Broadway star’s acclaimed solo show arrives in Pittsburgh in February 

If you don’t know her already, you will soon – Sara Porkalob has been on Broadway (1776), in theaters across the country with her own work, and at the forefront of critical conversations in American theater. 

The dynamic artist’s solo cabaret musical DRAGON LADY, the first installment in a three-part cycle and on stage in Pittsburgh this February at The Public, is a lot like her – impressive, dynamic, consequential, and entertaining. The two-hour show entertains and provokes from its first impression, offering and challenging its titular racist term ‘dragon lady,’ which stereotypes Asian women as mysterious, deceitful, and alluring. 

“The complicated history of the strong women of Sara’s family, the charms of Grandma and the unsympathetic lens through which daughter Maria recalls that generational trauma … all lend the story its power,” NPR wrote about DRAGON LADY durings its run in San Francisco at Marin Theatre Company. 

DRAGON LADY is about Sara’s grandmother, Maria, whom the artist described in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle as “mercurial, glamorous, hilarious, and sometimes violent.” The scene is Maria’s 60th birthday party, an occasion upon which she is tradition-bound to share her life story with her family – that’s the audience. Sara plays Maria (along with each of the dozen-plus characters), and is accompanied by a live band acclaimed in their own right (Hot Damn Scandal) as she sings familiar karaoke tunes with personalized lyrics, tracing the story of Maria’s life. 

The group has been on a mini-tour of DRAGON LADY where they have collaborated with each theater to produce distinct stagings, unlike traditional tours booked through a broader touring contract. 

“What this entails is a lot more labor – creative, artistic physical, emotional, and manual labor,” Porkalob said in an interview with The Public. “But by doing more work in these cities, the result of our collaboration is deeper and stronger, so we’re talking away with a bigger and deeper community.” 

DRAGON LADY in its current full-length edition was first staged in Seattle at Intiman Theatre in 2017, but the project’s roots are much older than that. Sara first started developing her Dragon Cycle, including DRAGON BABY and DRAGON MAMA, while a senior at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where at the time Marya Sea Kaminski, now artistic director at The Public, was a teacher. 

“It feels like coming home,” Porkalob said of arriving in Pittsburgh, despite never having been to the city. “To be here to share a specific play about my family in this theater, run by someone who has been cultivating this community – I want to know the community here the way that Marya knows them, and get to share something special of mine with them.” 

After student productions and workshops, the full-length installment of DRAGON LADY emerged through a collaboration with Andrew Russell, the former producing artistic director of the Tony Award-winning theater, who has directed every staging of the show. Seattle critics described the show as “commanding (and) irresistible,” and Sara shortly went to Boston, where American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) presented the show in 2018 – and then brought it right back for a return engagement the next year. 

“As I've evolved as a person and grown up, the play has evolved and grown,” Porkalob said. “It has become deeper and more complex as my own understanding of myself and my relationship to my family and my community has done the same.”

To connect audiences more deeply with the evolving and impactful story, The Public in collaboration with local artists Veronica Corpuz and Fran Flaherty will host a series of events, including a display of traditional and contemporary Filipino art live in the lobby of the O'Reilly Theater now.

“It's a beautiful gift that reminds me theater is a live art form,” Porkalob said. “But if we don't remember that, and we don't think to be intentional, oftentimes that's when theater falls flat – but every night and every moment is an opportunity to truly be in the present."  •••