PRIDE REFLECTS: The Rawdog Gaysian Playwright Challenge
Pride Reflects is a collaboration between Rat World and Auckland Pride to document and celebrate the creative output of our local queer arts sector. Every week of Auckland Pride Month, two creatives will respond to their experiences of witnessing shows and events across the Auckland Pride Festival. We’ve given the creatives agency to respond in any way they like, which might range from traditional reviews to photoessays to anything in between.
Image supplied
Sanjana Khusal reflects on The Rawdog Gaysian Playwright Challenge and honours it through graphic design
Creative food. Fun songs. That must be THE RAWDOG GAYSIAN PLAYWRIGHT CHALLENGE. Drumroll, please. Today, we will look back at the magnificent and marvellous creativity that comes with working under pressure.
When working with a team of creatives, I overheard Chye-Ling Huang, Proudly Asian Theatre co-founder, explain the concept. Actors would be put on the spot to perform a chaotic script they hadn't read yet. No time for preparations or rehearsal. We are here to witness the rehearsal. This concept sounded insane but with like-minded creatives Sean Dioneda Rivera and Chye-Ling Huang, this project was ready to begin.
As a creative, it is a struggle to be in a space outside of our comfort. To see a very real creative exercise, to write what you hate, is already a headache, without the additional pain of performing live. Yet, this collective of Gaysian writers has turned this challenge into their bitch.
I was lucky enough to be at the second night, which featured stand-up comedian Jess Karamjeet and writer Sherry Zhang, where their one-act plays were performed by brilliant actors who were challenged to cold read the scripts.
For this night, Sherry Zhang had her play, ‘You Slave Away and Then it’s Reconstructing’ read first. Her genre was cannibalism. Sherry criticised the genre for being too finite and predictable. But her script certainly felt like her field of expertise. The script follows a young intern (Matilda Chua) as they desperately try to be recognised by the Company (Mike Wood). The play on cannibalism leads to a bizarre yet fitting analogy of capitalism through food and disposable people. Fun fact: Sherry watched Soylent Green as a teenager and made it her personality.
Jess Karamjeet was challenged to write a children's play because, in her own words, "it's about kids, starring kids for kids because I fuckin' hate kids." To which, an audience member shouted, "yeah, fuck kids," followed by tentative laughs. How does one write such a challenging script? We find inspiration. Thus, Jess wrote a script called ‘Mean Kids.’ I am ashamed to say that it took me 20-minutes into the play to realise it was the children's version of the iconic 2000s film, Mean Girls. It was the "Feelings Journal" that tipped me off. This homage to the chick-flick classic took some creative liberty, with a canon bisexual protagonist, a musical number (thanks to Jess Hong) and a Mean Kid unable to escape the talking bus (Gabriel Chao Ren).
Without any context, this challenge sounds unhinged and insane. And it was. But I found the reason behind the project charming and cathartic. As elegantly explained by Sean and Chye-Ling, Asians are predisposed to write from a place of trauma and pain. All creative Asians have a part of themselves that feels pain and knows the demand to turn it into something productive and meaningful. The Rawdog Gaysian Playwright Challenge creates a space for Asians to dispose of their seriousness and instead draw dicks on their notebooks and call each other stupid.
In following the path of my creative ancestors, I have created some art from a form I loathe - graphic design. Producer Alyssa Medel reminded me of my time as the University of Auckland Graphic Designer. As fun as it was, I spent most nights screaming at photoshop and threw it out the window. Today, I decided to pay homage to my younger self and remember when I was young and dumb and eighteen. It's important to take a step back from our harsh realities and let ourselves go. I challenge you to work with a genre or medium you hate for two weeks and see where it leads to. Good luck!
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Click here to learn more about the show and other events on during the months of Pride!