Choi and Bautista’s “Love You Wrong Time” pops up across Toronto to make audiences laugh, then think

Deanna H. Choi and Maddie Bautista, two Toronto-based Asian-Canadian artists, are debuting Love You Wrong Time, a Bad Muse Collective production presented by Nightwood Theatre, with pop-up dates from April 5-23, 2023. 

A satirical and comedic take on the duo’s experiences, this no-holds-barred comedic song cycle features two friends who are looking for love while contending with the fetishization of Asian women. “The ethos of our show is to make people laugh… then make them think,” they explain. They especially hope to reach male audiences, who may not fully understand the issues that women of colour face in dating – and in society at large.

Bautista is an award-winning sound designer, theatre artist, artist-educator, and producer. At the age of just three, she was inspired by a tape of Lea Salonga in Miss Saigon. “I was 16 when I decided I wanted to work in the theatre, and maybe 21 when I started unpacking the politics behind the musical that set me on this path.” She recalls her experience working as a janitor at the Factory Theatre in Toronto, and how actor-playwright Jeff Ho advised her to leave the job, “Because in this city, if you’re Asian and you work as a janitor, other artists and leaders may only see you as a janitor.” 

Struck by this insight, Bautista left the job, and became a drag artist, sound designer, and producer – among other things. She was not always fearless, but is proud that she learned to be braver and choose better. Today, she says that the resulting “friendships and artistic relationships are the biggest things I treasure in my career in the arts!”

Choi composes original music for film and television, and has designed more than 100 theatrical productions with companies across Canada. Originally, she had not planned to pursue a career in the arts. She was studying behavioral neuroscience at Queen’s University when the theatre bug bit. Some friends asked her to play music for their shows. She accepted, and it was a straight path from there to moving to Toronto after graduation to become a freelancer. Her career since has been “rewarding, fulfilling, and completely unpredictable”, she laughs – not unlike that of her sister, an ER physician who often says, “I never know what will come in through the door at the beginning of my shift!” 

Choi and Bautista met in 2016, while working on an indie play together. They bonded over their shared identities as young Asian female theatrical sound designers. and thought it would be fun to create a piece together. They received support from Soulpepper to do their first workshop, which was followed by a performance at Storefront Theatre’s Feminist F*ck-It Fest, and a playwriting residency with fuGEN Theatre. 

The developmental journey of Love You Wrong Time has involved at least six one-off iterations: “At each step, we’ve invited new collaborators, written new songs, and ditched old material. There are dozens of songs and scenes we wrote that never made it into the show! We trusted each other and the process, so the expression of ‘kill your darlings’ was hardly an issue for us.” The arrival of director and dramaturg Erin Brubacher marked a turning point in the show’s development that ultimately led to the version that Toronto audiences will see.

The inventive and interactive Love You Wrong Time serves as a battle cry in the wake of mass violence against Asian femmes, creating a space for rage, grief, tenderness, and ruthless comedy. Using music, true stories, bar games, and stand-up, Bautista and Choi have found a cathartic way to mine their personal experience of deeply troubling societal ills. Because they turned to humour to contend with these issues, laughter filled their rehearsals and writing and improvisation sessions. “Letting anger get the better of you only empowers the trolls and misogynists. Mining those problematic incidents for artistic output was certainly cheaper than going to therapy!” they laugh. The one time they felt the heaviness of the work was in the wake of mass shootings in the US that targeted Asian Americans: “In those moments, we turned to music as a way to cope, grieve, and heal.” 

This presentation of Love You Wrong Time is unique in that it will be performed in three different venues: Superfresh, an Asian night market-inspired food hall located in the Annex (Opening); The Emmet Ray whiskey and jazz bar (April 16-17); and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in the Cabaret (April 20-23). This variety is intentional: Bautista and Choi have always envisioned their show as a “pop-up concert that could tour like a band or stand-up comedian”. These venues were selected because they are designed to make audiences feel comfortable and at home, allowing them to grab a drink at the bar, eat dinner while watching the show, or bring a group of friends.

As performers, Choi and Bautista are especially looking forward to the show’s moments of audience interaction in these venues. Their unpredictability can be nerve-wracking, but this is “what keeps the show fresh, and keeps us as performers on our A-game every night.”

Love You Wrong Time is a must-see not just because it is smart, funny and timely – but also because its creators are women who are breaking down societal barriers while cementing their artistic collaboration and friendship: “The last few decades have ushered in legions of feminist writers and artists, but it’s still fairly uncommon to read about female friendships founded on their aesthetic principles.” 

So, one more question: which of the creators was it who bought the vibrator? Since this run of the show has completely sold out, those seeking an answer will have to wait for the show to “pop up” for an encore run. 

© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2023