By Naomi Iizuka
Directed by Margo Hall
Garuda’s Wing, a mesmerizing blend of personal intimacy and international intrigue! Garuda’s Wing is a magical experience, a spellbinding trance that begins in Borneo and takes us back and forward in time. Hold on and follow the ghosts as we traverse a riveting tale of search, discovery, and even murder, both at an intimate, familial level and on a grand, global colonial scale. Iizuka showcases her unique talent to craft intimate human portraits while evoking layers of revolution and colonial effects!
June 5 - June 23
Wednesdays - Saturdays 8:00 PM
Sundays 4:00 PM
Playwright and Director
Naomi Iizuka - Playwright
Naomi lizuka’s plays include ANON(YMOUS), 36 VIEWS, POLAROID STORIES, AT THE VANISHING POINT, LANGUAGE OF ANGELS, SKIN, TATTOO GIRL, ALOHA SAY THE PRETTY GIRLS, CITIZEN 13559, CONCERNING STRANGE DEVICES FROM THE DISTANT WEST, and SLEEP (in collaboration with RipeTime). Her plays have been produced at theatres across the country including BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Berkeley Rep, the Goodman, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, the Guthrie, Cornerstone, Children’s Theater Company, the Public Theater, and Campo Santo. lizuka is an alumna of New Dramatists and the recipient of a PEN/Laura Pels Award, an Alpert Award, a Whiting Award, a Stavis Award from the National Theatre Conference, a Joyce Foundation Award, and a Hodder Fellowship. She was a Berlind Playwright-in-Residence at Princeton University. In television, Iizuka has written for THE TERROR: INFAMY (AMC), TOKYO VICE (HBO Max), BOSCH: LEGACY (Amazon), and THE SYMPATHIZER (HBO Max). Iizuka heads the MFA Playwriting program at UC San Diego where she is incredibly inspired by the next generation of playwrights.
Margo Hall* - Director
MARGO HALL is an award-winning actor, director, playwright, educator, and the Artistic Director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre., and a founding member of Campo Santo. She has graced Bay Area stages for over 35 years. She is thrilled to be working with Naomi Iizuka again. Margo had the pleasure of performing in 17 Reasons Why and directing/ perfoming in Polaroid Stories by Iizuki. She was last seen in Josephine’s Feast by Star Finch for Campo Santo and Magic Theatre. Other acting highlights include Black Odyssey, Skeleton Crew, Gem of the Ocean, Marcus or the Secret of Sweet, Trouble in Mind, Barbecue (also directed), and A Winter’s Tale. Film credits include Bottled Spirits, All Day and a Night, Blindspotting, and the voice of Melba in Pixar’s SOUL. TV credits include Blindspotting, Chances, and Nash Bridges. Directing highlights include How I Learned What I Learned, Nollywood Dreams, Barbecue, Red Velvet, and Ragtime. She recently co-created and directed the world premiere production of In The Evening by The Moonlight, a play by Traci Tolmaire about Lorraine Hansberry with Nina Simone and James Baldwin for Lorraine Hansberry Theatre.
Cast (in alphabetical order)
Juan Amador* - Michael Suarez
Juan Manuel Amador (he/him) is excited to be back at his theatrical homebase the Magic Theatre after most recently being seen here as Pappadeux in Ashley's Smiley's Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad. Juan is an actor, emcee, DJ, and active member of the Bay Area's Campo Santo artist collective. Regional Credits: A Lie of the Mind (Magic Theatre); Romeo y Juliet, Quixote Nuevo (Cal Shakes); Between Riverside and Crazy (San Jose Stage); Candlestick (ACT Costume Shop); Casa de Spirits (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts); To The Bone (Ubuntu Theater Project); Babylon is Burning (Z Space); Superheroes (Cutting Ball Theater). National Tours: The Travelers (Magic Theatre/ Latino Theater Company); Quixote Nuevo (Hartford Stage/Huntington Theatre Company/Alley Theatre); Nogales (Borderlands Theater/Magic Theater); Tree City Legends (Living Word Project). Audio Plays: Hotel Angulo; The Palacios Sisters; Shelter. Web Series: East WillyB. Film: Side Effects (Campo Santo); 406 Bullet. Awards: Connecticut Critics Circle; Grammy Award nominee. You can also hear Juan every weeknight (when he's not performing) 8-10pm on 91.7 KALW in the Bay Area. Juan would like to dedicate this performance to his Father Juan Francisco Amador and Aunt Sonia Amador. May the search continue..
Catherine Castellanos* - Julia Barrett
To be home is a tender blessing-here, in San Francisco, with my Campo Santo familia since 2001, beginning with our angel brother Luis Saguar’s Hotel Angulo. The start of one of the most profound gifts I’ve received, as an artist and person. Louie and I tripped our wares, along with so many beautiful artists, in my first Naomi Iizuka journey at Intersection For The Arts/Campo Santo with her play: 17 Reasons(Why?). The world is held with our writers. At this Magic edge of land place, I’m grateful to commune with you all and send our ripples out to the bay, beyond the Golden Gate, from all of our hearts sending sonic beats and energy: to heal, to better understand, to yearn to learn, to love. Gratitude to my generous sons, to Dani, to Margo and Sean, to Nancy and Carmela, to Lori, and to baby West. May we strive to make this world a better place for his bright and amazing future. For Lucy and Joe-love, your dreamgirl.
Nora el Samahy* - Ellen Sewell
Nora is a Resident Artist at Golden Thread Productions, a company member of Campo Santo, and Playground. She has worked at Oregon Shakespeare Company, Portland Center Stage, Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Repertory, Crowded Fire, Magic Theatre, foolsFURY, Traveling Jewish Theatre, Theatre Rhinoceros, Shotgun Players, The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, African American Shakespeare Company, among others. In 2013 Nora founded a performance company called Affinity Project with Atosa Babaoff, Beatrice Basso and Emily Hoffman. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees with Golden Thread.
Kina Kantor* - Diah Imazumi
Kina Kantor is a Bay Area actor, artist, and cellist. Kina is honored and thrilled to have The Magic Theatre as her artistic home for the Naomi Iizuka Repertory Company. Selected Bay Area credits include: the West Coast premiere of Mrs. Christie (TheatreWorks), originating the role of Gao-Ming in the World Premiere of The Great Khan (San Francisco Playhouse), The Far Country u/s (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Great Wave u/s (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (San Francisco Playhouse), Tiny Beautiful Things (San Francisco Playhouse). She also works with companies such as the American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Crowded Fire, Word for Word, and PlayGround SF. Kina is a company member of the Actor’s Reading Collective (ARC) and has taught at the Academy of Art University in SF. @kinakantor (she/her)
Jeunée Simon* - Grace Kibawa
Jeunée Simon (she/her) is bicoastal actor, director, and consent educator. Recent acting credits include: The Ripple, The Wave That Carried Me Home u/s (World Premiere, Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Intimate Apparel (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre), La Ronde (Cutting Ball Theater), Men On Boats u/s, performed* (American Conservatory Theater)—as well as the one person shows: Tasha (3Girls Theatre) and Stoop Stories (Aurora Theatre Company). Simon is a proud recipient of the 2017 RHE Artistic Fellowship and was a 2019 Directing Apprentice with PlayGround. www.jeuneesimon.com
Mia Tagano* - Alice Wilson-Lee
Mia Tagano* is a Voice/Speaker Coach, Teacher (recently finished 2 years teaching at ACT with their SF Semester and Studio ACT programs), and professional Actor whose local credits include Magic (Every Five Minutes), Berkeley Rep (Macbeth), Aurora Theatre (Splendour and Bull In A China Shop), ACT (Love and Information), Cal Shakes (Hamlet and NicholasNickleby), Oakland Theatre Project (Hamlet, Macbeth, The Endlings), and TheatreWorks (MButterfly, Snow Falling on Cedars, Calligraphy and Loudest Man on Earth); Regional credits include Tamburlaine (DC’s Shakespeare Theatre), Tantalus (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), and Snow Falling on Cedars (Hartford Stage and Portland Center Stage). New York credits include Far East (Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts), 99 Histories (Cherry Lane Theater), and Song of Singapore (Capital Repertory). Internationally, Mia toured the UK with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 10-hour Tantalus (9-month rehearsal in Denver) closing at the Barbican. A member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA since 1998, Mia received her MFA in Acting from the University of Washington. She can be heard as Aunt Lily in Disney/Pixar's film, Turning Red. For information, regarding Mia's coaching and more, go to: https://www.miataganocoaching.com/
Creative Team
Monique Crawford - Assistant Director
Monique Crawford is ecstatic to get her feet in the waters of assistant directing once again! Monique is a multidisciplinary African-Caribbean artist and actor from Fairfield, CA. She graduated from California State University Sacramento with her B.A. in Theatre. Monique has most recently performed in American Conservatory Theater’s inaugural A.C.T. OUT Tour of Measure for Measure, EDIT ANNIE (Crowded Fire Theater), Mondragola (Central Works), and Cinderella (African-American Shakespeare Company). Monique founded BE FREE (Black Engaged Fundamental Racial Equity Everyday), calling for radical change within CSU Sacramento, where she also led affinity and Racial Healing Circles through The Center for Spiritual Awareness. Follow Monique on social media to stay updated with what’s coming next! IG: @monique.c.rawford
Camryn Daniels - Assistant Stage Manager
This is Camryn Daniels second show with The Magic Theatre as an Assistant Stage Manager. She previously worked as Assistant Stage Manager for The Magic’s Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad. Camryn is delighted to be a part of the Garuda’s Wing team and thanks her fiancé Max and her parents for their love and support.
Jamielyn Duggan - Assistant Costume Designer
Jamielyn is a multidisciplinary native San Franciscan artist rooted in contemporary performance and visual design. As creative director of Eimaj Design since 04’ they create “fashion that moves” through custom design, concept and production work. Collaborations with diverse clients include: SFDFF, ODC, LEVY dance, LINES Ballet, AXIS, SF Dance Works, Liss Fain, Bandaloop, Fly Away Productions, Oakland Ballet, MFDP/SF, Hope Mohr, John Sanborn, Gregory Dawson, Amy Seiwert, Sidra Bell, and Alexander Ekman. Their work encompass avant-garde to casual garments made to be seen, costume for live performance and film, image styling, wardrobe supervision, content creation and private client commissions. www.JamielynDuggan.com
Maria Frangos - Dramaturg
Maria is very excited to be returning for her second production with the Magic Theatre and Campo Santo, after having worked as research dramaturg on Luis Alfaro’s The Travelers in 2023. Her previous dramaturgy includes Santa Cruz Shakespeare (The 39 Steps, Pride & Prejudice, Venus in Fur, and Undiscovered Shakespeare: The Wars of the Roses) and the La Jolla Playhouse (Tony Kushner’s adaptation of Brecht’s Good Person of Setzuan). She has an MA in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State and a PhD from UC Santa Cruz, where her work focused on comparative literature, drama, and Shakespeare. Maria has performed in The Grapes of Wrath with Oakland Theater Project, has taught script analysis at Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, directed a production of Sophocles’s Antigone at SFSU, and has recently taught courses such as “Gender, Race, and Disability in American Drama” at UC Santa Cruz.
Dave Gardner - Set Contruction
Dave’s been very happy to work on theatre productions all over the Bay Area for 25 years… With the Magic Theatre being one of his favorites. Dave also keeps busy working on television and film projects and large public artworks that have been seen on the streets of San Francisco, and at the Smithsonian.
Oliver Holmes - Board Operation/Assistant Lighting Design
Oliver (he/him) is thrilled to be part of the Magic team. Productions include, The Travelers by Luis Alfaro, Riding the Currents of the Wild Wind by Virginia Grise and Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad by Ashley Smiley.
AeJay Marquis Mitchell*
AeJay Marquis Mitchell (They/Them) is a multi-hyphenate performance artist, scholar, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. This is their third time serving as creative consultant with Magic Theatre. They recently served as the co-director, choreographer, and vocal arranger for the world premiere of Ryan M. Luevano’s Dance Plague. Some of their favorite creative projects include Antigonick and Marisol with The Black Box @ SPA, The Legend of Pink, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Sister Act with Theatre Rhinoceros, as well as Robert O’Hara’s Booty Candy and American Ma(ul) at the Brava Theatre with BACCE. They serve as an Artistic Associate at Marin Shakespeare Company, Artistic Producer at Playwright’s Foundation, and Education Associate at Berkeley Rep's School of Theatre where they produce the High School Theatre Festival of Devised Work and mentor young theatre artists. They are a member of the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience Collective, Omega Delta Kappa Honor Society, Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Actor’s Equity.
Ashley Mendez - Props Artisan
Ashley Méndez (she/her) is a performer, writer, and scenic designer. She received her degree from California State University, Stanislaus in both Theatre Arts and English. Her design work has been seen in venues across Northern California. Méndez's artistry revolves around various themes including the immigrant experience, women's issues, mental health, and queer lives. Some of her selected design work includes Fran Astorga's Exhaustion Arroyo: Dancing Trees in the Ravine directed by R. Réal Vargas Alanis and Fran Astorga (In the Margin/ Cutting Ball Theater), Mary Glen-Fredrick’s Edit Annie directed by Leigh Rondon-Davis and Nailah Harper-Malveaux (Crowded Fire Theater/ Magic Theater), Deneen Reynolds-Knott’s Babes in Ho-lland directed by Leigh Rondon-Davis (Shotgun Players/ Ashby Stage), and David Auburn’s Proof directed by Anna Rose (Prospect Theater Project). |IG: ashleymendez03| ashleymilagros.com. Sent from my iPhone
Crys Nilson - Deck Crew
Crys Nilson, they/he Excited to make San Francisco home base for learning and participating in theater of all kinds! Aspiring to be an actor in the future but working as Stage hand for now.
Tanya Orellana** - Scenic Design
TANYA ORELLANA (she/her – Scenic Designer) designs performance spaces for theatre and opera. Originally from San Francisco’s Mission District, she is a core member of the award-winning ensemble Campo Santo. Recent collaborations include Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone 2 directed by Jaime Castañeda, Fefu and Her Friends directed by Pam MacKinnon, Oedipus directed by Jenny Koons at The Getty Villa, The Industry’s Sweet Land, an immersive opera directed by Yuval Sharon and Cannupa Hanska Luger, and LEAR by Marcus Gardley, co-directed by Eric Ting and Dawn Monique Williams. Tanya received her MFA in Scenic Design from CalArts and is the 2016 recipient of the Princess Grace Fabergé Theatre Award. She is a member of Wingspace Theatrical Design and an organizing member of La Gente: The Latine Production Network. www.tanyaorellana.com
Joan Osato - Video Design
Joan has played a pivotal role in local and national theater for over two decades and is a committed local and national community organizer. A core member of Youth Speaks since 2001 where she produces live performance events. She is also Producer for The Living Word Project and the critically acclaimed theater group Campo Santo. As cultural organizer - she works on behalf of national networks, and sits on the board of directors of the National Performance Network, and the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists and has been recognized for her work as Cal Shakes Awardee for Community Engagement, and was named a recipient of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, YBCA 100. She is an awardee of prestigious grants from the MAP Fund, Creative Capital and the Creative Work Fund. She was the inaugural recipient of SFAC’s Artist and Communities Partnership Grant, Theater Bay Area Award for Excellence in Video Design and the Surdna Foundation’s Artists Engaged in Social Change Award. Plays and films for Campo Santo include The Travelers, by Luis Alfaro, Josephine’s Feast by Star Finch and Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad by Ashley Smiley.
Lauren Quan* - Stage Manager
FREE PALESTINE! Long live the brave university students all around the world! https://linktr.ee/ucscsjp
Christopher Sauceda - Sound Design
gg torres** - Lighting Design
grisel/gg (they/she) is a mexican artist born and based on Ohlone Territory. As a lighting and sound designer for theatre works, GG enjoys every opportunity to explore improvisational scores and seeks to compliment whatever poetic dichotomy that is longing to be found. She earned a B.A. in Technical Theatre and Design from SFSU. Artistically, she is spoken to by close-by ancestral relatives, a subjugated and beautiful earth, queers that push back, special spheres above us, Aretha Franklin, and the mise-en-scène of every living moment. GG is currently serving as the Producing Technical Director at the San Francisco experimental dance venue CounterPulse (FKA 848 Performance Space) . Over the last 10 years, GG has designed lights for many renowned Bay Area experimental art makers such as as Oysterknife, Kat Cole, jose e. abad, Transcriptions01, gizeh muniz vengal & Ernesto Peart, FRESH dance festival, Kularts, Joshua Icban, 7000COILS, Keith Hennessy/Circo Zero/TRY, Sara Shelton Mann, Golden Thread Productions, Joe Goode Performance Group, Campo Santo, SF 2 Spirit Performance Festival: Weaving Spirits, Fresh Meat Festival, as well as numerous local underground dance events. GG is grateful to have a hand in radical art and art making in the Bay Area and at Magic Theatre! Enjoy.
Kyo Yohena** - Costume Design
Kyo is an artist and performer in the Bay Area and has spent the last 11 years mainly designing, building, and maintaining costumes for actors, dancers, and musicians. She is back at the Magic after designing Josephine's Feast and will be designing Richard II after this world premier of Garuda's Wing. Recently, Kyo has designed Costumes for indie film The Truer History of the Chan Family and for ODC's dance piece A Brief History of Up & Down. She is also the crafts artisan for the Stanford Theater Department and currently tours with Daryl Hall. Kyo roots her designs from her various experiences in communities embodied in Okinawan connectedness, San Francisco eclecticness, LA grunge and desert dwelling Americana of Corona, California.
This play contains smoking, gunshots, and flashing projections that may trigger photo-sensitivities. The play also contains themes, dialogue and depiction of gun violence against women of color; deforestation and species eradication; land extraction, occupation and genocide; parental Alzheimer’s disease and its impact on families; mental and emotional breakthroughs of black femme individuals.
Magic Theatre Team
Artistic/Lead Director SEAN SAN JOSÉ
Managing Director KEVIN NELSON
Director of Growth / Associate Lead Director LIAM VINCENT
Director of Communications STEPHANIE HOLMES
Artistic and Production Liaison SARA HUDDLESTON
Director of Education ELY SONNY ORQUIZA
House Production Technician LEAH HAMMOND
Producing Director DANIEL DUQUE-ESTRADA
Director of Institutional Giving BRECHIN FLOURNOY
Administrative Coordinator SUSIE LAMPERT
Bookkeeper 2 PLUS 2 BOOKKEEPING
Marketing and PR Consultant JONATHAN WHITE
Resident Sound Design and Tech CHRISTOPER SAUCEDA
Production Support OLIVER HOLMES
Magic Theatre Board of Trustees
Co-Chairs
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Co-Secretaries
ANNE LAI & KATHERINE DANIEL
Trustees
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COLMAN DOMINGO
KAREN DONOVAN
IRENE FAYE DULLER
ANGELA MARINO
KEVIN NELSON
JOAN OSATO
VALERIE SAINTE-AGATHE
SEAN SAN JOSÉ
RICHARD TSANG
Our Generous Donors
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Jerome Gentes
Jay Yamada
Greg Price
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Become part of the MAGIC
With the appointment of Sean San José as the new Artistic Director in June 2021, Magic enters a new golden age, as the first person of color to fully lead the organization in its 50+ year history. With this new leadership Magic is dedicated to making the Magic Theatre a home to more people by rightfully centering Black, Indigenous, and people of color.