{"id":2308,"date":"2012-11-01T03:31:04","date_gmt":"2012-11-01T03:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/?post_type=avada_portfolio&p=2308"},"modified":"2025-03-30T06:05:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T06:05:53","slug":"the-hundred-flowers-project","status":"publish","type":"avada_portfolio","link":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/portfolio-items\/the-hundred-flowers-project\/","title":{"rendered":"THE HUNDRED FLOWERS PROJECT"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE HUNDRED FLOWERS PROJECT<\/h1><\/div>

by Christopher Chen<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Crowded Fire Theatre Company
\nSan Francisco, CA<\/h3>\n

Scenic: Maya Linke
\nCostumes: Miyuki Bierlein
\nLighting: Heather Basarab
\nSound: Brendan Aanes
\nVideo: Wesley Carbal<\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n

\u201cIf you feel reality shifting beneath your feet early in Christopher Chen\u2019s\u00a0The Hundred Flowers Project<\/em>, just relax and enjoy the ride. Those earthquakes are most likely part of the play. And two hours of hairpin-turn paradigm shifts make for some very exciting theater in the world premiere that opened Monday at Crowded Fire Theater\u2019s new Thick House home\u2026 Developed and produced with Playwrights Foundation,\u00a0Flowers<\/em>\u00a0revels in a mixed-media meta-theatricality that unfolds its unexpected twists with sharp clarity. As the live and onscreen action spins out of control, Chen and director Desdemona Chiang keep the themes and possible plots fully accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote>

Rob Hurwitt<\/strong>, <\/span>SF Chronicle<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div>
\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how much I talk about The Hundred Flowers Project; there\u2019s no way I can adequately capture the dueling senses of chaos and exquisitely crafted architecture that make up Christopher Chen\u2019s play, which in its own way is as ambitious as the mammoth theatrical project that the characters in it are creating\u2014one that, of course, is also called The Hundred Flowers Project. In fact, the more I talk about it the less I feel I ought to, because so much of its magic lies in the unexpected places it goes in Crowded Fire Theater and Playwrights Foundation\u2019s world premiere production, dazzlingly staged by Desdemona Chiang with a superb cast and exquisitely coordinated technical elements.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote>

Sam Hurwitt<\/strong>, <\/span>The Idiolect<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div>
\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something utterly primal about the premise of this Crowded Fire\/Playwrights Foundation co-production: members of a San Francisco theater collective gather to create, in the most organic, zeitgeist-melding way, a dazzling piece of theater about the life and rule of Mao Tse Tung that has deep metaphorical connection to our own times. These theater folk are pretentious \u2013 the words \u201czeitgeist\u201d and \u201ccongealing\u201d are used so often they may cause indigestion \u2013 but they\u2019re also real artists trying to create something new and interesting and meaningful\u2026\u00a0a fascinating, even compelling piece of theater that feels like it really is about the here and now. OK, OK. You might even say it actually taps into the zeitgeist.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/blockquote>

Chad Jones<\/strong>, <\/span>TheaterDogs<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":751,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"portfolio_category":[4],"portfolio_skills":[],"portfolio_tags":[184],"class_list":["post-2308","avada_portfolio","type-avada_portfolio","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_category-theatre","portfolio_tags-crowded-fire-theatre-company"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/avada_portfolio\/2308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/avada_portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/avada_portfolio"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/avada_portfolio\/2308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2309,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/avada_portfolio\/2308\/revisions\/2309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"portfolio_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_category?post=2308"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_skills","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_skills?post=2308"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_tags?post=2308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}