In 'tot,' Mu wrestles another new work onto the stage

Tonight, when Mu Performing Arts opens "tot: THE UNTOLD, YET SPECTACULAR STORY OF (a filipino) HULK HOGAN," it will pass a milestone.

The story of "tot" revolves around a young boy who was left behind in the Philippines when his parents went looking for work in the United States. Eight years later his parents send for him, and he's suddenly dealing with both culture shock and the stress of reuniting with a family he hardly knows.

The boy spends his afternoons watching wrestling matches on TV. Playwright Victor Maog said that in many ways the story reflects his own experience.

"It's really a play about the childhood imagination and how you can bounce off the ropes, and the lights can change, and there's smoke, and suddenly a lonely boy can create this fabulous life," he said.

"Tot" marks the 50th world premiere the Asian-American theater company has staged. Mu's tradition of producing new works began as a practical necessity, and grew into an important cultural legacy.

When Mu Performing Arts first formed back in 1992, the company not only had to train new talent to be in its shows, said Artistic Director Randy Reyes — it also had to create its own plays.

"In order for a theater company, an Asian-American theater company, to survive and to do work, we need to create work," he said. "Because there's just not enough work out there, plays out there for, by, with Asian-Americans."

"Asian-American" is an umbrella term that lumps together a vast number of different cultures. Reyes said that in Minnesota alone there are 40 ethnic groups that can be referred to as "Asian-American."

For Mu Performing Arts, that diversity has been a well of inspiration. Over the years the company has produced plays about Hmong farmers, first- and second-generation Chinese immigrants, Korean adoptees, Japanese detectives, Filipino debutantes and Laotian zombies. That's in addition to presenting its own stagings of Shakespeare classics and beloved Broadway musicals.

At first, many of the plays were written by Mu's founder, Rick Shiomi. Shiomi said he agrees with people who protest shows like "Miss Saigon" and "The Mikado" for presenting harmful stereotypes of Asian people.

"At the same time, though, you can't just protest," he said. "Because the complaint always is, 'Well, where's the other material?' So you have to be busy building that other material. That real material, that personal material, the stories that are truly reflections of those communities."

Shiomi encouraged Asian-American actors he knew to try their hand at playwriting. Mu Performing Arts works with the Playwrights Center and the Jerome Foundation to develop new talent. Then Mu gives the new plays a full production.

Playwrights Center director Jeremy Cohen said that kind of commitment to staging new works by diverse authors is rare among theaters.

"We're seeing lots of folks receiving fellowships or workshops or a reading, but when it comes to a full production, pulling the trigger doesn't happen as often," he said.

"tot" is Victor Maog's first play. He said there are very few stories that explore the trauma of separation among Filipino families.

"What's incredible about this opportunity is that it allows us to capture our culture, right? Hundreds of years from now, someone might be able to pick up this story and understand that there was some sort of moment about a little Filipino boy who lived through Hulk Hogan," he said. "And this is just one play. For me it's a great honor and a great gift but the greater gift is that there can be conversations hopefully across time."

"tot: THE UNTOLD, YET SPECTACULAR STORY OF (a filipino) HULK HOGAN" opens Friday night, and runs through June 26 at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul.