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Gunpowder
Man tells the story of Chinese people
who fled the catastrophic end of the Taiping Rebellion, helped build
the transcontinental railroad, settled in the US, and endured the racist
reactions of the 1880's.
 Though
the contribution of the Chinese to the Central Pacific Railroad is
fairly well known, the story is a dramatic one that bears retelling.
Moreover the conditions in China that did much to push the people
from their homeland is less widely known here. In addition, an understanding
of the anti-Asian feeling in the nineteenth century is important for
students who must still grapple with the long term effects of racism
in America.
Gunpowder
Man addresses issues raised by several sections of the History-Social
Science Framework for California Public Schools. The building
of the railroad and the Chinese-Irish conflict are integral to understanding
the whole westward movement. The play's portrayal of conditions in
China as the Qing dynasty began its precipitous decline addresses
issues of World History.
Gunpowder
Man is dramatic, filled with fascinating and little-known cultural
and historical details, often funny, and portrays one wonderful, spunky
woman's struggles and triumphs.
SYNOPSIS
of Gunpowder Man
It is 1882. Last
night a gang of unemployed miners burned down the Chinatown in the
little city of Sweetwater. They have put up signs that all Chinese
must leave by noon today. Little Tiger comes into the church where
she and her brother have worshiped for the past ten years. She carries
everything she was able to save from the fire in two baskets. It breaks
her heart to leave Sweetwater. She cannot leave till she tells her
fellow parishioners who she really is. So begins her story.
She tells
of being born into the Taiping movement. Her whole village embraced
its primitive form of Christianity with a radical egalitarianism and
belief in universal brotherhood. When villagers return from Gold Mountain
(California) they realize that some core values of the American Declaration
of Independence are shared by the Taipings.
But the
Taiping revolution bogs down in hypocrisy and corruption. Little Tiger's
uncle and mother fall victim to the internal troubles. Her father
has to flee and is never heard from again. The revolution collapses
and bloody reprisals are carried out by the Imperial Army. Little
Tiger's family realizes that the young people must flee China in order
to survive. Her mother's ghost warns her that it is too dangerous
to travel as a girl so she dons a disguise and goes as Happy Tiger's
little brother.
Their
adventures take them to California just in time to begin work on the
Central Pacific Railroad. Little Tiger is taken on as a cook for their
gang and Happy Tiger is an expert in explosives. When sabotage by
Irish workers injures Happy Tiger, it is the sister who must descend
the cliff in a basket and set gunpowder charges in the granite face.
Thus she faces and overcomes her deepest fears.
After
the completion of the railroad the twins settle in Sweetwater, open
a Chinese restaurant, and become more and more committed to their
American home, until the Chinatown is burned down. Then Little Tiger
must face the ultimate test of her beliefs in human brotherhood and
equality.
- 1999
- Foothill Theatre Company, Nevada City, School tour of Sacramento
Valley and Northern Mother Lode [1 act version]
- 1997
- Stage 3 Theatre, Sonora -
Full length [2 act version]
- 1995
- School tour of Central Valley and Mother Lode [1 act version]
This play
exists in two versions. Both versions are suitable for grades 4 and
up as well as adults.
The forty-five
minute version tours to schools, museums, and other venues. It can
be played in virtually any space (theater, cafeteria, classroom, gym,
etc.) and requires only fifteen minutes to set up.
The full-length
version runs about an hour and forty-five minutes with intermission.
It requires a theater with lighting and sound equipment and requires
a minimum of a day to set up and run tech. The full-length version
was highly successful when presented for student matinees, with the
audience bussed in. Two matinees can be performed per day, or ten
per week, and the play can run in rep with an evening performance
of another play if the theater is equipped to turn around in four
hours.
Forty-five
minute version:
- Can
be performed in theater, classroom, multi-purpose room, gymnasium,
or out-door space.
- Sound
system is not required except for unusual situations.
- Special
lighting is not required.
- Set
up time is fifteen minutes.
Two-act version:
- Requires
a theater with light and sound system.
- Theater
must provide light operator, sound operator, and all box office
and house management.
SHERMAN
SPENCER, The Stockton Record, 10/13/97
|
"Gunpowder
Man" strikingly re-creates some little known aspects of
the fusion of Chinese and early California history. Once again,
as in his "Heroes of Xochiquipa," Sonora playwright
Rick Foster uses a staged dramatic monologue as a microcosm
for illuminating crucial historical change.
China's
Taiping Rebellion cost 20 to 30 million lives, and helped make
a labor force available to build our intercontinental railroads.
Though
the Chinese contribution was vital to the railroad construction,
they faced violence and discrimination once the job was completed.
The
principles espoused by the charismatic fomenters of the Taiping
movement were a blend of an early form of communism and Protestant
evangelism. These ideas, with their underlying assumption of
individual worth, made the democratic United States seem the
promised land for the defeated victims of the uprising.
Ironically,
the rebellion collapsed due to the corruption of its leaders.
And just as ironically, the Chinese refugees found in California
a climate of segregation and discrimination.
Building
on these ironies, playwright Foster tells the story of one such
disillusioned victim, Little Tiger, a young Chinese woman.
As
the play opens, she stands addressing the audience as a church
congregation. All her worldly goods can be held in two large
baskets after a mob burns down the restaurant she and her brother
operated in Sweetwater, a Sierra gold-rush town.
She
wants to tell them about the events that brought her to this
point. We hear of her childhood in China, the appeal of the
rebels' cause, the slaying of her parents, the burning of her
village.
In
the second act, she re-creates her life in California. Disguised
as a boy to get a job in railroad construction, she has to take
her injured brother's place as part of an explosives team, hence
her title of "gunpowder man."
Tricia
Dong, a Los Angeles actress, does marvelous things with her
role. Assuming the vocal characteristics and expressions of
dozens of different characters from her small brother to an
Irish cook on a neighboring work crew, she neatly captures each
persona. She blends all these characterizations into a mosaic
that produces a fully realized portrait of this heroic and exceptional
woman.
Though
the play catalogs all the tragedy and danger Little Tiger experienced,
we find much evidence of her invincible good spirits and humor.
In fact, in the second act, the almost lighthearted recounting
of her railroad adventures stands in marked contrast to her
grim childhood travails.
Foster
flawlessly directs, keeping the action from ever becoming static.
His set design of several movable boxes convincingly creates
dozens of different milieus.
Sherman Spencer |
GARY
LINEHAN, Sonora Union Democrat, 10/17/97
One
Actress and One Playwright Add Up to One Stupendous Play at
Stage 3 Theatre Company
"Gunpowder
Man" written by Sonora's own Rick Foster and starring Los
Angeles actress Tricia Dong, tells the story of a young girl
who flees her homeland of China with her brother in 1864. .
. .
It's
a wonderful tale on many scores. The play is superbly crafted
and Dong is not only extremely talented but deeply charismatic.
There
are also powerful, little-told history lessons—the plight
of the Chinese during the Taiping Rebellion and again in early
California—all wrapped up in a fascinating human story
filled with humor and drama. . . .
"Gunpowder
Man" is a magnificent tale of hope and betrayal on two
continents. It does not necessarily have a happy ending, but
it does close on a note of optimism after Little Tiger must
choose between revenge and forgiveness.
The
opening night performance drew a spontaneous standing ovation
from the capacity house.
Gary
Linehan |
LEO
STUTZIN, The Modesto Bee, 10/15/97
|
Historical
epics rarely translate well into intimate theater pieces. Rick
Foster's "Gunpowder Man" does, with remarkable effectiveness.
. . .
It's
a history lesson, a touching and sometimes funny personal story,
and an exhibition piece for a versatile and amazingly agile
performer, Los Angeles actress Tricia Dong. . . .
Foster's
text and Dong's vivid acting turn Little Tiger's years with
the Central Pacific into the play's brightest segment.
Dong
shifts with speed, clarity, wit and charm among many roles:
She's Little Tiger, cheerful brother Happy Tiger, railroad magnate
Charles Crocker, a caustic construction foreman, an amiable
Irish cook, many others.
And
she gives human theatrical reality to the struggle to carve
a railroad right-of-way through the High Sierra and across the
desert to the junction point at Promontory, Utah. . . .
The
drama documents a single life, sketches many lives and it deserves
to be heard.
Leo
Stutzin |
Comments from
fourth graders who saw the full-length version:
Dear
Rick Foster
I loved the play so much I want to see it again. My favorite part
was when Little Tiger had to be the Gunpowder Man. It got me on the
edge of my seat. Sometimes I just wanted to stand up and yell that
is not fair that the Chinese were treated like that. I could see the
other characters even though they were not there. When I cam back
to school I could see the characters in my mind. I would love to be
a play write when I grow up.
J. M.
Dear
Rick Foster & Tricia Dong
I think the play was exlent. Like you were there when it hapend. I
dont think we should have a war. Why we don't need them over thing
like religen. I think its horible just horible rassism if one Chinese
stole something they think they all do. I don't know why. I think
ther should be a law againsed rasesim. If anyone hurt or harrasses
anyway they should get a fine of 200$. The second time they go to
gail. The therd someone has to bale you out.
J. H.
Dear
Rick
The play was great! I liked when Tricia was just one person to do
the play. She made it so interesting. She has good talent. You have
good taste. What I want to know is how you came up with the story?
I'm not say it's bad, it's the best play I've ever seen! When did
you start writing plays? But I have seen no greater play than "Gunpowder
Man."
A. H.
Dear
Rick Foster
I thought it was amazing how you wrote the play you must have put
many hours into learning about Chinese life. One of my favorite parts
was when Little Tiger was acting out the fire with the red cloth.
Another one of my favorite parts was when Little Tiger as acting like
the Irish men it was very funny I enjoyed the play a lot.
M. H.
Dear
Rick Foster
I loved the play Gunpowder Man. It was very exciting because of all
the action in it with one actress. I loved how she pulled flags from
the posts surrounding the stage. You wrote it with so much excitement.
I liked it so much I would like to see it again with my family.
S. A.
Dear
Tricia Dong
I loved your performance. You made all the characters come alive.
It was so surprising that you kept pulling things out of the basket.
It was a funny, exciting, and sad story. Was it hard jumping on and
off the pretend tree wich was really boxes? I liked the part you put
gunpowder in the hole. It must be hard to memorize your lines. How
long have you been an actor? Our class loved your performance. I want
to see it again.
N. N.
The availability of the forty-five minute
version of Gunpowder Man for the 2006 school year is to be
determined.
The full-length version is not currently
available. Call 209-532-9177 for status of plans.
Pricing for the forty-five minute
version:
Special
California Central Valley, Mother Lode K-12 School Rates for performance
and study guides
| $300
One performance at school |
| $450
Two performances on same half day |
| $3000
Full week's residency in a school district – up to 10 performances |
San
Francisco Bay Area K-12 School Rates
|
$500
One or two performances in same school on same half day |
| Note: |
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For California schools beyond the Central Valley, Central
Coast regions there will be a surcharge for travel.
|
Community
colleges
| $500
One performance |
| $800
Two performances, same day (including evening) |
| $1000
Three performances, same day (including evening) |
Museums
and other venues
|
$400-1500
Depending on the size of the auditorium, pricing, etc. |
To Schedule
a Program, see Booking.
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