Mary Magdalene, Daughter, Boatperson
Community Reading Tours and Workshop
By Diana Khổng
Directed by mica rose
1973. Two sisters are torn apart after one makes the decision to leave; and the one who remains must learn to fight.
2004. Three siblings are avoiding the question of where to scatter their mother’s ashes. One finds refuge in gambling sessions with the neighborhood aunties. One falls in love. And one learns from a goblin that her mother is trapped in the underworld. She follows her down, and time collapses.
Mary Magdalene, Daughter, Boatperson follows the women of a family across two generations, unraveling the legacy of partition after the imperialist violence of the Vietnam War.
Creative Team Bios
PLAYWRIGHT - Diana Khổng is Viet playwright, dramaturg, director and producer in film and theater. They are also a mutual aid organizer and popular educator in Worcester, MA & Brooklyn, NY. They often considers what a community is: how it breathes, how it betrays itself, how it shifts into something better, stranger, worse. Their work has been supported by Panavision, Lambda Literary, The Prior Performing Arts Center, Chuang Stage, Fresh Ink Theatre, Director’s Lab North, and more. dianakhong.com
DIRECTOR - mica rose (they/them) is a cultural organizer who channels ancestral medicine into modern ‘temples’ formed everywhere we gather intentionally. Every year, they co-create events with hundreds of people and dozens of organizations: flowing through mediums of altarmaking, spoken word poetry, taiko, ritual breath/movement/chant, queer Filipino dance, and martial arts. Frequent collaborators include Design Studio for Social Intervention, KASA & Friends Taiko, kaDON, Company One Theatre, Elma Lewis Center, Pao Arts Center, Cultural Equity Incubator partners, and universities across New England. mica is a member of Liyang Network: a local to global advocacy network amplifying calls to action of grassroots communities in the Philippines where mica lives seasonally with blood and chosen families. At Arts Connect International, mica is Co-Director of Emergence.
Staged Reading Workshop
May 6th - 10, 2026
Boston Center for the Arts, Black Box Theatre
Cast
Joy - Jessica Lưu Pelletier
Mercy/Ðao - Gwen Phagnasay Le
Jimmy - Jupiter Lê
Six - Jaden Bridges
Má/Hạnh/Hotline Operator - Mai Delapa
Bà 7/Dì Đào - Michelle M. Aguillon
Bà 8/Old Goblin Woman/Anne - Vivian Liu-Somers
Stage Direction - Elijah Estolano Punzal
Community Workshop
January 31 - February 7, 2026
At Panethnic Pourovers and Boston Liberation Center
Cast
Joy - Mei MacQuarrie
Mercy/Ðao - Gwen Phagnasay
Jimmy - Jupiter Lê
Six - Steve Wakadilo
Má/Hạnh/Hotline Operator - Anh Dao
Bà 7/Dì Đào - Christina R. Chan
Bà 8/Old Goblin Woman/Anne - Vivian Liu-Somers
Stage Direction - Elijah Estolano Punzal
About the Venue
Boston Center for the Arts supports working artists to create, perform, and exhibit new works; develops new audiences; and connects the arts to community.
The Plaza Theatre and Plaza Black Box Theatre are located beneath the BCA Cyclorama. These underground theatre spaces have been home to some of Boston’s most innovative artists and arts organizations for decades.
Project Collaborator
Fresh Ink Theatre is a company dedicated to the development of new work on the Boston small theatre scene in a collaborative, playwright-centered manner. The company was born in the summer of 2011 and debuted at the Factory Theatre the following December with the nearly sold-out run of Priscilla Dreams the Answer by Walt McGough. In the years following, Fresh Ink has worked with over 30 playwrights via a unique submission model and development process, workshopping and producing plays by David Vades, Francisca Da Silveira, MJ Halberstadt, Cecelia Raker, Lila Rose Kaplan, MJ Kaufman, Patrick Gabridge, and many more. Fresh Ink also hosts the Ink Spot staged reading series as a platform to showcase new work in process, as well as the annual Mad Dash 24-hour play festival, which brings together theatre artists from across Boston to create eight new plays in a single day. Fresh Ink Theatre was the 2020-2023 Launchpad Resident at BCA, is the 2023-2025 Launchpad Extension (LPX) Resident, and continues to highlight new and exciting voices from across New England.
