The Metamorphosis Project
“Norman Garcy Yap put a BEATING on that performance, shocked that such talent even exists…Yap’s performance was especially touching. It’s great seeing healthy masculine portrayals of men and families, especially of Asian men who are often made invisible or emasculated in Western media.” – @friezeofficial
“A jury comprised of leading art and entertainment professionals selected Ng’s winning film. The Metamorphosis Project tells the story of Eric [Norman Garcy Yap], who is given the opportunity to test a virtual-living experience after a harrowing diagnosis.”
“The 2024 Deutsche Bank Frieze Los Angeles Jury Film Award was awarded to The Metamorphosis Project. To be recognized on a global scale, alongside such a historic collection in the context of fine art, can elevate a filmmaker’s reference and network.”
The Great Leap
“Wen Chang is the play’s pivot; the character is youthful, astonished, tentatively peeking out of his shell in the 1971 scenes, turning careful, calculating, and near frozen in place in 1989. It’s a role that requires subtlety and a wry coolness in Norman Garcy Yap’s adroit performance. Underlying the surface is an incompleteness that waits to be pierced, and Yap moves brilliantly into that moment.” -ITHACA TIMES
PC Rachel Philipson
“Yap has a more subtle internal dynamic. Initially sunny and comically ingenuous on the surface, by the ’80s he has more power, cynicism, and game, yet is even more rigid to Party orthodoxy – until, suddenly, he’s not. Yap gives this evolution great poignancy.” -PORTLAND PHOENIX
PC Rachel Philipson
“Veteran actors Norman Garcy Yap and Jim Shankman are perfectly cast and deliver strong performances akin to a well-coached, well-oiled team of star athletes playing their best game. The characters in The Great Leap are multi-layered and complex, and require actors with a full toolbox – strong physical acting skills, clear elocution, keen understanding of their characters’ speech patterns, emotional styles, cultural context, and stamina.” -NEW ENGLAND THEATER MIRROR
PC Rachel Philipson
“The play scores big on many levels before its rather striking end arrives. It’s an emotionally sophisticated play that also entertains with witty comedy, high and low, and the warmth thrown off from newly revealed relationships… performances are compelling, with Yap and Shankman particularly effective at humanizing their characters in scenes where their facades wear thin.” -PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
PC Mical Hutson
Chimerica
“Gutsy work, especially Norman Yap, the play’s moral conscience.” – CHICAGO TRIBUNE
“Norman Yap is hapless, funny, and finally much more, his performance greatly enhanced by that of Wai Yim as Lin’s brother. The relationship between these two is among the tenderest, truest things I’ve seen on a stage in a long time.” – CHICAGO READER
“The terrific Norman Yap is heartbreaking as Zhang Lin, eternally tormented by his violent past, haunted by the loss of his wife…filled with moments of intense emotion, bittersweet romance and a pulsating air of mystery.” -CHICAGO THEATRE
“A uniformly impressive group of Asian (and Caucasian) actors,...this is a powerhouse play, sharply tragic and comic, deeply moving and always insightful.” – CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
“Alternatingly charming and heartbreaking performance by Norman Yap to exorcise his own persistent demons.”-CHICAGO STAGE STANDARD
PC Laura Goetsch
“Spellbinding, sterling performances all around. Yap’s Zhang breaks our hearts…excellent performances.” –EPOCH TIMES
“Will grab your attention from the very start and hold you there for three hours. Deftly handled by Norman Yap, the ending will take your breath away!” – AROUNDTHETOWNCHICAGO
