The ‘Joy Ride’ stars called their latest film “liberating” and “the first of its kind” at the red carpet screening in San Francisco on Thursday.

Ashley Park, who plays one of the film’s main characters, was in attendance and told SFGATE that it was her third time seeing the film in front of an audience. She said each time the crowd left energetically.

“We love everything in this genre, and at least what I’ve personally seen is that everyone leaves the theater happy, horny, seen or heard and just full of life,” she said.

The film, which officially hits theaters July 7, is a comedy about four Asian-American girlfriends, played by Park, Stephanie Hsu, Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu, who travel across different parts of Asia to meet one of their birth mothers to find. The comedy is like a cross between ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ with hilarious moments including lots of cocaine, a very ‘interesting’ sex scene with a messy threesome montage and an appearance by a fake K-pop group.

Directed by Adele Lim, “Joy Ride” had a nearly full hall with 1,400 spectators screaming and bursting with laughter at almost every moment of the San Franciscremiere.

“[‘Joy Ride’] “Everyone is in a good mood and can relate to one, if not all, of the characters and situations – and we were just all Asian,” Park said before the premiere.

According to its website, the studio comedy premiered in San Francisco during CAAMFest, the world’s largest festival for Asian-American films. The film festival takes place from May 11th to 21st in San Francisco and Oakland.

Wu, a comedian and actor who notably wrote for the Disney+ series Doogie Kamealoha, declared her appreciation for San Francisco on the red carpet at the historic Castro Theater.

“San Francisco is so beautiful right now, and living in Michigan with my gay friends, we always thought, ‘One day we’re all going to escape to California. We’re going to move to the gay west coast,” they said. “I guess it’s exactly what I imagined being here on this street with a rainbow flag flying every ten feet.”

Thuy Tran, festival and exhibition director of CAAMFest, said in a recorded video shown at the premiere that the story of “Joy Ride” propels the industry and the Asian American community forward with its “taboo” but groundbreaking topics.

“‘Joy Ride’ is so emphatic about Asian-American joy,” Tran said. “It’s so uncompromising about our desires, period.”

In the film, the four characters, most notably Park’s character Audrey, struggle with their sense of self and personal identity. Audrey, who works in a law firm, ignores the seemingly “wild” aspects of life that make her happy and struggles with her cultural identity as an Asian American. The film does a great job of depicting the characters’ breakthroughs in their self-discovery while also capturing their pure and diverse friendship, without missing out on hilarious moments that will make you laugh.

During a question-and-answer session after the premiere, the cast said they were grateful for the film’s writers’ ability to assemble such a diverse cast with distinctly different personalities and identities. The cast also mentioned that much like their on-screen characters, they felt that their identities as Asian Americans limited their opportunities, and “Joy Ride” was a major breakthrough in their professional careers.

“I actually think sometimes that I had such low expectations of myself because I didn’t see a way forward,” said Hsu, who plays Kat, during the Q&A session. Hsu recently played several supporting roles in blockbusters like Everything Everywhere All at Once and Marvel’s Shang-Chi.

Park, who also played Mindy Chen in Emily in Paris, said she felt the similar experiences of all the leading actors in the film industry created a bond between the four.

“If you’ve only had a handful of supporting role opportunities, you’ve got a really supporting cast,” she said during the Q&A session.

“Joy Ride” was a fantastic portrayal of a life without shame, and if the reception at the Castro was any indication, it will be a revolutionary film for the talented cohort of actors and an important chapter in the next wave of Asian-American cinema.

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Claude Jackson Jr., a citizen of the Gila River Indian Community, is an attorney by day, the director of the tribe’s public defender’s office.

But by night he is a playwright. And in late January, one of his works, “Cashed Out,” will have its world premiere at the San Francisco Playhouse. It’s a story about addiction, a subject Jackson says he was compelled to write about.

Jackson has always enjoyed theater and film but wasn’t sure he would find a place in that world. The path to the premiere was long and filled with unexpected turns and Jackson says he made it with the help and encouragement of his younger brother, Roberto Jackson.

Set in Jackson’s Gila River tribal community, “Cashed Out” revolves around the character “Rocky,” to be played in San Francisco by Rainbow Dickerson, and Rocky’s family. Rocky is the daughter of a well-known basketmaker and if she wanted it, could make her own name in basketmaking. Instead, she goes another route and becomes an accountant, all while battling a gambling addiction.

“It’s a tragedy,” said Jackson, who said he was influenced by Arthur Miller and William Shakespeare. “It’s about a person who is addicted to gambling and how the family members are dealing with it. Now we don’t have that type of scourge, that our community members are addicted to gambling, but I did want to touch on addiction in some way.”

An online reading leads to more interest

The play had originally come from a shorter piece he wrote in 2019, which won the Von Marie Atchley Excellence in Playwriting Award for Native Voices at the Autry.

Native Voices at the Autry is devoted to developing and producing new works for the stage by Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and First Nations playwrights. It is a popular program of the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, and it holds a short play contest annually, with a new theme each year. The year Jackson submitted “Cashed Out,” the theme was gaming.

After Jackson won, the theater troupe at the museum performed the play and it turned out that one of the audience members was from the San Francisco Playhouse. That person reached out to Jackson and asked if the theater could stage a zoom reading of the play with actors.

Brothers and collaborators, Claude (left) and Roberto Jackson pose for a portrait at Wild Horse Pass Casino on Dec. 29, 2022, at Chandler.
Megan Mendoza/The Republic

“This was during the pandemic and at the time a lot of playhouses were doing Zoom performances,” Jackson said. “They were trying to keep the theater scene afloat. They asked to do my play. The director at the time said it should be a long-form play.”

After the performance, Jackson sent an email thanking everyone and said in jest that he would be working on a longer form of the play. This caught the attention of Bill English, the co-founder of and artistic director of the San Francisco Playhouse, who immediately responded and said if Jackson was serious about doing a longer play of “Cashed Out,” the Playhouse would commission it.

“They liked my writing style,” Jackson said. He said it took a few drafts for them to get it to where they wanted.

Love of movies influences writing

Jackson has always loved movies. Growing up, he recalls taking his younger brother, Roberto Jackson, to the movies with him. Roberto, a writer, told Claude about the playwright competition, and both submitted original plays that they’d worked on individually.

The earlier years of going to movies also left an impression on Roberto, and both brothers have worked on movie projects together. One movie they wrote together is called “In Circles,” which Roberto directed in 2015.

“It won some awards,” Claude said. “It was featured in two well-known Native American film festivals. Even if it didn’t cost a lot of money to make, it took a long time because we had to do it on weekends, and it took over two years to film.”

As brothers, they are constantly bouncing ideas off of one another, and Claude said this kind of supportive and creative relationship is helpful when it comes to their artistic craft.

Claude Jackson Jr. holds the script to his play “Cashed Out” as he stands on a stage at Wild Horse Pass Casino for a portrait on Dec. 29, 2022, at Chandler. Jackson’s play is set in Arizona, where he holds a career in public defense in the Gila River Indian Community Tribal government.
Megan Mendoza/The Republic

Roberto has no hard feelings that his brother’s play had won and said it was a proud moment for him and the rest of Claude’s family. He said it’s hard to put into words how talented a writer his brother is and how his talent is reflected through his art.

“Watching him develop over the years and working with the Autry, it’s a great opportunity for me again to be exposed to the theater in that way,” Roberto said. “As brothers knowing what addiction meant to some of our relatives and even in our own lives, and to see it used as a way to comment on society, it’s powerful stuff.”

Theater for Indigenous actors, playwrights and directors isn’t anything new but it’s not as well known as the Indigenous movie and television scene, which has become increasingly popular in recent years. Claude said in a span of about seven years of playwriting, he has met Indigenous theater actors and playwrights like the well-known Larissa FastHorse, whose play, “The Thanksgiving Play,” is one of the top 10 most produced plays in America this season . Claude had actually worked in one of her plays.

“It’s something where I just fell into this circle, into this community,” Claude said. “I didn’t know how vast it was.”

Indigenous species:In ‘Rutherford Falls,’ Native artists portray Indigenous life through Native eyes

Creating opportunities for native artists

The director for “Cashed Out” is Tara Moses, a citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and an award-winning playwright. Moses has been doing theater since she was 8, as an actor in local productions. She attended the University of Tulsa as a musical theater performance major and, while there, she quickly learned how unwelcoming the theater was for Native people.

“I was seldom cast because there were not opportunities made for me,” Moses said. “I quickly transitioned into directing because as a director, I had the most power in the room to create opportunities for other Native artists.”

Moses described “Cashed Out” as a powerful play with a lot of heart. The root of the play, a woman’s gambling addiction, is the connection all of the characters have with each other, she said.

Brothers and collaborators, Claude (left) and Roberto Jackson pose for a portrait at Wild Horse Pass Casino on Dec. 29, 2022, at Chandler. Claude holds a copy of a play he wrote, which will premiere in January 2023 at the San Francisco Playhouse.
Megan Mendoza/The Republic

“For Native people, we intimately understand how addiction manifests in our communities, and Claude did not shy away from the heartbreaking realities of it,” Moses said. “In the play, multiple characters suffer from drug addiction, gambling addiction and alcoholism, and not all of the characters overcome them. What I love so much about his play, and why I think it’s so important that it’s happening, is that throughout all the challenges, the family continue to pass down tradition and find ways to remain grounded and connected to who they are as Native people.”

Moses also noted “Cashed Out” is the first Native play the San Francisco Playhouse has produced, allowing for the first time their audiences to experience Native theater.

“The play involves so much traditional storytelling with nonlinear timelines and the presence of spirits, and also showcases us in a contemporary setting,” she said. “Many audiences only ever (if they ever do) experience Native characters living in the distant past, so this opportunity to see a real, nuanced, and complex story about real Native people living in 2023 will impact San Francisco in extremely meaningful ways.”

Growing up, Moses said she didn’t know other Native artists existed in the theater until she was 21. She is thankful that Native youth are living in a time where there is so much work being created by Native artists both on stage and on screen .

“Claude’s powerful play is one of the many being written, produced, and shared, and every single day I am thankful that there are more and more opportunities for Natives to see ourselves onstage,” she said. “Theater didn’t begin with the Greeks like we’re taught. Theater began with us, Indigenous peoples, telling stories for thousands and thousands of years before Greece even existed, so every Native storyteller has a place in the theater if they so want it.”

‘The theater nerd I always wanted to be’

During his time at Arizona State University, where he attended undergrad and law school, Claude said he was given a final assignment in his Native American literature class and he decided to write his first play. He received a B for that play and now, more than 20 years later, one of his works, “Olivia,” is set to be performed at ASU’s Theater Lab next fall.

But it didn’t happen overnight for Claude, even though he enjoyed movies and wanted to be a performer. He was set to perform in his first play his senior year of high school, but before that could happen he was kicked out of school. When he began attending ASU, he said he had no idea that being in theater was even an option for him.

“I remember watching the improv group there,” Claude said. “I watched them every Friday, I remember I was going to sign up and audition, but I chickened out. I never took that chance.”

Hiccups in life, such as trying to kick his drug and alcohol habit, had interfered with him getting involved with theater and exploring his artistic talent to its full potential. It made it easy for him to talk himself out of even giving it a shot. When stopped using drugs, he got involved with theater and even took acting classes at the local community college.

“When I started to be in these plays I loved it,” Claude said. “I loved the process. I loved the rehearsal. I was the theater nerd that I always wanted to be.”

The San Francisco Playhouse is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization and was established in 2003. It is the Bay Area’s premiere mid-sized theater company, staging six plays and musicals a year at its 199-seat mainstage venue on Post Street, as well as three world premieres per year at intimate stages in downtown San Francisco.

Claude is excited about the San Francisco premier, but he is hoping to bring “Cashed Out” to Arizona.

“Hopefully the play does well in San Francisco and someone will take a chance and bring the play to Arizona,” said Claude. “I’m hoping I can bring it to Arizona. It’s a great story and I want to show it off to not only my community, but to the other O’odham communities, and to other tribes.”

“Cashed Out” premieres Jan. 26 and will be performed until Feb. 25, 2023.

Nominate someone:Send us your nominations for Faces of Arizona

Arlyssa Becenti covers Indigenous affairs for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send ideas and tips to arlyssa.becenti@arizonarepublic.com.

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First it was Vincent van Gogh, and now Pablo Picasso is in the spotlight. Make that a giant spotlight.

Imagine Picasso, an immersive, multimedia experience produced by the same creative team behind the Imagine Van Gogh immersive exhibit, is set to make its US debut on Wednesday, February 9, at Skylight at The Armory. The exhibition made its debut in Lyon, France, before moving to Quebec, Vancouver, and now San Francisco.

The exhibition uses more than 200 paintings from museum collections, including the Musée Picasso in Paris, the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, ​​the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) in New York, and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, as well as private collections. Those images are then projected onto origami structures — inspired by some of Picasso’s later work — that are up to 26 feet tall.

“It’s very interesting for visitors to see Pablo Picasso in a new way,” Olivier Widmaier Picasso, Picasso’s grandson, told TravelAwaits in a statement. “I think this exhibition would have pleased my grandfather a lot because he was, above all, a man of freedom.”

A Legendary Artist

Born in Malaga, Spain, in 1881, “Picasso attended art schools in his native Spain and in his late teens aligned his sensibilities with bohemian writers and artists in Barcelona and Madrid who opposed Spain’s stalled social hierarchies and conservative culture,” the National Gallery of Art explains. “After early work inspired by international models — the anguished, attenuated figures of El Greco, the dark, moody outlines of symbolism, and the sinuous curvatures of Art nouveau to name a few — Picasso began to find his own vision.”

Picasso is perhaps the best known for his Cubist work. After all, he and French artist Georges Braque co-founded the art movement known as Cubism in 1909.

However, Picasso was, if nothing else, eclectic. Other pieces of his work are known as great works of Classicism and the Surreal movements.

Picasso was also known for his prodigious output. Indeed, in his lifetime, Picasso produced about 147,800 pieces. Of that work, 13,500 are paintings, 100,000 are prints and engravings, 300 are sculptures and ceramics, and 34,000 are illustrations.

You may be familiar with The Old Guitarist. That notable piece was from Picasso’s so-called “blue period,” when he only used shades of blue to explore themes of poverty and suffering.

And then there’s Guernica, which could very well be Picasso’s best-known work. The disturbing painting — in muted shades of gray — depicts an aerial bombing on the Basque town of Guernica in April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.

Picasso died in 1972 at the age of 91.

The Immersive Approach

French filmmaker and photographer Albert Plécy invented the concept of Image Totale in 1977 as a means to immerse spectators in an image. His granddaughter-in-law, Annabelle Mauger, worked directly with Plecy.

Imagine Picasso was conceptualized by Mauger and Julien Baron to offer a new perspective on Picasso’s work.

“We created this exhibition so guests can step into Picasso’s paintings through a dialogue of detail and depth,” Mauger, creator of Imagine Picasso and the original creator of the first immersive Van Gogh exhibition, told TravelAwaits in a statement. “It’s important that people of all ages, backgrounds, and artistic knowledge have the same opportunity to experience his works. Immersive exhibitions open the door for younger generations to celebrate his work, allowing Picasso’s legacy and influence on the arts to live on.”

How To Enjoy Imagine Picasso

Imagine Picasso is a limited 8-week engagement at Skylight at The Armory in San Francisco. Tickets for the exhibit, which will run from February 9 through March 27, are on sale now.

You can buy tickets here.

Finally, it should be pointed out that Imagine Picasso will follow all CDC and city of San Francisco COVID-19 protocols, including operating at a reduced capacity. Proof of vaccination is required for entry and masks must be worn at all times, regardless of vaccination status.

For more on immersive art experiences, be sure to read:

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It took months of work – between the City of San Francisco, Warner Bros., and the good folks at the Castro Theater – and featured many movie stars, starting with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss. But the US premiere of “The Matrix Resurrections”, partly shot in San Francisco, on Saturday, December 18, was primarily a tribute to the visionary director Lana Wachowski.

Twenty-five years ago she and her sister Lilly Wachowski – then known as the Wachowski Brothers – had a Bay Area premiere of “Bound” in the historic Castro Film Palace during Frameline, the biggest LGBTQ + film festival worldwide. Lana, a transgender resident in San Francisco, who was directing this time alone, was determined to bring the latest chapter in the “Matrix” series to her favorite theater, which will be 100 years old next year.

“In high school, I struggled with my identity. I went to the movies with popcorn and sticky bottoms and it was a kung fu movie and I knew everything would be fine, ”she told the crowd. “I didn’t think I could become a Hollywood director. I didn’t think I could be a transgender woman and a director. “

Lana Wachowski comes to the premiere of “The Matrix Resurrections” at the Castro Theater. Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

The Castro demonstration of “Bound” helped her “imagine another outcome for my life,” she continued. And now: “I would like to say ‘thank you’ to this beautiful city, in which I fell in love with my wife 20 years ago.”

Karin Wachowski, who was in attendance, is an executive producer on the film.

Undoubtedly, the premiere of “The Matrix Resurrections” was a more gigantic affair than “Bound”. Castro Street was cordoned off in front of the theater and the security precautions were strict, even SWAT team members were stationed on the roof.

“It’s like the president is coming,” said a Castro employee.

A video was projected on the front of the theater and people unable to get tickets for the special screening could wait in a “fan zone” for Reeves and his cast to wave their hands and maybe sign autographs.

The crowd in the “fan zone” watches as the actors arrive. Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

Mayling Suazo was right at the front of the fan zone with books, magazines and a “John Wick 3” Blu-ray with Reeves. Suazo and her husband drove out of Sacramento that morning to get a seat, even though they didn’t have tickets, in hopes of getting Reeves’ attention.

“Maybe he’ll sign my album,” said Suazo.

Fans started gathering as early as 9 a.m. for the 7 p.m. event. Castro Theater owner Steve Nasser, whose grandfather built the theater, which opened in 1922, bought coffee for everyone who got there early.

“This is one of the biggest premieres we’ve ever had,” said Nasser. “It cuts right at the top with ‘Milk’ premiering,” he noted, referring to Gus Van Sant’s 2008 biopic, in which Sean Penn played San Francisco-based gay politician Harvey Milk.

Keanu Reeves arrives at the Castro Theater for “The Matrix Resurrections”. Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

The premiere and after-party, which included Waterbar and Epic Steak along the Embarcadero with nightly fireworks in the bay, was filled with celebrities: Reeves, Moss, Wachowski, Neil Patrick Harris, Yahya Abdul Mateen II from the Bay Area, Jonathan Groff, the new star Jessica Henwick, Jada Pinkett-Smith and son Jaden Smith, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and husband Nick Jonas, the Mayor of San Francisco London Breed and even former San Francisco Giants player Hunter Pence who spent the night with his wife Alexis Cozombolidis danced in the waterbar.

Wondering what the fireworks display is all about? It’s for the #Matrix US premiere in SF pic.twitter.com/kV3We05a8T

– Mariecar Mendoza (@SFMarMendoza) December 19, 2021

Speaking at the Castro’s opening address, Breed noted that “when The Matrix was filmed in San Francisco, Lana Wachowski committed herself to that city and committed to doing more.” That meant creating jobs, even for some local kids from Opportunities for All, a youth development program in San Francisco who served as paid interns.

Wachowski responded by thanking the mayor, who makes a cameo in the film, for “turning no to yes” during filming across town.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II at the screening of “The Matrix Resurrections” at the Castro Theater. Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

Reeves, who was particularly shy about public appearances, also enthusiastically thanked San Francisco on stage before quickly passing the microphone over to Moss, who was delivering one of the most moving speeches of the evening. Although in constant demand since her breakthrough with the first Matrix in 1999, which starred in two Marvel series – Jessica Jones and Daredevil – and many other film and television projects, she didn’t become the breakout star some have predicted.

“The Matrix Resurrections” should dispel all doubts: at 54 she still has it. In fact, her pairing with Reeves, 57, makes the film one of the few action franchises with a middle-aged romance.

Carrie-Anne Moss arrives for the premiere of “The Matrix Resurrections” at the Castro Theater. Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

“I didn’t know how much I needed to be Trinity again,” she said of her Matrix character. “I hope from the bottom of my heart that you love the film as much as I made it. It was such a nice experience with Lana and all the beautiful artists who made this film. “

“The Matrix Resurrections” (R) opens in theaters on Wednesday December 22nd.

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The world premiere of 7th & Union will open the 20th anniversary in 2021 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood on June 2nd.