{"id":666,"date":"2023-06-07T00:33:18","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T00:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/?p=666"},"modified":"2023-06-12T00:48:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T00:48:07","slug":"the-bottoming-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/the-bottoming-process\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bottoming Process"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]\n

The Bottoming Process<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Reviewed by Deborah Klugman<\/strong>
\nIAMA Theatre Company and the Los Angeles LGBT Center<\/em><\/strong>
\nThrough June 12<\/strong><\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What happens when ethnic identity stops being a gift and starts being a curse? In Nicholas Pilapil\u2019s\u00a0The Bottoming Process<\/em>, a gay Filipino American man becomes so obsessed with how his Asian-ness \u2014and his sexuality \u2014 is perceived that he torches a mutually loving relationship with someone who, it would seem, genuinely cares for him.<\/p>\n

An LA native and the American-born son of a Filipina immigrant, Milo (George Salazar) is an unpublished essayist and social commentator in his late 20s. One day in a trendy communal workspace he meets John (Rick Cosnett), a published author renowned for a hit series of books for young people. The two begin to date, after which \u2014 helped along by John\u2019s connections \u2014 Milo\u2019s career is launched. He moves into John\u2019s comfortable home, and they share an idyllic few months before Milo\u2019s inner demons seize control and sow doubt and dissention both in his own mind and heart and between John and himself.<\/p>\n

The main issue tormenting Milo, reiterated over and again in his writing, is his identity as an Asian in a White society \u2014 which means, for him, that he\u2019s viewed as someone lesser. More than anything, he\u2019s haunted by the sexual stereotypes of Asians that have been perpetrated within Western culture, as either exotic or submissive or both. Milo takes this very personally because he translates it into the \u201cfeminization\u201d of gay Asian men. His partner\u2019s past struggles \u2014as a youth, John fled a homophobic \u201cChristian\u201d community in Nebraska before establishing a life for himself in cosmopolitan LA \u2014are perceived by Milo as of miniscule importance compared to the burdens he juggles daily as a gay man of color.<\/p>\n

This toxic blend of hubris, resentment and raging insecurity plays out in vivid hues in Salazar\u2019s high-powered performance. His Milo is one of those people who\u2019s always \u201con\u201d \u2014 an \u201con,\u201d moreover, without a filter. Whatever Milo happens to think and feel at any given moment is laid out for anyone to hear. He often shares his passions and pains with his Korean American friend Rosie (Julia Cho) \u2014 whose tongue is as facile and biting as his but whose perspective embraces an affinity for the work of the very British Jane Austen, whose 19th<\/sup>\u00a0century heroines strive for domestic bliss in marriage, as does Rosie herself. (Some of the conversations between Milo and Rosie go on too long, either because one may not recall the particulars of Austen\u2019s work that Rosie references, or because Milo\u2019s racial resentments have been articulated once too often.)<\/p>\n

Directed by Rodney To,\u00a0The Bottoming Process<\/em>\u00a0is visually pleasing, with Christopher Scott Murillo\u2019s harmonious, uncluttered set nicely augmented by Nick Santiago\u2019s video design \u2014 a mix of gardens and other upscale interiors with multiple projections of the characters\u2019 faces flooding the backdrop as they vent their opinions. Josh Epstein\u2019s lighting and Jeff Gardner\u2019s sound enhance these effects. The adept ensemble includes Anisha Adusumilli as John\u2019s, and later Milo\u2019s, poised and worldly agent, as well as Ty Molback in a variety of supporting roles, including Rosie\u2019s laidback White boyfriend Daniel and a good-looking stranger whose attentions John fends off out of respect for his relationship with Milo. As John, an understated Cosnett serves as foil for Salazar\u2019s hyper Milo; it\u2019s a truthful performance, though I had been expecting a more mature persona; the age gap stipulated by the script is not apparent with these two actors.<\/p>\n

Altogether, the production is well-assembled and directed. Yet it bears mention that, for any audience member who actively strives to respect others regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or gender preference, Milo\u2019s diatribes against White people can offend. Only within the context of the character as a hurting and damaged individual do they become palatable.<\/p>\n

\u00a0LGBT Center\u2019s Lily Tomlin\/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center, Renberg Theatre,
\n1125 N McCadden Place, Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., Mon., 8 pm, Sun., 2 pm, dark on May 29; thru June 12.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0iamatheatre.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Running time: approximately one hour and 40 minutes with no intermission.<\/em><\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”902″ image_size=”full” animation_type=”entrance” animation=”None” animation_movement_type=”transform_y” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”center” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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