World Premiere Musical: Turnover: A New Leaf by David Quang Pham

Set in Dirty City in the fictional nation of Woodwork, a Vietnamese salonist/cilantro named Rau Ram tries earning her green card while raising her son Parsley. When a teen pear named Pyrus visits town to spend the summer with their unty Malus, Parsley befriends his new neighbor and starts showing his queer self (his mother’s transgression). Inspired by David Quang Pham’s childhood as a Midwestern son of Vietnamese immigrants in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Turnover: A New Leaf plants timely themes of immigrant assimilation, queer identity, and songs teaching photosynthesis!

Turnover: A New Leaf is the recipient of the 2024 Great Performance Artist Fellowship Award. At the 2024 Philadelphia New Musicals Festival, the musical won the Best Book Award and Best Director Award (Aliyah Curry) and was nominated Best Musical.

Queer Theatre Kalamazoo’s Production of Turnover: A New Leaf is directed by Dr. Quincy Thomas, music directed by Emma Vivian Peterman, stage managed by Eric Batts. The musical stars Henry Lee as Parsley Ram, Laura Nguyen as Rau Ram, Isaac James as Pyrus Crabapple, and Duke Duquette as Malus Crabapple. The pit orchestra comprises of Jude Fleischman, Zhak Pokora, Stephen Lindquist.

Dates
Friday, May 16, 2025 at 7:30pm
Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 7:30pm (ASL Interpretation)
Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 2:00pm

Cost
Name-your-price tickets!

About David Quang Pham
David Quang Pham is an award-winning composer-playwright, science communicator, and aspiring animation screenwriter in Manhattan. Their musicals include Ellipses (2023 Theatre About Science International Conference, 2022 O’Neill semifinalist) and Turnover: A New Leaf, one acts Life After with Marie Incontrera and Stephanie Carlin and Check Out with Eric Grunin and Valerie Work. David’s plays have been produced or developed by Queer Theatre Kalamazoo, Musical Theatre Factory, The Tank, Theatre 71, and Signature Theatre’s Sigspace. He is the 2024 Great Performances Artist Fellowship Award recipient, 2022 Harriet Tubman Effect Institute composer, 2021 Playwrights Foundation fellow, and 2020 Working Title Playwrights apprentice. David’s storytelling combines science and fantasy. Common themes in his work include human nature, coming-of-age, parent-child relationships, environmentalism, queerness, and immigration. His pentatonic music composition blends pop, punk, and Vietnamese folk elements to create melodies that reflect his Eastern influences. When not writing songs full of science puns, David plays trombone for Queer Big Apple Corps, Marching Band Casting, and Vietnamese zither with Mekong NYC. They hold a B.S. in Astrophysics with honors and a minor in theatre from Michigan State University. Be up to lightspeed at @sciencetheatre or www.sciencetheatre.us