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
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e5ea2fc637221fd73817400f6c6d7fffea6d9afccae579ee39d8debbbe692cea/Little-Man-photo-doodle-overlay.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d1fbe3dba6c3edc95a85a8738965f16de6e86ef6475a082be923a83c0f6b87be/PoorYella-pro12.jpg)
“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
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9b7afddecb89b0e65fe4e1dd98ad577ecf8acab4815eeaa26b08ef5e98b88b7c/Little_Man_V2.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/624521c6c09ac9d922f5ef725952e004fe20ba0f1a91e931368ce9ae6f5608f7/PoorYella-pro1.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e92ae31023d37e0bdad53246af00e118d2b45d1e2bd4b3e1eca8b2e1a129eb8a/PYR-Litte-Man-Concept-04-2-19.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dcb37c0d488f006858f06aa5ebeca2533474a608f938a64636cafe4d1e3f4ecb/PoorYella-pro10.jpg)