BIRDS AND THE CURIOSITY
Reviewed by Amalisha HuEck
The World Premiere of 'Birds and the Curiosity', is originally written in Chinese and the story is set in China about a coming-of-age chain of events. The main character is a 9-year-old Chinese girl, who is fairly different than other kids and because of it, she is being teased for her looks and with her growth explores her future self and the world around her. She gets to the conclusion that being different is totally OK.
Great magical opening! The birds hatch from the eggs and discover, 'What a big world this is!' The thrilling ensemble of nine cast members so beautifully uses improv and movement to express their emotions and indicate their actions. From challenging childhood, where only play, dance, and imagination are the crucial aspects of survival to adult life where looking back at memories helps them to overcome the complexity of being an adult, the curiosity comes into question, 'Who am I and who I have always been?', which leads to realization, 'It's not all about who you are, but who you become' through struggles and challenges and discovering that the journey is as important as the destination.
The members of the cast, Kayla Ayler-McCormick, Chisom Diana Dimiri, Gary Cook, Yishan Hao, Josephine Munez, Tristan Samson, Emma Stuart-Box, Yuchen Zhou, Olivia Xing, and Melody Tay Xi Ching with such enthusiasm and passion, go through the scenes to reach the heights of being outstanding.
The show is artfully co-written and cleverly directed and produced by Gefei Liu & Olivia Xing with attention on being family-friendly.
The puppets, the lights, the music, the choreography, the costumes, and the scenic design are all magnificent, giving us an exciting visual on the story being told.
There are nine performances. The start date is Friday, June 9th at The Hudson Theatres Mainstage (6539 Santa Monica Blvd Hollywood, CA 90038) as part of the 2023 Hollywood Fringe Festival. It runs from Thursday, Jun 08 - Sunday, Jun 25.
Run dates are FRI: June 9, 8:30 pm; June 16, 8:30 pm; June 23, 8:30 pm; SAT: June 10, 5:30 pm; June 17 2:00 pm; June 24, 8:30 pm; SUN: June 11, 2 pm; June 18, 10:30 am (*AAPI Kids Morning!) and June 25, at 2 pm.
Tickets are $28, Students with ID $22:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/9656?embed=false&performance_id=21179&tab=performance
The ensemble of nine POC cast members are diverse in a multiplicity of ways: race, gender, ethnicity, body type, and in-n-our orders. The majority of the production team are AAPI and BIPOC folks. As international artists, we want to use this project to provide working opportunities for other international artists and immigrants.