Presented as part of the Boston Fringe Festival
Produced by The Asian American Playwright Collective (AAPC)
May 6-11, 2025
The Rockwell
255 Elm Street
Somerville, MA 02144
Critique by Kitty Drexel
SOMERVILLE, Mass. — The Boston Theatre Festival hosted at Somerville’s Rockwell Theater was not the first fringe festival in Massachusetts. But! It is the only festival currently carrying the fringe moniker. I sincerely hope the producers keep up the momentum for 2026. In these days of fascist, unconstitutional grant dissolution, joyful theatre production is a form of resistance.
Approximately every ten years, a group of young, upstart theatre makers decides to reanimate Boston’s fringe scene. It was true in my day (the early 00s), and it’s true today. But, because of a lack of arts infrastructure in MA and that producing is darned hard work, the hard-won festival dies a quiet death. That was the case for theatres such as Performing Fusion Theatre’s Somerville Theatre Festival in 2015. Heart & Dagger’s SexFest in 2016. Then, a crop of festivals sprang up online during lockdown, like the Lilac Player’s 48-hour Play Festival. Boston Theater Company hosted the Queer Voices Festival in 2024 and last March. In a few weeks, Moonbox Productions presents its 4th Annual Boston New Works Festival from June 26-29, 2025. Boston University has held its own fringe festival for 28 years, but I don’t know if it truly counts when BU only hosts BU performances for BU audiences. Anyhoo…
Historically, Boston has difficulty retaining its fringe theatres and its fringe festivals. So, there’s lots of room for small and fringe theatre in Massachusetts. But be warned: Fringe theatres require funding and funding is sparse in the best of times. These days, everyone is tightening their belts; the brutal fight for donors is becoming a blood bath. Gird your loins, Trump has come for the National Endowment for the Arts again. May the odds be ever in your favor.
We were invited to the Boston Fringe Festival by the good folks of the Asian American Playwright Collective to see Spiritual Advisors, a cheery set of four 10-minute plays: Luz & Urduja Michelle M. Aguillon, Madam Tiffani, the Minor Arcane by Michael Lin, Deadline by Jamie Lin, and Whose Dream Is It Anyway? by Vivian Liu-Somers.
Festivals are a crucible for local playwrights. They show us what our playwrights have been working on in their spare time (if they have any) and how they’ve grown since their last big project. Ten-minute plays are difficult to write: A playwright must quickly show us who their characters are, what they want, and how they succeed or fail at their goals without spoiling the end or relying on stereotypes. They are difficult to write well but satisfying when successful.
LUZ & URDUJA
Playwright: Michelle M. Aguillon
Director: Jenny S. Lee
Assistant Director: Kai Chao
Luz: Karla Goo Lang
Maya: Ash Quasney-Sandler
Urduja: Noli French
In this comedic but realistic episode about a beleaguered single mother and her impressionable daughter, an ancestor guides them to do mighty things. Karla Goo Lang is Luz, a divorcee, getting her daughter Maya (Ash Quasney-Sandler) ready for school. Luz’s useless husband has forsaken his duties as a father again. Her ancestor, Urduja (Noli French), reminds Luz that she descends from warriors with a pep talk.
Aguillon’s script has sunny moments and good work from the actors, but like most young plays, the script needs to percolate. We know who Luz and Maya are; we recognize them as a mother and daughter from similar narratives. We know the least about Urduja and want to know more about her. Whether she’s imaginary or real, Urduja has magic. Feed our interest and try letting Urduja stay on stage. Try giving her the autonomy to appear and reappear for Luz. Is Urduja proud of the small gain Luz has made? Is Urduja a fixture in Luz’s life? Why does Urduja show up now and not during Luz’s decision to divorce her pointless Ex?
A small thing: Let Luz say goodbye to her friends on the phone. She’d hang up on her irresponsible Ex, but she’d say something quick to her friends before chatting with her kid.
Madam Tiffani, The Minor Arcane
Playwright: Michael Lin
Director: Violet Villanueva
Tiffani: Ash Quasney-Sandler
Ducky: Chantha Luk
Andie: Vivian Liu-Somers
Astrology is like Bitcoin but for the ladies.
Andi (Vivian Liu-Somers) and Ducky (Chantha Luk) are at a school-run small business festival when they happen upon Tiffani’s (Ash Quasney Sandler) tarot reading booth. Andi is open-minded, but Ducky fervently disbelieves in psychic readings. They pay $0.25 for a reading anyway. Tiffani pulls out her “special, new deck” to convince them to change their minds.
Madam Tiffani, the Minor Arcane is a delightful comedy about a potential romance and a clever kid who uses her precocity to manipulate the adults around her. Liu-Somers, Luk, and Sandler had a comfortable, natural chemistry that made their scenario seem realistic. The script by Michael Lin balances realism with surprising moments of impossibility. It’s a successful and fun ten-minute play that shows us who his characters are, what they want, and whether they achieve their goals. It was a highlight of the evening.
Deadline
Playwright: Jamie Lin
Director: Violet Villanueva
Cassie: Noli French
Lao Shu/Mom: Vivian Liu-Somers
Cassie (Noli French) has only a few hours left to submit her unwritten college essay. She doesn’t know what to write about. A visit from the spirit of Lao Shu (Vivian Liu-Somers) puts Cassie on the write track.
Deadline is an “I Wish” play: Cassie needs help; Lao Shu rushes in to save her. It has a good premise, but it tells more than it shows. It isn’t enough for an audience to see Cassie tap anxiously at a keyboard. Why are we seeing Cassie in this moment and not any other? Why should her struggle matter to us? If Lao Shu is the reason this play exists, give us more Lao Shu. We need clearer choices from the playwright and the director.
We’re given a confrontation between Cassie and Lao Shu. While the actors give compelling performances, the audience wants to see Cassie face her adversity head-on, not hear about it secondhand. Then, show us how Cassie embraces the woman she intends to become. We hope that woman wouldn’t spend her one precious life tapping away at a keyboard for an audience.
Whose Dream Is It Anyway?
Playwright: Vivian Liu-Somers
Director: Violet Villanueva
Tina: Karla Goo Lang
Dream Fairy: Chantha Luk
Whose Dream Is It Anyway? is a sweet play derailed by its set dressing – or lack thereof. A fringe play requiring a bed as part of its premise that patrons paid to see needs a bed: Use a chaise lounge. Use an air mattress. Use a sleeping bag outside a tent. Or, pick a different play. Your cast and your audience deserve better.
