Elements you really discover people’s stories.”

Quote from an interview with Sara Zatz in our Undesirable Elements: Real People, Real Lives, Real Theatre book.  

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Trailer from the 20th anniversary of Undesirable Elements. And in true UE fashion, who better to explain the power of these shows than the people involved?

There are a whole bunch of short videos from the Undesirable Elements cast members here,