Theater – Backstage Pass with Lia Chang

The New-York Historical Society is presenting Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion through April 19, 2015, an exhibition that interprets the legacy of Chinese in the United States as a key element of American history, spanning the late-18th century to the present and all regions of the country. The exhibition addresses the challenges of immigration, citizenship and belonging that shaped not only the Chinese American experience, but also the development of the United States from the formation of its policies to its national character.

“Chinese American tells the fascinating but complex story of relations between the United States and China, from the Chinese tea thrown overboard in Boston Harbor, to one of our earliest models of international educational exchange, to the nation’s first-ever exclusionary immigration policy, based solely on Chinese origin’” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, President and CEO of the New-York Historical Society. “The impact of the Chinese in America over more than two hundred years of history has been extraordinary, and yet its story is little or entirely unknown. This exhibition will provoke a new understanding of what it means to be an American, taking its place among New-York Historical’s most consequential and eye-opening exhibitions such as Slavery in New York.

Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion features approximately 200 objects, including historic documents, maps, artworks, artifacts, and ephemera, drawn from New-York Historical’s collection and loaned by leading cultural institutions and private lenders.

Empress of China fan DATE ca. 1784. This fan depicts the Empress of China—the first American merchant vessel to trade with China. The ship departed from New York harbor in 1784 and returned the following year, laden with porcelains, silks, and teas. CREDIT LINE Courtesy of the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection. Photo by Lia Chang

Exhibition Overview
Organized in three main sections with an introduction and conclusion, the exhibition begins with United States and China, 1784 to 1905. The British had long trade relationships with China, and the leaders of what was the fledgling America saw commercial independence as an important step in defining itself in the post-colonial period. In 1784, three months after the British left America, the Empress of China trading ship set sail from New York Harbor to Canton, China. At right is a Chinese fan commemorating the arrival of the ship, which launched trade between the United States and China.

This section of the exhibition also explores the experiences and contributions of Chinese migrants in the 19th century, from a New York doctor to a Western gold miner.

Six early Chinese migrants: Lum Ling Wah, Joseph Pierce, Polly Bemis, Lue Gim Gong, Choy Awah and Yung Wah Gok. Photo by Lia Chang

Lum Ling Wau (1820–unknown)
Lum Ling Wau opened his New York medical practice in 1870, stocking his fashionable Union Square office with medicinal herbs from China and offering his diagnostic skills free of charge. The NY Herald wrote, “Nowadays the world is wide enough for everybody, and if there be any efficacy in a Chinese blade of grass the sooner the people know it the better.” Caption: A Chinese enterprise: No. 40 East 14th Street, ca. 1870. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society.

Joseph Pierce (1842–1916)
The China trade brought young Joseph Pierce (named after President Franklin Pierce) to a Connecticut sea captain’s home. In 1862, during the Civil War, Pierce served in the Fourteenth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. Surviving the carnage of Antietam and distinguishing himself on the battlefield of Gettysburg, Pierce later married and worked as an engraver in the silverware industry. Caption: Joseph Pierce in Union uniform. Reproduction. Michael J. McAfee Collection.

Polly Bemis (1853–1933)
The daughter of a poor northern Chinese family, Polly Bemis was sold to a Chinese businessman in a remote Idaho mining town. Polly’s resourcefulness and pluck endeared her to locals and eventually led her to build a new life with saloon owner Charlie Bemis. They married, and together made a home on the “River of No Return” (Salmon River). Caption: Polly Bemis in wedding dress, 1894. Reproduction. Idaho State Historical Society.

Lue Gim Gong (1860–1925)
Lue Gim Gong [Liu Jin Zuan, 刘锦缵] joined a work crew in 1870 heading east to C.T. Sampson’s shoe factory in Massachusetts. He befriended Fanny Burlingame (distantly related to diplomat Anson Burlingame), who saw his promise and horticultural talent. While tending the Burlingame orchards in DeLand, Florida, Lue famously contributed to the citrus industry by developing a sweet, frost-resistant orange. Caption: Lue Gim Gong. Reproduction. Courtesy Paul W. Marino; Collection of Nancy Parrino.

Choy Awah (1849–1895)
In 1870, Protestant missionaries offered former ship’s cabin boy Choy Awah the chance to attend Howard University in Washington, DC, established in 1867 to educate African Americans, but open to all. Choy was one of Howard’s first Chinese students and one of the first Chinese Americans to gain US citizenship. When he married his Irish bride, the registrar, unsure how to classify Choy, listed him as “White (Mongolian).” Caption: “Choy Awah,” in Howard University, the capstone of Negro education, a history: 1867–1940. Reproduction. General Research & Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Yung Wah Gok (1879–1951)
Yung Wah Gok journeyed alone to California at age eleven, sent to improve the fortunes of his struggling farming family. Yung worked in the San Jose area as a store helper, houseboy, brickmaker, and farmhand, eventually becoming a community leader and partner in a general store. His activities included raising funds to support Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s movement for a democratic republic in China. Caption: Yung Wah Gok at age 11. Reproduction. Courtesy of Connie Young Yu.

These early migrants became ensnared in an anti-Chinese movement that developed in the West during the unsettled years after the Civil War amid racial and class turmoil. When this movement gained national strength, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This act prevented Chinese laborers from entering the country and banned all Chinese from naturalizing as citizens, but in a political compromise to keep the China trade going, exempted merchants, students, diplomats, and tourists. The exhibition includes now-shocking cartoons with racist caricatures from Puck and The Wasp magazines from the 1880s, as well as an 1883 copy of the Chinese American, a newspaper founded in New York by activist-journalist Wong Chin Foo, who also helped found the Chinese Equal Rights League.

Click to view slideshow.
Photographs from the 1870s of young Chinese boys sent to study at New England schools through the Chinese Educational Mission on view show that other models for cooperation existed.

The Chinese Educational Mission. Eugene Beggs, Live-steam locomotive train set, pre-1890. Tin, brass, wood, and paper. New-York Historical Society, The Jerni Collection. Photo by Lia Chang

The Chinese Educational Mission offered a framework for cooperation and exchange between China and the US. This “study abroad” experiment took shape in the US northeast during the 1870s, even as the anti-Chinese movement gained strength. The program closed on the cusp of Exclusion in 1881, but its demise did not prevent other Chinese students from coming. The revised treaty and 1882 Exclusion Act restricted Chinese laborers from entering the country, but admitted students, teachers, merchants, and diplomats.

Many in the US and China saw advantage in educating individuals who would modernize China. Americans wanted to extend their influence in China and thus viewed relationships with potential future leaders as strategic and welcome. Chinese in China and the diaspora wanted to use Western knowledge—acquired in the US and elsewhere—to arrest the empire’s decline and restore its sovereignty in the face of growing foreign encroachments.

Financial support for US studies came from various sources, including Boxer Indemnity Scholarships. This 1908 initiative drew from indemnity funds demanded of China for losses claimed by Americans during China’s Boxer Rebellion (1900–1901). Liang Cheng—China’s Minister to the US and a former Chinese Educational Mission student—helped negotiate the program. In its first 20 years, over 1,300 students received scholarships, including many prominent scholars, educators, and leaders.

The second section, The Machinery of Exclusion, 1882 to 1943, examines the enforcement and experience of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Until 1882 there was little government regulation of immigration and consequently no category of “illegal immigration.” America’s system of immigration was created during enforcement of Exclusion, and many of the practices and principles developed under its umbrella were later applied to other groups, framing elements of America’s immigration system that remained in place for more than 80 years. The Exclusion Act was followed in 1892 by a law requiring all Chinese in America to register with the government, which no other segment of the population – but criminals – had to do at that time.

Anna May Wong Certificate of Identity, August 28, 1924.
Starting in 1909, Chinese entering or residing in the U.S. were required to carry a government-issued Certificate of Identity at all times. Even movie stars like Anna May Wong were subject to the law.
CREDIT LINE: National Archives at San Francisco (54099). Photo by Lia Chang

Identity certificates are on display, such as that of prominent actress Anna May Wong from 1924, and a recreated immigration station that evokes the experience of the barracks, inspector’s office, and hospital common to immigration stations like Angel Island in San Francisco Bay (1910-40).

Click to view slideshow.
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station

Civil disobedience and legal campaigns to oppose exclusion and unequal treatment began at this time, with 80,000 Chinese Americans refusing to register with the government in 1892, uniquely required of the Chinese. Despite being denied the right to naturalize, Chinese in America acted as Americans when they went to court to secure equal treatment. The exhibition includes a new film about Wong Kim Ark, whose challenge to Exclusion resulted in the important Supreme Court ruling that all people born on US soil are US citizens. Resourceful approaches to immigration rules also arose, such as the concept of the “paper son,” who assumed the identity and papers of someone eligible to immigrate, learning the family history and hometown details of his American host in order to pass interrogation. The exhibition features a selection of false “coaching” documents that were hidden inside fruits and nuts and smuggled into Angel Island detention center.

Paper Sons & Daughters: These “coaching” documents belonged to a man who tried to enter the US in 1926, under the assumed identity of Jung How. He used them to prepare himself for questioning by inspectors at Angel Island. His attempt at entry failed, and officials confiscated and translated the papers. Photo by Lia Chang

Low family portrait, ca. 1961. Adapting to the immigration laws that kept them apart, a local photography studio helped the Low family of New York create an impossible family portrait by pasting in the faces of missing relatives.
CREDIT LINE: Courtesy of Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Collection.

The final section of the show, Journeys in America, 1882 to the present examines the opportunities and challenges of Chinese American life in the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943 to strengthen the U.S. alliance with China in World War II, but severe immigration restrictions continued until the reforms of the Immigration Act of 1965. Many families that were separated for years created poignant family portraits with pasted-in images of missing family members, some of which will be on view.

A 12 chapter graphic novel-style pictorial display illustrates the story of the Chins of New York, as told by Bronx-born Amy Chin. She starts in 1913, with the arrival of her grandfather Bok Ying, and ends nearly a century later with the family’s expedition to their ancestral village in China.

Even while Ms. Chin reconstructed her tale for the artists to capture, she continued to learn more about her family’s history, parts of which had long stayed secret. Among the ironies of the Chinese American experience is that the detailed records produced by the government during and after Exclusion not only document how the system worked, but also help people like Amy Chin to piece together their family histories.

Click to view slideshow.

Chinese American experiences are also shared in the exhibition through brief videos and profiles of notable figures, such as culinary pioneer Joyce Chen, federal appeals court judge Denny Chin, and author and ceramicist Jade Snow Wong.

Mandarin-style restaurant in 1958. Her growing reputation and subsequent cookbook landed her a nationally televised cooking show—the first TV series with an Asian host—and her own Chinese cookware line. CREDIT LINE: Private Collection. Courtesy of WGBH Educational Foundation.

Joyce Chen left Shanghai in 1949, settling in Cambridge, MA. Capitalizing on her culinary skills, she opened a Mandarin-style restaurant in 1958. Her growing reputation and subsequent cookbook landed her a nationally televised cooking show—the first TV series with an Asian host—and her own Chinese cookware line.
CREDIT LINE: Private Collection. Courtesy of WGBH Educational Foundation.

The exhibition concludes by exploring efforts to reclaim this almost-lost history of the Chinese American experience. One artifact is the majestic head of a ceremonial dragon, purchased from China by the Chinese American community in Marysville, California in the 1880s. The dragon, “Moo Lung,” traveled throughout the U.S. for cultural events, visiting New York City in 1911, and has been restored especially for this exhibition.

A mini-exhibit of Nine New Yorkers supplements the main exhibition by presenting brief portraits of nine distinguished Chinese Americans: Charles Lai (community organizer), Rachael Chong (social entrepreneur), Margaret Chin (New York City Councilmember), Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (spoken word poet), Arnold Chang (artist/curator/art historian), Betty Lee Sung (scholar), Jeff Yang (journalist and author), Tarry Hum (urban planner) and I.M. Pei (architect).

Click to view slideshow.

Programs and Special Initiatives
Two interchanging multimedia pieces greet visitors to the New-York Historical Society. The Chinese in America: We Are Family is a rotating array of Chinese characters for family names and thousands of individual portrait photographs, including distinguished individuals like architect I.M. Pei or champion figure skater Michelle Kwan. The piece was developed by the Committee of 100 for the USA Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Another large rotating collage of portraits will feature profiles of historical and contemporary individuals, and the public can submit personal images through New-York Historical’s website to be incorporated into the display. To learn more, click here.

The Many Faces of Chinese Americans greets visitors to the New -York Historical Society at the entrance. Photo by Lia Chang

A related publication, Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion (Scala 2014), features 65 artifacts from the exhibition, serving as a companion guide to the show and a stand-alone chronological overview of the critically important history of the Chinese in America.

Special programming related to the exhibition:

Saturday, January 10, 7 pm-Award-winning composer/conductor Tan Dun will be joined by special guest Chinese American composers for a lecture and performance program that will trace their musical journey from China to America. Co-Presented by U.S. China Cultural Institute, Cultural Associate of the Committee of 100

Thursday, April 23, 6:30 pm-Spring Concert: China West, featuring performances by Manuel Barrueco and the Beijing Guitar Duo

WHERE: The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West (at Richard Gilder Way, West 77th Street)
New York, NY 10024

TICKETS: Ticket prices vary by program. For more information, please call (212) 485-9268 or visit nyhistory.org/programs

Tuesday-Thursday, Saturday – 10am-6pm

Friday – 10am-8pm

Sunday – 11am-5pm

Monday – CLOSED

Exhibition Credits
Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion is curated by Dr. Marci Reaven, Vice President for History Exhibitions at the New-York Historical Society, and the chief historian is Dr. John Kuo Wei Tchen, co-founder of the Museum of Chinese in America and founding director of New York University’s Asian/Pacific/American Institute.

A distinguished advisory group of scholars in the fields of history and law helped to develop the exhibition, including Thomas Bender, Joshua Brown, Judge Denny Chin, Eric Foner, Sander Gilman, Madeline Hsu, Erika Lee, David Lei, Mary Lui, Cathy Matson, Mae Ngai, Dael Norwood, Kevin Scott Wong, Frank Wu, Renqiu Yu, and Judy Yung. The Museum of Chinese in America, the Chinese Historical Society of America, and many other lenders of artifacts and images provided critical knowledge and support.

Andy Darrell, Dana Tang, Shirley Young, Oscar Tang, Agnes Hsu-Tang, Tracy Tang Limpe, Kevin Tang celebrate at the opening of Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion at the New-York Historical Society in New York on September 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang.

The New-York Historical Society recognizes the leadership support of Oscar Tang and Agnes Hsu-Tang – Tang Family Foundation for Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion. Generous funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Achelis and Bodman Foundations, and Harold J. and Ruth Newman. Additional support provided, in part, by Lulu C. Wang.

About the New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society, one of America’s pre-eminent cultural institutions, is dedicated to fostering research and presenting history and art exhibitions and public programs that reveal the dynamism of history and its influence on the world of today. Founded in 1804, New-York Historical has a mission to explore the richly layered history of New York City and State and the country, and to serve as a national forum for the discussion of issues surrounding the making and meaning of history.

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All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2014 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com

The cast and creative team of Atlantic Theater Company’s Dying For It. Photo Credit: Ahron Foster

C.J. Wilson (Photo by Lia Chang)

Atlantic Theater Company is presenting the American premiere of Dying For It, by Moira Buffini, freely adapted from Nikolai Erdman’s The Suicide, directed by Neil Pepe and featuring Mia Barron, Ben Beckley, Nathan Dame, Patch Darragh, Clea Lewis, Peter Maloney, Andrew Mayer, Mary Beth Peil, Jeanine Serralles, Joey Slotnick, Robert Stanton and C.J. Wilson.

Dying For It began previews on December 11 and officially opens on Thursday, January 8, 2015 for a limited engagement through Sunday, January 18 Off Broadway at Atlantic Theater Company at The Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street). Click here to purchase tickets.

Dying For It is the story of Semyon (Slotnick), a man down on his luck, married to a nag (Serralles), and out of options. When he decides to throw in the towel and kill himself, a deluge of sympathetic visitors descends upon him, determined to make him a martyr for their many causes. Swept up in the firestorm of attention, Semyon does take matters into his own hands, but not quite in the fashion that everyone expects. An outrageous satire on the hypocrisy and illogic of Soviet life, this play was banned by Stalin before it ever saw the light of day, and is now regarded as an under-known 20th century classic comedy.

Atlantic Theater Company artistic director Neil Pepe recently staged the acclaimed world premiere production of John Guare’s 3 Kinds of Exile at Atlantic and the Broadway production of the new musical Hands on a Hardbody. He also directed the hit revival of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow and Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre. Off-Broadway highlights include Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song, Mojo and The Night Heron; Ethan Coen’s Happy Hour, Offices and Almost an Evening; Harold Pinter’s Celebration and The Room and Adam Rapp’s Dreams of Flying, Dreams of Falling.

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Mia Barron was recently featured in the Bruce Norris play Domesticated Off Broadway and has appeared on Broadway in The Coast of Utopia and QED. Ben Beckley makes his Off Broadway debut after recently returning from the first national tour of Peter and the Starcatcher. Nathan Dame appeared in the recent acclaimed Off Broadway revival of Our Town. Patch Darragh returns to Atlantic after starring in Rolin Jones world premiere of The Jammer. Clea Lewis returns to Atlantic where she first appeared in the world premiere of Woody Allen’s Writer’s Block. Andrew Mayer recently appeared Off Broadway in The 12 – A New Rock Musical. Atlantic company member Peter Maloney has appeared in twenty-one plays at Atlantic including 3 Kinds of Exile, The New York Idea, Bottom of the World, Trumpery and The Voysey Inheritance. Atlantic company member Mary Beth Peil returns to Atlantic following recent appearances in The Threepenny Opera and Harper Regan. Jeanine Serralles returns to Atlantic after starring in Rolin Jones world premiere of The Jammer. Joey Slotnick has starred in three world premiere plays by Ethan Coen at Atlantic – Happy Hour, Offices and Almost an Evening. Robert Stanton’s Broadway credits include Mary Stuart and The Coast of Utopia, he returns to Atlantic where he appeared in The Bald Soprano. C.J. Wilson’s recent Broadway credits include Bronx Bombers, The Big Knife and Glengarry Glen Ross and returns to Atlantic following appearances in Our New Girl, Offices and The Voysey Inheritance.

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Tam Mutu

Tam Mutu, making his Broadway debut as the passionate Doctor and poet Yurii Zhivago, Kelli Barrett (Wicked), Tony Award nominee Tom Hewitt (Rocky Horror Show), and Paul Nolan (Jesus Chris Superstar), will be joined by Lora Lee Gayer as Tonia Gromeko, Zhivago’s devoted wife, in the new Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago. Based on Boris Pasternak’s Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, the cast of Doctor Zhivago features Jacqueline Antaramian and Jamie Jackson, with Heather Botts, Wendi Bergamini, Melody Butiu, Josh Canfield, Julian Cihi, Briana Carlson-Goodman, Bradley Dean, Michael Brian Dunn, Drew Foster, Kira Guloien, Robert Hager, Ericka Hunter, Denis Lambert, David McDonald, Joseph Medeiros, Pilar Millhollen, Gary Milner, Spencer Moses, Julius Sermonia, Jacob L. Smith and Jesse Wildman in a cast of 32.

Michael Weller. Photo by Lia Chang

Doctor Zhivago will begin performances on Friday, March 27, 2015, and open on Tuesday, April 21, 2015, at 6:30pm, at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway). Doctor Zhivago is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys), with a book by Academy Award nominee Michael Weller (Ragtime), music by Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Lucy Simon (The Secret Garden), lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens) and Emmy Award nominee Amy Powers (Ella Enchanted), and choreography by Tony Award nominee Kelly Devine (Rocky).

Tam Mutu (Yurii Zhivago), who will star as Stone in The Donmar Warhouse’s production of City Of Angels this winter, was recently seen as Javert in LES MISERABLES (Queen’s Theatre), and has theater credits that include Love Never Dies (Adelphi Theatre), Orange Peel (Royal Court), Royal Hunt of the Sun and Love’s Labour’s Lost (National Theatre), East (Leicester Haymarket), Romeo and Juliet and King Lear (RSC), As You Like It (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Dr. Faustus (Headlong Theatre Company) and Anatoly in Chess at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. Tam’s television credits include “Waking the Dead” and “Footballer’s Wives.”

Kelli Barrett

Kelli Barrett will star as Lara Guishar, Yurii’s paramour. Kelli’s Broadway credits include Wicked (Nessarose), The Royal Family (Gwen) and Baby It’s You! (Mary-Jane). Off-Broadway: Rock of Ages (original Sherrie), On Your Toes (Frankie) at Encores! Regional theater work includes productions at the York, Williamstown, New York Stage & Film, Old Globe, WBT, Cincy Playhouse, St. Louis Rep and Prince. Selected Film and TV credits include The Switch, Remember Me, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, “Blue Bloods”, “NCIS”, “L&O:SVU”, “Person of Interest”, “Gifted Man”, “Ugly Betty”, “The Good Wife” and recurring roles on “I Just Want My Pants Back” (Jane) and “Chicago Fire”(Renee Whaley). She and Tony nominee Jarrod Spector (currently starring in Beautiful) were recently wed in New York City

Tom Hewitt

Viktor Komarovsky, the powerful aristocrat, will be played by Tony Award-nominee Tom Hewitt. Tom’s Broadway credits include Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar, Billy Flynn in Chicago, Dracula in Dracula: The Musical, Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), The Boys from Syracuse, The Lion King, School for Scandal, and The Sisters Rosenzweig. National Tours include Urinetown, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Touring Broadway Award) and Peter Pan. Off Broadway: Treasure Island, Jeffery, Beau Jest (Outer Critics nomination), Richard III, Othello. Regional Credits: Amazing Grace; Irma Vep; Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Zhivago and Dracula: The Musical (La Jolla Playhouse); Kiss Me, Kate; Private Lives and Travesties (Long Wharf, CT Critics Circle Award); Compleat Female Stage Beauty (Old Globe); Uncle Vanya (Arena Stage); Racing Demon and Blithe Spirit (Guthrie); Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare Theater). TV/Film: “Law and Order,” “Third Watch,” “Frasier,” “All My Children,” and Fools’ Fire.

Paul Nolan

Paul Nolan will star as the political revolutionary, Pasha Antipov. Paul can currently be seen as Guy in Once on Broadway, having last been seen as Jesus in the 2012 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar. He originated that role at The Stratford Festival of Canada where he was also seen as Cousin Kevin in The Who’s Tommy, Tony in West Side Story, Orlando in As You Like It and Al Joad in The Grapes Of Wrath. Last year San Diego audiences saw him as Ben Nickel in the World Premiere of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots at the La Jolla Playhouse conceived and directed by Des McAnuff and Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips. Also in the United States he was Radames in Aida at Kansas City Starlight. His film and TV credits include Will, “Something’s Coming,” Alex and Schumacher.

Lora Lee Gayer

Lora Lee Gayer was most recently seen on Broadway in Follies as Young Sally, opposite Bernadette Peters. Off-Broadway credits include Pipe Dream at Encores!, and These Seven Sicknesses at EPBB. Regional credits include Millie in Bull Durham (Alliance); Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Shakespeare Theater-Helen Hayes nomination); Young Sally in Follies (Kennedy Center, Ahmanson); Gloria Thorpe in Damn Yankees (Goodspeed); Carrie in Carousel (Virginia Opera); Barrington; MUNY; KC Starlight; and Bay Street. Graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and Carnegie Mellon University.

Melody Butiu

Melody Butiu, currently appearing as Estrella in the World Premiere of David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim’s critically acclaimed Here Lies Love, is making her Broadway debut with Dr. Zhivago. Regional World Premieres include – Land of Smiles, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Pulitzer Prize nominated, AriZoni award for Best Actress in a Play), Shipwrecked! (by Donald Margulies, starring Gregory Itzin), Long Season (Perseverance Theatre in Alaska), A Perfect Wedding (Kirk Douglas Theatre), Dogeaters (La Jolla Playhouse). She has also appeared in productions of Helen (Getty Villa), Nightmare Alley (Geffen Playhouse), Calligraphy (Playwrights’ Arena), A Winter People (Theatre @ Boston Court), The Theory of Everything (Singapore Rep and East West Players), Celebration of The Lizard (San Diego Rep), BOY (La Jolla Playhouse), A Little Night Music (East West Players), Long Story Short (San Diego Rep), 36 Views (Geva/Portland Center Stage/Laguna Playhouse), HAIR (Reprise!), and Golden Child (EWP). Film/TV: Untold, Blood Ransom, “NCIS,” “Harry’s Law,” “True Blood,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Modern Family.” www.melodybutiu.com

Six Questions for Melody Butiu, Currently Appearing as Estrella in David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim’s Here Lies Love at The Public

Doctor Zhivago will feature scenic design by Michael Scott-Mitchell (Wagner’s Ring Cycle), costume design by five-time Tony Award nominee Paul Tazewell (Memphis), lighting design by Tony Award winner Howell Binkley (Jersey Boys), sound design by Tony Award winner SCK Sound Design (700 Sundays), projection design by Sean Nieuwenhuis (Jesus Christ Superstar), orchestrations by Danny Troob, music arrangements by Eric Stern, with musical direction and supervision by Ron Melrose. Doctor Zhivago will be produced on Broadway by Anita Waxman, Tom Dokton, Latitude Link, Ted Hartley/RKO Stage and Chunsoo Shin, with Margo and Roger Coleman, Joe Corcoran, J. Todd Harris, Stage Entertainment USA, Inc., Broadway Across America, Grove Entertainment, The Shubert Organization, The Pelican Group, Ahmos Hassan and John Frost. Junkyard Dog Productions is the executive producer of Doctor Zhivago.

Doctor Zhivago is an epic romance, revolving around the search for love during the final days of Czarist Russia, the First World War and the chaos of the Russian revolution. Raised as an aristocrat, Zhivago is a political idealist, physician and poet whose life is tossed by the tides of history as he is torn between a life with his devoted wife, Tonia Gromeko and the passionate and mysterious Lara Guishar. Zhivago however, is not alone in his yearnings for Lara, and must compete with both revolutionaries and aristocracy alike to win the heart of the woman he cannot live without. Doctor Zhivago celebrates the strength of love and art, in the face of political oppression and revolution.

Tickets for Doctor Zhivago are now on sale through Telecharge.com (212-239-6200) and are available for performances from Friday, March 27, 2015, through Thursday, March 31, 2016. Tickets range from $42.50 – $145.00 (include $2 Facilities Fee). For groups of 10 or more visit Telecharge.com/groups or to order by phone, call 800-432-7780. The playing schedule for Doctor Zhivago is as follows: Tuesday through Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 7:30pm with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2pm. Beginning April 27 the playing schedule will be: Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm. Please note: There will be special performances Sunday, March 29 at 3pm, Sunday, April 19 at 3pm, Monday, April 20 at 8pm, and there will be no performances Saturday, March 28 at 2pm, Sunday March 29 at 2pm or 7:30pm, Sunday, April 19 at 2pm or 7:30pm, or Wednesday, April 22.

For more information visit: www.doctorzhivagobroadway.com

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Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Jose Llana. Photo by Bill Bustamante

Jose Llana as Ferdinand Marcos in Here Lies Love.

Jose Llana sizzles as the former president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, in the Off-Broadway production of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s smash hit musical, Here Lies Love at The Public Theater’s LuEsther Hall (425 Lafayette Street, New York City).

In this dark political tale of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos with a disco spin, Llana’s clear, beautiful tenor haunts his performance, seducing the audience as Marcos once seduced the people of the Philippines.

Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora of Here Lies Love at the Apple Store Soho in New York on October 25, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Under the direction of Alex Timbers, Here Lies Love played a critically raved-about, sold-out run last year at the same space, which was extended by popular demand four times.

This commercial run, which also stars Jaygee Macapugay as Imelda Marcos, Conrad Ricamora as Ninoy Aquino, and Melody Butiu as Estrella, is produced by Joey Parnes Productions and EMURSIVE (Jonathan Hochwald, Arthur Karpati, and Randy Weiner, principals), and will play its final performance on January 4, 2015.

On March 12, 2014, Llana will make his Lincoln Center “American Songbook” debut in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 165 West 65th Street, Rose Building, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10023. Showtime: 8:00 pm. Call CenterCharge at 212.721.6500 (10:00 am–9:00 pm) for ticket availability.

I’ve known Jose since 2002, when he was starring in Flower Drum Song, but as Ferdinand Marcos in Here Lies Love, he commands the stage, and is at his most charismatic. It’s no wonder that he received a 2014 Lucille Lortel Award Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical for the role.

In the midst of his crazy schedule with Here Lies Love, he found time for an interview via email, where he talks about his path to Here Lies Love, David Byrne, family, favorite projects, influences, making his American Songbook Debut, and Stephen Sondheim.

Joohee Choi (Tuptim) and Jose Llana (Lun Tha) in the 1996 Broadway revival of The King and I. Photo by Joan Marcus

Jose Llana and Michael McElroy in Rent. Photo by Fiyero

Making His Broadway Debut at 19
Llana was born in Manila and raised in suburban Virginia. At nineteen, Llana was in his freshman year as a classical voice major at the Manhattan School of Music, when he made his Broadway debut as Lun Tha, opposite Joohee Choi’s Tuptim in the 1996 revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I, starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy.

No Stranger to Nontraditional Casting
His next two roles on Broadway were Angel in Rent, directed by Michael Greif; which was followed by the acclaimed Motown musical Street Corner Symphony (1997), where he originated the role of Jessie-Lee.

Kate Suber, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Lea Delaria, Jose Llana, Robert Montalvo in On The Town (1997). Photo by Michal Daniel

In 1997, director George C. Wolfe cast him as the lead role of Gabey in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of On the Town at the Delacorte Theater, and the following year Llana performed in Adam Guettel’s Saturn Returns, directed by Tina Landau, at The Public Theater. In 1999, Llana played Guillaume in Cameron Mackintosh’s Martin Guerre at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, and on a national tour to Detroit, Washington DC, Seattle, and Los Angeles.

Llana received a Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal as Tin Man in Ballad of Little Jo, directed by Tina Landau (2000), in Chicago at The Steppenwolf; and a Barrymore Award nomination for Best Actor for the title role in Candide (2001) at The Prince Theater in Philadelphia.

In 2002, he returned to Broadway as the romantic lead, Wang Ta, opposite Lea Salonga in David Henry Hwang’s revisal of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song, directed by Bobby Longbottom, at the Virginia Theatre.

(Front row): Celia Keenan-Bolger, Dan Fogler, Sarah Saltzberg; (back row): Jose Llana, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, the young spellers in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” Circle in the Square. Photo by Joan Marcus

In 2005, Llana created the role of Chip Tolentino in William Finn’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, directed by James Lapine, first at the Second Stage Theater, then on Broadway, and finished off with a sold-out smash hit run in Los Angeles. The show was nominated for both Tony^® and Drama Desk Awards for Best Musical and won both Tony^® and Drama Desk Awards for Best Book. As part of the cast, Jose Llana was a recipient of the 2005 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance.

Jose Llana, Janet Dacal and the cast of the 2009 world premiere of Wonderland. Photo by Michal Daniel

Betsy Morgan and Jose Llana as Nancy & Bill Sykes in “Oliver” at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2013. Photo by Billy Bustamante

In 2010, Llana starred as Adam in the Off-Broadway production of Falling For Eve, directed by Larry Raben at The York Theatre. In 2011, Llana returned to Broadway as El Gato in Frank Wildhorn’s new musical Wonderland, directed by Gregory Boyd at the Marquis Theater. Llana began his turn as President Ferdinand Marcos in David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim’s Here Lies Love at the Williamstown Theatre Festival prior to its World Premiere at The Public Theater in Spring 2013; and finished out the year as Bill Sykes in Oliver! at Paper Mill Playhouse.

Lia: What was your path to Here Lies Love?
Jose: I first heard of Here Lies Love in 2011 just after Wonderland closed on Broadway. I knew it was written by David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim and I was intrigued by how they would tell the Filipino story. Once I heard Alex Timbers, Oskar Eustis and The Public Theater were involved in a workshop, I knew I wanted in. I actively pursued the audition and was cast as Marcos for that first workshop in June 2011. That workshop focused on the first 8 songs or first 1/3 of the show, what we’ve called “Act 1″. We did it in the small black box theater of NYU and it was thrilling to put the songs to Annie-B Parson’s choreography and adding the lights and projection elements.

Melody Butiu, Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles and Conrad Ricamora backstage at The Public on June 10, 2013. Photo by Lia Chang

Lia: How has Here Lies Love and your portrayal evolved to now?
Jose: The biggest shift during the workshops, Mass MoCA and Public Theater productions has been the show’s focus around Imelda. The concept album was primarily a duet between Imelda and Estrella with Marcos and Aquino making mostly cameo appearances at best. As the workshops progressed it was clear that the story and audience both wanted more of the male characters around Imelda, and David and Alex went to work at beefing up both characters in terms of songs and stage time. For Conrad and me, it was great to feel like David and Alex wanted more of our characters in the show.

Lia:What has it been like to work with David Byrne?
Jose: It’s been one of the coolest experiences of my career. I mean, how many people can say they’ve worked with a real rock star? But beyond that, David has been truly one of the kindest, most generous composers I’ve ever worked with. He’s completely without ego and makes everyone in the room so comfortable and collaborative. He even made the cast ginger tea when he heard we were vocally under and tired at Mass MoCA. He said it was what he drank on tour when he was vocally tired. You know, on his rock star tours. ;)

Lia: Your activist, Filipino parents once vehemently opposed the Marcos dictatorship and fled to America to escape it. How has playing Ferdinand Marcos and performing in Here Lies Love changed or impacted your life?
Jose: Playing Marcos has been nothing short of life-changing and life-affirming as a Filipino-American. I never realized how much I took for granted how my parents educated my sister and me about martial law in the Philippines. The truth is not all Filipino-American kids grow up with any knowledge of it, let alone any Americans do. I’m most proud that our show inspires people to go home and Google or Wikipedia the Philippines or martial law and that they learn a little something more about our history and culture than those damn shoes Imelda hoarded with stolen money.

Lia: How did your parents react after seeing Here Lies Love?
Jose: Pride and sadness. Pride that their son was telling a dark but very important part of Filipino history and sadness that the Filipino government hasn’t gone as far as it could’ve in the decades since martial law ended. Mistakes are being repeated and history forgotten.

Lia: What do you hope audiences will take away after seeing Here Lies Love?
Jose: That Filipinos are a fun, proud people who staged one of the most peaceful demonstrations in history to overthrow a selfish, powerful dictator and his delusional wife.

Lia: You made your Broadway debut at nineteen as a freshman at the Manhattan School of Music. What were your professional goals then, and how have they changed given all that you have done since?
Jose: I’d say my shallow goals at 19 were to be rich and famous. After 19 years of working and having the honor of working with some very cool people, my goals have shifted slightly more to the deeper side. Some jobs pay more and some shows circulate your name around faster, but if you’re proud of the work and feel like you are growing and learning from it, than you’re on the right path.

Jose, his mother, Regina, and his sister Patricia on the beach in 1981. (Photo courtesy of Jose Llana)

Lea Salonga, Jose Llana and Alvin Ing in rehearsal with David Henry Hwang’s revisal of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song at 890 Broadway Studios in New York on September 22, 2002. Photo by Lia Chang

Lia: Who are your role models?
Jose: My immediate role models have always been my parents and my older sister who all taught me the meaning of hard work and allowed me to live the life of an artist. Professionally, there are people I look up to and dictate my taste and opinions about theater. Audra McDonald and Adam Guettel were two artists that definitely shaped my first opinions about what new theater could be when I started working 19 years ago. As an Asian-American I look to people like B.D. Wong, Alvin Ing and the late Kevin Gray who paved the way for Asian-American men in theater.

Lia: What artists have inspired you?
Jose: My short list of artists today, who I also have the honor of calling friends, would be Alex Timbers, Kimberly Grigsby, Michael Friedman, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Gavin Creel, just to name a few. Anything they do, I want to be there to see it.

Lia: What roles or projects have been your favorites and why?
Jose: King & I started it all for me and broke me into the business, so I will always be thankful for that. Adam Guettel’s Saturn Returns at The Public Theater in 1998 was the my first taste of what new theater could sound like, it changed my life. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was the funnest, silliest time I had at work. Here Lies Love connects me more with my Filipino heritage in a way I never knew I needed to until it happened.

Jose Llana with his sister Patricia Llana, his partner, Erik Rose at his niece, Veronica’s baptism in 2010. (Photo courtesy of Jose Llana)

Jose Llana sings “A Perfect Hand” at the Here Lies Love Apple Store Soho Event in New York on October 25, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Lia: What are you most passionate about?
Jose: Doing good work. My family and partner. Amazing food.

Lia: Are there any directors, producers or writers that you would like to work with next?
Jose: Stephen Sondheim is still at the top of my list. I’ve come close a couple of times and actually spent a week with him last year for a new workshop version of Company. But I’d love to work on an original piece and part with him. Get in line, right?

Lia: In March, you are making your American Songbook debut. Any idea what the program will be?
Jose: The program will be a combination of songs from my career and songs that have inspired me. Kimberly Grigsby, my musical director, and I are shaping the concert now. I promise a fun night of good music and a few stories from my checkered Broadway past.

Lia: Any other projects that you might be working on?
Jose: There’s an independent film that may be happening in early 2015 and I’ve been involved in some workshops of new musicals that may see full productions in 2015 but none that I can talk about yet.

First Row: Kate Wallace, New York Post writer Michael Riedel, Carol Angeli
Second Row: Diane Phelan, Tobia Wong, Rob Laqui, Debralee Daco, Melody Butiu, Jaygee Macapugay, Renée Abulario, Janelle Velasquez
Third Row: Enrico Rodriguez, Craig Ryan Freeman, David Byrne, Jose LLana, Conrad Ricamora, Ryan Gohsman at the Here Lies Love Apple Store Soho Event in New York on October 25, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Here Lies Love features, in alphabetical order: Renee Albulario, Carol Angeli, Billy Bustamante, Melody Butiu, Natalie Cortez, Debralee Daco, Rob Laqui, Jose Llana, Jaygee Macapugay, Jeigh Madjus, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Diane Phelan, Conrad Ricamora, Enrico Rodriguez, Janelle Velasquez, and Tobias Wong.

The production received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical; an Obie Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics; Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Music, Lighting Design and Projection Design and Theatre World Awards for Ruthie Ann Miles (Imelda Marcos) and Conrad Ricamora (Aquino). Here Lies Love received a record 11 Lucille Lortel Awards nominations, and garnered 5 Lortel Awards, including Alex Timbers for Outstanding Director, Ruthie Ann Miles for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical, Clint Ramos for Outstanding Costume Design, Justin Townsend for Outstanding Lighting Design and M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer for Outstanding Sound Design.

Within a pulsating dance club atmosphere, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim deconstruct the astonishing journey of Filipina First Lady Imelda Marcos retracing her meteoric rise to power and subsequent descent into infamy and disgrace at the end of the People Power Revolution. Here Lies Love is neither a period piece nor a biography, neither a play nor a traditional musical but an immersive theatrical event combining songs influenced by four decades of dance music, adrenaline-fueled choreography, and a remarkable 360-degree scenic and video environment to go beyond Imelda’s near-mythic obsession with shoes and explore the tragic consequences of the abuse of power. Here Lies Love is a 90-minute theatrical experience. Set within a dance club atmosphere, audiences will stand and move with the actors. Comfortable shoes and clothing are recommended. Dancing is encouraged.

Tickets for Here Lies Love range from $99-$139. A limited number of $40 day-of-performance rush tickets will be available at The Public’s Taub Box Office (425 Lafayette Street, NYC) one hour before the start of each performance. The Fall performance schedule is as follows: Mondays and Tuesdays at 7 pm, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 pm, Fridays at 7 pm and 10:30 (the Late Night Disco!) and Saturdays at 5 pm and 9:30 pm. Tickets subject to availability, and the offer is good for two tickets per person, cash or credit cards. For more info and tickets to Here Lies Love, please visit http://www.herelieslove.com/.

The New York production will close on January 4, 2015. The show is also currently running at London’s National Theatre through January 8, 2015. A production will open in Sydney in May 2015 as the theatrical center piece of the Vivid Festival.

Jose Llana sings “A Perfect Hand” at the Here Lies Love Apple Store Soho Event in New York on October 25, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Llana has appeared on television in HBO’s “Sex and the City” and on film in Hitch, starring Will Smith. He is an advocate for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Broadway Impact for Marriage Equality, and several other charities.

Jose Llana in the Clinton Recording studio for the Flower Drum Song cast album in 2002. Photo by Lia Chang”

In addition to the cast album recordings for The King and I, Flower Drum Song, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Wonderland, and Here Lies Love, Llana has been a guest artist on half a dozen benefit recordings for Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS. In 2003, Llana flew to the Philippines to fulfill his lifelong dream of performing in his homeland; his debut solo album, Jose (VIVA Philippines label), primarily in Tagalog (Filipino), peaked at number two on the Manila industry charts. The album is available in the U.S. at www.CDbaby.com.
www.josellana.com

Lia Chang and Jose Llana at The Public Theater after a performance of Here Lies Love on August 22, 2014.

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Photos: Artist Arlan Huang, One Brush Stroke at a Time
Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

At the harlem is …Theater exhibit, honorees Voza Rivers, Executive Producer of New Heritage Theatre Group, and Woodie King Jr., founder and Producing Director of the New Federal Theatre and the National Black Touring Circuit, talk about Black Theater Past, Present and Future, on December 17, 2014 with Talvin Wilks at The Interchurch Center in New York. Photo by Lia Chang

Micki Grant. Photo by Lia Chang

Community Works NYC, New Heritage Theatre Group, The Interchurch Center and partners presented The Legacy Now – Reflections on a Life in The Theater featuring harlem is …Theater honorees Voza Rivers, Executive Producer of New Heritage Theatre Group, and Woodie King Jr., founder and Producing Director of the New Federal Theatre and the National Black Touring Circuit, who talked about Black Theater Past, Present and Future, at The Interchurch Center in New York to a packed house on Wednesday, December 17, 2014.

This dialogue was part of Conversations on Black Theater and was curated and moderated by noted playwright, director and dramaturg Talvin Wilks.

Jamal Joseph, Joyce Walker Joseph, guest, Voza Rivers, Chuck Jackson, Woodie King Jr., Phyllis Yvonne Stickney and guest. Photo by Lia Chang

The harlem is…THEATER exhibition was developed with youth and Harlem community members. The event is part of a year‐long citywide focus on the development of Black Theater and its impact. Exhibition open to the public through January 6, 2015 ‐ M‐F 9a‐5p at The Interchurch Center Galleries.

Click to view slideshow.

harlem is…Theater honors:

Exhibit featuring “harlem is …Theater” honorees at The Interchurch Center in New York on December 17, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Faison Firehouse Theatre
George Faison, Co‐Founder/Artistic Director Tad Schnugg, Executive Director

Blackberry Productions
Stephanie Berry, Founder/Co‐Artistic Director John‐Martin Green, Co‐Artistic Director
Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center
Ray Gaspard, President (former)
Harlem Theatre Company
James Pringle, Founder

The H.A.D.L.E.Y. Players
Gertrude Jeannette, Founder/CEO

New Federal Theatre
National Black Touring Circuit
Woodie King, Jr., Founder/Producing Director

Click to view slideshow.

National Black Theatre, Inc.
Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, Visionary Founder Sade Lythcott, CEO

Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop
Garland Lee Thompson, Sr., Co‐Founder/Executive Director
The evening was dedicated to harlem is …THEATER honoree Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014), who was represented by his son, Garland Lee Thompson, Jr.

Mama Foundation for the Arts
Vy Higginsen and Ken Wydro, Co‐Writers, Co‐ Producers, Co‐Directors

New Heritage Theatre Group
Voza Rivers, Founding Member/Executive Producer Jamal Joseph, Executive Artistic Director

Click to view slideshow.
Take Wing and Soar Productions
Debra Ann Byrd, Founding/Producing Artistic Director

The Classical Theater of Harlem
Ty Jones, Producing Director

Historic Theaters:
African Grove Theatre
WPA Federal Theatre Project Harlem Unit The Rose McClendon Players
American Negro Theater
New Lafayette Theatre
New Heritage Theatre Group

Click to view slideshow.

Phyllis Yvonne Stickey, Ronald Wyche, Voza Rivers, Lia Chang and Chuck Jackson. Photo by GK

Other Articles by Lia Chang
Photos: André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White in 40th Anniversary of The WIZ Tribute at BC/EFA’s GYPSY OF THE YEAR; Competition Breaks Records With Over $5 Million as Hugh Jackman’s THE RIVER Brings in Top Donation

Cheryl L. Davis’ Maid’s Door Sweeps AUDELCOs with 7 Wins; Complete List of 2014 AUDELCO Recipients

Geoffrey Holder, Artist, Actor, Dancer, Choreographer, Two-Time Tony Award-winning Director and Costume Designer for The Wiz, Dies at 84; Son Pens Intimate Account of Last Days

Multimedia: Ambassador Attalah Shabazz, Tomie Arai, Jamal Joseph, Janice Robinson, Soh Daiko, Taiyo Na and More Celebrate the Life of Yuri Kochiyama in New York

Museum of the Moving Image Presents A Tribute to Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014

Photos & Video: The Wiz’s André De Shields Sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall

Photos and Video: Ben Vereen Performs at Carnegie Hall in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream

Photos and Video: Obba Babatunde and cast members from the original cast of Dreamgirls perform at Carnegie Hall in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream

Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015

Photos: Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015

Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015

Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015

Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015

Photos: Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion on View through April 19, 2015 at New York Historical Society

ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015

Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I

Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago

Lia Chang Picks: Island Breeze CD by Jeff Peterson, Riley Lee & Kenny Endo

Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley,

David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station

Celebrating my Mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999

Photos: BD Wong, Cindy Cheung, Brooke Ishibashi, Thom Sesma, Manna Nichols, Steven Eng, Ariel Estrada and Lori Tan Chinn at Leviathan Lab’s Ghost Stories

Q & A with Playwright Camille Darby, 2014-15 Dramatists Guild Playwrighting Fellow

Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015

Photos: Tommy Tune, Bob Avian, Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson, Orville Mendoza, Lori Tan Chinn, Raul Aranas, Virginia Wing and More Celebrate 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award Recipient Baayork Lee

Photos: Artist Arlan Huang, One Brush Stroke at a Time

Crafting a Career

Photos: Maxine Hong Kingston, Billie Tsien, Bill T. Jones, Linda Ronstadt, John Kander, Julia Alvarez, Jeffrey Katzenberg Receive 2013 National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama

Golden Globe Winner James Shigeta, Veteran of Film and TV, Dies at 85; Excerpts of 2007 A/P/A Institute Q & A with Sukhdev Sandhu
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

James Saito, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jon Norman Schneider. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Celia Keenan-Bolger, James Yaegashi. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

It is the final week to see Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s new play THE OLDEST BOY, helmed by Rebecca Taichman, featuring James Yaegashi (Father), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Mother), Ernest Abuba (The Oldest Boy), James Saito (A Lama), Jon Norman Schneider (A Monk), Tsering Dorjee (Chorus), Takemi Kitamura (Chorus), and Nami Yamamoto (Chorus). The production began previews on Thursday, October 9, and has performances through December 28, 2014, in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 150 West 65 Street, in New York.

THE OLDEST BOY tells the story of Tenzin, the toddler son of an American woman (Celia Keenan-Bolger) and a Tibetan man (James Yaegashi) who is recognized as the reincarnation of a high Buddhist teacher. Differing cultures contend with competing ideas of faith and love when two monks seek permission to take Tenzin to a monastery in India to begin his training as a spiritual master. His parents must decide whether to send their young son away or keep him home.

Takemi Kitamura, James Saito, Nami Yamamoto, Celia Keenan-Bolger, James Yaegashi, Jon Norman Schneider, Ernest Abuba and Tsering Dorjee backstage at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center in New York on December 16, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

THE OLDEST BOY has sets by Mimi Lien, costumes by Anita Yavich, lighting by Japhy Weideman, sound by Darron L West, choreography by Barney O’Hanlon, and puppetry design/direction by Matt Acheson.

Performance Schedule:
12/22 Monday @ 8:00 PM
12/23 Tuesday @ 8:00 PM
12/24 Wednesday @ 2:00 PM
12/26 Friday @ 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM
12/27 Saturday @ 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM
12/28 Sunday @ 3:00 PM

Tickets to THE OLDEST BOY, priced at $77 and $87, can be purchased at the Lincoln Center Theater box office (150 West 65 Street) and at telecharge.com, or by visiting www.lct.org. A limited number of tickets priced at $32 are available at every performance through LincTix, LCT’s program for 21 to 35 year olds. For information and to enroll, visit LincTix.org.

Jon Norman Schneider, James Saito, Lia Chang, Ernest Abuba, James Yaegashi and Tsering Dorjee backstage at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center in New York on December 16, 2014. Photo by GK

Ernest Abuba and Lia Chang backstage at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center in New York on December 16, 2014. Photo by GK

Other articles by Lia Chang:
James Yaegashi, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Ernest Abuba, Tsering Dorjee, Takemi Kitamura, James Saito, Jon Norman Schneider in Sarah Ruhl’s The Oldest Boy in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at LCT

Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015

Photos: Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015

Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015

Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015

Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015

Photos: Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion on View through April 19, 2015 at New York Historical Society

ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015

Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I

Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago

Lia Chang Picks: Island Breeze CD by Jeff Peterson, Riley Lee & Kenny Endo

Photos: André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White in 40th Anniversary of The WIZ Tribute at BC/EFA’s GYPSY OF THE YEAR; Competition Breaks Records With Over $5 Million as Hugh Jackman’s THE RIVER Brings in Top Donation

Cheryl L. Davis’ Maid’s Door Sweeps AUDELCOs with 7 Wins; Complete List of 2014 AUDELCO Recipients

Geoffrey Holder, Artist, Actor, Dancer, Choreographer, Two-Time Tony Award-winning Director and Costume Designer for The Wiz, Dies at 84; Son Pens Intimate Account of Last Days

Multimedia: Ambassador Attalah Shabazz, Tomie Arai, Jamal Joseph, Janice Robinson, Soh Daiko, Taiyo Na and More Celebrate the Life of Yuri Kochiyama in New York

Museum of the Moving Image Presents A Tribute to Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014

Photos & Video: The Wiz’s André De Shields Sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall

Photos and Video: Ben Vereen Performs at Carnegie Hall in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream

Photos and Video: Obba Babatunde and cast members from the original cast of Dreamgirls perform at Carnegie Hall in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream

Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley,

David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station

Celebrating my Mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999

Photos: BD Wong, Cindy Cheung, Brooke Ishibashi, Thom Sesma, Manna Nichols, Steven Eng, Ariel Estrada and Lori Tan Chinn at Leviathan Lab’s Ghost Stories

Q & A with Playwright Camille Darby, 2014-15 Dramatists Guild Playwrighting Fellow

Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015

Photos: Artist Arlan Huang, One Brush Stroke at a Time

Crafting a Career

Photos: Maxine Hong Kingston, Billie Tsien, Bill T. Jones, Linda Ronstadt, John Kander, Julia Alvarez, Jeffrey Katzenberg Receive 2013 National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama

Usman Ally and Justin Kirk in The Invisible Hand. Photo: Joan Marcus

Ayad Akhtar. Photo by Lia Chang

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) presents the New York Premiere of The Invisible Hand written by Pulitzer Prize Winner Ayad Ahktar. Directed by two-time Obie Award winner Ken Rus Schmoll, The Invisible Hand began previews on November 19, 2014 and has performances through Sunday, January 4, 2015 at New York Theatre Workshop (79 E. 4th Street New York, NY 10003).

The cast features Jameal Ali (Hunted), Usman Ally (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity), Dariush Kashani (The Happiest Song Plays Last) and Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominee Justin Kirk (Showtime’s “Weeds”).

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar (Disgraced, The Who & The What) makes his New York Theatre Workshop debut with The Invisible Hand, directed by two-time Obie Award winner Ken Rus Schmoll (Red Dog Howls). The Invisible Hand follows an American investment banker, kidnapped and held for ransom in Pakistan, as he trades for his life. This suspenseful new play is a chilling and complex look at how far we will go to save ourselves and the devastating ramifications of our individual actions on global power and politics.

The audience is held in thrall…by Ally’s energetic performance.” – The Guardian

“Ally is superb as the explosive Bashir” – Village Voice

“Ally and Kirk do a mesmerizing dance in contrasting styles” – Hollywood Reporter

“The totally commanding Usman Ally” – Variety

“Deftly played with a simultaneous scowl and a puppy eagerness” – Newsday

“Mr Ally’s Bashir possesses a boyish swagger that suggests a more complicated man under the brutal facade” – New York Times

Single tickets for The Invisible Hand are $55. In addition, a variety of membership packages are on sale now at www.nytw.org or 212-279-4200.

Other articles by Lia Chang:

Final Week to see James Yaegashi, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Ernest Abuba, Tsering Dorjee, James Saito, Jon Norman Schneider in Sarah Ruhl’s “The Oldest Boy” in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at LCT; closes Dec. 28

Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015

Photos: Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015

Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015

Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015

Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015

Photos: Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion on View through April 19, 2015 at New York Historical Society

ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015

Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I

Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago

Lia Chang Picks: Island Breeze CD by Jeff Peterson, Riley Lee & Kenny Endo

Cheryl L. Davis’ Maid’s Door Sweeps AUDELCOs with 7 Wins; Complete List of 2014 AUDELCO Recipients

Geoffrey Holder, Artist, Actor, Dancer, Choreographer, Two-Time Tony Award-winning Director and Costume Designer for The Wiz, Dies at 84; Son Pens Intimate Account of Last Days

Multimedia: Ambassador Attalah Shabazz, Tomie Arai, Jamal Joseph, Janice Robinson, Soh Daiko, Taiyo Na and More Celebrate the Life of Yuri Kochiyama in New York

Museum of the Moving Image Presents A Tribute to Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014

Photos & Video: The Wiz’s André De Shields Sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall

Photos and Video: Ben Vereen Performs at Carnegie Hall in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream

Photos and Video: Obba Babatunde and cast members from the original cast of Dreamgirls perform at Carnegie Hall in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream

Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley,

David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station

Celebrating my Mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999

Photos: BD Wong, Cindy Cheung, Brooke Ishibashi, Thom Sesma, Manna Nichols, Steven Eng, Ariel Estrada and Lori Tan Chinn at Leviathan Lab’s Ghost Stories

Q & A with Playwright Camille Darby, 2014-15 Dramatists Guild Playwrighting Fellow

Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015

Photos: Artist Arlan Huang, One Brush Stroke at a Time

Crafting a Career

Photos: Maxine Hong Kingston, Billie Tsien, Bill T. Jones, Linda Ronstadt, John Kander, Julia Alvarez, Jeffrey Katzenberg Receive 2013 National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. and Lia Chang at the Schomburg in New York on October 18, 2012. Photo by Will Chang

Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop co-founder Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. took his final bow on November 18, 2014; a service and memorial will be held on Thompson’s birthday, February 14, 2015, in two “acts.”

It is fitting that the Valentine’s Day celebration of the life and legacy of Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. will begin with “Act 1″, from 11 am-12 pm at St. James Presbyterian Church, 409 West 141st Street at St. Nicholas Avenue. Theater for the New City is hosting “Act 2″ from 3-5pm in the Johnson Theater, 155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets), featuring readings, poetry, performances and a reception in Thompson’s honor with some fantastic home cooking, and refreshments.

Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.

Garland Lee Thompson, Sr., New York theater producer, writer, director, actor, and co-founder of the Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop, passed away quickly and peacefully at Bellevue Hospital, on November 18, 2014, due to complications from a fall and pneumonia. He was 76 years old. He is survived by his two children, Garland Lee Thompson, Jr., and Alexandria Dionne; his sisters Shirley Thompson, and Addie Jean Hayes, and his brother, Jim Thompson.

Garland Lee Thompson was born in 1938, in Muskogee, OK. His mother, Sylvia Thompson, owned a successful restaurant in Muskogee called Homey Foods, a tremendous feat at the time for an African American woman in the 1930s-40s. His father, James Thompson, was in the Merchant Marines. When Thompson was 7 years old, he moved with his family to Portland, Or. He attended Jefferson High School in Portland, where he discovered his love of theater and dance.

Thompson was 20 when he moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and performing fulltime. One of the first professional roles he landed was as a Firetender – Boar’s Tooth Ceremonial Dancer, in the 1958 Hollywood musical film adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

Garland Lee Thompson as Transporter Technician Ensign Wilson in “THE ENEMY WITHIN” – STAR TREK: TOS – Episode #5

In the 60’s, Thompson had roles on TV – “The Lieutenant,” “Perry Mason,” “Bewitched.”

In 1964, Thompson’s turn as the title character in the short film, The Legend of Jimmy Blue Eyes, garnered the film’s director, Robert Clouse, a Golden Globe Award, an Edinburgh International Film Festival Award, a Best Live Action Short Film Oscar nomination, and a nomination for the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film.

In 1966, Thompson was cast as Transporter Technician Wilson on Star Trek, in the episode, “The Enemy Within.” He also was a crewman in the “TOS: Charlie X” episode. During this time, Thompson worked as a stage manager for Ray Bradbury’s plays in Los Angeles.

In 1971, Thompson moved to New York to be the original stage manager for Charles Gordone’s No Place to Be Somebody on its first national tour, and on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre. The cast starred Terry Alexander and Philip Thomas, and featured Mary Alice, Henry Baker, Julius W. Harris, Elaine Kerry and Ian Sander. He went on to direct two more national tours. Gordone was the first African American playwright to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Original Playbill for NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY, September 1, 1971. Photo courtesy of www.playbillvault.com

Original Playbill for NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY, September 1, 1971. Photo courtesy of http://www.playbillvault.com

Two years later Thompson went on to stage manage another historic Broadway production for the Negro Ensemble Company, Joseph A. Walker’s The River Niger at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

Garland Lee Thompson Jr. at the “harlem is …Theater” at The Interchurch Center in New York on December 17, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

While in New York, Thompson realized a need for playwrights, specifically African Americans and women, to have their plays read aloud, critiqued and workshopped. In 1973, he founded the nonprofit The Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop, along with famed actor/director Morgan Freeman, director/actress Billie Allen and journalist Clayton Riley, as a living memorial to the late actor, director, teacher and producer, Frank Silvera (1914-1970).

The Workshop has been based in the heart of Harlem, New York, for the past 40 years, and has built a long, time honored and prestigious reputation as a nationally and internationally renowned playwrights’ development theatre for upcoming and established artists of all colors, sizes and shapes. Thousands of plays have been read at the Workshop, including, Ntozake Shange’s award winning play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide, When the Rainbow Is Enuf and The Mighty Gents by Richard Wesley. Ruby Dee, Charles Fuller, Laurence Holder, Ntozake Shange, Morgan Freeman, Phillip Hayes Dean, Ed Bullins, Adolph Caesar, Phylicia Rashad, Ray Aranha, Charles Dutton, Bill Cobbs, SammArt Williams, and Antonio Fargas are among the many playwrights and actors who have read at the Workshop.

Over the years, the Workshop has received funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and The Rockefeller Foundation, as well as private donations.

In 1989, Thompson’s close friend Larry Leon Hamlin, the late founder of the North Carolina Black Repertory Theatre, founded the National Black Theatre Festival, and in 1991 he asked Thompson to create a new play reading series at the festival. He agreed, and created Theatre Conversations at Midnight, now known as the Readers Theatre Series. It’s since become a major, and well loved component of the festival, and will continue on under the direction of his son, Garland Lee Thompson, Jr.

Thompson was recently honored at the “harlem is…Theater” Exhibition at The Interchurch Center in New York, on view through January 6, 2015.

Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater

Other Articles by Lia Chang
Cheryl L. Davis’ Maid’s Door Sweeps AUDELCOs with 7 Wins; Complete List of 2014 AUDELCO Recipients

Multimedia: Ambassador Attalah Shabazz, Tomie Arai, Jamal Joseph, Janice Robinson, Soh Daiko, Taiyo Na and More Celebrate the Life of Yuri Kochiyama in New York

Geoffrey Holder, Artist, Actor, Dancer, Choreographer, Two-Time Tony Award-winning Director and Costume Designer for The Wiz, Dies at 84; Son Pens Intimate Account of Last Days

Photos: Artist Arlan Huang, One Brush Stroke at a Time

Museum of the Moving Image Presents A Tribute to Ruby Dee

Golden Globe Winner James Shigeta, Veteran of Film and TV, Dies at 85; Excerpts of 2007 A/P/A Institute Q & A with Sukhdev Sandhu

Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014

Ayad Akhtar’s THE INVISIBLE HAND Stars Usman Ally, Justin Kirk, Jameal Ali and Dariush Kashani at New York Theatre Workshop through January 4, 2015

Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015

Photos: Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015

Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015

Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015

Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015

Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15

ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015

Unsuk Chin’s Opera Alice in Wonderland, Featuring Libretto Co-Written with David Henry Hwang, Set for UK Premiere at the Barbican Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Novels on March 8, 2015

Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I

Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago

Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015

Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley, David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards

Q & A with Playwright Camille Darby, 2014-15 Dramatists Guild Playwrighting Fellow

Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora of Here Lies Love at the Apple Store Soho in New York on October 25, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

I am celebrating New Year Year’s Eve at the Off-Broadway production of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s smash hit musical, Here Lies Love at The Public Theater’s LuEsther Hall (425 Lafayette Street, New York City).

Under the direction of Alex Timbers, Here Lies Love played a critically raved-about, sold-out run last year at the same space, which was extended by popular demand four times.

This commercial run, starring Jaygee Macapugay as Imelda Marcos, Jose Llana as Ferdinand Marcos, Conrad Ricamora as Ninoy Aquino, and Melody Butiu as Estrella, is produced by Joey Parnes Productions and EMURSIVE (Jonathan Hochwald, Arthur Karpati, and Randy Weiner, principals), and will play its final performance on January 4, 2015.

Jaygee Macapugay and Melody Butiu sing “Here Lies Love” at the Here Lies Love Apple Store Soho Event in New York on October 25, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Ben Brantley of The New York Times writes, “Imelda is now played, quite devastatingly, by Jaygee Macapugay. (The excellent Jose Llana, as Marcos, and Conrad Ricamora, as Aquino, are still on board.) She bears a less exact physical resemblance to her character than her predecessor, the wonderful Ruthie Ann Miles. But she adds an extra dash of molten steel that makes this Imelda a red-hot chiller. Enjoy the privilege of being burned by her at least once more before she leaves town.” Click”From Rapture to Regret in a Tale of Love, Martial Law and Shoes” to read Times Writers Share Last Chance Theater Picks.

Here Lies Love features, in alphabetical order: Renee Albulario, Carol Angeli, Billy Bustamante, Melody Butiu, Natalie Cortez, Debralee Daco, Kristian Espiritu, Rob Laqui, Jose Llana, Jaygee Macapugay, Jeigh Madjus, Diane Phelan, Conrad Ricamora, Enrico Rodriguez, Janelle Velasquez, and Tobias Wong.

Schedule:
Wednesday, December 31 @ 5 & 9:30 PM

Friday, January 2 @ 5 PM & 9:30 PM

Saturday, January 3 @ 5 PM & 9:30 PM

Sunday, January 4 @ 5 PM

Tickets for Here Lies Love range from $99-$139. A limited number of $40 day-of-performance rush tickets will be available at The Public’s Taub Box Office (425 Lafayette Street, NYC) one hour before the start of each performance. Tickets subject to availability, and the offer is good for two tickets per person, cash or credit cards. For more info and tickets to Here Lies Love, please visit http://www.herelieslove.com/.

Here Lies Love articles:
Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015
Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho
Meet David Byrne, Here Lies Love Creator and Cast members Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana, and Conrad Ricamora at the Apple Store Soho
Jaygee Macapugay stars as Imeda Marcos in Here Lies Love at The Public, Beginning October 20, 2014
Catch Jaygee Macapugay as Imeda Marcos in Here Lies Love at The Public through August 23, 2014
Photos: Christine Toy Johnson, Baayork Lee, Jose Llana, Ann Harada, Dodie Pettit and More at Charles Randolph-Wright’s “Three Voices” concert series at Stage 72
Jaygee Macapugay to appear as Imeda Marcos in Here Lies Love at The Public, July 5-7, 2013
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles, Melody Butiu, Conrad Ricamora and More Open in David Byrne- Fatboy Slim’s Here Lies Love on May 1
Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles, Melody Butiu, Conrad Ricamora and More Return for Here Lies Love; Previews Begin April 14, 2014
Nov. 25: David Byrne and the Cast of The Public Theater’s HERE LIES LOVE including Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More to Host Benefit Concert for the Philippines at Terminal 5
Here Lies Love, Starring Jose Llana and Ruthie Ann Miles, Extends at The Public through July 28, 2013
Christine Toy Johnson, Thom Sesma, Ali Ewoldt, Jose Llana, Ann Harada, Telly Leung and More Set for The Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Conrad Ricamora, Kelvin Moon Loh and More Set for World Premiere of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s Here Lies Love at The Public, April 2 – May 19, 2013

Other Articles by Lia Chang
Cheryl L. Davis’ Maid’s Door Sweeps AUDELCOs with 7 Wins; Complete List of 2014 AUDELCO Recipients

Multimedia: Ambassador Attalah Shabazz, Tomie Arai, Jamal Joseph, Janice Robinson, Soh Daiko, Taiyo Na and More Celebrate the Life of Yuri Kochiyama in New York

Geoffrey Holder, Artist, Actor, Dancer, Choreographer, Two-Time Tony Award-winning Director and Costume Designer for The Wiz, Dies at 84; Son Pens Intimate Account of Last Days

Photos: Artist Arlan Huang, One Brush Stroke at a Time

Museum of the Moving Image Presents A Tribute to Ruby Dee

Golden Globe Winner James Shigeta, Veteran of Film and TV, Dies at 85; Excerpts of 2007 A/P/A Institute Q & A with Sukhdev Sandhu

Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014

Ayad Akhtar’s THE INVISIBLE HAND Stars Usman Ally, Justin Kirk, Jameal Ali and Dariush Kashani at New York Theatre Workshop through January 4, 2015

Photos: Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015

Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015

Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015

Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015

Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15

ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015

Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I

Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago

Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015

Q & A with Playwright Camille Darby, 2014-15 Dramatists Guild Playwrighting Fellow

Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Anna Chlumsky; Photo of Richard Thomas by Lia Chang
Illustration: Jamey Christoph

Emmy Award winning actor Richard Thomas and two-time Emmy nominee Anna Chlumsky will join the cast of the hit Broadway revival of YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, on January 6, 2015. Thomas will portray Paul Sycamore, replacing Mark Linn-Baker; with Chlumsky, best known for her starring role in HBO‘s ‘Veep’, portraying his daughter Alice, taking over for Rose Byrne. The actors will join current cast members James Earl Jones, Kristine Nielsen and Annaleigh Ashford in the 1936 play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman.

Photos of Original Broadway Cast by Joan Marcus

Producers of the Pulitzer Prize-winning revival directed by Scott Ellis, recently announced the critically acclaimed show will extend its engagement through Sunday, February 22, 2015.

Previously announced to be a limited run through January 4, 2015, You Can’t Take It With You began previews on Tuesday, August 26, 2014 and opened on Sunday, September 28, 2014 at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street).Tickets are sold on www.Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200. Offer valid on select locations only for performances through 2/8 and subject to availability and prior sale. Not valid on prior purchases and cannot be combined with any other offers or promotions. All sales final; no refunds or exchanges. Telephone and internet orders are subject to standard service fees. A $2.00 theatre facility fee is included in the price of the ticket. Limit 8 tickets per order. Blackout dates may apply. Offer expires 2/8 but may be revoked or modified at any time.

Richard Thomas. Photo by Lia Chang

Richard Thomas starred in the award-winning series “The Waltons,” for which he won an Emmy Award for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and has continued to star in series, films, plays, and over 50 movies for television. His theatre career began at age seven in 1958 with Broadway’s Sunrise at Campobello and continued with Fifth of July, The Seagull, The Front Page, Tiny Alice, Peer Gynt, Richard II, Richard III, Hamlet, The Stendhal Syndrome, Democracy, and A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, as well as the Broadway national tour of 12 Angry Men and Terrence McNally’s Unusual Acts of Devotion. His recent projects include David Mamet’s Race (Broadway), Timon of Athens (The Public Theater), Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays,, An Enemy of the People (Manhattan Theatre Club) and Othello (The Old Globe). Thomas starred in the series “Just Cause,” “It’s a Miracle,” and “The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson.” His television films include Stephen King’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes and It, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Red Badge of Courage, The Master of Ballantrae, Johnny Belinda, Berlin Tunnel 21, Living Proof: The Hank Williams, Jr. Story, Hobson’s Choice, Roots: The Next Generations, Go Toward the Light, The Christmas Secret, Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Annie’s Point, Wild Hearts, and Hallmark’s Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Thomas produced What Love Sees and For All Time for television and appeared in the films The Wonder Boys, Battle Beyond the Stars, The Todd Killings, Last Summer, Winning, Red Sky at Morning, Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, and the forthcoming Anesthesia. He most recently appeared as Jimmy Carter in Camp David at Arena Stage and can currently be seen as Agent Frank Gaad on FX’s “The Americans.”

Other articles on Richard Thomas:
Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015
Nov. 9: INSP Premieres Exclusive Richard Thomas’ Favorites Marathon of The Waltons
Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein
Jun. 22 – July 27: Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Set for Old Globe Debut in OTHELLO
Mar. 21-May 4: Richard Thomas, Ron Rifkin, Hallie Foote and Khaled Nabaway Set for Arena Stage’s World Premiere of Lawrence Wright’s Camp David
Mar. 21 – May 4: Arena Stage Presents World Premiere of Lawrence Wright’s Camp David Starring Tony Award winner Ron Rifkin and Emmy Award winner Richard Thomas
MTC’s An Enemy of The People Starring Boyd Gaines and Richard Thomas Begin Previews at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Richard Thomas and Boyd Gaines to star in An Enemy of the People at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre during Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2012-2013 Season
Tony Award – winning Playwright Terrence McNally to be Honored at Westport Country Playhouse Annual Gala, September 24, 2012
Photos: Highlights of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan (3pm) with Andre Bishop, Mary Beth Hurt, Jennifer Lim, Angela Lin, Philip Kan Gotanda, Thom Sesma, Sab Shimono, Richard Thomas, Jay O. Sanders, and more
Photos: Highlights of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan (8pm) with Oskar Eustis, Patti LuPone, Lisa Emery, Ann Harada, Paolo Montalban, Thom Sesma, Sab Shimono, Henry Stram, Richard Thomas, John Weidman and more
Photos: In Rehearsal with Director Bartlett Sher and the cast of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan

Other Articles by Lia Chang
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More

Geoffrey Holder, Artist, Actor, Dancer, Choreographer, Two-Time Tony Award-winning Director and Costume Designer for The Wiz, Dies at 84; Son Pens Intimate Account of Last Days

Photos: Artist Arlan Huang, One Brush Stroke at a Time

Ayad Akhtar’s THE INVISIBLE HAND Stars Usman Ally, Justin Kirk, Jameal Ali and Dariush Kashani at New York Theatre Workshop through January 4, 2015

Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015

Photos: Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015

Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015

Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015

Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15

ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015

Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I

Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago

Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015

Q & A with Playwright Camille Darby, 2014-15 Dramatists Guild Playwrighting Fellow

Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Jaygee Macapugay as Imelda Marcos in HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Lia Chang

I had the best New Year’s Eve ever, dancing the night away at Club Millennium, a/k/a as the Off-Broadway production of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s smash hit musical, Here Lies Love at The Public Theater’s LuEsther Hall in New York.

Backstage at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Backstage at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay and her dresser Rachel Brown at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

It is a whirlwind for Jaygee Macapugay, who stars as Imelda, with eighteen hair and costume changes, but she graciously allowed me to be her shadow for a fabulous all access pass.

Melody Butiu as Estrella, Jaygee Macapugay as Imelda and Company. Photo by Lia Chang

Jaygee Macapugay as Imelda Marcos in HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Lia Chang

I’ve seen Here Lies Love three times and it worked in my favor while documenting this talented ensemble of rock stars backstage and during the 90- minute show.

The evening culminated in ringing in 2015 with David Byrne, his Here Lies Love cast and crew, while the countdown to the New Year from Times Square was projected on the walls of the theater. Special thanks to all, including Josiah who navigated the show for me, Rachel Brown and Kate Wallace.

Billy Bustamante, Lia Chang, David Byrne, Melody Butiu, Diane Phelan, Renee Albulario, Ali Ewoldt, Jaygee Macapugay and Aaron J. Albano on New Year’s Eve at HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Rogier de Boer

Under the direction of Alex Timbers, Here Lies Love played a critically raved-about, sold-out run last year at the same space, which was extended by popular demand four times.

David Byrne and the HERE LIES LOVE cast and crew usher in 2015 on the set at The Public Theater’s LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

In addition to Macapugay as Imelda, this commercial run of Here Lies Love stars Jose Llana as Ferdinand Marcos, Conrad Ricamora as Ninoy Aquino, and Melody Butiu as Estrella. Produced by Joey Parnes Productions and EMURSIVE (Jonathan Hochwald, Arthur Karpati, and Randy Weiner, principals). You have five more chances to see the show, before the final performance on January 4, 2015.

Jose Llana and Jaygee Macapugay as Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos in HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Lia Chang

Here Lies Love features, in alphabetical order: Aaron J. Albano, Renee Albulario, Carol Angeli, Billy Bustamante, Melody Butiu, Natalie Cortez, Debralee Daco, Kristian Espiritu, Rob Laqui, Jose Llana, Jaygee Macapugay, Jeigh Madjus, Diane Phelan, Conrad Ricamora, Enrico Rodriguez, Janelle Velasquez, and Tobias Wong.

Jaygee Macapugay as Imelda in HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Lia Chang

The Company of HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Lia Chang

Melody Butiu as Estrella, Jaygee Macapugay as Imelda. Photo by Lia Chang

Conrad Ricamora as Ninoy Aquino and Jaygee Macapugay as Imelda Marcos in HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Lia Chang

Jaygee Macapugay and Company in HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Lia Chang

Soldout houses at HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Lia Chang

Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne and Melody Butiu usher in 2015 on the HERE LIES LOVE set at The Public Theater’s LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Schedule:
Friday, January 2 @ 5 PM & 9:30 PM
Saturday, January 3 @ 5 PM & 9:30 PM
Sunday, January 4 @ 5 PM

Tickets for Here Lies Love range from $99-$139. A limited number of $40 day-of-performance rush tickets will be available at The Public’s Taub Box Office (425 Lafayette Street, NYC) one hour before the start of each performance. Tickets subject to availability, and the offer is good for two tickets per person, cash or credit cards. For more info and tickets to Here Lies Love, please visit http://www.herelieslove.com/.

Jaygee Macapugay and Company in HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Lia Chang

The cast of HERE LIES LOVE on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Backstage at HERE LIES LOVE with Enrico Rodriguez, Billy Bustamante, Jeigh Madjus, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Tobias Wong and Aaron J. Albano at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Backstage at HERE LIES LOVE with Jose Llana at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Backstage at HERE LIES LOVE with Conrad Ricamora at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Jaygee Macapugay and Jose Llana seconds before curtain at HERE LIES LOVE at The Pubic Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

2015 for HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Lia Chang

Ali Ewoldt, Jaygee Macapugay, Rogier de Boer and Diane Phelan usher in 2015 on the HERE LIES LOVE set at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

David Byrne and the cast and crew of HERE LIES LOVE on the set at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Carol Angeli, Jaygee Macapugay, Debralee Daco, Renee Albulario and Janelle Velasquez usher in 2015 on the HERE LIES LOVE set at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Conrad Ricamora and Jaygee Macapugay usher in the New Year on the set at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Lia Chang and Jaygee Macapugay. Photo by Diane Phelan

Kelvin Moon Loh and David Byrne usher in the New Year on the set at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Jaygee Macapugay, Diane Phelan, Rogier de Boer and Ali Ewoldt usher in 2015 on the HERE LIES LOVE set at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

The HERE LIES LOVE cast and crew usher in 2015 on the set at The Public Theater's LuEsther Hall in New York on December 31, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Lia Chang and David Byrne on New Year’s Eve at HERE LIES LOVE. Photo by Diane Phelan

Here Lies Love articles:
Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015

Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho

Meet David Byrne, Here Lies Love Creator and Cast members Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana, and Conrad Ricamora at the Apple Store Soho

Jaygee Macapugay stars as Imeda Marcos in Here Lies Love at The Public, Beginning October 20, 2014

Catch Jaygee Macapugay as Imeda Marcos in Here Lies Love at The Public through August 23, 2014

Photos: Christine Toy Johnson, Baayork Lee, Jose Llana, Ann Harada, Dodie Pettit and More at Charles Randolph-Wright’s “Three Voices” concert series at Stage 72

Jaygee Macapugay to appear as Imeda Marcos in Here Lies Love at The Public, July 5-7, 2013

Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan

Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles, Melody Butiu, Conrad Ricamora and More Open in David Byrne- Fatboy Slim’s Here Lies Love on May 1

Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles, Melody Butiu, Conrad Ricamora and More Return for Here Lies Love; Previews Begin April 14, 2014

Nov. 25: David Byrne and the Cast of The Public Theater’s HERE LIES LOVE including Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More to Host Benefit Concert for the Philippines at Terminal 5

Here Lies Love, Starring Jose Llana and Ruthie Ann Miles, Extends at The Public through July 28, 2013

Christine Toy Johnson, Thom Sesma, Ali Ewoldt, Jose Llana, Ann Harada, Telly Leung and More Set for The Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre

Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Conrad Ricamora, Kelvin Moon Loh and More Set for World Premiere of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s Here Lies Love at The Public, April 2 – May 19, 2013

Other Articles by Lia Chang

Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015

Photos: Fashion Designer Josie Natori at New Boutique in Nolita; Honored by Asian Cultural Council

Photos: Artist Arlan Huang, One Brush Stroke at a Time

Ayad Akhtar’s THE INVISIBLE HAND Stars Usman Ally, Justin Kirk, Jameal Ali and Dariush Kashani at New York Theatre Workshop through January 4, 2015

Photos: Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015

Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015

Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015

Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15

ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015

Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I

Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago

Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015

Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2015 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com

André De Shields. Photo by Lia Chang

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is presenting August Wilson’s classic drama King Hedley II. Set in the 1980s Hill District of Pittsburgh, the ninth installment of Pulitzer Prize winner Wilson’s acclaimed play cycle examining Black America follows a scarred ex-convict who struggles to turn his life around and lock away his past. The drama is directed by Timothy Douglas, who worked with the late playwright on the world premiere of Radio Golf and has directed eight plays out of Wilson’s 10-play cycle. King Hedley II runs February 6-March 8, 2015 in the Fichandler Stage. Arena Stage is located at 1101 Sixth St., SW, Washington, DC, the facility is only one block from the Waterfront (SEU) green line Metro stop.

Bowman Wright stars as King, the returning ex-convict with seven years of prison haunting him. Wright, who was last seen at Arena Stage as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in The Mountaintop, is joined by returning Arena Stage cast members E. Faye Butler (Smokey Joe’s Café, Pullman Porter Blues, Oklahoma!) as Ruby and KenYatta Rogers (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) as Mister. Making their Arena Stage debuts are Two-Time Tony Award nominee André De Shields (Broadway’s The Full Monty, Ain’t Misbehavin’) as Stool Pigeon, Jessica Frances Dukes (Playwrights Horizons’ Bootycandy) as Tonya and Michael Anthony Williams (Round House’s Two Trains Running) as Elmore.

“Playwrights like Eugene O’Neill wanted to write cycles of plays, but it was only August Wilson who completed his brilliant 10-play cycle,” shares Artistic Director Molly Smith. “These plays are strong and contemporary and have already stood the test of time. Arena Stage has a long history of producing many plays in the cycle, from Fences to Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. I know Timothy Douglas and our terrific cast will take King Hedley II and deliver the powerful storytelling that August Wilson intended.”

“August Wilson’s seminal King Hedley II provides a searing insight into the complex life and trials of a black American man,” adds Douglas. “Through powerful and stirring spoken word-operatic in scope-the triumphant arias from Hedley and his Pittsburgh Hill District crew provide the very ignition that has sent present-day America into the streets to voice its rallying cry ‘Black Lives Matter’!”

August Wilson

August Wilson (Playwright) authored Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II and Radio Golf. These works explore the heritage and experience of African-Americans, decade-by-decade, over the course of the 20th century. His plays have been produced at regional theaters across the country and all over the world, as well as on Broadway. In 2003, Mr. Wilson made his professional stage debut in his one-man show, How I Learned What I Learned. Mr. Wilson’s works garnered many awards including Pulitzer Prizes for Fences and The Piano Lesson; a Tony Award for Fences; an Olivier Award for Jitney; and eight New York Drama Critics Circle Awards. The cast recording of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom received a 1985 Grammy Award, and Mr. Wilson received a 1995 Emmy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Piano Lesson. Mr. Wilson’s early works included the one-act plays The Janitor, Recycle, The Coldest Day of the Year, Malcolm X, The Homecoming and the musical satire Black Bart and the Sacred Hills. Mr. Wilson received Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships in Playwriting, the Whiting Writers Award, the 2003 Heinz Award, was awarded a 1999 National Humanities Medal by the President of the United States and received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities, as well as the only high school diploma ever issued by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He was an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 1995 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and on October 16, 2005, Broadway renamed the theater located at 245 West 52nd Street, TheAugust Wilson Theatre. Mr. Wilson was posthumously inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2007. He was born and raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and lived in Seattle, Washington at the time of his death. He is immediately survived by his two daughters, Sakina Ansari and Azula Carmen Wilson, and his wife, costume designer Constanza Romero.

Timothy Douglas (Director) makes his Arena Stage debut with this production of King Hedley II. Other Washington area credits include Two Trains Running, The Trip to Bountiful, Permanent Collection and A Lesson Before Dying at Round House; Insurrection: Holding History at Theatre Alliance (two Helen Hayes nominations); the world premiere of The Last Orbit of Billy Mars at Woolly Mammoth and his Caribbean-inspired Much Ado About Nothing at the Folger. Recent credits include the world premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s The Lake Effect for Silk Road Rising (Chicago’s Jeff Award for Best New Work), off-Broadway’s Bronte: A Portrait Of Charlotte and the world premiere of August Wilson’s Radio Golf for Yale Repertory Theatre. He is currently an Associate Artist at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where he has directed Clybourne Park, The North Pool and the world premiere of Safe House, and served as Associate Artistic Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where he directed 10 productions including three Humana Festival premieres. Timothy has directed over 100 projects for ACT, Guthrie, Berkeley Rep, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Rep, Steppenwolf, Playmakers Rep, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Downstage (NZ), National Theatret (Norway), Milwaukee Rep and many others. He is also a Linklater voice instructor and has served on the faculties of ACT, USC, North Carolina School of the Arts, New Zealand Drama School and Emerson College and holds an MFA in acting from Yale.

E. Faye Butler

E. FAYE BUTLER (Ruby)’s previous Arena Stage productions include Smokey Joe’s Café, Pullman Porter Blues, Trouble in Mind, Oklahoma!, Crowns, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Polk County and Dinah Was. She performed with the Washington Ballet in The Great Gatsby and Blues Until June at the Kennedy Center. National and regional tours include Mamma Mia, Dinah Was, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Nunsense and Don’t Bother Me…. E. Faye has appeared at regional theaters such as Signature Theatre, Centerstage, La Jolla Playhouse, Court Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lincolnshire Theatre, Dallas Theatre Company, Northlight Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Yale Repertory and Pasadena Playhouse. She is the recipient of six Jeff Awards, three Black Theatre Alliance Awards, an After Dark Award, John Barrymore Award, R.A.M.I. Award, two Helen Hayes Awards and seven nominations, Excellence in the Arts Award, Ovation Award, 2011 Sarah Siddons Society Leading Lady Award, 2012 Lunt-Fontaine Fellow and 2014 Kathryn V. Lamkey Award.

ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS (Stool Pigeon) is making his Arena Stage debut. Other Washington appearances include Jacob Strand in Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts at Shakespeare Theatre Company, the title role in King Lear at Folger Theatre and the 10th anniversary revival of Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the National Theatre. In a career spanning 45 years, André has distinguished himself as an unparalleled actor, director and educator. A multiple Tony Award nominee, he is the recipient of the 2012 Fox Foundation Fellowship/Distinguished Achievement, the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival’s Living Legend Award and the 2007 Village Voice OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance. He is best known for his show-stopping performances in six legendary Broadway productions: Impressionism (with Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen), Mark Medoff’s Prymate, The Full Monty, Play On!, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Emmy Award) and The Wiz. Television credits include “Rescue Me”; “Law & Order”; “Law & Order: SVU”; “Sex and the City”; “Cosby”; “Life on Mars” and “Lipstick Jungle”. www.andredeshields.com Namaste!

Jessica Frances Dukes

JESSICA FRANCES DUKES (Tonya)’s D.C. credits include Bootycandy, In the Next Room, Full Circle, Eclipsed, Fever/Dream, Antebellum and Starving (Woolly Mammoth Theatre, company member); The Conference of The Birds (Folger Theatre); The Piano Lesson (Olney Theatre); Passing Strange and Caroline, or Change (Studio Theatre); Trip to Bountiful and Permanent Collection (Round House); Jitney (Fords Theatre); Spunk (Tribute Productions, Helen Hayes nomination); The Bluest Eye and Insurrection: Holding History (Theater Alliance) and more. Regional credits include Beneatha’s Place and Clybourne Park (Centerstage); Stick Fly (Arden Theatre), A Raisin in the Sun and The Piano Lesson (Geva Theatre); The Piano Lesson (Indiana Rep); Trip to Bountiful (Cleveland Playhouse) and more. Off-Broadway credits include Bootycandy at Playwrights Horizons. TV credits include “A Raisin in the Sun Revisited” on PBS. MFA from The Catholic University of America. www.jessicafrancesdukes.com

KenYatta Rogers

KENYATTA ROGERS (Mister) returns to Arena Stage after performing in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Regional credits include Two Trains Running, Eurydice and A Lesson Before Dying (Round House Theatre); Holly Down in Heaven (Forum Theatre); Topdog/Underdog and A Raisin in the Sun (Everyman Theatre); Fever/Dream (Woolly Mammoth); Jitney (Ford’s Theatre); Colossal (Olney Theatre Center); Comedy of Errors (Folger Theatre); The Piano Lesson (Trustus Theatre); Coriolanus (Shakespeare & Company) and As You Like It, Spunk and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (African Continuum Theatre). KenYatta received Helen Hayes nominations for performances in Insurrection: Holding History at Theatre Alliance and Glengarry Glen Ross at Round House Theatre (two nominations, one win). TV credits including the PBS series “Standard Deviants’ Television”. KenYatta received his MFA in Acting from the University of Pittsburgh and is currently a faculty member in Montgomery College’s Department of Speech, Dance, and Theatre. To Kasai, his heart, to Mecca, his soul, to Michelle, his all.

Michael Anthony Williams

MICHAEL ANTHONY WILLIAMS (Elmore) is ecstatic to be making his Arena Stage debut. Other Washington appearances include RACE and Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide at Theater J; Two Trains Running, Treasure Island and Jesus Hopped the A Train at Round House Theater; Master Harold and the Boys at Studio Theater; Starving and We Are Proud to Present at Woolly Mammoth Theater; Jitney and To Kill a Mockingbird at Ford’s Theater and Two Trains Running and Nomathemba at The Kennedy Center. Off Broadway credits include Persephone at BAM. Regional credits include Nomathemba at Steppenwolf and Schubert Theaters, Of Mice and Men at Cincinnati Playhouse and To Kill a Mockingbird at Capital Rep. Michael Anthony is a proud former member of The Second City Theater Company in Chicago. Film credits include The Brave One, The Replacements, Contact and Unbreakable. TV credits include “FBI Files,” “Homicide: Life on the Streets” and “The Wire”. Michael dedicates his body of creative work to his daughter Margarita Williams.

Bowman Wright

BOWMAN WRIGHT (King) is excited to return to Arena Stage, where he was last seen as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in The Mountaintop. Theater credits include Our Lady of Kibeho (Nkango) at Signature Theatre Company; TogDog/UnderDog (Lincoln) at Marin Theatre Company; A Raisin in the Sun (Walter Lee Younger) at Geva Theatre Center; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at La Jolla Playhouse; The Dreamer Examines His Pillow (Tommy) at Shakespeare & Company; The Piano Lesson (Lymon) at Virginia Stage; Since Africa (Ater Dhal) and A House with No Walls (Jacob, Austin) at Interact Theatre; Fences (Cory) at Actors Theatre of Louisville and Death and the King’s Horsemen at Lantern Theatre. Films credits include Sight (Lionsgate Productions) and Vinson (Sainvil Productions). TV credits include “Person of Interest,” “Blue Bloods” and “Elementary”. Bowman is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015
Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014); Memorial Set for February 14, 2015
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015
Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater
Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho
Photos: Fashion Designer Josie Natori at New Boutique in Nolita; Honored by Asian Cultural Council
Photos: Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015
Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015
Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015
Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15
ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10
Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015
Unsuk Chin’s Opera Alice in Wonderland, Featuring Libretto Co-Written with David Henry Hwang, Set for UK Premiere at the Barbican Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Novels on March 8, 2015
Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I
Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago
Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015
Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley, David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Photos: Tommy Tune, Bob Avian, Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson, Orville Mendoza, Lori Tan Chinn, Raul Aranas, Virginia Wing and More Celebrate 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award Recipient Baayork Lee Crafting a Career

Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Mu Performing Arts is presenting FOB, the landmark 1979 play by David Henry Hwang (Broadway’s Chinglish, M. Butterfly), about the struggles of Chinese immigrants living in the U.S., at Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 South 4th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55454, January 30 – February 15, 2015.

After winning an Obie Award for FOB, Hwang rose to national prominence in the early 1980s and remains the nation’s preeminent Asian American playwright. Commenting on Mu’s hugely successful Minnesota Tour (June 2014, played to 95% capacity), the author expressed his appreciation for the company’s work.

“I couldn’t be more excited about Mu’s Minnesota Chinese Restaurant tour of my play FOB. Like many Chinese of my generation, I had relatives in the restaurant business, and this play was written in part as a tribute to their spirit. Performing it now in those restaurants themselves brings the journey of this play back full-circle.”

~ David Henry Hwang, Playwright

Mu’s production returns home to the Twin Cities in an intimate and exciting production at Mixed Blood Theatre. Randy Reyes, (who plays Steve in the three-character play) reflected on Mu’s first production of 2015.

“It feels so great to bring this production back to the Twin Cities after such a successful tour to greater Minnesota. We learned so much from the personal stories of the Chinese restaurant owners, and we are excited to share those stories with our Twin Cities community through our talkbacks and other activities. There’s nothing like performing in an actual Chinese restaurant, but our design team is working to bring that same atmosphere and intimacy to Mixed Blood’s auditorium.”

~ Randy Reyes, Artistic Director

FOB deftly explores relationships and conflicts between established ABC (American Born Chinese) and FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) newcomers in the 1980s. Mu is partnering with the Minnesota Historical Society on an extensive lobby display chronicling the history of Chinese immigration to Minnesota including the story of the state’s first Chinese restaurant. In addition, the production will feature numerous talkbacks featuring Twin Cities Chinese restaurant owners who will share their own immigration stories.

The cast also features Michael Sung-Ho (Middle Brother, A Little Night Music) as Dale, and Meghan Kreidler (Kung Fu Zombies Vs. Cannibals, CTC performing apprentice) as Grace, both of whom are reprising their roles from the touring production. The production team includes Christine Richardson (Costumes), Katharine Horowitz (Sound), Mina Kinukawa (Props), Soren Olsen (Lights), and Sarah Brandner (Set).

Randy Reyes (Director/Performer) graduated from The Juilliard School Drama Division in 1999 and has worked as a professional actor, director, and theater educator in theaters and educational institutions including The Guthrie, Mixed Blood, Ten Thousand Things, Thirst Theater, Chicago Ave. Project, The Playwrights’ Center, Cincinnati Playhouse, Seattle Children’s Theatre, NYU Graduate Acting Program, University of Minnesota/Guthrie BFA Acting Program, Wagner College, The University of Utah, Augsburg College, and Macalester College. He is a board member of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA) and the Minnesota Theater Alliance. Randy also represents Mu as a member of the newly formed Twin Cities Theater of Color Coalition (TCTCC) along with Penumbra, New Native, Pangea World Theatre, and Teatro Del Pueblo. Acting credits include A Little Night Music, Yellowface, Little Shop of Horrors, The Romance of Magno Rubio, at Mu Performing Arts, M. Butterfly, The Government Inspector, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both “Dromios” in Comedy of Errors at the Guthrie, Pacific Overtures at the Alliance/Cincinnati Playhouse/North Shore Theater, and Tibet Through the Red Box by David Henry Hwang at Seattle’s Children’s Theater. Randy’s directing credits include FOB Chinese Restaurant Tour, Kung Fu Zombies Vs. Cannibals, Asiamnesia, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, WTF, Cowboy Versus Samurai, and Circle Around the Island at Mu Performing Arts, A Streetcar Named Desire at Ten Thousand Things, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Summer and Smoke at Theatre in the Round, and God Save Gertrude at the Workhaus Collective. Randy was a recipient of a two-year Theater Communications Group New Generation Future Leaders fellowship under the mentorship of Rick Shiomi at Mu Performing Arts in 2006. Administrative positions include being the Theater in Education Director at The Guthrie, Associate Artistic Director, Outreach Coordinator, and Community Liaison at Mu Performing Arts, and the Artistic Director of The Strange Capers.

PERFORMANCES

Thursday, January 29 at 7:30 PM ($18 PREVIEW)

Friday, January 30 at 7:30 PM (OPENING)

Saturday, January 31 at 7:30 PM

Sunday, February 1 at 2:00 PM

Thursday, February 5 at 7:30 PM

Friday, February 6 at 7:30 PM

Saturday, February 7 at 7:30 PM

Sunday, February 8 at 2:00 PM

Thursday, February 12 at 7:30 PM

Friday, February 13 at 7:30 PM

Saturday, February 14 at 7:30 PM

Sunday, February 15 at 2:00 PM (CLOSING)

TICKETS

$10 Students (w/valid ID)

$18 Preview (Jan. 29 at 7:30 PM)

$22 Adults

10% off groups of 10+

Seating is General Admission

Tickets on sale now at www.muperformingarts.org or by calling the Mu Box Office at 651-789-1012

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Nov. 29 – 30: Randy Reyes to Host Mu’s A Very Asian Xmas for the Fifth Year
Eric Sharp Makes Playwrighting Debut with Mu Performing Arts’ World Premiere of Middle Brother at The Southern Theater, September 11-28, 2014
Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015
Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014); Memorial Set for February 14, 2015
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015
Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater
Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho
Photos: Fashion Designer Josie Natori at New Boutique in Nolita; Honored by Asian Cultural Council
Photos: Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015
Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015
Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015
Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015
Jennifer Lim, Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jo Mei, James Saito and Sue Jin Song Set for MTC Run of World Premiere of The World of Extreme Happiness by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, February 3 – March 29
Photos: BC/EFA Gypsy of The Year Celebrates 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ Featuring André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Christina Sajous, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White and More
ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10
Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015
Unsuk Chin’s Opera Alice in Wonderland, Featuring Libretto Co-Written with David Henry Hwang, Set for UK Premiere at the Barbican Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Novels on March 8, 2015
Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I
Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago
Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015
Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley, David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Photos: Tommy Tune, Bob Avian, Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson, Orville Mendoza, Lori Tan Chinn, Raul Aranas, Virginia Wing and More Celebrate 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award Recipient Baayork Lee Crafting a Career

Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

The cast of Dying For It. Photo by Ahron Foster

Jeanine Serralles, Mary Beth Peil, Joey Slotnick and Peter Maloney. Photo by Ahron Foster

Joey Slotnick, Clea Lewis and CJ Wilson. Photo by Ahron Foster

Peter Maloney, Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil and CJ Wilson

The cast and creative team of Atlantic Theater Company’s Dying For It. Photo Credit: Ahron Foster

Dying For It features scenic design by Walt Spangler, costume design by Suttirat Larlarb and Moria Clinton, lighting design by David Weiner and sound design by Ben Truppin-Brown, original musical composed by Josh Schmidt and fight direction by J. David Brimmer.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015
Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014); Memorial Set for February 14, 2015
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015
Photos: BC/EFA Gypsy of The Year Celebrates 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ Featuring André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Christina Sajous, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White and More
Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015
Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater
Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho
Photos: Fashion Designer Josie Natori at New Boutique in Nolita; Honored by Asian Cultural Council
Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015
Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015
Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15
ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10
Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015
Unsuk Chin’s Opera Alice in Wonderland, Featuring Libretto Co-Written with David Henry Hwang, Set for UK Premiere at the Barbican Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Novels on March 8, 2015
Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I
Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago
Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015
Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley, David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Photos: Tommy Tune, Bob Avian, Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson, Orville Mendoza, Lori Tan Chinn, Raul Aranas, Virginia Wing and More Celebrate 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award Recipient Baayork Lee Crafting a Career

Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director, Casey Reitz Executive Director) will present the Atlantic Theater Company’s (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director, Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) sold out production of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ acclaimed play, Between Riverside and Crazy, for a limited engagement this winter.

Stephen McKinley Henderson as Pops, Elizabeth Canavan as Detective Audrey O’Connor & Michael Rispoli as Lieutenant Caro in Between Riverside and Crazy. Photo by Kevin Thomas Garcia

Recently featured on New York Times Theater Critic Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014 List:

“Between Riverside and Crazy: The triumphant return of Stephen Adly Guirgis, who startled Broadway in 2011 by snatching a Tony nomination for best play for a work with an unprintable title. This gleefully agnostic account of the things we do for real estate (at least when you’re poor and in unlikely possession of prime Manhattan property) blithely crossed the lines between good and bad, comedy and tragedy, faith and skepticism without missing a step. Austin Pendleton directed a wonderful cast led by Stephen McKinley Henderson.”

Click here to see the complete list.

The production will begin previews on Friday, January 16, 2015 and will officially open on Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre (305 West 43rd street).

Stephen McKinley Henderson as Pops, Rosal Colon as Lulu & Victor Almanzar as Oswaldo in Between Riverside and Crazy. Photo by Kevin Thomas Garcia

Stephen McKinley Henderson, who received rave reviews for his lead performance as Walter “Pops” Washington, will return with the production. He was previously seen at Second Stage in August Wilson’s Jitney. Ron Cephas Jones joins other original cast members returning with the production include Victor Almanzar (Repertorio Espanol, LAByrinth Theater), Elizabeth Canavan (The Little Flower of East Orange), Rosal Colón (The Motherf*cker with the Hat) and Liza Colón-Zayas (Second Stage Theatre’s Water by the Spoonful and Living Out) and Michael Rispoli.

City Hall is demanding more than his signature, the Landlord wants him out, the liquor store is closed – and the Church won’t leave him alone. For ex-cop and recent widower Walter “Pops” Washington and his recently paroled son Junior, the struggle to hold on to one of the last great rent stabilized apartments on Riverside Drive collides with old wounds, sketchy new houseguests, and a final ultimatum in this dark comedy. For Pops and Junior, it seems the Old Days are dead and gone – after a lifetime living Between Riverside and Crazy.

“Part of Second Stage’s founding mission is to give deserving American plays a second chance to reach a wider audience. I was lucky enough to see Stephen’s remarkable play this summer and now I’m thrilled to bring it back and share it with theatregoers who couldn’t get a ticket during its sold out run,” says Artistic Director Carole Rothman. “An extraordinary combination of events have occurred to make this production a part of our season: an unexpected immediate opening in our line up and a brilliant play that was ready to be – and deserved to be – remounted for a larger audience. I couldn’t be happier bringing Stephen’s brilliant characters to life again and I know our audiences will be as knocked out by this play as I was.”

Between Riverside and Crazy features scenic design by Walt Spangler; costume design byAlexis Forte; lighting design by Keith Parham; and sound design and original music by Ryan Rumery.

Tickets are $75 (orchestra), $60 (Balcony), $67.50 (Senior), $125 premium*, $55 (subscription). Save 35% on $75 tickets with code BRACMP on performances, January 16- February 10, 2015. Rush tickets are available one hour prior to curtain to full time high school or college students. $30 Under 30 tickets available in advance for patrons ages 30 and under. One valid ID required for each ticket purchased, based on availability. For tickets: call the box office at 212-246-4422 or 2ST.com. *A limited number of Premium Seats are available. Please call the box office at 212-246-4422 to reserve.

2014 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright recipient Stephen Adly Guirgis at the 2014 Steinberg Playwright Awards hosted by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust on November 17, 2014 in New York City. Photo by Lia Chang

STEPHEN ADLY GUIRGIS (Playwright) is a member and former co-artistic director of LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States. They include Our Lady of 121st Street (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle Best Play Nominations), Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award, Barrymore Award, Olivier Nomination for London’s Best New Play), In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings (2007 LA Drama Critics Best Play, Best Writing Award), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (10 best Time Magazine & Entertainment Weekly), and The Little Flower of East Orange (with Ellen Burstyn & Michael Shannon). All five plays were directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and were originally produced by LAByrinth. His most recent play, The Motherf***er with the Hat (6 Tony nominations, including Best Play), was directed by Anna D. Shapiro and marked his third consecutive world premiere co-production with The Public Theater and LAByrinth. In London, his plays have premiered at The Donmar Warehouse, The Almeida (dir: Rupert Goold), The Hampstead (Robert Delamere), and at The Arts Theater in the West End. Other plays include Den of Thieves (Labyrinth, HERE, HAI, Black Dahlia) and Dominica The Fat Ugly Ho (dir: Adam Rapp) for the 2006 E.S.T. Marathon. He has received the Yale Wyndham-Campbell Prize, a PEN/Laura Pels Award, a Whiting Award, a TCG fellowship and the prestigious 2014 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award. He is also a New Dramatists Alumnae and a member of MCC’s Playwright’s Coalition, The Ojai Playwrights Festival, New River Dramatists, and Labyrinth Theater Company. As an actor, he has appeared in theater, film and television, including roles in Kenneth Lonergan’s film Margaret, Todd Solondz’s Palindromes, and Brett C Leonard’s Jailbait opposite Michael Pitt. A former violence prevention specialist and H.I.V. educator, he lives in New York City.

Austin Pendleton

AUSTIN PENDLETON (Director) returns to Second Stage Theatre where he staged the critically acclaimed production of Spoils of War. He has been most recently represented as a director by his productions in New York, of Gidion’s Knot (by Johnna Adams) at 59E59; Seagull69 (adapted from The Sea Gull) at Mississippi Mud; Ivanov, Three Sisters, and Uncle Vanya (all at CSC); and Look Homeward, Angel for Mother of Invention, among many other productions. Other credits include: in Chicago, works at Steppenwolf (where he is a member of the Ensemble) most recently by Tribes; in London at the National Theatre by Detroit by Lisa D’Amour; and in Little Rock by A Loss of Roses by William Inge, at Arkansas Rep. He is also an actor (Broadway, off- and off-off-Broadway, regional theatre, and many movies and TV appearances), playwright (his plays include Orson’s Shadow, Uncle Bob, and Booth), and (at HB Studio in New York) teacher of acting.

Victor Almanzar

VICTOR ALMANZAR is a native of the Dominican Republic, and longtime resident of Queens, New York. He has performed in productions throughout New York City, at venues including Center Stage New York, Repertorio Espanol, Aaron Davis Hall, and as part of LAByrinth Theater Company’s NYNY Festival. He is currently pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts degree at the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University. He can be seen in the feature film 11:55 Holyoke.

Elizabeth Canavan

ELIZABETH CANAVAN has appeared in The Little Flower of East Orange (with Ellen Burstyn and Michael Shannon) at the Public Theater, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (with Eric Bogosian and Sam Rockwell) at the Public Theater, Our Lady of 121st Street at the Union Square Theatre, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (NY and London), all by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman; Black Lace by John Patrick Shanley at the New Ohio Theater, Love Sick by Kristina Poe, Thinner Than Water by Melissa Ross, Philip Roth in Khartoum by David Bar Katz, Penalties and Interest by Rebecca Cohen, Seven at USC Visions and Voices, Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, The 52nd Street Project, Summer Play Festival. TV: “Law and Order,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “Sex and the City.” She has appeared in many independent films and has had two short films produced. Liz is a proud member of LAByrinth Theater Company and The Actors Studio.

Rosal Colón

ROSAL COLÓN has appeared on Broadway in A Free Man of Color (Lincoln Center) directed by George C. Wolfe, and The Motherf***er with the Hat directed by Anna D. Shapiro. Off-Broadway: Much Ado about Nothing (The Public) directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, Basilica (Rattlestick at the Cherry Lane) directed by Jerry Ruiz, Ninth and Joanie (LAByrinth Theater Company) directed by Mark Wing-Davey, Dancing in My Cockroach Killers (Pregones/PRTT) directed by Rosalba Rolón. Feature film: The House That Jack Built. TV: “Law and Order: SVU.” She is a proud member of The LAByrinth Theater Company and Pregones Theater. Fiorello H. LaGuardia H.S. and SUNY Purchase College.

Liza Colón-Zayas

LIZA COLÓN-ZAYAS returns to Second Stage Theatre where she appeared in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Water by the Spoonful (HOLA award for Best Featured Actress) and Living Out (Lucille Lortel Award nomination). She has been a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company in New York City since 1992 and the Sundance Theater Ensemble 2012. She appeared in Stephen Adly Guirgis plays including In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings; Our Lady of 121st Street; The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; and The Little Flower of East Orange, all directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Liza toured Europe with director Peter Sellars in Story of a Soldier and later in Othello as Emilia, opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman. She starred in Athol Fugard’s latest play Have You Seen Us? opposite Sam Waterston and received a Connecticut Critics Circle Nomination. Her solo show, Sistah Supreme, had a summerlong run at the First Hip-Hop Theater Festival, produced by world renowned performance artist Danny Hoch and directed/developed by playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis. Some screen credits include “Louie” (FX), “Hung” (HBO), “Dexter” (Showtime), “How to Make It in America” (HBO), “Nurse Jackie” (Showtime), “Taking Chance” (HBO), “House” (FOX), “Law and Order,” “Law and Order: SVU” (NBC).

Stephen McKinley Henderson

STEPHEN McKINLEY HENDERSON (Pops) returns to Second Stage Theatre where he was a member of August Wilson’s celebrated Obie Award-winning Jitney ensemble (2002 Olivier Award for Outstanding Drama). He was in the Tony-nominated revival of A Raisin in the Sun. In 2012, he received a Tony Nomination and the Richard Seff Award for his performance as Bono in August Wilson’s Fences. Last year he was Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s Associate Artistic Director for WNYC’s audio recordings of Mr. Wilson’s entire Century Cycle. Other theatre credits include Between Riverside and Crazy (Atlantic), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Public Theater) and Death of a Salesman (Yale Rep). Film and TV credits include Lincoln, Tower Heist, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Red Hook Summer and HBO’s “The Newsroom.” He is a professor for the Department of Theater and Dance, SUNY Buffalo, as well as a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company, the Actor’s Center and a Fox Foundation Fellow.

Ron Cephas Jones

RON CEPHAS JONES (Junior) Of Mice and Men (Longacre), Prometheus Bound (Getty Villa), Head of Passes (Steppenwolfe), Hurt Village, Two Trains Running (Signature); Titus Andronicus, Satellites (NYSF); Ajax (ART); As You Like It, The Tempest (BAM/Old Vic London); Wildflower (2nd Stage); The Overwhelming (Roundabout); The Wooden Breeks (MCC); The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Alliance); Richard III (Public Theater, NY); The Exonerated; Othello (Royal Theatre, London); Our Lady of 121st Street; Jesus Hopped the A Train (LABryinth); Storefront Church (Atlantic Theatre). Television: “The Blacklist”, “Low Winter Sun”, “Raisin in the Sun”, “NYPD Blue”, “Law & Order”.

Michael Rispoli

MICHAEL RISPOLI (Lieutenant Carlo). Selected film: Rob the Mob opposite Andy Garcia, Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain, The Rum Diary with Johnny Depp, The Taking of Pelham 123 directed by Tony Scott and Kick-Ass produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B. He received a Best Actor Award at the Verona Film Festival for his work in Raymond DeFellitta’s film Two Family House. Upcoming: Friends and Romans with Annabella Sciorra, (also co-writer and executive producer). Selected TV: Jackie Aprile in “The Sopranos,” “Those Who Kill” (A&E), “Magic City” (STARZ), Jimmy Breslin in “The Bronx is Burning,” “Person of Interest,” “Blue Bloods,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Law & Order: SVU.” Theatre: Between Riverside and Crazy, Circle Rep/ Steppenwolf revival of Balm in Gilead directed by John Malkovich, Magic Hands Freddy, Macbeth, Tartuffe, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and O’Neill’s The Sea Plays. Co-founder of the Willow Cabin Theatre Company, which staged a production of Wilder, Wilder, Wilder that moved to Off- Broadway and then to Broadway, earning a Tony nomination.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015
Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014); Memorial Set for February 14, 2015
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015
Photos: BC/EFA Gypsy of The Year Celebrates 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ Featuring André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Christina Sajous, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White and More
Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015
Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater
Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho
Photos: Fashion Designer Josie Natori at New Boutique in Nolita; Honored by Asian Cultural Council
Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015
Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15
ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10
Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015
Unsuk Chin’s Opera Alice in Wonderland, Featuring Libretto Co-Written with David Henry Hwang, Set for UK Premiere at the Barbican Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Novels on March 8, 2015
Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I
Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago
Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015
Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley, David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Photos: Tommy Tune, Bob Avian, Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson, Orville Mendoza, Lori Tan Chinn, Raul Aranas, Virginia Wing and More Celebrate 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award Recipient Baayork Lee Crafting a Career

Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Ken Watanabe and Kelli O’Hara. Photo by Paul Kolnik.

Ken Watanabe makes his American stage debut as the King of Siam opposite Kelli O’Hara as Anna Leonowens, in Lincoln Center Theater’s new production of The King and I, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. The cast also features Ruthie Ann Miles (as Lady Thiang), Ashley Park (as Tuptim), Conrad Ricamora (as Lun Tha), Edward Baker-Duly (as Sir Edward Ramsey), Jon Viktor Corpuz (as Prince Chulalongkorn), Murphy Guyer (as Captain Orton), Jake Lucas (as Louis), Paul Nakauchi (as Kralahome), and Marc Oka (as Phra Alack). The production, to be directed by Bartlett Sher, will begin performances Thursday, March 12, 2015, and open on Thursday, April 16, 2015, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street).

Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Ashley Park

One of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s finest works, The King and I boasts a score which features such beloved classics as Getting To Know You, Hello Young Lovers, Shall We Dance, I Have Dreamed, and Something Wonderful. Set in 1860’s Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher, whom the imperious King brings to Siam to tutor his many wives and children.

Featured in the ensemble of the 51-member cast are Aaron Albano, Adriana Braganza, Amaya Braganza, Billy Bustamante, LaMae Caparas, Hsin-Ping Chang, Andrew Cheng, Lynn Masako Cheng, Olivia Chun, Ali Ewoldt, Ethan Halford Holder, Cole Horibe, MaryAnn Hu, James Ignacio, Christie Kim, Kelvin Moon Loh, Sumie Maeda, Paul HeeSang Miller, Rommel Pierre O’Choa, Kristen Faith Oei, Autumn Ogawa, Yuki Ozeki, Stephanie Jae Park, Diane Phelan, Sam Poon, William Poon, Brian Rivera, Bennyroyce Royon, Lainie Sakakura, Ann Sanders, Ian Saraceni, Atsuhisa Shinomiya, Michiko Takemasa, Kei Tsuruharatani, Christopher Vo, Rocco Wu, and Timothy Yang.

Lincoln Center Theater’s production of The King and I will feature choreography by Christopher Gattelli based on the original choreography by Jerome Robbins.

The King and I will have sets by Michael Yeargan; costumes by Catherine Zuber; lights by Donald Holder; sound by Scott Lehrer; and casting by Telsey + Company/Abbie Brady-Dalton, CSA. The production will feature the musical’s original 1951 orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett with dance and incidental music arranged by Trude Rittmann. Music director Ted Sperling will conduct a 29-piece orchestra.

Director Bartlett Sher. Photo by Lia Chang

Director Barlett Sher. Photo by Lia Chang

BARTLETT SHER, Resident Director of Lincoln Center Theater, won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics’ Circle Awards for his direction of LCT’s production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific. His other LCT productions include Golden Boy, Blood & Gifts, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Awake and Sing!, and The Light in the Piazza. His other Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include The Bridges of Madison County, Prayer for My Enemy, The Butterfly Collection, Cymbeline, Waste, Don Juan, and Pericles. He directed the operas Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Le Comte Ory, L’Elisir d’Amore (Metropolitan Opera); Romeo et Juliette (Salzburg Festival and La Scala); Mourning Becomes Electra (Seattle Opera and New York City Opera); and Two Boys (Met and ENO). He was the Artistic Director of Seattle’s Intiman Theatre and was also a Resident Director of Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater.

KELLI O’HARA returns to Lincoln Center Theater where she was nominated for Tony Awards for her performances in The Light in the Piazza and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific. Her Broadway credits include The Bridges of Madison County (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Nice Work if You Can Get It (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), The Pajama Game (Tony nomination and Drama Desk nominations), The Sweet Smell of Success, Follies, Dracula, and Jekyll & Hyde. Off- Broadway: Far From Heaven, King Lear, Bells Are Ringing, My Life With Albertine. Film/TV: Sex and the City 2, Scorsese’s The Key to Reserva, Blood Brothers, Alexander Hamilton, and “Numb3rs”. Her recordings include Always and Wonders of the World on Ghostlight Records.

KEN WATANABE will make his American stage debut in The King and I. His Japanese theatre credits include Dialogue with Horowitz, Hamlet, Shitayamannen-cho monogatari, The Lion in Winter and The Royal Hunt of the Sun. For his work in film, Watanabe received Oscar, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award nominations for The Last Samurai. His motion picture credits also include Inception, Letters from Iwo Jima, Memoirs of a Geisha, Batman Begins and Godzilla. Watanabe is currently preparing to shoot Gus Van Sant’s Sea of Trees and Martin Scorsese’s Silence.

The King and I will be performed Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm. Beginning April 21, all Tuesday evening performances will begin at 7pm. Tickets, priced from $87 to $162, are now available at the Lincoln Center Theater box office (150 West 65 Street), at telecharge.com, or by visiting KingandIBroadway.com. A limited number of tickets priced at $32 are available at every performance through LincTix, LCT’s program for 21 to 35 year olds. For information and to enroll, visit LincTix.org.

Lincoln Center Theater is grateful to the Stacey and Eric Mindich Fund for Musical Theater at LCT for their leading support of this production. American Express and The Jerome L. Greene Foundation are the major sponsors of The King and I. Generous support is also provided by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Florence and Robert Kaufman, The New York Community Trust-Mary P. Oenslager Foundation Fund, and Stephanie and Fred Shuman.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015
Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014); Memorial Set for February 14, 2015
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Rispoli and Ron Cephas Jones Set for Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY at Second Stage Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015
Photos: BC/EFA Gypsy of The Year Celebrates 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ Featuring André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Christina Sajous, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White and More
Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015
Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater
Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho
Photos: Fashion Designer Josie Natori at New Boutique in Nolita; Honored by Asian Cultural Council
Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015
Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15
Jennifer Lim, Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jo Mei, James Saito and Sue Jin Song Set for MTC Run of World Premiere of The World of Extreme Happiness by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, February 3 – March 29
Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015
ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10
Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015
Unsuk Chin’s Opera Alice in Wonderland, Featuring Libretto Co-Written with David Henry Hwang, Set for UK Premiere at the Barbican Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Novels on March 8, 2015
Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago
Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley, David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Photos: Tommy Tune, Bob Avian, Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson, Orville Mendoza, Lori Tan Chinn, Raul Aranas, Virginia Wing and More Celebrate 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award Recipient Baayork Lee Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky backstage at the Longacre Theatre on January 7, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Emmy Award winning actor Richard Thomas and two-time Emmy nominee Anna Chlumsky kicked off their run in the hit Broadway revival of YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU on January 6, 2015. Thomas portrays Paul Sycamore, replacing Mark Linn-Baker; with Chlumsky, best known for her starring role in HBO‘s ‘Veep’, portraying his daughter Alice, taking over for Rose Byrne.

Photos of Original Broadway Cast by Joan Marcus

Thomas and Chlumsky join current cast members James Earl Jones, Kristine Nielsen, Annaleigh Ashford, Elizabeth Ashley, Johanna Day, Julie Halston, Byron Jennings, Patrick Kerr, Fran Kranz, Reg Rogers, Will Brill, Nick Corley, Austin Durant, Crystal A. Dickinson, Marc Damon Johnson, Karl Kenzler and Joe Tapper in the 1936 play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman.

Julie Halston, Richard Thomas, Anna Chlumsky, Andrew Rannells, Annaleigh Ashford and guest backstage at the Longacre Theatre in New York on January 7, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

After the Wednesday matinee, I caught up with Richard Thomas and Julie Halston, who were visiting with Andrew Rannells and Zuzanna Szadkowski in the green room at the Longacre Theatre.

Richard Thomas, Lia Chang and Julie Halston backstage at the Longacre Theatre in New York on January 7, 2015. Photo by GK

Richard Thomas. Photo by Lia Chang

Richard Thomas starred in the award-winning series “The Waltons,” for which he won an Emmy® Award for Best Actor in a dramatic series. He has continued to star in series, films, plays and over 50 movies for television. His Broadway career began at age seven with 1958’s Sunrise at Campobello opposite James Earl Jones, and has continued with such shows as Fifth of July, The Seagull, The Front Page, Tiny Alice, Peer Gynt, Richard II, Richard III, Hamlet and The Stendhal Syndrome. Other stage credits include Broadway’s Democracy and A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, the national tour of the Broadway revival of 12 Angry Men, and Unusual Acts of Devotion by Terrence McNally. Recent projects include the Broadway production of David Mamet’s Race; the Public Theater’s Timon of Athens (in the title role); Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays for the Minetta Lane Theatre; the world premiere of Camp David at Arena Stage; and Othello at The Old Globe. He last appeared on Broadway in the Manhattan Theater Club revival of An Enemy of the People. Richard will return to the hit FX series “The Americans” for the upcoming season as Agent Frank Gaad. He also had starring roles on series such as “Just Cause,” “It’s a Miracle” and “Swiss Family Robinson”. His television films include the Stephen King miniseries Nightmares and Dreamscapes; Stephen King’s It; All Quiet on the Western Front; The Silence; The Red Badge of Courage; The Master of Ballantrae; Johnny Belinda; Berlin Tunnel 21; Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story; Hobson’s Choice; Roots: The Next Generation; Go Toward the Light; In the Name of the People; The Christmas Secret; The Miracle of the Cards; Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder; Anna’s Dream; Annie’s Point; Wild Hearts; and most recently the Hallmark Channel’s film Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. As a producer, Richard has worked on such television projects as What Love Sees and For All Time. Richard has appeared in such movies as The Wonder Boys, Battle Beyond the Stars, The Todd Killings, Last Summer, Winning, Red Sky at Morning, Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock and the forthcoming Anesthesia.

Richard Thomas and Lia Chang backstage at the Longacre Theatre in New York on January 7, 2015. Photo by GK

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the 2013 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington, Roscoe Orman, and made her jazz vocalist debut in Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz “LADY” at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.
Other articles on Richard Thomas:
Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015
Nov. 9: INSP Premieres Exclusive Richard Thomas’ Favorites Marathon of The Waltons
Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein
Jun. 22 – July 27: Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Set for Old Globe Debut in OTHELLO
Mar. 21-May 4: Richard Thomas, Ron Rifkin, Hallie Foote and Khaled Nabaway Set for Arena Stage’s World Premiere of Lawrence Wright’s Camp David
Mar. 21 – May 4: Arena Stage Presents World Premiere of Lawrence Wright’s Camp David Starring Tony Award winner Ron Rifkin and Emmy Award winner Richard Thomas
MTC’s An Enemy of The People Starring Boyd Gaines and Richard Thomas Begin Previews at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Richard Thomas and Boyd Gaines to star in An Enemy of the People at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre during Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2012-2013 Season
Tony Award – winning Playwright Terrence McNally to be Honored at Westport Country Playhouse Annual Gala, September 24, 2012
Photos: Highlights of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan (3pm) with Andre Bishop, Mary Beth Hurt, Jennifer Lim, Angela Lin, Philip Kan Gotanda, Thom Sesma, Sab Shimono, Richard Thomas, Jay O. Sanders, and more
Photos: Highlights of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan (8pm) with Oskar Eustis, Patti LuPone, Lisa Emery, Ann Harada, Paolo Montalban, Thom Sesma, Sab Shimono, Henry Stram, Richard Thomas, John Weidman and more
Photos: In Rehearsal with Director Bartlett Sher and the cast of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan

Other Articles by Lia Chang
Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015

Jennifer Lim, Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jo Mei, James Saito and Sue Jin Song Set for MTC Run of World Premiere of The World of Extreme Happiness by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, February 3 – March 29

Photos: BC/EFA Gypsy of The Year Celebrates 40th Anniversary of THE WIZ Featuring André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Christina Sajous, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White and More

Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More

Geoffrey Holder, Artist, Actor, Dancer, Choreographer, Two-Time Tony Award-winning Director and Costume Designer for The Wiz, Dies at 84; Son Pens Intimate Account of Last Days

Photos: Artist Arlan Huang, One Brush Stroke at a Time

Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015

Photos: Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015

Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015

Q & A with Danny Ramm, Co-writer of Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor; Airs January 21, 2015

Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15

ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015

Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I

Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago

Costume Institute’s Spring 2015 Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum to Focus on Chinese Imagery in Art, Film, and Fashion, May 7–August 16, 2015

Q & A with Playwright Camille Darby, 2014-15 Dramatists Guild Playwrighting Fellow

Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

David Henry Hwang. Photo by Lia Chang

Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang will receive the 2015 Distinguished Artist Award at the New York 2015 ISPA Congress, Dynamic Leadership: Creating the Future Awards dinner at Guastavino’s on Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 7:00 P.M.

Other honorees this year include the New England Foundation for the Arts (2015 Angel Award); Graham Sheffield CBE (2015 International Citation of Merit) and Susan Stockton (2015 Patrick Hayes Award). Click here to read more about the winners.

David Henry Hwang‘s work includes the plays M.Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Aida (co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival), and Tarzan. Upcoming productions include two new musicals: The Forgotten Arm, with music and lyrics by Aimee Mann and Paul Bryan, for the Public Theater; and Pretty Dead Girl, with music and lyrics by Anne-Marie Milazzo. Hwang is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee, a three-time OBIE Award winner and a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

As America’s most-produced living opera librettist, he has written four pieces with composer Philip Glass, including The Voyage (Metropolitan Opera, 1992), as well as Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar (two 2007 Grammy Awards), Bright Sheng’s The Silver River (1997), Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland (2007 “World Premiere of the Year” by Opernwelt magazine), Howard Shore’s The Fly (2008) and Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier (2014). Upcoming operas include Through the Looking Glass with Unsuk Chin for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Dream of the Red Chamber with Bright Sheng for the San Francisco Opera.

Mr. Hwang penned the screenplays for M. Butterfly (1993), starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone; Golden Gate (1994), starring Matt Dillon and Joan Chen; and Possession (co-writer, 2002), starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart. With the pop star Prince, he co-wrote the song “Solo,” released on Prince’s 1994 gold album Come. He is currently writing a feature film for Dreamworks Animation and the film adaptation of Chinglish, to be directed by Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, the Fast & Furious franchise), as well as creating an original television series, “Shanghai,” for Lions Gate and Bravo. Yellow Face was adapted into a full-length movie for YouTube by the YOMYOMF Network in 2013.

Hwang is a Tony Award® winner and three-time nominee, a three-time Obie Award winner, and a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He received the 2011 PEN/Laura Pels Award, the 2012 William Inge Award, the 2012 Steinberg “Mimi” Award, and the 2014 Doris Duke Artist Award. Hwang was the 2012-14 Residency One Playwright at New York’s Signature Theatre, which produced a season of his plays, including the premiere of his newest work, Kung Fu He serves as President of Young Playwrights Inc, and sits on the boards of the Lark Play Development Center, The American Theatre Wing, and The Actors Fund. In 2014, he joined the faculty at Columbia University School of the Arts as Director of the Playwriting Concentration.

The Distinguished Artist Award is presented to artists in the field of the performing artists who have made an outstanding contribution of talent, artistry, dedication, and service to the world of the performing arts. The contributions of these award recipients have gone above and beyond their prowess as artists. Recipients of the Distinguished Artist Award have included: Tan Dun, Nicholas Hytner, Regina Carter, Audra McDonald, Ong Keng Sen, Ravi Shankar, Van Cliburn, Laurie Anderson, Pina Bausch, Stephen Sondheim, Cab Callaway, Merce Cunningham, Kurt Masur, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Philip Glass, James Levine, Marvin Hamlisch, Robert Brustein, Isaac Stern, Leontyne Price, Itzhak Perlman, Alvin Ailey, Jerome Robbins, Helen Hayes, Agnes de Mille, Joseph Papp and Martha Graham.

The New York 2015 ISPA Congress will take place from January 13-15, 2015 at various venues around Manhattan. Click here for the complete schedule.

David Henry Hwang Articles:
Dec. 1: Behind the Scenes with Disney on Broadway with David Henry Hwang, Chad Beguelin and Rick Elice at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Aug. 17: David Henry Hwang, Adriane Lenox, Chuck Cooper, Kevin Carolan, Stephanie J. Block, Caissie Levy & More will Sleep on the Streets for Covenant House’s Sleep Out: Broadway Edition
David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage Appointed to the Playwriting Faculty of Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program
Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang Receives $275,000 Doris Duke Artist Award
Signature’s Production of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu, starring Cole Horibe, Phoebe Strole and Francis Jue, extends through April 6, 2014
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Click here for more articles on David Henry Hwang.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
Photos: Andrew Rannells and Zuzanna Szadkowski Visit Richard Thomas, Anna Chlumsky, Julie Halston and Annaleigh Ashford at YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU
Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014); Memorial Set for February 14, 2015
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Rispoli and Ron Cephas Jones Set for Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY at Second Stage Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015
Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015
THE WIZ Turns 40- Photos from Original Broadway Production and BC/EFA Gypsy of The Year Celebration Featuring André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Christina Sajous, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White and More
Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015
Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater
Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho
Photos: Fashion Designer Josie Natori at New Boutique in Nolita; Honored by Asian Cultural Council
Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15
Jennifer Lim, Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jo Mei, James Saito and Sue Jin Song Set for MTC Run of World Premiere of The World of Extreme Happiness by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, February 3 – March 29
Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015
ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10
Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015
Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago
Preview of Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Spring Exhibition, China: Through the Looking Glass, Announced at the Palace Museum in China
Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley, David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Photos: Tommy Tune, Bob Avian, Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson, Orville Mendoza, Lori Tan Chinn, Raul Aranas, Virginia Wing and More Celebrate 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award Recipient Baayork Lee Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

BD Wong. Photo by Lia Chang

Tony Award winner BD Wong stars as Cheng Ying in ‘The Orphan of Zhao’. Photo by Kevin Berne.

Tony Award-winning actor BD Wong continues his long standing relationship with La Jolla Playhouse as its latest Artist-in-Residence this month.

Wong is the second artist to be named Playhouse Artist-in-Residence. The program was initiated last year with the appointment of award-winning scenic designer and UC San Diego graduate Robert Brill.

Last summer, Wong starred in La Jolla Playhouse’s U.S. premiere of The Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with A.C.T, named by U-T San Diego as one of 10 shows to savor from 2014.

The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More at La Jolla Playhouse through August 3, 2014

BD Wong stars in Herringbone. Photo by Lia Chang

A 2011 Playhouse Gala Honoree, Wong starred in the one-man musical Herringbone at La Jolla Playhouse in 2009, a tour-de-force for the actor who portrays twelve characters.

BD Wong Stars in the La Jolla Playhouse Production of Herringbone, August 1-30, 2009

BD Wong, star of Herringbone, in rehearsal at Dixon Place in New York on May 20, 2012. Photo by Lia Chang

Photos by Lia Chang

Wong’s debut CD of the concert performance of Herringbone, recorded live at a special event at Dixon Place in New York City in 2012, has been released on the Yellow Sound Label and can be purchased here.

Yellow Sound Label to Release BD Wong’s Debut CD HERRINGBONE on December 2, 2014

In Rehearsal with BD Wong at Dixon Place for Live Concert Recording of Herringbone BD Wong to Star in Live Concert Recording of HERRINGBONE for Two Nights Only as a Benefit for Dixon Place, May 21-22, 2012

Wong’s La Jolla Playhouse multi-month residency program is designed to give artists the freedom to focus on their ongoing body of work, while becoming fully immersed in all aspects of the institution, from the stage to the boardroom to the classroom. In addition to developing his own writing and directing projects, Wong will act as a representative of the Playhouse and participate in artistic planning, education and outreach activities, lead master classes at UC San Diego and serve as a community liaison for arts advocacy in San Diego, among other Playhouse activities.

BD Wong directs Jason Tam and Caissie Levy in The Yellow Wood at the Acorn Theatre in New York on September 17, 2007. Photo by Lia Chang

“The Artist-in-Residence program bolsters the Playhouse’s mission to serve as a more supportive and profound home for the important theatre artists of today and tomorrow,” said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. “BD Wong has a long history with the Playhouse, and it is incredibly satisfying to offer him the resources to develop his own projects while further integrating him into the Playhouse community, with a special emphasis on both new musical development and education.”

Playwright David Henry Hwang, his wife actress Kathryn Layng and BD Wong at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop Literary Awards in New York on December 8, 2008. (Photo by Lia Chang)

BD Wong received the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World, Clarence Derwent and Tony Awards for his Broadway debut in M. Butterfly – an unprecedented achievement. Television credits include” Law & Order: SVU,” “All-American Girl,” “Oz,” “And the Band Played On,” “Awake” and HBO’s “The Normal Heart”. Film credits include Jurassic Park, The Freshman, Father of the Bride, Seven Years in Tibet, Executive Decision, The Salton Sea and Mulan. Broadway credits include the revivals of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Pacific Overtures. Regional theatre credits include Herringbone (Williamstown Theatre Festival, McCarter Theatre). He is the author of the critically-acclaimed memoir Following Foo: (the electronic adventures of the Chestnut Man) (Harper Entertainment). He has been honored by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Asian AIDS Project, GLAAD, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, The Anti-Violence Project, Lambda Legal and Marriage Equality New York. He is a board member of The Actors’ Fund and Rosie’s Theater Kids. Upcoming acting projects include the films Focus (Warner Bros.) and Jurassic World (Universal), and a guest-starring role on “NCIS: New Orleans,” to air on CBS February 3. He is a San Francisco native and holds an honorary M.F.A. from American Conservatory Theatre. @BD_WONG.

BD Wong rehearses his Rosie’s Theater Kids at the Maravel Arts Center on 445 West 45th Street in New York on March 17, 2012. Photo by Lia Chang

The nationally-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including the currently running hit Jersey Boys, as well as Memphis, Big River, The Who’s Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Farnsworth Invention, 33 Variations, Bonnie & Clyde, Peter and the Starcatcher, Chaplin: The Musical, Hands on a Hardbody and Side Show. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-art theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre. La Jolla Playhouse is led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg.

Photos: BD Wong, Cindy Cheung, Brooke Ishibashi, Thom Sesma, Manna Nichols, Steven Eng, Ariel Estrada and Lori Tan Chinn at Leviathan Lab’s Ghost Stories

The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More at La Jolla Playhouse through August 3, 2014

May 19: The Orphan of Zhao’s BD Wong and A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff in Conversation at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater

Jun. 4-29: Tony Award–winner BD Wong Leads Cast of A.C.T.’s U.S. Premiere of Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse

Photos: David Henry Hwang, Oskar Eustis, BD Wong, Brian d’Arcy James, Francis Jue, Jennifer Lim and Leigh Silverman at WNYC’s The Greene Space

Photos: BD Wong, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Brandon Victor Dixon, Tom Viola at “Passing It On: An Evening of Mentorship to Benefit Rosie’s Theater Kids”

Photos: BD Wong in Rehearsal for “Passing It On: An Evening of Mentorship to Benefit Rosie’s Theater Kids”
Click here for other articles on BD Wong.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Amazon Studios Debuts The Man in the High Castle Starring Alexa Davalos, Luke Kleintank, Rupert Evans, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Joel de la Fuente, Rufus Sewell and DJ Qualls on January 15

Jan. 21: Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor

Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang to Receive 2015 Distinguished Artist Award at New York 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner on January 14, 2015

Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More

Photos: Andrew Rannells and Zuzanna Szadkowski Visit Richard Thomas, Anna Chlumsky, Julie Halston and Annaleigh Ashford at YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU

Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014); Memorial Set for February 14, 2015

Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Rispoli and Ron Cephas Jones Set for Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY at Second Stage Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015

Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015

THE WIZ Turns 40- Photos from Original Broadway Production and BC/EFA Gypsy of The Year Celebration Featuring André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Christina Sajous, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White and More

Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015

Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater

Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho

Photos: Fashion Designer Josie Natori at New Boutique in Nolita; Honored by Asian Cultural Council

Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15

Jennifer Lim, Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jo Mei, James Saito and Sue Jin Song Set for MTC Run of World Premiere of The World of Extreme Happiness by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, February 3 – March 29

ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015

Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago

Preview of Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Spring Exhibition, China: Through the Looking Glass, Announced at the Palace Museum in China

Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

The International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) welcomed the delegates of the 67th Annual ISPA Congress to Guastavino’s in New York for the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards dinner on January 14, 2015.

Guastavino’s. Photo by Lia Chang

The New York 2015 ISPA Congress, Dynamic Leadership: Creating the Future, ran from January 13-15, 2015 at various venues throughout New York. Tim Brinkman, Director, HQ Theatres, and Jacqueline Davis, Executive Director, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, of the 2015 ISPA Planning Committee, co-chaired the Congress.

Tim Brinkman, Director, HQ Theatres, David Henry Hwang, 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award recipient, and Jacqueline Davis, Executive Director, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Cathie Boyd and Luiz Coradazzi co-emceed the evening’s festivities which began with remarks by David Baile, Chief Executive Officer of ISPA.

David Baile, Chief Executive of Officer of ISPA, at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Cathie Boyd and Luiz Coradazzi co-emcee the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

The 2015 ISPA Award recipients included Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang (2015 Distinguished Artist Award), the New England Foundation for the Arts (2015 Angel Award); Graham Sheffield CBE (2015 International Citation of Merit) and Susan Stockton (2015 Patrick Hayes Award).

2015 ISPA Awards. Photo by Lia Chang

David Henry Hwang receives the 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

David Henry Hwang (2015 Distinguished Artist Award) Hwang’s work includes the plays M.Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Aida (co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival), and Tarzan. Upcoming productions include two new musicals: The Forgotten Arm, with music and lyrics by Aimee Mann and Paul Bryan, for the Public Theater; and Pretty Dead Girl, with music and lyrics by Anne-Marie Milazzo. Hwang is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee, a three-time OBIE Award winner and a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

David Henry Hwang receives the 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award from Tim Brinkman and Jacqueline Davis at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

2015 ISPA Award recipients David Henry Hwang (Distinguished Artist Award) and Graham Sheffield CBE (International Citation of Merit) at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Gaurav Kripalani, Artistic/Managing Director, Singapore Repertory Theatre, David Henry Hwang, 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award recipient at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Kathryn Layng, Rachel Cooper and David Henry Hwang, 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award recipient at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Susan Stockton receives the 2015 ISPA Patrick Hayes Award at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Gustavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Mary Lou Aleskie, David Henry Hwang, 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award recipient and his wife Kathryn Layng at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

David Henry Hwang, 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award recipient and David Baile, Chief Executive of Officer of ISPA, at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

David Henry Hwang, 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award recipient and his wife Kathryn Layng at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Gaurav Kripalani, Artistic/Managing Director, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Kathryn Layng and her husband David Henry Hwang, 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award recipient at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Tisa Ho, Executive Director, Hong Kong Arts Festival and David Henry Hwang, 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award recipient at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

About The Distinguished Artist Award
The Distinguished Artist Award is presented to artists in the field of the performing artists who have made an outstanding contribution of talent, artistry, dedication, and service to the world of the performing arts. The contributions of these award recipients have gone above and beyond their prowess as artists. Recipients of the Distinguished Artist Award have included: Tan Dun, Nicholas Hytner, Regina Carter, Audra McDonald, Ong Keng Sen, Ravi Shankar, Van Cliburn, Laurie Anderson, Pina Bausch, Stephen Sondheim, Cab Callaway, Merce Cunningham, Kurt Masur, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Philip Glass, James Levine, Marvin Hamlisch, Robert Brustein, Isaac Stern, Leontyne Price, Itzhak Perlman, Alvin Ailey, Jerome Robbins, Helen Hayes, Agnes de Mille, Joseph Papp and Martha Graham.

Jane Preston, Interim Co-Executive Director, NEFA, Mary Lou Aleskie, Executive Director, International Festival of Arts and Ideas, and Laura Paul, Interim Co-Executive Director, at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Laura Paul, Interim Co-Executive Director, NEFA and Jane Preston, Interim Co-Executive Director, NEFA, recipients of the 2015 ISPA Angel Awards at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) (2015 Angel Award) NEFA’s mission is to build connections among artists, arts organizations, and funders, powering the arts to energize communities in New England, the nation, and the world.

Founded in 1976, NEFA is one of six regional arts organizations established with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts to strengthen the national arts infrastructure by cultivating the arts on a regional level. Today, NEFA’s programs are regional, national, and international in scope, and support artists and communities through grants and other opportunities in dance, music, theater, and public art. All aim to provide access to high quality arts experiences for the underserved, including projects that feature artistic expressions from diverse cultures and geographies.

Each program and project that is brought to life at NEFA is created with the underlying goal of building a stronger and more dynamic infrastructure for the arts. Convenings, network building, online tools, and a 30+ year history of data-driven research on the economic impact of the arts are essential complements to NEFA’s grantmaking.

NEFA is a grantmaker, program initiator, aggregator of resources, and builder of creative partnerships among artists, organizations and funders. Our work is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the six New England state arts agencies, foundations, corporations, individuals, and other government agencies.

Rachel Cooper, Director of Global Performing Arts and Special Cultural Initiatives, Asia Society, congratulates Jane Preston and Laura Paul, Interim Co-Directors, NEFA, who received the 2015 ISPA Angel Award at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

About The Angel Award
The Angel Award is presented to an individual or organization which has demonstrated a significant and lasting contribution to the support of the performing arts which transcends the boundaries of one country or institution, and merits international recognition. With a priority on philanthropy, in extraordinary circumstances, this achievement may also reflect outstanding leadership, advocacy, innovation, scholarship, or curatorship.

Luis Coradazzi, Eric Klug and Graham Sheffield CBE, 2015 ISPA International Citation of Merit recipient at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Graham Sheffield receives the 2015 ISPA International Citation of Merit at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Graham Sheffield CBE (2015 International Citation of Merit) Sheffield is Director Arts for the British Council. He is responsible for leading and delivering global arts strategy and programme across the Council’s 110 country operation.

From 1995-2010, Sheffield was Artistic Director of the Barbican Centre in London. Under his directorship, the Barbican became one of the most innovative, dynamic and respected centres in the arts world, with an award-winning international programme across the art forms.

In the last three years he has driven a major expansion and rebuilding of the arts programme at the Council, defining a new vision, developing new arts specialists in the global network, planning major extended seasons of work in Brazil, China, Qatar, India, Mexico and South Africa, as well as responding ambitiously to social and political change in the Middle East, Gulf and North Africa.

Under Sheffield’s leadership, the arts programme has grown in size and received more investment: to launch a Cultural Skills programme, expand the work within the Creative Economy, develop a digital arts programme and refresh and enlarge the Council’s internationally renowned Art Collection – a vital contributor to work overseas in cultural relations.

Eric Klug at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Graham Sheffield CBE receives the 2015 ISPA International Citation of Merit at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Jacqueline Davis, Graham Sheffield, 2015 ISPA International Citation of Merit Award recipient and Tim Brinkman at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Julia Glawe, Director of Booking, Pomegranate Arts, and Graham Sheffield CBE, 2015 ISPA International Citation of Merit Award recipient at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Sheffield graduated in Music from Edinburgh University and worked as a Radio 3 producer at the BBC for 12 years. From there he went to the Southbank Centre as Music Projects Director for 5 years, during which time he founded the world-renowned Meltdown Festival. He also served as CEO of the West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong in 2010. He was Chair of the Royal Philharmonic Society (2007-2010), and consulted to the Luminato Festival of Arts and Creativity in Toronto. From 2004-2006 Graham was Chair of the International Society of Performing Arts and a council member of Arts Council England, London (2002 – 2008). In 2014, Sheffield took up a new role as Chair of the UK’s largest music charity, Help Musicians UK and joined the Board of Rambert.

He was awarded CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours’ list for services to the arts and was made Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2005. He is an honorary Doctor of Arts at City University.

About The International Citation of Merit
The International Citation of Merit is presented for unique lifetime achievement which has enriched the international performing arts. This award is not for performance but rather for distinguished service working within the profession. For example work as a manager (artist/company/venue), in education, marketing and public relations, consultancy, festival director, acoustician, architect and other associated activities. Recipients may be a past or current member of ISPA.

David Baile, Chief Executive Officer of ISPA with 2015 Award winners Susan Stockton (2015 ISPA Patrick Hayes Award), Laura Paul and Jane Preston, Interim Co-Executive Directors, NEFA (2015 ISPA Angel Award) at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Susan Stockton receives the 2015 ISPA Patrick Hayes Award at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Susan Stockton received the 2015 Patrick Hayes Award. Stockton recently retired as the president of the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center a position she assumed in September of 2003. This state-of-the-art center completed in November of 2002 is located in Appleton, Wisconsin and contains a 2,100 seat opera-style house, a 350 seat black box style theater and a 75 person private function space. Programming of this facility included a partnership with Broadway Across America to present a Broadway series, a performing arts series and a daytime education series. There she led a team of 35 full-time professional staff plus numerous part-time and volunteer staff. She was the chief executive officer with oversight responsibility for programming, fundraising, operations and personnel.

Prior to her current position, Stockton was the Director of the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State. There she served as the chief executive officer with overall responsibility for the management of Eisenhower (2,600 seats) and Schwab (900 seats) auditoriums and supervision of more than 20 full-time employees.

Jacqueline Davis and Susan Stockton, 2015 ISPA Patrick Hayes Award recipient at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino's in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Susan Stockton receives the 2015 ISPA Patrick Hayes Award from Maria Hansen, Managing Director, Municipal Theatre & Philharmonie Haarlem, at the 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York on January 14, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

While at Penn State she was hired to consult as visiting faculty by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters for their professional development program presenting educational sessions in the areas of fiscal management, fundraising, human resource development, advisory board management, programming, marketing, and arts education introducing a new online course connecting the visiting artist and presenting programs of Penn State.

Positions held prior to Penn State include director of the Center for the Arts at Middlebury College, Director of Campus Affairs at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Stockton also served as: Associate Director (1987 to 1988) and Assistant Director (1986 to 1987) of Management Development Programs at the Simmons College Graduate School of Management in Boston; Director of Student Affairs (1979 to 1986) at Simmons College; and Coordinator of University and Student Programming (1974 to 1978) at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Stockton is a member and former board chair of the International Society of Performing Arts and for eleven years served as a Tony voting member of The Broadway League. While at Penn State she served as a cultural ambassador for a variety of performing arts programs and artist exchange initiatives in China and Japan. She earned a B.A. in Theatre at the University of Rhode Island and a M.F.A. from the Director Training Program at Ohio University.

She is currently enjoying a relaxed retirement from full time arts administration, pursuing learning opportunities and creative writing courses at Oxford University and serving as a grants panelist for The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

About the Patrick Hayes Award
Patrick Hayes was the founding president of the International Society for the Performing Arts Foundation, originally established in 1948 as the National Association of Concert Managers. The Patrick Hayes Award, the only award from an ISPA member to an ISPA member, recognizes an ISPA member of long standing and continued involvement whose achievements in arts management are deserving of special praise and recognition.

Dancing the night away at Guastavino’s. Photo by Lia Chang

Click here for my photo coverage of the awards.

David Henry Hwang Articles:
Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang to Receive 2015 Distinguished Artist Award at New York 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner on January 14, 2015
Dec. 1: Behind the Scenes with Disney on Broadway with David Henry Hwang, Chad Beguelin and Rick Elice at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Aug. 17: David Henry Hwang, Adriane Lenox, Chuck Cooper, Kevin Carolan, Stephanie J. Block, Caissie Levy & More will Sleep on the Streets for Covenant House’s Sleep Out: Broadway Edition
David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage Appointed to the Playwriting Faculty of Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program
Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang Receives $275,000 Doris Duke Artist Award
Signature’s Production of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu, starring Cole Horibe, Phoebe Strole and Francis Jue, extends through April 6, 2014
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Click here for more articles on David Henry Hwang.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Jan. 21: Joe Mantegna Helmed ‘Criminal Minds’ Season 10 Episode to Honor the late Meshach Taylor
Tony Award Winner BD Wong Kicks Off La Jolla Playhouse Residency
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
Photos: Andrew Rannells and Zuzanna Szadkowski Visit Richard Thomas, Anna Chlumsky, Julie Halston and Annaleigh Ashford at YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU
Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014); Memorial Set for February 14, 2015
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Rispoli and Ron Cephas Jones Set for Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY at Second Stage Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015
Playwright Camille Darby, 2014-15 Dramatists Guild Playwrighting Fellow
Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015
THE WIZ Turns 40- Photos from Original Broadway Production and BC/EFA Gypsy of The Year Celebration Featuring André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Christina Sajous, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White and More
Up Close and Personal with Jose Llana; HERE LIES LOVE Star Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015
Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater
Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho
Photos: Fashion Designer Josie Natori at New Boutique in Nolita; Honored by Asian Cultural Council
Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15
Jennifer Lim, Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jo Mei, James Saito and Sue Jin Song Set for MTC Run of World Premiere of The World of Extreme Happiness by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, February 3 – March 29
Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015
ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” starring Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen, Premieres on February 4 & 10
Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen De Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT in February 2015
Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago
Preview of Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Spring Exhibition, China: Through the Looking Glass, Announced at the Palace Museum in China
Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley, David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Photos: Tommy Tune, Bob Avian, Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson, Orville Mendoza, Lori Tan Chinn, Raul Aranas, Virginia Wing and More Celebrate 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award Recipient Baayork Lee Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Lia Chang Photos: Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion on View through April 19, 2015 at New York Historical Society

Joey Slotnick, Mary Beth Peil, C.J. Wilson, Jeanine Serralles and More Set for Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015

Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi and More Set for Broadway Bound Dr. Zhivago

Lia Chang: Up Close and Personal with HERE LIES LOVE Star Jose Llana; Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12, 2015

Lia Chang Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater

Final Week to see James Yaegashi, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Ernest Abuba, James Saito, Jon Norman Schneider and Tsering Dorjee in Sarah Ruhl’s “The Oldest Boy” in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at LCT; closes Dec. 28

Ayad Ahktar’s THE INVISIBLE HAND Stars Usman Ally, Justin Kirk, Jameal Ali and Dariush Kashani at New York Theatre Workshop through January 4, 2015

Lia Chang: Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014); Memorial Set for February 14, 2015

Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More Star in David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s HERE LIES LOVE at The Public Theater Through January 4, 2015

Emmy Winner Richard Thomas and Anna Chlumsky Set For Broadway’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Beginning January 6, 2015

Lia Chang Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More

Two-Time Tony Award Nominee André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams Set for Arena Stage’s King Hedley II, February 6- March 8, 2015

Randy Reyes, Michael Sung-Ho and Meghan Kreidler Set for Mu Performing Arts’ Production of David Henry Hwang’s FOB, January 30 – February 15

Joey Slotnick, Jeanine Serralles, C.J. Wilson, Mary Beth Peil, Peter Maloney, Clea Lewis and More in Atlantic Theater Company’s American Premiere of Neil Pepe Helmed DYING FOR IT by Moira Buffini, Opens Jan. 8, 2015

Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Rispoli and Ron Cephas Jones Set for Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY at Second Stage Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015

Video: Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Set for Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I

Lia Chang Photos: Andrew Rannells and Zuzanna Szadkowski Visit Richard Thomas, Anna Chlumsky, Julie Halston and Annaleigh Ashford at YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU

Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang to Receive 2015 Distinguished Artist Award at New York 2015 ISPA Congress Awards Dinner on January 14, 2015

Tony Award Winner BD Wong Kicks Off La Jolla Playhouse Residency

Lia Chang Photos: Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang, NEFA, Graham Sheffield CBE and Susan Stockton Receive 2015 ISPA Awards