Creators of new musical aim to bridge cultures
Melissa Li and Abe Rybeck are not your average pair.
Rybeck, 46, is the gregarious and sometimes outrageous playwright and founder and artistic director of the Theater Offensive, while the earnest Li, 23, is a fledgling folk musician and filmmaker. But the two have teamed up to create a musical, "Surviving the Nian," which will have its world premiere tomorrow in the Roberts Studio at the Boston Center for the Arts' Calderwood Pavilion.
"She's half my age," says Rybeck, "but she has this enormous talent. She [has] a wonderful ability to listen, learn, and then almost instantly apply what she needs to the show."
Li, whose family moved to Boston when she was a baby, had never written a musical , but she says, "music is my language. The challenge for me has been writing songs that fit with a character and move the story along. That's different than just writing for myself."
Music director Juri Panda Jones says working on this music has been a treat because it's such a mix. "Melissa has folk, rock, and pop tunes among the 26 songs in the show," says Jones, "but she also has worked in some Chinese melodic modes, which involve large musical leaps for the singers."
"Surviving the Nian" follows 23-year-old Kaylin, who is returning home to Hong Kong after five years studying and working in Boston. She's spending the two-week period of Nian (New Year) with her family and using the reunion as an opportunity to introduce her family to her girlfriend and let them know she won't be staying to help with the family business. The story's dramatic arc takes advantage of the traditional symbolism of each of the days of the Chinese New Year celebration, while also working in themes of family expectations and loyalty.
"It's really about mothers and daughters," says Li, "and I think most people can relate to that tension."
Rybeck and the Theater Offensive have been nurturing "Surviving the Nian" during its four-year development, with workshops and readings through the company's Plays at Work program. Li's talent was recognized from her first days of involvement as a teenager working with Theater Offensive's True Colors group, and she went on to make a documentary about the Theater Offensive while at Boston University.
Two years into the growth of "Surviving the Nian, " she asked Rybeck for help writing the book.
"My job is to help shape the big picture of the story," says Rybeck. "Sometimes I would write dialogue to get the scene going, and then Melissa would use that information to write a song there."
The collaboration has paid off; the team won a Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award for New Musical Theater in support of the production.
"I'm thrilled with the recognition," says Rybeck, "but I'm really more excited about the story Melissa is telling. By developing new work like this, we're making this art form accessible to people from different communities, but the story we're telling -- be true to yourself -- is universal."
Runs through May 5. Tickets: $20-40. 617-933-8600, bostontheatrescene.com.
" 'The Miracle Worker' is just one of those plays that awakens the soul," says Parker. "All of us at some point are locked in a dark and silent prison, and while it may not be as intense as Helen Keller's, we all have to confront that darkness. This play is a symbol of hope and faith."
Cove Fine Arts Center, Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy, April 19-21. Tickets: $10. 617-745-3715.
Free; $10 donation suggested. Reservations recommended: 617-266-0800.
