Asian Story Theater
The Great Horse of Mongolia
The Chinese zodiac provides the basis for this year’s folktale celebrating the bold and playful YEAR OF THE HORSE as one of the animals in Lunar New Year tradition. The story features a beautiful and bittersweet Mongolian folktale about a young boy and his extraordinary horse, stolen away by an envious Warlord, but ultimately immortalized in the voice of the Morin Khuur, “horse fiddle” in Mongolian. Performance features this unique instrument performed live.
Performances
Mission Hills-Knox Library - Saturday, February 21st, 1pm
Puppet Theater @ Balboa Park - Sunday February 22nd, 11am
House of China Lunar New Year Celebration, 2:30pm Sunday, February 22, Balboa Park
Chinese New Year Food & Cultural Fair, 1:30pm Saturday & Sunday, February 28-March 1, Downtown San Diego
Program
Cast
Gingerlily Lowe
Antaria Jongco
Rhys Green
Creative Team
Morin Khuur ~ Natasha Papousek
Setting ~ Jay Newington
Costume Design ~ Cheryl Lindley
Stage Manager, Puppets ~ Kalí Kamaria
Script, Puppets & Direction ~ Kent Brisby
About the Company...
Antaria Jongco is a writer, actor, dramaturg, and occasional producer whose creative practice is rooted in queer joy, messy growth, and communal repair. A proud queer Filipino-American and first-gen storyteller, Antaria approaches artmaking as an act of healing—for self and others. Whether on stage, behind the camera, or at the writers’ table, their work explores identity, intergenerational dialogue, and the liminal spaces between cultures.
They are excited to debut with Asian Story Theater as Suho (THE GREAT HORSE OF MONGOLIA). Previous stage performances of EVERYDAY VANILLA (Square Pen) and recent film work includes "Fam De Ube" (48HR Film Project and The FilAm Film Collective).
They believe in holding space for underrepresented voices without tokenization, and view collaboration as a sacred act of resistance and love. Through performance, writing, and dramaturgy, Antaria is committed to crafting stories that challenge, nourish, and connect us—especially across communities too often silenced.
Gingerlily Lowe is an actor, director, writer, songwriter, teaching artist and a founding member of Asian Story Theater -formerly Chinese Story Theater. She was a founding member and past president on San Diego’s first Asian American Theater company–Pacific Asian Actors’ Ensemble, and also the Magic Machine. She is proud of the decades of multi-ethnic theater she has been a part of and able to help produce, celebrating Asian American art and culture, and bringing new faces, voices, and stories to the community. She has been a teaching artist with Young Audiences/Arts for Learning, Institute for Arts Education, and currently is on the teaching artist staff for Guitars in the Classroom, and the Education Director for Asian Story Theater.
Rhys Green is co-founder and Artistic Director of the San Diego Black Ensemble Theatre. He earned his BFA in acting from the California Institute of The Arts, after which he joined the creative arts team out of New York University, teaching conflict resolution. He was a teaching artist with the La Jolla Playhouse, North Coast Rep, The Institute for Arts and Education, and The San Diego Black Ensemble Theatre. Mr. Greene has toured with Disney, Asian Story Theater, National Theatre for Children, Fights r’ Us, La Jolla Playhouse, Traveling Lantern, and numerous productions in New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and San Diego. Mr Greene is very proud of performing in two critically acclaimed productions, one was THE BALLAD OF EMMETT TILL at Ion Theatre Co. and FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WAR with Intrepid Theatre. Mr. Greene is an Associate Artist with the Asian Story Theater and serves on the board of Chronos Theatre and Teatro Mascara Magica. Currently he teaches theatre at Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach. Mr Green is the proud owner of Mr Green’s Coffee Beans, a small coffee roasting business bringing the public great custom roasted coffee beans from around the world. You can order at mrgreenscoffeebeans.com. You can also listen out for Mr. Greene when he’s playing drums around town with any number of Jazz Cats.
KL (Kent) Brisby
Kent is a writer and producer with a broad background in adapting diverse narrative and performing arts traditions from around the world into new works, often featuring music. Upcoming projects include a new musical set during the Mexican Revolution, REVOLUCIÓN, as well as a new anthology THE COFFEE PLAYS. He recently wrote and produced THE GOLDEN RULE for Asian Story Theater, and other past projects include RED, WHITE & BLACKLISTED and THE MUSICAL PAUL GAUGUIN, as well as leading development on STORIES OF THE SUN CAFE, HALO HALO, and WHAT ARE YOU? Originally from Nebraska, Kent grew up on various Micronesian Island groups, with some time in Hawaii, before returning to the states. He graduated from Whitman College in the Pacific Northwest before settling in San Diego, first as a performer and director with the San Diego Street Theater.
Jay Newington has a broad background in design and production for theater, television, film, and special events. In addition to GREAT HORSE, Jay was production designer for THE LAST CENSUS and COUNTED (2025) and HALO-HALO (2017) for Asian Story Theater. His theater design and production work includes multiple shows for the Sierra Repertory Theater in Sonora, California. His immersive event RETURN TO HILL VALLEY is a summer highlight of California’s gold country, where visitors can revisit the old-west setting of “Back to the Future - Part 3” which Jay helped produce.
