Sara Porkalob (she/her/they) is an award-winning artist, activist, and creator of The Dragon Cycle, a trilogy of matrilineal musicals about her Filipina American gangster family, with one play for each generation built around a central female protagonist.

This trilogy honors her family—three generations of Filipino Americans descended from gangsters and karaoke fighting to survive, thrive, and love.

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Part I: Dragon Lady

Premiered at Intiman Theatre, 2017
Produced by Geffen Playhouse, 2024

Dragon Lady is a two-act cabaret musical with a three-person band. On the eve of her 60th birthday, faced with her crumbling legacy and apathetic children, Grandma Maria decides to share the dark secrets of her fantastical life with one lucky grandchild. Intergenerational trauma and healing, lots of karaoke, and one murder: this is Dragon Lady.

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Part II: Dragon Mama

Premiered at American Repertory Theater, 2019

The most intimate play of the cycle, Dragon Mama focuses on Maria Porkalob Jr.’s story, examining lost dreams and a society that perpetually fails immigrant families. But, like her mother before her, Maria paves her own path. This journey is beautifully brought to life as Sara inhabits multiple characters, some familiar and some brand new, to tell this extraordinary story.

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Part III: Dragon Baby

Currently under commission by Geffen Playhouse

Dragon Baby is a new musical and, in a departure from Parts I and II, Sara is joined by a cast of ten to bring to life the final piece in this cycle. The first of her family to attend art school, Sara Lee Porkalob has one more year of her B.F.A. before beginning her glamorous life as a professional actress. Faced with her parents’ ugly breakup and a sudden lack of funds for tuition, Sara Lee must scramble for work, juggle 18 credits, and create an original solo performance piece for a pesky elective class she has to take to graduate. But what story does she have to tell? What can she craft that hasn’t already been invented? Picking up where Dragon Mama left off, we follow Sara Lee’s journey as she discovers what part she is meant to play in the Porkalob story.

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Dragon Mama

PART II OF THE DRAGON CYCLE
MAR 4 – APR 12, 2026
LOS ANGELES PREMIERE
AUDREY SKIRBALL KENIS THEATER

Written by Sara Porkalob
Directed by Andrew Russell

Broadway star Sara Porkalob returns to the Geffen Playhouse for the second installment of “The Dragon Cycle.” In this next chapter, Maria Porkalob, Jr. dreams of a bigger, gayer life beyond Bremerton, WA. But when an unexpected chance to escape arises, she faces an impossible choice—stay with her struggling family or chase freedom in the wilds of Alaska. Packed with ghosts, Filipino gangsters, and a killer ’90s R&B soundtrack, this award-winning, high-octane solo show is a raw, hilarious, and deeply moving story of resilience, queer love, and what it takes to break free and find home.

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