Playwright exposes Asian male stereotypes

[attach]4254[/attach]Playwright Byron Abalos isn’t in it for the shock value.

Well, maybe a little.

But really, how else to draw attention to his new play on Asian masculinity and stereotypes than to title it Brown Balls?

The show tackles issues like race, gender and sex by following three frustrated young men who have disguised themselves as Asian fictional characters Charlie Chan, and Fu Manchu and the late Bruce Lee. They attempt to reclaim their masculinity or — ahem — “brown balls”.

Abalos, an Annex resident, explained what the audience can expect from his play as he was preparing for the show’s May 3 debut at the Factory Studio Theatre.

“They’re going to have that entertainment value,” he said of his audience. “But they’re also going to be asked to think or to be critical of themselves and their society.”

Abalos’ first play was about family, he says, so he wrote his second play, Brown Balls, based on his peers and community.

“I wanted to explore Asian masculinity in a North American context, and I wanted to take a look at Asian male stereotypes,” The Ryerson theatre grad said.

“By writing this show, it was a way for me to combat those negative, incomplete portrayals of Asian men that are usually found in popular culture.”

Abalos said he got the idea for the play after playing a part in a reprisal of another Asian male-centric show called “Banana Boys.” In that show there’s a scene about sexual hierarchy.

“So it talks about how white guys can date whoever they want, but Asian guys generally don’t have a lot of options. That scene kind of planted a seed in me and I was like ‘okay, there’s lots there that I can talk about and explore.”

The 29 year old second-generation Filipino-Canadian says his struggle to understand his own identity played a major role in the creation of Brown Balls. Abalos said he used to view the Filipino and the Canadian perspectives as in battle with one another.

“You can actually be both at the same time … so I identify as Filipino, Canadian and Filipino-Canadian.”

Abalos says his play shows how being different connects people.

“We each have to share the same experiences of feeling like we’re not enough, feeling isolated and left out,” he said. “I really think of it as a cultural critique.”

In the end, it’s a night out to enjoy some comedy, Abalos says.

“Ultimately, I hope that people come to the theatre, have a great night, they laugh, and at the end of the night they question their own biases and prejudices.”

Brown Balls was presented by fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company, and ran until May 15 at the Factory Studio Theatre on Bathurst Street, between Queen Street West and King Street West.