With the 25-city national tour of "M. Butterfly" drawing to a close, Alec Mapa is preparing to part company with the role on which he cut his acting teeth.
For the past two years, Mapa has played Song Liling, a Chinese opera performer who disguises himself as a delicate woman to entice government secrets from a French diplomat, in the David Henry Hwang play.Mapa, 26, says the role is his favorite "because it's so hard to do it can't get boring."
He made his Broadway debut in 1988 in a smaller role in the play while understudying Tony Award-winner B.D. Wong in the part of Song Liling. He stepped into the lead in 1989 and hit the road last fall. After a successful run in Los Angeles, the touring production now is at its second-to-last stop - San Francisco.
Before each performance, the actor - billed as A. Mapa in the program - spends up to two hours in makeup, applying a wig, false eyelashes, rouge and lipstick to become the "Butterfly" who is the object of co-star Philip Anglim's passion.
Anglim's character, Rene Gallimard, is deceived for 20 years about the gender of his lover because, at her insistence, he has never seen her nude and permits her to maintain her modesty.
This unlikely scenario, based on the true story of French diplomat Bernard Bouriscot who was tried for treason in 1986, calls for more than the usual suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience.
Thus, Mapa works even harder to make playgoers see him through Gallimard's eyes as a gentle, doting woman - the Western man's ideal of an Asian blossom.
Mapa says his portrayal of Song Liling has evolved and, in the process, left a permanent mark on the way he works.
"The hardest part of doing this show is making her real," he said. "On Broadway, I kind of exploded in the role, like, `See, I can do it, too.'
"We have seven weeks left and I'm still working on it."
Mapa's womanly traits range from a high-pitched yet rich voice to graceful hand gestures and a subtle tilt of the head.
But he says women friends and family members advised him that femininity also is visible in a woman's deliberately passive silence.
"Men are little boys grown up," he said. "They like it when you listen to them, and I think the art of listening is a very feminine, loving thing."
Throughout the tour, which began last September in Boston and concludes Sept. 22 in Denver, people from all parts of the country and all walks of life have been able to relate to the common theme couched in the play's uncommon plot, Mapa says.
"Coming from New York, you have your prejudices and biases. You think there's New York and Los Angeles and everybody else is a goon," the San Francisco native said. "I found different levels of sophistication, but no different levels of intelligence."
Mapa says audiences seemed to identify with the theme of love's capacity to blind people.
"I think we all go through relationships where we say from the get-go, `This is wrong, this is completely wrong.' But we don't get out.
"If you need to be loved you'll take that chance."
Despite its tasteful execution, a nude scene in "M. Butterfly" has raised a few eyebrows along the way, Mapa says.
"In almost every city, you'll find people who are uptight about seeing a naked body," he said.
In Orlando, Fla., the "M. Butterfly" production was front-page news when it became known that the show violated a city ordinance prohibiting nudity in a public place where alcohol is served. The newspaper story detailed the scene in which Mapa, with his back to the audience, reveals his character's true identity.
"The following night, there was a buzz in the audience," Mapa said. "You could hear people whispering, `Oh, this is the part, this is the part."'
Mapa also recalls a television talk show hostess who asked him if he thought Orlando residents were ready to see a man dressed as a woman.
"You see a man dressed as a mouse every day," Mapa replied.
This is not Mapa's only professional role. He has four feature films to his credit, including "Bright Lights, Big City" and "She-Devil," has played a psychic fortune teller on the soap opera "Another World," and even tried his hand at stand-up comedy.
But the role of Song Liling is currently the best theatrical role for an Asian actor, Mapa says.
Mapa, who is of Filipino descent, says acting jobs for Asians are few because directors and casting agents still wait for a script to specify "Asian" before they hire an Asian.
