POOR YELLA REDNECKS
Director ︎ May Adrales
Writer ︎ Qui Nguyen
Music / Sound Design ︎ Shane Rettig
Scenic Design ︎ Arnulfo Maldonado
Costume Design ︎ Valérie Thérèse Bart
Lighting Design ︎ Lap Chi Chu
Video Deisgn ︎ Jared Mezzocchi
Puppet Design and Direction ︎ Sean Cawelti
Writer ︎ Qui Nguyen
Music / Sound Design ︎ Shane Rettig
Scenic Design ︎ Arnulfo Maldonado
Costume Design ︎ Valérie Thérèse Bart
Lighting Design ︎ Lap Chi Chu
Video Deisgn ︎ Jared Mezzocchi
Puppet Design and Direction ︎ Sean Cawelti
World Premiere
South Coast Repertory | Manhatten Theatre Club (May 2020)
In the award-winning Vietgone, Qui Nguyen recounted his parents’ hot and hilarious courtship in a Vietnamese refugee camp in 1975. Now, six years later, Tong and Quang are building new lives in a foreign land called Arkansas. But marriage is hard – especially when she’s having doubts and his first one isn’t over yet. One family’s history makes for a raucously funny, deeply moving take on the immigrant story, told with hip-hop style.
Puppet Design
“Sean Cawelti’s puppet design gives Little Man an expressive vulnerability.” - LA Times
“The sight of Qui's younger self as a puppet is certainly a bold theatrical choice that at first seems odd, but eventually becomes almost divinely poetic---a character figuratively caught between worlds and affected/manipulated by those around him.” - Broadway World
South Coast Repertory | Manhatten Theatre Club (May 2020)
In the award-winning Vietgone, Qui Nguyen recounted his parents’ hot and hilarious courtship in a Vietnamese refugee camp in 1975. Now, six years later, Tong and Quang are building new lives in a foreign land called Arkansas. But marriage is hard – especially when she’s having doubts and his first one isn’t over yet. One family’s history makes for a raucously funny, deeply moving take on the immigrant story, told with hip-hop style.
Puppet Design
The character of Little Man was created as a two person manipulated, Bunraku inspired figure. His head was sculpted and created using a Papier-mâché technique. The puppet’s body features an aluminum frame and foam padding to provide shape and ensure durability.
“Sean Cawelti’s puppet design gives Little Man an expressive vulnerability.” - LA Times
“The sight of Qui's younger self as a puppet is certainly a bold theatrical choice that at first seems odd, but eventually becomes almost divinely poetic---a character figuratively caught between worlds and affected/manipulated by those around him.” - Broadway World
“In a brilliant ploy, the playwright presents Little Man as a child size puppet operated by Eugene Young and Paco Tolson so skillfully that they disappear, reminding this viewer of Japanese bunraku and Avenue Q.” - Paul Myrvold's Theatre Notes
“... Little Man, a boy caught between two languages and two cultures and played by an inspired puppet (the creation of Sean Cawelti).” - Cultural Weekly
“... Little Man, a boy caught between two languages and two cultures and played by an inspired puppet (the creation of Sean Cawelti).” - Cultural Weekly
