Set on a beach in Southern California, “Flipzoids” is a funny and highly moving story about three Filipino immigrants in America navigating through the shifting landscape of home, desire, loneliness and belonging. The play examines what it means to be an outsider, to be Filipino and/or American, to be a hybrid.
Redford arrived in America from the Philippines as a child and spends his time in public restrooms in search of relationships to fill a void in his identity. Instead, he finds connection through a chance meeting with Aying, an older Filipina on a beach. It is through Aying that Redford discovers his culture.
Aying’s daughter, Vangie, is a nurse who holds all of American culture in a tight embrace and who diligently memorizes the dictionary to sound smarter - more American. She is in awe of the glamour of upscale shopping malls and wants so badly to blend in…to “melt into the soup,” in an attempt to forget about her past in the Philippines.
Aying, Vangie’s mother, struggles with understanding a daughter to whom she has become an embarrassment. Aying refuses to relinquish any of the culture and tradition of their homeland. She is a story teller who clings to traditions and rituals, laughs heartily and cares deeply while imparting bits of wisdom through her folk tales. Aying is the link between Vangie and Redford and their shared cultural memory. Together, they search to understand their identity in their new American world.
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Directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera, Artistic Director for Playwrights’ Arena in Hollywood, CA. This award-winning theatrical work is brought to life by a trio of outstanding performers:
Becca Godinez, Ellen D. Williams and Maxwel Corpuz
FLIPZOIDS received its world premiere on October 4, 1996 by Ma-Yi Theater Company, Ralph B. Peña, Artistic Director, Jorge Z. Ortoll, Executive Director.
Here are some review for “FLIPZOIDS”
“Latino Theater Company's 'Flipzoids' Is Fascinating and Discomfiting”
“…because Rivera’s design and staging choices underscore the characters’ separateness, the production also highlights the play’s sometimes awkward leaps between realities. As a result, we’re left with marvelous stuff in “Flipzoids”…
Jennie Webb, Backstage LA Theatre Review
“Jon Lawrence Rivera, the director, does a marvelous job. His vision is simple, his characters complex and lyrical. It is a magical play about a journey home with no one having a solution to get there. Or maybe they are home, they just don’t know it. In any case, Rivera brings to life a wonderful play that will lift your spirits and swathe your life…”
“…the mesmerizing Godinez is earthy and ephemeral, hilarious and heartbreaking.”
J. Webb - Backstage LA Theatre Review
“…Aying [was] ably played by the accomplished and astonishingly character transformed Becca Godinez.”
Cold Heat News LA
“Becca Godinez’ Aying was a beautiful powerhouse. Her performance wasn’t performative, as she truly took on the life and characteristics of this amazing provinciana… She was able to bring them…to the kind of slightly heightened realism that makes live theater so wonderful.”
R P Gonzales - pLAywriting in the City
“It’s a triumphant return to stage acting for Becca, who inhabits Aying with natural ease, as she shifts from teasing Redford… to movingly expressing her homesickness…”
R Nepales – Inquirer LA
“Godinez finds the humor in this role and uses it to her utmost. She is delightful in so many ways and gives a grand life to this character.”
J. Straw - SAG/AFTRA, Hollywood Chair EEOC
“Assimilated, alienated, ashamed, “atrophied”…some powerful stuff at the Los Angeles Theatre Center’s presentation of Flipzoids about immigrants in America. Wonderful production, Ted Benito, Jon Lawrence Rivera and deeply played Becca Godinez. “Pangit ako” (go see it, you’ll get it!)
A. Jacinto - Kayamanan Ng Lahi, LA
“ [Becca} …played her as a very real "flesh and blood" woman with humor, strength, sadness, and a gravitas that belied her deceptively simple philosophies in life.”
F. dela Torre – FrancisFilms LA
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