An engaged gay couple with an expensive couch, a successful cartoonist who finds himself adding genitalia on his drawings of aliens, a closeted lesbian neurologist eager to learn all of her mother’s “authentic” recipes, and a dying Filipino curmudgeon obsessed with Romanian tits.
This is the volatile and hilarious cocktail of humans in House Rules, Writers Lab Co-Director A. Rey Pamatmat’s funny and deeply moving new play about two Filipino families dealing with the impending death of parents. Meantime, there’s plenty of monopoly, mahjong, and gin rummy to keep them all busy.
This production is a part of SubletSeries@HERE: Co-op, HERE’s curated rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical support.
Directions
About the Playwright
A. Rey Pamatmat’s plays include: House Rules, after all the terrible things I do (Huntington, Milwaukee Rep, About Face), Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (Humana Festival, Company One, Steinberg/ATCA New Play Citation, GLAAD and Lambda Nominee), and House Rules (Ma-Yi). He is currently working on Safe, Three Queer Plays a cycle that follows the recent seismic changes in Queer America through a gay man of color’s romantic and artistic life. His short works appeared in 59E59’s Summer Shorts 2016, New Black Fest’s Facing Our Truth, The Mysteries at The Flea, Keen Teens, Actors Theatre of Louisville’s New Play Project, and two Humana Festival anthologies. Other productions: Thunder Above, Deeps Below (Second Generation), A Spare Me (Waterwell), DEVIANT (Vortex), High/Limbo/High (HERE). Publication: Samuel French, Playscripts, Cambria Press, Vintage. Awards: ’12/’13 Hodder Fellowship, ’11/’12 PoNY Fellowship, Princess Grace Award and Special Projects Grant, NYFA Playwriting Fellowship, E.S.T./Sloan Grant. Rey is Co-Director of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab and teaches at Primary Stages ESPA and SUNY Purchase. BFA: NYU, MFA: Yale School of Drama. areypamatmat.wordpress.com
About the Director
Recent Off-Broadway: The Chinese Lady, Among The Dead, House/Rules, and Wong Kids in The Secret of the Space Chupacabra, Go! Ralph has been Ma-Yi Theater’s Artistic Director since 1996, and has been instrumental in establishing Ma-Yi Theater Company as the country’s leading incubator of new works by Asian American playwrights, reaping numerous Obie and Drama Desk Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical (KPOP), and most recently, the 2018 Ross Wetzsteon Obie Award. Apart from Ma-Yi Theater, his work has been seen on the stages of Ensemble Studio Theater, the Public Theater, Long Wharf Theater, Victory Gardens, Laguna Playhouse, Children’s Theater Company, and La Mama ETC, to name a few. This is for Damien, always and forever.
Cast
Tina Chilip
Jojo Gonzalez
Mia Katigbak
Jeffrey Omura
Conrad Schrott
Tiffany Villarin
James Yaegashi
Design Team
- Reid Thompson | Scenic Design
- Martin Schnellinger | Costume Design
- Oliver Wason | Lighting Design
- Fabian Obispo | Sound Design
- Jennifer Delac | Production Stage Manager