Kickstarter

Friends and supporters!

THANK YOU. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August was an amazing, exhausting, and surreal experience.  If you want more details about how it went... Check out this blog I wrote which really gets into it in NUMBERS.

I am about 95% done fulfilling Kickstarter rewards to everyone who provided me with a mailing address.  That's right!  I've sewn, stuffed, and mailed quite a lot of things between providing live entertainment to worldwide audiences!  I'm a machine!  All that I have left to make is one doll for my cousins and a bunch of thank you videos that I plan to get done while here in New England for a month.  Let me know if your package didn't make it.  But otherwise, thank you for your patience!

**And Holy COW CRAP!  I'm making a new show!  The Wong Street Journal! And I got ten days to DOUBLE ALL DONATIONS with a SPECIAL MATCHING GRANT**

The WONG STREET JOURNAL is a new show exploring global poverty. I'm interested in understanding the global economy, understanding the effect of NGOs in the 3rd world, and helping people lose weight-- It's going to be a crazy new piece that probably won't premiere in full for another few years but I am eligible for a Matching Grant that is only around for me THIS MONTH.  Horrible timing, I know.  But I took the opportunity because it meant I could raise up to $5000 in matching funds-- funds that will stretch the life of a project very far.

So if by chance, you have the sweetness in your heart to throw Sister Wong another tax-deductible bone before October 31, just know that every dollar you give will be automatically doubled!  Even $1 would make me lose my crap with joy.  DONATE HERE!

(But if you can't do it, I do not hold it against you.  As I said, this is really bad timing.)

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Tomorrow we drive out to the five city NEW ENGLAND tour of Going Green the Wong Way!  Here is the tour info for Going Green the Wong Way in MA, VT, NH, CT and PA.  Tell your friends who live out there! 

October 22 & 23
Going Green the Wong Way
UMASS Amherst Amherst, MA
Event Info here

Oct 26-27, 8pm
Going Green the Wong Way
Plus additional workshop activities
Sandglass Theater in Putney, VT
Show info here

November 2-4
Going Green the Wong Way
Pontine Theater in Portsmouth, NH
Show info here

November 9 & 10
Going Green the Wong Way
Hartbeat Theater in Hartford, CT
Show info here

November 16 & 17
Going Green the Wong Way
Touchstone Theater in Bethlehem, PA
Show info here

Dearest supporters!

I'm here in Scotland and you are all with me in my heart!  If you have friends who live out here, please tell them I'm here.   I'm buried among thousands of crazed theater artists and every word you help put out there helps!  http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/going-green-the-wong-way

And because people like reading top ten list over ever flowing self absorbed paragraphs, I will break this email into said list!

TEN INCREDIBLE THINGS HAPPENING OUT HERE IN SCOTLAND.

1.  I got a FIVE STAR review!  I normally hate reviewers and think they are more interested in the cleverness of their words than what they are reviewing, but in this case, this is a really good reviewer who is 100% accurate!

http://www.broadwaybaby.com/listing.php?id=13965

2.  I've managed to stay sober!
Some of you may know I decided to see what would happen if I gave up alcohol for a year.  I've sent a lot fewer text messages professing my love at 4am and saved a lot of money towards this trip.  But Scotland is full of liquid temptation.  There is literally whisky coming out of the sink faucets here.  It was extremely tempting to join the 4am drunks, but my bank balance and 10:30am showtime has kept me from hitting the bottle.  And when temptation hits, I call the invisible sponsor in my head.  Despite the high energy mania of this setting, I've stayed dry!

3.  This place is a total ZOO.
There are 2000 shows that happen here a day!  I'm only 6 days into the festival and I've seen 23 shows and will see 2 more tonight.  It's consuming.  The Royal Mile is like a really frenetic Bruin Walk (the main drag at UCLA) except with people dressed as knights, others with their pants pulled down and a billion more people trying to flag down your attention.

4.  I am so grateful for the Indian, Pakistani, and Bengali diaspora for stretching to Scotland.Fish and Chips, (veggie) haggis,  and bread and cheese gets pretty bland for this pescetarian.  The Indian food is what's saving my tastebuds from a total meltdown of fried bleh.

5.  I already have a lead for a show in England next year!
Nothing is confirmed but the artistic director of a performance space in England has expressed interested in presenting this show next year.  Whether or not it happens, I am happy to finally be in the ballpark where I can start to tour internationally.

6.  My parents are coming in a few days!
My mother retired in June and as part of my parents' retirement vacation, they will be doing a stop through here in Edinburgh.  My director Paul left Scotland yesterday and they will stay at his room in the hostel ("Save money!").  I'm interested in seeing how they will survive the sounds of drunk screaming outside our hostel until 4am and how well they will do sharing a bathroom with me and three kids from CalArts.

7.  I'm always and forever hustling.There are never any guarantees in this festival with so many things happening at once.  There are hundreds of bars, classrooms, church halls that have been converted into performance spaces. You can't walk four steps without someone trying to get you to their show. And despite my show's catchy title, the free breakfast we're offering, and stellar reviews, we've only sold out two of the shows.  It's hard work. 

8.  I watched a naked Italian woman screaming for an hour yesterday.  It was to celebrate the reunification of Italy 150 years ago.  It's called "performance art." 

9.  I saw a dog order a drink at a bar.  Proof below.

10.  I am forever grateful to YOU for getting me here.
This has been a dream manifested thanks to you.  A year (lifetime?) of insane planning, sacrifice, promoting, and now I'm finally here.  It has been a long road and so much work.  And I thank you so much for helping me reach my full life's potential as an artist.  THANK YOU again and again.

I can't believe it, I have laid down 13 shows in Los Angeles!  That's about 20 hours of live performance!  And I haven't even gone to Edinburgh where I'll put down another 21 shows! 

I am a living act of endurance!  And I have just booked a four week tour around Vermont in the Fall of this show! It truly never ends!  So all your names shall appear in thanks section in the shows I do out there!  Thank you again and again everyone for believing in this little lady.

Donors who have not redeemed your tickets to the LA show:  Some of you were concerned that you either haven't gotten a confirmation from Jessica, or that you were writing to redeem your ticket the day of the show and worried this was too late.  She can still honor your ticket request the day of the show (though the earlier you can request the better).  If you haven't received a confirmation, just email me at k@kristinasherylwong.com and I will check with her to make sure you are in. 

Here is the info for the LA run of GOING GREEN THE WONG WAY....

WHEN: June 28 – July 22, 2012, Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm/ Sundays at 3:00 pm

WHERE: Bootleg Theater 2220 Beverly Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90057 (Parking now available on across the street on Roselake Avenue for $3.)

TICKETS: $15 general admission available at the door or online at www.bootlegtheater.org

I want you at the show, so know that we are trying to make sure you get in!  So come come come!

It's been great to see all of you at the show!  Wish me luck!  3 shows to go!  9 days to Edinburgh!

Friends!  I'm so immersed in this Los Angeles run that I can hardly believe the run is halfway over and that I somehow gotta pack this show up and leave the country by the end of the month!  It's been great to see so many of my Kickstarter donors in the house!  I hope I'm making your proud and/or grossing you out with laughter.

If you live in LA or know people who live in LA, please get out to the show!  You won't be sorry!  We've had great houses, but I would love to start selling them out!  It's a freakload of work to make theater, and I can't do all this hustling alone.  Help!

June 28 - July 22 @ Bootleg Theater
2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30p
Sundays at 3pm
All Tickets are $15

Here is the website for the show www.bootlegtheater.org

My parents will be at the shows tonight and tomorrow!  Cross your fingers for no heart attacks during the show!

Love

Kristina

http://laartstream.com/creative-current/kristina-wong/

My wonderful donors! 

It was great to meet a lot of you at Going Green the Wong Way last weekend in Los Angeles!  I am proud to report that the show is a bonafide hit!!  The reviews have been great and some audience members came back twice in one weekend!  Most importantly, I'm doing what I was meant to do on this planet!  Thank you for supporting me from the bottom of my "raunchy, smart and brazen" heart (LA Weekly)!

Here is the show info again... 

WHEN: June 28 – July 22, 2012, Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm/ Sundays at 3:00 pm

WHERE: Bootleg Theater 2220 Beverly Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90057 (Parking now available on across the street on Roselake Avenue for $3.)

TICKETS: $15 general admission available at the door or online at www.bootlegtheater.org

I blame the summertime heat, but we still aren't selling out all the houses despite multiple radio show appearances and stellar reviews.  So I need your help!  Show up!  Make it your date night!  Bring your family!  I promise.... It's a really fun show and people who hate theater will enjoy this! 

As for your Kickstarter perks, about 2/3 of you should have received some presents in the mail provided you sent me you mailing address.  If your perks were free tickets to the show in LA and you are still having trouble redeeming your free tickets to see the show, let me know and I will help you out.  I'm still sewing and making stuff here on the sides, so before end of July you shall all receive a reward if you requested it AND SENT YOUR ADDRESS.

I love you all!  See you at the theater I hope!  Enjoy this picture of 80s Icon Julie Brown cutting the "green ribbon" on opening night of the show!

Love,

Kristina