Mysterious Part in ‘M. Butterfly’ Rates an ‘A’ for Actor Alec Mapa

“There’s one really great role for an Asian actor in the theater right now,” Alec Mapa contends. “And I have it.”

Mapa, 25, plays the mysterious Song Liling in David Henry Hwang’s Tony-winning “M. Butterfly,” opening Wednesday at the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills.

“M. Butterfly” is based on the true story of a bizarre international spy scandal and the secret love affair between a former French diplomat (Philip Anglim) and a beautiful Chinese star of the Peking Opera (Mapa). The diplomat thinks the star is a woman, but that turns out not to be the case.

To maintain an aura of mystery about Soon Liling’s actual gender, Mapa is billed as “A. Mapa.”

“I think A. is a really stupid name,” Mapa says, laughing. “I’ll go back to Alec when the play is over.”

Mapa originally was hired as a dancer and understudy to star B.D. Wong on Broadway in “Butterfly.” He eventually replaced Wong and has played Soon Liling opposite David Dukes, Tony Randall, John Rubinstein and Anglim.

And he’s altered his performance each time. “It’s four different dates with four different guys and you’re not going to be the same person. With Tony, it became a story of an older man lusting after this young girl. Philip is so fragile and vulnerable, I have to match that. I’m playing a woman made out of glass.”

The “M. Butterfly” tour has taken Mapa to over 40 cities. Some audiences, he says, were shocked to see him nude in one scene. “I had a woman in Baltimore scream. It’s nice to know my body can have that affect on people.”

A San Francisco native of Filipino descent, Mapa was a frustrated drama major at New York University who “couldn’t get cast in plays to save my life.”

Mapa became a comic after catching Whoopi Goldberg’s Broadway show. “I was inspired by her because she wasn’t limited by her race or sex. I was spotted by an agent doing clubs and started to get work.”