Sara Porkalob had received praise for playing a white Founding Father, Edward Rutledge, in the Broadway revival of 1776. But she had never had the opportunity to represent someone with her Filipino background until she wrote a role for herself. Her solo performance — Dragon Lady — tells the colorful story of Porkalob’s grandmother, Maria Porkalob Sr. A karaoke-loving daughter of a gangster, Maria I moved from the Philippines to the Pacific Northwest as a pregnant newly wed wife of an American soldier. (Senior made a cameo in the show until her death in 2022 and now appears in projection.) The show premiered in 2017 and has been touring the country, now joined by Dragon Mama, another Porkalob creation told from Sara’s mother’s perspective.
The Pittsburg Public Theater recently shared Dragon Lady with a broader audience through the League of Live Stream Theater, a non-profit that works primarily with regional theaters to broadcast their productions in real time. Built tenderly from a 9 minute senior year workshop assignment, the production runs 2:15 and spans over 40 years. Designed in a framework of a cabaret act with a three piece band, Hot Damn Scandal (Pete Irving, Jimmy Austin, and Mickey Stylin), the performance is engaging and freeing. On the night before her 60th birthday, Maria Sr. pulls her granddaughter aside in order to share some family secrets. Sara’s mother, Maria Jr., is obviously not the matriarch’s biggest fan. By revealing some less-than-flattering elements of her history, the elder Porkalob hopes to at least elicit understanding of if not forgiveness for her past actions from the newest generation.
Sasha Jin Schwartz’s set, bathed in blue with its raised rounded platforms and crisscross patterns, conveys the essence of a casino or nightclub. Under the guiding hand of director Andrew Russell and leveraging the intimacy of this ¾ round space, Porkalob changes skins in a flash, portraying those closest to Maria Sr. including her father, lovers, and five children. Each relationship shines a little more light into the painful darker corners (physical lighting by Spense Matubang). There is a particularly lovely and insightful exchange between Maria Sr’s two sons, Ron and Charlie, when they were younger. Sara’s singing voice is remarkably strong and soaring as she delivers a range of musical numbers from torchlight to jukebox. Mixed with atmospheric sound by Erin Bednarz, the selections help shift the mood and lighten the load.
Having broken away from the comfort of scene partners and backdrops, Porkalob has had to tap deeply into her own power as an artist. By appreciating the value of a personal story and sharing a genuine human experience, Porkalob has given us a work that resonates far beyond her own family. The language and themes are decidedly R-rated and intended for audiences over 18. A third play, Dragon Baby, told from Sara’s vantage point, as well as a TV adaptation of the entire cycle are currently in development.
For more information about Sara Porkalob and The Dragon Cycle, visit http://www.saraporkalob.com/. To explore the rest of the Pittsburg Public Theater Season, visit https://ppt.org/. To learn more about upcoming real-time simulcasts by the League of Live Stream, visit https://www.lolst.org/.
The Unforgettable Line 