In Front of Your Eyes 2024
Performance Festival Presents:
Pearl Ong’s
Night Driver
at The Marsh San Francisco Mainstage
Written & Performed by Pearl Ong
Directed by David Ford
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Thursday, August 1 at 7:30pm
Opener: Joan Bernier
Saturday, August 3 at 8:30pm
Opener: Ipeleng Kgositsile
Sunday, August 4 at 1:00pm
Opener: Julie Queen
About the Festival
In Front of Your Eyes Performance Festival will feature developing works from women and nonbinary performers and playwrights. The festival will take place in both San Francisco and Berkeley. San Francisco will feature solo shows, and Berkeley will feature ensemble shows.
About the Show
What’s a Hong Kong princess doing behind the wheel of a San Francisco cab? And how does her very proper mother react? Night Driver takes audiences on the unexpected journeys of a model minority gone rogue. This captivating story blends humor, rebellion, and cultural clashes, offering a glimpse into a life that is determined to defy expectations.
Ticket Information
Tickets: $15 – $35 General Seating sliding scale | $50 & $100 Reserved Seating
Online ticket sales close 2 hours before each performance,
and additional tickets may be available for purchase at the door.
No Intermission | Ages 16+
Please do not bring infants to the show
Please read our
Health, Safety and COVID-19 Information
Our commitment to our patrons
About the Artistic Crew
Pearl Ong (Playwright & Performer) embarked on her performance journey in 2019 at Stage Werx in San Francisco. Since then, she has showcased short autobiographical pieces at Solo Sundays at Stage Werx, Tell It On Tuesday at The Marsh Berkeley, Monday Night at the Marsh, and Marsh Rising at the San Francisco Marsh.
David Ford (Director) has been collaborating on new and unusual theater for three decades and has been associated with The Marsh for most of that time. The San Francisco press has variously called him “the solo performer maven,” “the monologue maestro,” “the dean of solo performance,” and “the solo performer’s best friend.” A week rarely goes by when residents of the Bay Area cannot enjoy one of his productions. Collaborators include Geoff Hoyle, Brian Copeland, Charlie Varon, Echo Brown, Marilyn Pittman, Rebecca Fisher, Wayne Harris, Jill Vice, and Marga Gomez. Ford’s work has been seen regionally at The Public Theater, Second Stage Theater, Theatre at St. Clement’s, Dixon Place, Theatre for the New City (New York), Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles), and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Co. (Washington, D.C.). His work has also been featured in most of the fringe festivals in North America, and at theaters around the Bay Area including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Magic Theatre, and Marin Theatre Company. Ford’s directing has garnered several “Best of Fringe” Awards and a Goldie Award.
Openers
August 1 – Joan Bernier’s The Capitan
The Captain explores lineage, what is passed down and how we navigate in a starless sky. A Captain is confronted with the dangerous effects of colonization on the deck of his ship, The Arctic. Inspired by the final voyages of Captain Joseph Elzéar Bernier (1852-1934).
August 3 – Ipeleng Kgositsile’s Pizzazz: A Serious AF Love Story for Daughters, Black, Beloved & Coo-Coo
A coming-of-rage story about exile, identity (or is it cultural dissonance?), and family, rooted in the global anti-apartheid movement of the late 20th century. Set in New York City, six months after the Soweto Youth Uprisings of June 1976, the play’s opening scene introduces Ipeleng, a second grader at P.S. 154 in Harlem, USA. It’s the protagonist’s 7th birthday, an occasion which sets the tone for her life from Soweto through Truth and Reconciliation, disrupting and fortifying her soul during South Africa’s first 30 years of freedom and democracy.
August 10 – Julie Queen’s Ten Dollar Destiny – The Remake
I am currently working on a remake of a solo multi-disciplinary show I performed several years ago called Ten Dollar Destiny. I was on a mission of soul searching, finding my purpose in life and looking for new artistic expressions with the help of psychics and a myriad of “fortune tellers”. Following the recent death of my father, I found myself traveling to Peru to go on a deep journey using plant medicines to try and find my voice once again.