The Manhattan Theatre Club’s world premiere of The World of Extreme Happiness, the new play by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, directed by Eric Ting, opened on February 24, 2015, at MTC’s New York City Center – Stage I (131 West 55th Street). The MTC cast of The World of Extreme Happiness features Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jennifer Lim, Jo Mei, James Saito, and Sue Jin Song. This co-production with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre began previews Tuesday, February 3, 2015, and will continue performances through Sunday, March 29, 2015.

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The elegant World of Extreme Happiness cast members Telly Leung, Francis Jue, Jo Mei, Jennifer Lim, Sue Jin Song and James Saito. Photo by Lia Chang

I celebrated with the cast and creative team at the opening night party at Brasserie 8 1/2. Check out the festive photos below.

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Unwanted from the moment she’s born, Sunny (Jennifer Lim) is determined to escape her life in rural China and forge a new identity in the city. As naïve as she is ambitious, Sunny views her new job in a grueling factory as a stepping stone to untold opportunities. When fate casts her as a company spokeswoman at a sham PR event, Sunny’s bright outlook starts to unravel in a series of harrowing and darkly comic events, as she begins to question a system enriching itself by destroying its own people.

Critically acclaimed in a workshop production at London’s National Theatre, The World of Extreme Happiness makes its world premiere in a co-production with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. “Hard-hitting and bruisingly funny” (Time Out London), this epic new drama by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig is as fierce and unflinching as the world it examines.

What the critics are saying:

“An odyssey through contemporary China.”
—The New York Times
“EYE-OPENING. How fortunate we are to live in a country where plays like this can exist.”
—NY1
“A UNIFORMLY STRONG CAST.”
—NY1
“FASCINATING and PROVOCATIVE.”
—TheaterMania
“A FASCINATING LOOK INTO MODERN CHINA.”
—TheaterMania
“PUNGENT and PASSIONATELY WELL-ACTED.”
—The Record
“CHILLING & UNYIELDING, WITH GREAT REALISM. COWHIG captures at once the allure of freedom and its unattainability.”
—Talkin’ Broadway
“Intelligent & Powerful.”
—Variety
“A Sophisticated & Smart Story.”
—The Chicago Tribune

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Matt Bradford Sullivan, Dr. Zhivago executive producer Randy Adams, It Shoulda Been You’s Harriet Harris and Francis Jue. Photo by Lia Chang

The creative team for The World of Extreme Happiness includes Mimi Lien (scenic design), Jenny Mannis (costume design), Tyler Micoleau (lighting design), and Mikhail Fiksel (sound design).

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Opening night with The World of Extreme Happiness – actor James Saito, playwright Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, cast members Sue Jin Song, Telly Leung, Jennifer Lim, Francis Jue, and actress Jo Mei, sound designer Mikhail Fiksel, and director Eric Ting. Photo by Lia Chang

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country’s most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. Over the past four and a half decades, MTC productions have earned numerous awards including six Pulitzer Prizes and 19 Tony Awards. MTC has a Broadway home at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47^th Street) and two Off-Broadway theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55^th Street). Renowned MTC productions include Casa Valentina; Outside Mullingar; The Assembled Parties; Venus in Fur; Master Class; Good People; The Whipping Man; Time Stands Still; The Royal Family; Ruined; Come Back, Little Sheba; Blackbird; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife; Love! Valour! Compassion!; A Small Family Business; Sylvia; Putting It Together; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain’t Misbehavin.’ For more information on MTC, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

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A Kung Fu reunion: Big Love’s Emmanuel Manny Brown, Francis Jue, Clifton Duncan, The King and I’s Christopher Vo and Kristen Faith Oei. (not pictured: Cole Horibe and Bradley Fong) Photo by Lia Chang

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 

Now celebrating its 90th year, Goodman Theatre is an artistic and community institution dedicated to the art of theater and civic engagement. Chicago’s flagship located in the heart of the downtown Theater District, the Goodman is distinguished by the quality and scope of its programming and its culturally and aesthetically diverse creative leadership—including Artistic Director Robert Falls and his esteemed Artistic Collective. Artistic priorities include new plays, reimagined classics, culturally specific works, musical theater and international collaborations. Under Mr. Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the Goodman has generated more than 150 world or American premieres and nearly 30 new-work commissions. Awards include two Pulitzer Prizes; 22 Tony Awards, including Outstanding Regional Theatre (1992); and nearly 160 Joseph Jefferson Awards. Joan Clifford is Chair of the Board of Trustees, Swati Mehta is Women’s Board President and Gordon C.C. Liao is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

TICKETING INFORMATION

Tickets for The World of Extreme Happiness are available by calling CityTix at 212-581-1212, online by visiting www.nycitycenter.org, or by visiting New York City Center box office (131 West 55^th Street). All tickets are $85.

Subscriptions for MTC’s 2014-2015 season are available by calling (212) 399-3050 (Monday through Friday NOON – 9 PM, Saturday 10 AM – 3 PM) or online at www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

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Extreme Happiness Photo vs Asian Family Photo: The World of Extreme Happiness cast members Jo Mei, Telly Leung, Francis Jue, director Eric Ting, production stage manager Winnie Lok, playwright Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, cast members Sue Jin Song and James Saito. Photo by Lia Chang

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

• MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23 – SUNDAY, MARCH 1 (WEEK OF OPENING):Wednesday and Sunday at 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. The curtain time for opening night on Tuesday, February 24 will be announced shortly.
• MONDAY, MARCH 2 – SUNDAY, MARCH 8:Tuesday at 7 PM; Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.
• MONDAY, MARCH 9 – SUNDAY, MARCH 15:Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.
• MONDAY, MARCH 16 – SUNDAY, MARCH 22:Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM. There are only 7 performances on sale to the public this week.
• MONDAY, MARCH 23 – SUNDAY, MARCH 29:Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM.

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Francis Ya-Chu Cowhig. Photo by Lia Chang

FRANCES YA-CHU COWHIG (Playwright). Cowhig’s plays have been produced at the National Theatre, Trafalgar Studios 2, and the Goodman Theatre. Her plays have been awarded the Wasserstein Prize, the Yale Drama Series Award, and the Keene Prize for Literature. She is currently under commission from Manhattan Theatre Club, the Goodman Theatre, and the National Theatre. Cowhig received an MFA in Writing from the Michener Center for Writers, a BA from Brown University, and a certificate in Ensemble-Based Physical Theatre from Dell’Arte International. Her plays have been published by Yale University Press and Methuen Drama. She is a finalist for the 2014-2015 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and is currently a Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at Manhattan Theatre Club.
Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s THE WORLD OF EXTREME HAPPINESS Named Among 12 Finalists for the 2014-2015 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize

ERIC TING (Director) is an Obie Award-winning director whose recent credits include Sam Hunter’s A Great Wilderness (Williamstown), Jackie Sibblies Drury’s We Are Proud To Present A Presentation… (Soho Rep / Victory Gardens), Rising Son by Dick Lee (Singapore Rep) and The World Of Extreme Happiness (Goodman). Long Wharf Theatre Associate Artistic Director since 2007, Ting is a founding member of the artists’ collective INTELLIGENT BEASTS and a recipient of a 2012 MAP Fund Award with Meiyin Wang. Upcoming: Kimber Lee’s Brownsville Song(Long Wharf / Philadelphia Theatre Co) and Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (CTG). www.ericting.com

www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com

Follow MTC on Twitter: @MTC_NYC or on Facebook.

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James Saito, Lia Chang and Francis Jue. Photo by Dave Shih

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Jo Mei and Lia Chang. 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.

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

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The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) and producer Jeffrey Seller announced the world premiere musical HAMILTON – a sold-out hit since beginning previews January 20 in The Public’s Newman Theater – will transfer to Broadway, with previews set to begin July 13 prior to an official opening night on August 6 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (226 W. 46 St.)

HAMILTON is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Seller, Sander Jacobs, Jill Furman and The Public Theater. Tickets for the Broadway engagement will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Sunday, March 8 via Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000. 

“Hamilton has burst on the world in a blaze that has amazed and delighted all of us at The Public. We have never experienced such ticket demand, or such wild enthusiasm from our audiences,” said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. “Lin-Manuel Miranda’s retelling of our nation’s founding tells the story of a country that truly belongs to all of us. We are honored to partner with our friend Jeffrey Seller, along with Sander Jacobs and Jill Furman, to bring this miraculous show to the broadest possible audience.”

Inspired by the book “Alexander Hamilton” by Ron Chernow, with book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and directed by Thomas Kail, HAMILTON will run through May 3 at The Public, following three extensions. The Richard Rodgers Theatre is, indeed, Miranda’s Broadway home: his first Broadway musical, IN THE HEIGHTS –winner of four 2008 Tony Awards including Best Musical – enjoyed a three-year run there.

From the creative team behind the In The Heights comes HAMILTON, a new musical about the scrappy young immigrant who forever changed America: Alexander Hamilton. Tony and Grammy Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda wields his pen and takes the stage as the unlikely founding father determined to make his mark on a new nation as hungry and ambitious as he. From bastard orphan to Washington’s right hand man, rebel to war hero, loving husband caught in the country’s first sex scandal to Treasury head who made an untrusting world believe in the American economy, HAMILTON is an exploration of a political mastermind. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Eliza Hamilton, and lifelong Hamilton friend and foe, Aaron Burr, all attend this revolutionary tale of America’s fiery past told through the sounds of the ever-changing nation we’ve become. Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail directs and Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler choreographs this new musical about taking your shot, speaking your mind, and turning the world upside down.

HAMILTON features scenic design by David Korins; costume design by Paul Tazewell; lighting design by Howell Binkley; sound design by Nevin Steinberg; hair and wig design by Charles G. LaPointe; music direction and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire; and choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler.

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA (Book, Music, and Lyrics/Alexander Hamilton) is the Tony and Grammy award-winning composer-lyricist-star of Broadway’s In the Heights. In the Heights received four 2008 Tony Awards (including Best Musical, Best Orchestrations, Best Choreography), with Miranda receiving a Tony Award for Best Score, as well as a nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In the Heights was also recognized as a Finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Miranda is the co-composer (with Tom Kitt), and co-lyricist (with Amanda Green) of Broadway’s Bring it On: The Musical (2013 Tony nom., Best Musical, 2013 Drama Desk nom., Best Lyrics in a Musical). Miranda contributed new songs to the revival of Stephen Schwartz’ Working and provided Spanish translations for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. Miranda, along with Kitt, won the 2014 Creative Arts Emmy for Best Original Music and Lyrics for their work on the 67th Annual Tony Awards. As an actor, Miranda appeared in the City CenterEncores! productions of Merrily We Roll Along (Charley Kringas), and tick, tick… BOOM! (Jonathan). He is a co-founder and member of Freestyle Love Supreme, an improvisational hip-hop group that will launch a self-titled television series in October 2014 on Pivot TV. Additional TV and film credits include “The Electric Company,” “Sesame Street,” “The Sopranos,” “House,” “Modern Family,” “Do No Harm,” “Smash,” “How I Met Your Mother,” The Sex and the City Movie, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, and 200 Cartas. 

THOMAS KAIL (Director). His Broadway credits include In the Heights (Tony nomination for Best Director); and two new plays, Lombardi and Magic/Bird. His Off-Broadway credits include In the Heights (Callaway Award, Drama Desk nom., Outer Critics nom.); at New York City Center Randy Newman’s Faust and The Wiz; Lincoln Center Theater’sBroke-ology and When I Come to Die; The Flea Theater’s Family Furniture (Drama Desk Nom.); and Second Stage Uptown’s The Tutors. Other credits include Williamstown Theater Festival’s Broke-ology; Paper Mill Playhouse’s Once on this Island; and the National Tour of In the Heights.   He is the co-creator and director of the hip-hop improv groupFreestyle Love Supreme, which played the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, US Comedy Arts Festival, Montreal Comedy Festival and Melbourne Comedy Festival.  He served as the Creative Director of the 2012, 2013 & 2014 Webby Awards. For television he  directed episodes of “2 Broke Girls”; “Oprah Winfrey’s 2010 Primetime Oscar Special” for ABC; the pilot episode of “Storymakers” for AMC; and he served as Co-Music Director and consulting producer on first season of PBS show “The Electric Company”. He is the Executive Producer and Co-Creator of  new TV Series “Freestyle Love Supreme” for Pivot; and he is the recipient of the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center and is a graduate of Wesleyan University, CT.

ANDY BLAKENBUEHLER (Choreography)’s Broadway credits include In The Heights (Tony, Outer Critics, Drama Desk Awards), Bring It On, 9 To 5, The People In The Picture, The Apple Tree, Annie, The Wiz (City Center Encores). Regionally his credits include FLY (Dallas Theatre Center), Desperately Seeking Susan (West End), A Little Princess(Andrew Lippa), Joseph (National tour). Upcoming projects include Only Gold with British singer/songwriter Kate Nash.

JEFFREY SELLER is the winner of three Tony Awards for Best Musical:  Rent (1996), Avenue Q (2004) and In The Heights (2008).  Additional productions include De La Guarda, Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, La Boheme, the 2009 revival of West Side Story, and this season’s The Last Ship.  As director his credits include  Fly (2013) at Dallas Theater Center.  He is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

SANDER JACOBS has been represented on Broadway with the Tony Award-winning Best Musical In The Heightsand the Tony Award-nominated West Side Story revival.  Jacobs has served as a co-producer and/or investor for numerous Broadway, national and international productions, with a selection of theatre’s most celebrated and critically-acclaimed musicals including Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Follies and The Last Ship.

JILL FURMAN received the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical for In The Heights. Other Broadway credits include Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Heiress, Seminar, West Side Story, The Drowsy Chaperone, Sly Fox andFortune’s Fool. Off-Broadway her credits include On The Line and Adult Entertainment.  Furman executive produced the Pivot television series “Freestyle Love Supreme,” starring the hip-hop improv group of the same name, and also produces the live version of the show.  In 2011, Furman received the Robert Whitehead Award for Outstanding Achievement in Commercial Theatre Producing. She is a member of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.

ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER:

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public Theater is the only theater in New York that produces Shakespeare, the classics, musicals, contemporary and experimental pieces in equal measure. The Public continues the work of its visionary founder, Joe Papp, by acting as an advocate for the theater as an essential cultural force, and leading and framing dialogue on some of the most important issues of our day.  Creating theater for one of the largest and most diverse audience bases in New York City for nearly 60 years, today the Company engages audiences in a variety of venues—including its landmark downtown home at Astor Place, which houses five theaters and Joe’s Pub; the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, home to its beloved, free Shakespeare in the Park; and the Mobile Unit, which tours Shakespearean productions for underserved audiences throughout New York City’s five boroughs. The Public’s wide range of programming includes free Shakespeare in the Park, the bedrock of the Company’s dedication to making theater accessible to all; Public Works, a new initiative that is designed to cultivate new connections and new models of engagement with artists, audiences and the community each year; new and experimental stagings at The Public at Astor Place, including Public Lab; and a range of artist and audience development initiatives including its Public Forum series, which brings together theater artists and professionals from a variety of disciplines for discussions that shed light on social issues explored in Public productions.  The Public Theater is located on property owned by the City of New York and receives annual support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; and in October 2012 the landmark building downtown at Astor Place was revitalized to physically manifest the Company’s core mission of sparking new dialogues and increasing accessibility for artists and audiences, by dramatically opening up the building to the street and community, and transforming the lobby into a public piazza for artists, students, and audiences. Key elements of the revitalization an expanded and refurbished lobby; the addition of a mezzanine level with a new restaurant lounge, The Library, designed by the Rockwell Group. www.publictheater.org

The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater’s year-round activities;Bank of America, Proud Season Sponsor of Shakespeare in the Park; The Harold & Mimi Steinberg New Play Development Fund at The Public Theater Supports the Creation and Development of New Plays; The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation – Lead Supporter of The Public’s Access and Engagement Programming; The Time Warner Foundation, Founding Sponsor of The Emerging Writers Group; Delta Air Lines, Official Airline of The Public Theater;New York Magazine is the official print sponsor of The Public Theater’s 2014-2015 downtown season; Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; and the National Endowment for the Arts, an independent federal agency.

TICKET INFORMATION

HAMILTON began performances on Tuesday, January 20 in The Public’s Newman Theater and was extended three times through Sunday, May 3. Tickets for the Broadway engagement that will begin performances on July 13 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Sunday, March 8 at via Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000.

HAMILTON is sold out at The Public Theater but cancellations may become available so check the box office at (212) 967-7555 or www.publictheater.org for last minute availability. A limited number of $20 tickets, subject to availability, will be distributed via a lottery in the lobby of The Public Theater.  These tickets are $20, cash only, with a limit of two tickets per person.  TodayTix and The Public continue to offer “Hamilton for a Hamilton” ($10) where a pair of tickets will be available for every performance for $10 per ticket. The lottery will begin each day at midnight for the performance that same day, and winners will be notified three to four hours before show time. Winners will make the payment in the TodayTix app and collect the tickets at the box office.

The performance schedule through Sunday, April 5 is Tuesdays through Sundays at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. The performance schedule from Tuesday, April 7 through Sunday, May 3 is Tuesdays through Sundays at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00 p.m. (There is no 8:00 p.m. performance on Sunday, March 8; Sunday, March 15; and no 7:30 p.m. performance on Wednesday, April 8. There is an added performance on Monday, April 6 at 8:00 p.m. and Wednesday, April 8 at 1:00 p.m.). Please check The Public’s website for the most up-to-date performance calendar.

The Library at The Public is open nightly for food and drinks, beginning at 5:30 p.m., and Joe’s Pub at The Publiccontinues to offer some of the best music in the city. For more information, visit www.publictheater.org.

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Clik here to view.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.

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Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Video: President Obama Sends Warm Wishes for the Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year -Year of the Ram in New York Chinatown, China Institute, Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka at Met, MoCA
Rebecca Naomi Jones, Bobby Steggert, Emmanuel Brown, Lynn Cohen and More Set for Charles Mee’s BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre
Feb. 25- Mar. 1: Patrice Johnson Chevannes, Nana Mensah and Christine Osuala Set for National Black Theatre’s Workshop Production of Mfoniso Udofia’s HER PORTMANTEAU, Helmed by Victor Maog
Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
CAAMFest 2015 Honors Filmmaker Arthur Dong with World Premiere Screenings of Forbidden City, USA (3/14), The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (3/15) & In Conversation with B. Ruby Rich (3/20)
CAAMFest Presents Ursula Liang’s Documentary 9-Man: Northern California Premiere at the Great Star Theatre on March 13; East Bay Premiere at The New Parkway Theater on March 22
Video: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY’s Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor Stephen McKinley Henderson and director Austin Pendleton set for THEATER TALK
THE GET DOWN, Baz Luhrmann’s New Drama Series Set in 1970s NYC That Gave Birth to Hip-Hop, Punk and Disco, to Premiere on Netflix in 2016
The American Playwriting Foundation Creates The Relentless Award to Honor the late Philip Seymour Hoffman
Variety.com: Ken Jeong to Star in ABC Medical Comedy Pilot ‘Dr. Ken’
Photos: Hudson Yang, Randall Park, Eddie Huang, Richard Lui, Lori Tan Chinn and More at #FreshOffTheBoat Viewing Party at The Circle NYC
Video and Photos: BD Wong and Russell Wong Guest Star on ‘NCIS: NEW ORLEANS’, Episode 1.13 – The Walking Dead
The Drama Book Shop Video: Playwright Ayad Akhtar, Josh Radnor and Aasif Mandvi Talk DISGRACED
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Advantageous, Oh Lucy!, Meru, Umrika, The Chinese Mayor, The Stanford Prison Experiment Among 2015 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
Photos: Lillias White, Scott Wakefield, Ebony Jo-Ann, Tina Fabrique, Marjorie Johnson, Akin Babatundé, Alan Govenar and More at TEXAS IN PARIS at The York Theatre Company
New York City Blizzard Does Not Deter Broadway Icon Chita Rivera From Performing in Concert Taping for THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Series
Mar. 4: Tony Award-Winner Lillias White, Carol Fredette & More to be Honored at 30th Annual Bistro Awards at Gotham Comedy Club
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
Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I, Starring Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Kick off Rehearsals; Previews Begin March 12
Broadway Bound Doctor Zhivago Featuring Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu and More Kicks Off Rehearsal; Previews Begin March 27
The Old Globe Presents World Premiere of Christopher Gattelli Helmed IN YOUR ARMS Featuring Vignettes written by David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, and Alfred Uhry, September 16 – October 25
Rajiv Joseph Wins Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award for New Play Guards at the Taj; Set for World Premiere at Atlantic Theater Company in May
Photos: Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang, NEFA, Graham Sheffield CBE and Susan Stockton Receive 2015 ISPA Awards
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
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
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 LeeCrafting a Career
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

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Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Photo by Lia Chang

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, is presenting the World Premiere of Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine, written and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. The production will run April 11-May 3, 2015, with the opening night on April 17, 2015. Single tickets starting at $20 are now available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org. Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine is sponsored by lead sponsor WBGO Jazz 88.3FM and WBGO.org.

Brandon J. Dirden and Merritt Janson will star as Zeke and Judith in Two River’s commissioned world-premiere drama about America’s relationship to race—and the power of hope and possibility in all of our lives. Zeke is a highly educated, once-homeless man who describes himself as a “walking outburst.”  Judith, a self-described “seeker of knowledge,” is a writer who decides that his life would make a great feature for The New York Times Magazine. As the story progresses and their worlds collide, Zeke and Judith discover the price of history, sacrifice, and legacy.

Brandon J. Dirden (Zeke) most recently appeared on Broadway as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. opposite Bryan Cranston’s LBJ in All the Way. His other New York theater credits include Clybourne Park and The Piano Lesson; at Two River Theater, he starred in Jitney and Topdog/Underdog. His television credits include The Americans and The Good Wife.

Merritt Janson (Judith) was most recently seen in Theatre for a New Audience’s production of Tamburlaine the Great and The Last Will with Abingdon Theatre Company. She has appeared in numerous productions with Shakespeare & Company, American Repertory Theatre, and the Moscow Art Theatre.

Also featured in the cast are Andrew Hovelson (Broadway’s Lucky Guy and An Enemy of the People) as Randall, Judith’s boyfriend; Roger Robinson (Tony Award winner for August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Two River’s Trouble in Mind) as Zebedee, a recluse who has chosen to live for the past 40 years in a book-lined room under Grand Central Station; and Roslyn Ruff (Two Trains Running at Two River Theater, Lortel Award winner for The Piano Lesson at Signature Theatre, All the Way on Broadway) as Janeece, Judith’s best friend.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s directing credits include August Wilson’s Jitney and Two Trains Running at Two River Theater and The Piano Lesson for Signature Theatre. He won an Obie Award and critical acclaim for his solo show Lackawanna Blues, and his screenplay for the HBO adaptation received the Humanitas Prize and other honors. As an actor, his credits include August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, for which he received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play; August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned at Signature Theatre; and the feature film Selma.

The creative team for Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine includes scenic designer Michael Carnahan, costume designer Karen Perry, lighting designer Driscoll Otto, and sound designer Robert Kaplowitz. The production will feature original music by Bill Sims Jr. The fight director is Thomas Schall, the casting is by Heidi Griffiths and the production stage manager is Laura Wilson.

Two River Theater is supported in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a division within the Department of State and a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Stone Foundation of New Jersey, Monmouth University, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Durso Wealth Management Group at Morgan Stanley, Investors Bank, Unterberg Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center, Brookdale Community College, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, William T. Morris Foundation, Springpoint Senior Living Foundation at the Atrium at Navesink Harbor, , and many other generous foundations, corporations and individuals.

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, creates great American theater performed by award-winning artists. We produce American and world masterpieces, and new plays and musicals. Two River Theater offers new-play commissions and artistic development activities that support the most adventurous artists in the American theater; invites its audience to be part of the creative process through readings and open rehearsals; and cultivates students and young people to participate in innovative arts-education programs and become a new generation of theatergoers. Founded in 1994 by Joan and Dr. Robert M. Rechnitz, Two River Theater is easily accessible by car, train, or bus, with great restaurants and shopping within walking distance of the theater. For more information, visit tworivertheater.org or call 732.345.1400.  

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Clik here to view.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 by Lia Chang:
Suzan-Lori Parks’ FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 Winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History 
Photos: Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jennifer Lim, Jo Mei, James Saito, Sue Jin Song, Harriet Harris and More at Opening Night of The World of Extreme Happiness
Photos: “Swimming Awkward Moment,” the newest works by painter Arlan Huang at Trestle Gallery through March 27
Video: Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad and More Share Stories in American Masters-August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand Documentary
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Video: President Obama Sends Warm Wishes for the Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year -Year of the Ram in New York Chinatown, China Institute, Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka at Met, MoCA
Rebecca Naomi Jones, Bobby Steggert, Emmanuel Brown, Lynn Cohen and More Set for Charles Mee’s BIG LOVE at Signature Theatre
Feb. 25- Mar. 1: Patrice Johnson Chevannes, Nana Mensah and Christine Osuala Set for National Black Theatre’s Workshop Production of Mfoniso Udofia’s HER PORTMANTEAU, Helmed by Victor Maog
Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
CAAMFest 2015 Honors Filmmaker Arthur Dong with World Premiere Screenings of Forbidden City, USA (3/14), The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (3/15) & In Conversation with B. Ruby Rich (3/20)
CAAMFest Presents Ursula Liang’s Documentary 9-Man: Northern California Premiere at the Great Star Theatre on March 13; East Bay Premiere at The New Parkway Theater on March 22
Video: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY’s Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor Stephen McKinley Henderson and director Austin Pendleton set for THEATER TALK
THE GET DOWN, Baz Luhrmann’s New Drama Series Set in 1970s NYC That Gave Birth to Hip-Hop, Punk and Disco, to Premiere on Netflix in 2016
The American Playwriting Foundation Creates The Relentless Award to Honor the late Philip Seymour Hoffman
Variety.com: Ken Jeong to Star in ABC Medical Comedy Pilot ‘Dr. Ken’
Photos: Hudson Yang, Randall Park, Eddie Huang, Richard Lui, Lori Tan Chinn and More at #FreshOffTheBoat Viewing Party at The Circle NYC
Video and Photos: BD Wong and Russell Wong Guest Star on ‘NCIS: NEW ORLEANS’, Episode 1.13 – The Walking Dead
The Drama Book Shop Video: Playwright Ayad Akhtar, Josh Radnor and Aasif Mandvi Talk DISGRACED
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Advantageous, Oh Lucy!, Meru, Umrika, The Chinese Mayor, The Stanford Prison Experiment Among 2015 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
Photos: Lillias White, Scott Wakefield, Ebony Jo-Ann, Tina Fabrique, Marjorie Johnson, Akin Babatundé, Alan Govenar and More at TEXAS IN PARIS at The York Theatre Company
New York City Blizzard Does Not Deter Broadway Icon Chita Rivera From Performing in Concert Taping for THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Series
Mar. 4: Tony Award-Winner Lillias White, Carol Fredette & More to be Honored at 30th Annual Bistro Awards at Gotham Comedy Club
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
Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I, Starring Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Kick off Rehearsals; Previews Begin March 12
Broadway Bound Doctor Zhivago Featuring Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu and More Kicks Off Rehearsal; Previews Begin March 27
The Old Globe Presents World Premiere of Christopher Gattelli Helmed IN YOUR ARMS Featuring Vignettes written by David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, and Alfred Uhry, September 16 – October 25
Rajiv Joseph Wins Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award for New Play Guards at the Taj; Set for World Premiere at Atlantic Theater Company in May
Photos: Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang, NEFA, Graham Sheffield CBE and Susan Stockton Receive 2015 ISPA Awards
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
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
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 LeeCrafting a Career
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

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Clik here to view.On Tuesday, March 3, 2015, eleven outstanding women will be honored at “An Evening of Appreciation for TRAILBLAZING WOMEN AND INSTITUTIONS in the Arts” Gala, RHYTHMCOLOR Associates’ 6th Potpourri! World Women Works Series in celebration of Women’s History Month 2015, from 7pm – 10pm, at ImageNation’s Raw Space, 2031 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. (7th Avenue between 121st Street and 122nd Street). Tickets are $30. For more information and tickets, click here or email rhythmcolorassociates@gmail.com.

The honorees include Tisa Chang – PAN ASIAN REP, Gertrude Jeannette – HADLEY PLAYERS, Robin Bell-Stevens – JAZZMOBILE, Crystal Field – THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY, Betty Blayton Taylor – CHILDREN’S ART CARNIVAL, Grace Jones – THE ‘VIV’ AUDELCO AWARDS, Marta Vega – CARIBBEAN CULTURAL CENTER AFRICAN DIASPORA INSTITUTE, Viola Plummer – SISTA’S PLACE, Barbara Horowitz – COMMUNITY WORKS NYC, Moikgantsi Kgama – IMAGENATION CINEMA FOUNDATION, and poet, playwright, author, teacher, mentor Rashidah Abubakr Ismaili.

The season promises to bring new works of emerging and seasoned women playwrights from the global community through readings and special events beginning Thursday, March 5 through Tuesday, March 31, 2015. Part II Development will run from October 2015 through December 2015. Venues already confirmed for these events; La Maison d’Art, Dixon Place, ImageNation, Kenkeleba House and Art NY.

This year’s Co-Hosts will be RHYTHMCOLOR Associates founder, Producing Artistic Director, Kim Weston-Moran; Aixa Kendrick, CEO, Rainbow and Thunderbolts MultiMedia, Jackie Jeffries, Heidi Russell, founder, International Women Artists’ Salon, Fabian Burrell, CEO, Aziza Public Relations and Voza Rivers, Executive Director, New Heritage Theatre Group, Inc.

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Playwright Rajiv Joseph on the set of his new play, “Describe the Night” at the Shubert Theatre in New York on November 21, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

La Jolla Playhouse announces its final subscription show for the 2015/2016 season: Guards at the Taj, by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), marking newly-appointed Playhouse Associate Artistic Director Jaime Castañeda’s directorial debut at the Playhouse.

Joseph’s Guards at the Taj, a recent recipient of the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, is set for it’s world premiere at the Atlantic Theater Company in May; and will run February 2 – 28, 2016 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, located on the UCSD Campus via the Revelle Entrance, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037.

At morning’s first light, a new edifice representing the soaring power of the empire will be unveiled, the glorious Taj Mahal. But for the two hapless guards assigned to protect the palace, morning will set the wheels in motion for a ghoulishly funny existential crisis that will shake their faith in God, the empire and each other. Guards at the Taj is a black comedy about two average men swept up by the beauty, carnage and injustice surrounding of one of the most famous wonders of the world.

Playwright Rajiv Joseph wins Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award for New Play GUARDS AT THE TAJ; Set for World Premiere at Atlantic Theater Company in May 

“Jaime Castañeda’s first production at La Jolla Playhouse is the perfect cap to a 2015/2016 season of new works that depict defining moments across a variety of cultures and communities– from thousands of international passengers descending on a small Canadian town in Come From Away, to a glimpse into the mind of 1963 March on Washington architect Bayard Rustin in Blueprints to Freedom, to the journey of a seminal Yiddish play to Broadway in the early 20th century in Indecent,” said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. “Now we add to the mix Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj, which tackles complex questions of identity and history with a wicked sense of humor and a keen theatrical eye.”

Rajiv Joseph’s (Playwright) plays include Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, a 2010 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Animals Out of Paper, The North Pool, The Lake Effect and Mr. Wolf. He is the librettist and co-lyricist for the musical, Fly. Joseph also wrote for the Showtime series “Nurse Jackie” for its third and fourth seasons and was the co- screenwriter of the film Draft Day, which was released last year, starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner. Joseph received his B.A. in Creative Writing from Miami University and his M.F.A. in Playwriting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa. Joseph was named a 2010 Rockefeller Fellow by United States Artists. He is the recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award, the Whiting Award, the Glickman Award, the 2013 Equity Jeff Award for The Lake Effect, produced by Silk Road Rising in Chicago and the prestigious 2013 Steinberg Playwright Award from the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Jaime Castañeda joined the Playhouse last December as Associate Artistic Director. He previously served for five years as Artistic Associate at Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theatre Company. Prior to that, he was the founding Artistic Director of FireStarter Productions in Texas, as well as an ensemble member with American Theater Company in Chicago since 2009. His directing credits include The Royal Society of Antarctica at Portland Center Stage/JAW, Tiger Style! at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity at Dallas Theater Center, Chimichangas and Zoloft at Atlantic Theater Company, How We Got On at Cleveland Playhouse, Welcome to Arroyo’s at The Old Globe and American Theater Company, Red Light Winter at Perseverance Theatre, The Motherf**ker with the Hat at Kitchen Dog Theater, A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant at Circle Theatre and Blue/Orange and Sonnets for an Old Century at FireStarter Productions. A Drama League fellow and recipient of the Princess Grace Award and the TCG New Generations Grant, Castañeda holds an M.F.A. in Directing from the University of Texas at Austin.

Tickets to the 2015/2016 season are currently available only through a subscription purchase. Subscription packages start at $180. Please visit LaJollaPlayhouse.org or call Playhouse Patron Services Department at (858) 550-1010 for more information.

The Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is internationally-renowned for creating some of the most exciting and adventurous work in American theatre, through its new play development initiatives, its innovative Without Walls series, artist residencies and commissions, including BD Wong, Daniel Beatty and Kirsten Greenidge. Currently led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg, the Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and reborn in 1983 under the artistic leadership of Des McAnuff, La Jolla Playhouse has had 25 productions transfer to Broadway, garnering 35 Tony Awards, among them Jersey Boys, Memphis, The Who’s Tommy, Big River, as well as Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays and the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, both fostered as part of the Playhouse’s Page To Stage Program.

Related Articles
The Old Globe Presents World Premiere of Christopher Gattelli Helmed IN YOUR ARMS Featuring Vignettes written by David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, and Alfred Uhry, September 16 – October 25
NYU Theatrical Production Presents the World Premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s Describe the Night in the Shubert Theatre at Tisch School of the Arts through November 24
Nov. 19-24: NYU Theatrical Production Presents the World Premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s Describe the Night in the Shubert Theatre at Tisch School of the Arts
East West Players’ Los Angeles Premiere of “Animals Out of Paper” by Rajiv Joseph, Featuring C.S. Lee and Tess Lina, Opens Sept. 10, 2014
Dec. 16: Award Winning Playwrights Rajiv Joseph and Tarell Alvin McCraney, the focus of PBS Film, Playwright: From Page to Stage
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Nov. 18: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph to be honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Suzan-Lori Parks’ FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 Winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History 
Photos: Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jennifer Lim, Jo Mei, James Saito, Sue Jin Song, Harriet Harris and More at Opening Night of The World of Extreme Happiness
Photos: “Swimming Awkward Moment,” the newest works by painter Arlan Huang at Trestle Gallery through March 27
Video: Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad and More Share Stories in American Masters-August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand Documentary
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Video: President Obama Sends Warm Wishes for the Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year -Year of the Ram in New York Chinatown, China Institute, Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka at Met, MoCA
Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
CAAMFest 2015 Honors Filmmaker Arthur Dong with World Premiere Screenings of Forbidden City, USA (3/14), The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (3/15) & In Conversation with B. Ruby Rich (3/20)
CAAMFest Presents Ursula Liang’s Documentary 9-Man: Northern California Premiere at the Great Star Theatre on March 13; East Bay Premiere at The New Parkway Theater on March 22
Video: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY’s Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor Stephen McKinley Henderson and director Austin Pendleton set for THEATER TALK
THE GET DOWN, Baz Luhrmann’s New Drama Series Set in 1970s NYC That Gave Birth to Hip-Hop, Punk and Disco, to Premiere on Netflix in 2016
The American Playwriting Foundation Creates The Relentless Award to Honor the late Philip Seymour Hoffman
Variety.com: Ken Jeong to Star in ABC Medical Comedy Pilot ‘Dr. Ken’
Photos: Hudson Yang, Randall Park, Eddie Huang, Richard Lui, Lori Tan Chinn and More at #FreshOffTheBoat Viewing Party at The Circle NYC
The Drama Book Shop Video: Playwright Ayad Akhtar, Josh Radnor and Aasif Mandvi Talk DISGRACED
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Advantageous, Oh Lucy!, Meru, Umrika, The Chinese Mayor, The Stanford Prison Experiment Among 2015 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
Photos: Lillias White, Scott Wakefield, Ebony Jo-Ann, Tina Fabrique, Marjorie Johnson, Akin Babatundé, Alan Govenar and More at TEXAS IN PARIS at The York Theatre Company
New York City Blizzard Does Not Deter Broadway Icon Chita Rivera From Performing in Concert Taping for THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Series
Mar. 4: Tony Award-Winner Lillias White, Carol Fredette & More to be Honored at 30th Annual Bistro Awards at Gotham Comedy Club
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
Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I, Starring Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Kick off Rehearsals; Previews Begin March 12
Broadway Bound Doctor Zhivago Featuring Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu and More Kicks Off Rehearsal; Previews Begin March 27
Photos: Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang, NEFA, Graham Sheffield CBE and Susan Stockton Receive 2015 ISPA Awards
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
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
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
Crafting a Career
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

Image may be NSFW.
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AALDEF board president Tommy Shi, Justice in Action Award Recipients John W. Kuo, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Varian Medical Systems, Jessica Hagedorn, novelist, poet, and playwright, and Neal Katyal, partner at Hogan Lovells, Paul Saunders Professor at Georgetown University, and former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, and AALDEF executive director Margaret Fung at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s lunar new year gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York on February 23, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Over 700 people attended the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s lunar new year gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York on February 23, 2015, where John W. Kuo, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Varian Medical Systems, Jessica Hagedorn, novelist, poet, and playwright, and Neal Katyal, partner at Hogan Lovells, Paul Saunders Professor at Georgetown University, and former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, received the AALDEF 2015 Justice in Action Awards.

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Juju Chang, Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC News’ Nightline, and Sree Sreenivasan, chief digital officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, were the co-emcees at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s lunar new year gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York on February 23, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Juju Chang, Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC News’ Nightline, and Sree Sreenivasan, chief digital officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, were the co-emcees.

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AALDEF executive director Margaret Fung and board president Tommy Shi at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s lunar new year gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York on February 23, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Board president Tommy Shi and AALDEF executive director Margaret Fung welcomed the dinner guests and spoke about the organization’s recent activities. Fung noted that this year is the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act. On these two landmark anniversaries, Fung said, “We will continue to work for immigration laws that respect human rights principles and advocate for stronger voting rights protections.”

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2015 Justice in Action honoree John W. Kuo, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Varian Medical Systems, with presenter former Justice in Action honoree Sandra Leung, general counsel for Bristol-Myers Squibb at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s lunar new year gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York on February 23, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Former Justice in Action honoree Sandra Leung, general counsel for Bristol-Myers Squibb, presented the award to Kuo. She said they both learned about AALDEF as college students and were inspired to get more involved in social justice issues. She praised Kuo’s efforts to promote diversity by instilling a culture of inclusion at all levels of his company’s business operations.

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John Kuo described growing up in rural Texas, where his parents faced discrimination and he was the target of racial slurs. His parents overcame this prejudice and adversity, and Kuo said: “From that, I learned the value of social justice. . .and the concept of fighting for the underprivileged and the disenfranchised.” Kuo spoke about the importance of affirmative action in his own career, as one of the few Asian American general counsels at major corporations: “Affirmative action leveled the playing field; it gave me a chance to prove myself, and to succeed and make a difference.”

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2015 Justice in Action honoree Jessica Hagedorn with presenter Andrew Hsiao, senior editor at Verso Books at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s lunar new year gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York on February 23, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Andrew Hsiao, senior editor at Verso Books, introduced Jessica Hagedorn as one of the nation’s great writers: “She’s one of the coolest, one of the most protean, multifaceted artists in America.” He observed that this year is the 25th anniversary of Hagedorn’s first novel, Dogeaters, which transformed Asian American literature. Hsiao praised her as a lifetime activist for social justice, citing her work with PEN American Center to defend free expression and with CultureStrike, a network of artists fighting against anti-immigrant hate.

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Jessica Hagedorn spoke eloquently about her work as a writer. She said: “I write to fight, to give voice, and to make others visible. I write to conjure up the beautiful, the mundane, the fantastic, the tragic, the comic, and the unspeakable. We are living in vexed and uncertain times, and we need our lawyers and storytellers now more than ever.”

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2015 Justice in Action honoree Neal Katyal, partner at Hogan Lovells, Paul Saunders Professor at Georgetown University, and former Acting Solicitor General of the United States with presenter Debo Adegbile, partner at WilmerHale and former litigator at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s lunar new year gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York on February 23, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

The last presenter was Debo Adegbile, partner at WilmerHale and former litigator at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He said that Neal Katyal had argued 24 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and won a major post-9/11 case involving the rights of non-citizen detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. As Acting Solicitor General, Katyal risked criticism by issuing a “confession of error” for the government’s role in defending the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. Katyal later received the Justice Department’s highest civilian honor, the Edmund Randolph Award.

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Neal Katyal told the stories of three individuals who faced prejudice in America. The first was about his father, an immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 1960 and was forced to choose between bathrooms marked for “whites” or for “coloreds.” The second was about Gordon Hirabayashi, a student who defied the curfew and exclusion orders imposed on Japanese Americans during World War II. The third story was about Sureshbhai Patel, an Indian immigrant visiting his son two weeks ago in Madison, Alabama. Patel was violently thrown to the ground by police officers and remains in a hospital partially paralyzed. Katyal said: “The beauty of AALDEF is that its resources and support extend to all three types of people. AALDEF fights for those who cannot stand up for themselves, like Patel, or those who don’t know how, like my father. And for those who do choose to fight, the Gordon Hirabayashis, AALDEF acts as a pillar of support. This organization’s reach and impact are extraordinary, and it’s an honor to be a part of that.”

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Since 1987, AALDEF has presented the Justice in Action Awards to exceptional individuals for their outstanding achievements and cotributions in advancing justice and equality. Past Justice in Action Award recipients include Rep. John Lewis, David Henry Hwang, Fareed Zakaria, BD Wong, Jose Antonio Vargas, Sandra Leung, Mira Nair, Deval Patrick, Don Liu, Aasif Mandvi, George Takei, Salman Rushdie, Seymour Hersh, Harry Belafonte, Margaret Cho, Connie Chung, and Yoko Ono.

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Sree Sreenivasan, chief digital officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, AALDEF board president Tommy Shi, 2015 Justice in Action Award Recipients John W. Kuo, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Varian Medical Systems, Jessica Hagedorn, novelist, poet, and playwright, and Neal Katyal, partner at Hogan Lovells, Paul Saunders Professor at Georgetown University, and former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, AALDEF executive director Margaret Fung and Andrew Hsiao, senior editor at Verso Books at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s lunar new year gala at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York on February 23, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Related articles:
Novelist Jessica Hagedorn, Neal Katyal of Hogan Lovells, and John W. Kuo of Varian Medical Systems, to receive AALDEF 2015 Justice in Action Awards on February 23 
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
Juju Chang Named Co-Anchor of Nightline
Photos: AALDEF Honors Congressman John Lewis, Jose Antonio Vargas, and Simone Wu with 2013 Justice in Action Awards

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
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Crafting a Career
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A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, continues its 2014-2015 REVOLUTIONary season with Figaro, a new production of Beaumarchais’ classic play The Marriage of Figaro freely adapted by Charles Morey, March 1 to May 10 (press opening March 7).  Directed by Michael Michetti, this is the West Coast premiere of the Morey adaptation.  A Noise Within is located at 3352 East Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107.

The cast includes Jeremy Guskin* as Figaro, Angela Sauer* as Suzanne, Andrew Ross Wynn* as Count Almaviva, Elyse Mirto* as Countess Almaviva, Jeanne Sakata* as Marceline, Joshua Wolf Coleman* as Antonio/Bazile/Bridoison, Alan Blumenfeld* as Dr. Bartholo, Will Bradley* as Cherubin/Doublemain, Natalie De Luna as Fanchette. *Denotes member of Actors’ Equity

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Of his new Figaro, Morey said, “When I was approached by the Pearl Theatre Company about a commission for a new adaptation of Le Mariage de Figaro, I had to admit I hadn’t read it since graduate school. But when I did, I was instantly struck by how startlingly contemporary were its themes of income inequality, class and gender, and, equally important, how potentially funny and sharp was its farce. I became more than intrigued when I read that Danton, the revolutionary leader, was quoted as having said, ‘Le Mariage de Figaro caused the French Revolution.’ I took on the project with pleasure – no, with glee! And I couldn’t be more pleased that a company of A Noise Within’s wonderful reputation for work with the classics is presenting the West Coast premiere.”

Michael Michetti says of Figaro, “Like so much good farce, the play shines light on the differences between people of privilege and those who serve them—and the foibles of both come into full view.  Charles Morey’s colloquial new adaptation is crisp, light comedy that couldn’t be more apt for today; it shows us the entitlement of a few versus the reversed fortunes of most everyone else.   Our production will be seen through a decidedly modern lens:  we’re staging it in the 18th century, but with a raw, industrial design that will let the audience grasp the play’s modern relevance from the very first line.”

This production is a part of Figaro Unbound: Culture, Power and Revolution at Play, a three-month, citywide exploration (organized by LA Opera) of the revolutionary spirit of the Figaro plays, their authors, and of the operas that were based on these works.

Morey’s Figaro is an adaptation of Le Mariage de Figaro, the second of the three Figaro plays penned by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, a member of the French royal court.  He was also a playwright, watchmaker, inventor, musician, publisher, horticulturalist, satirist, fugitive, spy, diplomat, financier, and revolutionary who played small but incendiary roles in both the American and French Revolutions; lobbied for French support of and covertly supplied arms and monies towards American independence; and participated in the early stages of the French revolution.

The sequel to the playwright’s The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro was initially passed by the censor in 1781, but was soon banned from being performed by Louis XVI. Queen Marie-Antoinette lamented the ban. The King finally lifted the ban in 1784 and the play was enormously popular, even with aristocratic audiences. The play’s denunciation of aristocratic privilege foreshadows the French Revolution.  The Marriage of Figaro is best known to modern audiences as a Mozart opera, with a libretto adapted from the Beaumarchais by Lorenzo Da Ponte.

The sequel to the playwright’s The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro was initially passed by the censor in 1781, but was soon banned from being performed by Louis XVI. Queen Marie-Antoinette lamented the ban. The King finally lifted the ban in 1784 and the play was enormously popular, even with aristocratic audiences. The play’s denunciation of aristocratic privilege foreshadows the French Revolution.  The Marriage of Figaro is best known to modern audiences as a Mozart opera, with a libretto adapted from the Beaumarchais by Lorenzo Da Ponte.

Figaro was a “Critic’s Pick” at The New York Times, whose David Rooney said of Morey’s play, “Morey strikes a deft balance between the popular theater in the age of this work’s setting and a more modern sensibility, flavoring the witty dialogue with just the right infusion of contemporary idioms and mannerisms … Morey’s mockery of ruling-class entitlement rekindles (Beaumarchais’) irreverence while also getting in some amusing swipes about the battle of the sexes … tart and funny … the production makes a persuasive case for this frolic, which has long been overshadowed by the Mozart opera it inspired.” Jennifer Farrar for the Associated Press said, “This Figaro is gleeful fun.”

To complement this program, The Barber of Seville by Pierre Beaumarchais will be read as part of the A Noise Within Words Within Resident Artists’ Play Reading Series Directed by Mary Jo Duprey, this special reading will take place Wednesday, April 8 at 7pm.

REVOLUTION and REVOLUTIONRep
A Noise Within’s 2014-2015 Season takes REVOLUTION as its theme, and is informed by the contemporary climate of social and economic upheaval. The spring season also includes The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (Feingold Version) (February 15 – May 9, 2015), and Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (March 22- May 8, 2015); both productions share one creative team that has dramatically and thematically allied the two plays so they act in concert as a sui generis theatrical experience.

Audiences can experience REVOLUTIONRep on three spring dates, April 12, 25 and May 2 – a heady day of theatre when The Threepenny Opera and Julius Caesarcan both be seen. REVOLUTIONRep provides patrons with a unique insider’s look at the theatrical process, including (as options) writing and acting workshops, a behind-the-scenes view of the Company’s unique stagecraft, an onsite dinner, and lively social interaction with other theatergoers between the matinee and evening performances. Tickets to this first-of-its-kind event are available at a cost of $50 per person.

Tickets, special events
Single ticket prices for Figaro and the Company’s other Spring Season plays start at $40. Contact the A Noise Within box office in person, via phone at 626-356-3100, or online at www.ANoiseWithin.org for updated pricing and seat availability. A Noise Within is located on the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue at 3352 East Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107.

This engagement of Figaro includes a pre-performance symposium on Wednesday, March 4 at 6:30 PM with a discussion of the play; and post-performance conversations with the artists on Friday, April 10 at 8 PM, Sunday, April 19 at 2 PM, and Friday, May 1 at 8 PM. The Pay What You Can performance is Thursday, March 5 at 7:30 PM.

The company’s 2014-15 season is made possible in part by a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation, and reaches the public through media sponsorships by 89.3 KPCC FM and Pasadena Weekly.

About Figaro Unbound
This production of Figaro marks A Noise Within’s inaugural collaboration with LA Opera as part of Figaro Unbound: Culture, Power and Revolution at Play. The lasting legacy of French playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’ (1732-1799) plays about the free thinking barber, one of the most glorious and influential of fictional creations, will be investigated in this three-month-long exploration of the revolutionary spirit organized by L.A. Opera.

With a variety of programming for all ages, Figaro Unbound will examine the ongoing relevance of Figaro from The Barber of Seville (1775), The Marriage of Figaro (1784) and The Guilty Mother (1792); these plays captured the staggering changes in social attitudes of the late 18th century. Figaro Unbound will immerse audiences in the world of a character who created a sensation in the years leading up to the French Revolution.

Figaro is explored with ANW’s performances of Figaro by Charles Morey presented March 1 to May 10, presented in close concurrence with LA Opera’s performances of the “Figaro Trilogy”—John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, based on La Mere Coupable (The Guilty Mother), Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro—presented February 7 through April 12, 2015.

Figaro Unbound also includes performances of alternate musical adaptations of Figaro’s story, and provides opportunities to look at his lasting influence on American political and cultural life. Figaro Unbound partners also include ArcLight Cinemas, the Hammer Museum, Opera UCLA, LA Theatre Works, FIDM Museum, the Huntington Library, LACMA, the Norton Simon Museum, the Getty Museum, and the Opera League of Los Angeles, among others. For more information, visit www.LAOpera.org/FigaroUnbound.

Artistic Personnel for Figaro
Charles Morey is the author of eleven produced plays. Figaro was commissioned and produced off-Broadway by the Pearl Theatre Company in 2012 and was named a “Critic’s Pick” by The New York Times. The Granite State was premiered by the Peterborough Players in the summer of 2014. In addition he has written adaptations of the 19th century classic novels, The Count Of Monte Cristo, A Tale Of Two Cities, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Dracula and The Three Musketeers, an adaptation of Georges Feydeau’s The Ladies Man and his original plays Laughing Stock (which has received over 100 productions around the world), Dumas’Camille, and The Yellow Leaf. His plays have been produced at numerous professional theatres including: Denver Center Theatre Company, Pioneer Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare and Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Asolo Theatre Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Meadow Brook Theatre, PCPA Theaterfest, L.A. Theatreworks, Peterborough Players, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Elm Shakespeare Co., Centenary Stage Co., Creede Rep., Arvada Center, Shadowland Theatre, Sierra Rep., Theatre in the Square, Cortland Rep. and many more as well as hundreds of amateur, university and international productions as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Austria, Singapore and Israel.

Laughing Stock has been playing for the past eighteen months in the repertory of the Arcadia Theatre in Moscow in Russian translation and for the past year in the repertory of the Variant Drama Theatre in Pervouralsk as well. He served as Artistic Director of the Pioneer Theatre Company from 1984 to 2012; of the Peterborough Players from 1977 to 1988 and has guest directed in major regional theatres around the country. He began his career as an actor working with many New York and regional theatres. He has served as both a panelist and on-site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts and on the Board of Trustees of the National Theatre Conference. He received a BA from Dartmouth College and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. He is a Fellow of the MacDowell Colony. www.charlesmorey.com

Director Michael Michetti’s rich résumé includes many productions at A Noise Within, where he has directed The Importance of Being Earnest, The Guardsman, The Grapes of Wrath, The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, Don Juan, and As You Like It. With other theatres, he is Co-Artistic Director of The Theatre @Boston Court in Pasadena, where he directed Stupid F**king Bird; American Misfit; Creation; The Dinosaur Within; The Twentieth-Century Way; God Save Gertrude; 1001; Dark Play or Stories for Boys; Paradise Lost: Shadows & Wings; his own adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s A Picture of Dorian Gray; Pera Palas; Summertime; and Romeo and Juliet.
Elsewhere, he directed A Life in the Theatre starring Hal Holbrook, at The Pasadena Playhouse; Kiss Me, Kate (Ovation Award, Best Musical), Carousel, Man of La Mancha and Li’l Abner with Reprise Theatre Company; Noises Off at PlayMakers; House of the Rising Son at EST-LA; Ouroboros at Road Theatre; Brecht’s Edward IIand Aphra Behn’s The Rover at Circle X; plus productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titanic, and Sweeney Todd. Mr. Michetti is the recipient of two Ovation Awards and five L.A. Drama Critics Circle awards for his work.

A Noise Within, founded in 1991, is among the country’s pre-eminent presenters of classical theatre and is the leading presenter of these plays in Southern California. The company’s mission is to produce world-class performances of the great works of drama in rotating repertory with a resident company; to educate and inspire the public through programs that foster an understanding and appreciation of history’s great plays and playwrights; and to train the next generation of classical theatre artists.

Originally based in a former Masonic Temple in Glendale, the company moved to its present home—a building of architectural distinction designed by Edward Durrell Stone of Kennedy Center fame—in 2011. Helmed by Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, who hold MFAs from San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre, A Noise Within delivers a seven-show repertory season and a wide range of educational programs to diverse audiences from Los Angeles County and well beyond. Voted “Best Theatre” by readers of Time Out Los Angeles and Reader Recommended by Pasadena Weekly, A Noise Within is indeed “California’s Home for the Classics.”

Performances:
Sunday Mar 1 at 2pm

Tickets and information:
Website: www.anoisewithin.org; Phone: 626-356-3100 ex 1
Prices: Single Tickets from $40; Student Rush
with ID an hour before performance $20.00
Groups (10 or more): Adults from $25.00; Students from $18.00
Pay What You Can Performance: Thursday March 5 at 7:30 PM. Pay What You Can tickets go on sale at the box office window the day of the performance, starting at 2pm, and are sold on a cash-only basis based on availability; limit of two tickets per person.

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Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Photos: John W. Kuo, Jessica Hagedorn, and Neal Katyal Receive AALDEF 2015 Justice in Action Awards
Suzan-Lori Parks’ FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 Winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History 
Photos: Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jennifer Lim, Jo Mei, James Saito, Sue Jin Song, Harriet Harris and More at Opening Night of The World of Extreme Happiness
Photos: “Swimming Awkward Moment,” the newest works by painter Arlan Huang at Trestle Gallery through March 27
Video: Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad and More Share Stories in American Masters-August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand Documentary
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Mar. 4: Tony Award-Winner Lillias White, Carol Fredette & More to be Honored at 30th Annual Bistro Awards at Gotham Comedy Club
Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I, Starring Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Kick off Rehearsals; Previews Begin March 12
CAAMFest 2015 Honors Filmmaker Arthur Dong with World Premiere Screenings of Forbidden City, USA (3/14), The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (3/15) & In Conversation with B. Ruby Rich (3/20)
CAAMFest Presents Ursula Liang’s Documentary 9-Man: Northern California Premiere at the Great Star Theatre on March 13; East Bay Premiere at The New Parkway Theater on March 22
Video: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY’s Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor Stephen McKinley Henderson and director Austin Pendleton set for THEATER TALK
Broadway Bound Doctor Zhivago Featuring Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu and More Kicks Off Rehearsal; Previews Begin March 27
THE GET DOWN, Baz Luhrmann’s New Drama Series Set in 1970s NYC That Gave Birth to Hip-Hop, Punk and Disco, to Premiere on Netflix in 2016
The American Playwriting Foundation Creates The Relentless Award to Honor the late Philip Seymour Hoffman
Variety.com: Ken Jeong to Star in ABC Medical Comedy Pilot ‘Dr. Ken’
Photos: Hudson Yang, Randall Park, Eddie Huang, Richard Lui, Lori Tan Chinn and More at #FreshOffTheBoat Viewing Party at The Circle NYC
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Advantageous, Oh Lucy!, Meru, Umrika, The Chinese Mayor, The Stanford Prison Experiment Among 2015 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
Photos: Lillias White, Scott Wakefield, Ebony Jo-Ann, Tina Fabrique, Marjorie Johnson, Akin Babatundé, Alan Govenar and More at TEXAS IN PARIS at The York Theatre Company
New York City Blizzard Does Not Deter Broadway Icon Chita Rivera From Performing in Concert Taping for THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Series
Photos: Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang, NEFA, Graham Sheffield CBE and Susan Stockton Receive 2015 ISPA Awards
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
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
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
Crafting a Career
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

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Stan Egi

The Pasadena Playhouse (Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director and Elizabeth Doran, Executive Director) is presenting George Bernard Shaw’s PYGMALION, the fifth production of its 2014-2015 Season. PYGMALION will perform March 17 – April 12, 2015 with the official press night on Sunday, March 22, 2015. The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101.

Directed by Jessica Kubzansky (Theresa Rebeck’s Mauritius at The Pasadena Playhouse), the cast of PYGMALION features Ellen Crawford (Broadway: Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? Off Broadway: The Misunderstanding, A Touch Of The Poet, NBC’s “E.R.”) as Mrs. Pearce, Stan Egi (Broadway: Anything Goes, Off Broadway credits include The Public Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons) as Colonel Pickering, Sarah Hollis (FOX’s “24”) as Ensemble, Alex Knox (Antaeus’ Macbeth d. Jessica Kubzansky, South Coast Rep’s Euridyce) as Freddy,

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Ellen Crawford

Mary Anne McGarry (AMC’s “Mad Men”, TNT’s “Major Crimes”) as Mrs. Higgins, Lynn Milgrim (Broadway: Bedroom Farce, Otherwise Engaged, international tour of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Trip to Bountiful and many more at South Coast Rep) as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill, Carolyn Ratteray (Off Broadway’s Hecuba and The Cherry Orchard) as Clara Eynsford-Hill, Tom Shelton (eleven seasons with L.A.’s Hillside Repertory, In The Next Room, Italian Straw Hat and many more at South Coast Rep) as Ensemble, Bruce Turk (Broadway’s The Green Bird and Juan Darién as well as six seasons at San Diego’s Old Globe) as Henry Higgins, Greg Watanabe (Off Broadway’s Golden Child, HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”) as Ensemble, LA Drama Critic’s Award winner Paige Lindsey White (Trying (International City Theatre), Other Desert Cities (Arizona Theatre Company and Indiana Repertory Theatre, Jessica Kubzansky’s R II (Boston Court) as Eliza Doolittle and Time Winters (Broadway’s Amadeus, Yes, Prime Minister (Geffen Playhouse) as Alfred Doolittle.

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Greg Watanabe

Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director of The Pasadena Playhouse says, “Shaw is a wonderful, but demanding playwright. In order to be successful in his plays actors must have tremendous dexterity with language, fierce intelligence, wit, and a passion to explore and elucidate challenging ideas. Jessica has brought together a cast that displays all of those qualities and we are fortunate to have them at the service of Mr. Shaw and his brilliant and dazzling play.”

PYGMALION Director Jessica Kubzansky says, “I am so blessed to have this truly stunning cast with which to make this production sing. They are passionate, fierce theatre artists with great craft and amazing humor and depth. I know they will make the play vivid and kinetic and alive. I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to direct this witty and brilliantly profound piece of theatre. George Bernard Shaw was really in some ways a feminist before that idea had made its way into the zeitgeist, and he is playing with such genius questions about whether or not transformation is as simple as giving someone new language, and whether or not transformation is liberation, or simply exchanging one cage for another.”

PYGMALION remains Shaw’s most popular play, which is most widely known for being the inspiration behind the highly romanticized Broadway musical and film My Fair Lady. In this delicious and gritty interpretation of PYGMALION, phonetics professor Henry Higgins bets that after he finishes transforming Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle, her flawless speech and delicate facade will allow her to pass for a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party. Centering on language as a defining characteristic, social satire about class barriers and the stifling of female independence, PYGMALION manages to be both playful and heartbreaking with a narrative whose relevance to our world today is as profound as ever.

The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. The performance schedule is Tuesday through Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Tickets, priced from $30.00 to $75.00, plus premium seats at $125.00, are available online at www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org; by calling The Pasadena Playhouse at 626-356-7529; or visiting The Pasadena Playhouse Box Office, Tuesday – Sunday from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. during non-performance dates. On performance dates the Box Office is open Tuesday – Saturday from 1:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, visit www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org.

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Matt Doyle, Ann Harada, Tom Alan Robbins, Grace McLean, and Andrew Call in Vineyard Theatre’s Brooklynite. (© Carol Rosegg)

The Vineyard’s world premiere of the original musical BROOKLYNITE is extending its limited engagement by one week due to popular demand, and will now run through Sunday, March 29. Helmed by Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, SPRING AWAKENING), BROOKLYNITE opened on Wednesday, February 25.

This limited engagement was originally scheduled to run through Sunday, March 22nd.

Mr. Mayer directs a company that features Andrew Call (FOUND, ROCK OF AGES), Gerard Canonico (SPRING AWAKENING), Max Chernin (BRIGHT STAR), Nick Choksi (INDIAN INK, NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812), Tony Award nominee Nick Cordero (BULLETS OVER BROADWAY), Matt Doyle (WAR HORSE, THE BOOK OF MORMON), Carla Duren (110 IN THE SHADE), Ann Harada (AVENUE Q at The Vineyard and on Broadway, CINDERELLA), John-Michael Lyles (ANGELINA BALLERINA), Grace McLean (BEDBUGS, NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812), Tom Alan Robbins (THE LION KING, SUNSET BOULEVARD), Nicolette Robinson (“The Affair” , “Hart of Dixie” ), and Remy Zaken (SPRING AWAKENING, THE ANTHEM).

With a completely original book by Peter Lerman and Michael Mayer and music and lyrics by Peter Lerman (winner of the Jonathan Larson Award), BROOKLYNITE is choreographed by Steven Hoggett (THE LAST SHIP, THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, ONCE) and directed by Michael Mayer. BROOKLYNITE is inspired by the real Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company located in Park Slope and features characters that were created especially for the musical by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman.

BROOKLYNITE features scenic design by Donyale Werle, costume design by Andrea Lauer, lighting design by Kevin Adams, sound design by Kai Harada, video and projection design by Andrew Lazarow, with Kimberly Grigsby serving as musical director.

In BROOKLYNITE, Trey Swieskowski is an idealistic hardware store clerk who dreams of becoming a superhero. Astrolass, Brooklyn’s most celebrated superhero, is determined to throw in the cape and live like a normal Brooklynite. When they meet they hatch a plan that will change their lives forever. But can they save Brooklyn when it suddenly teeters on the brink of disaster?

The 32nd season of the Vineyard Theatre, one of the nation’s leading non-profit theatre companies, began with the New York premiere of Mike Bencivenga’s comedy BILLY & RAY, directed by Garry Marshall. This spring, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, winner of the 2013 OBIE for Best New American Play and The Vineyard’s Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, will make his mainstage debut with GLORIA, directed by Evan Cabnet.

Dedicated to the creation and production of daring new plays and musicals, The Vineyard has consistently premiered provocative, groundbreaking works, including Nicky Silver’s THE LYONS; Marx, Lopez and Whitty’s Tony Award-winning musical AVENUE Q; Kander and Ebb’s THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS; Bell and Bowen’s [title of show]; Paula Vogel’s HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE (1998 Pulitzer Prize); Edward Albee’s THREE TALL WOMEN (1994 Pulitzer Prize); TarellAlvin McCraney’s WIG OUT!; Jenny Schwartz’ GOD’S EAR, Will Eno’s MIDDLETOWN, and many more. The Vineyard’s productions have been honored with two Pulitzer Prizes, three Tony Awards, and numerous Drama Desk, OBIES, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards.

The Vineyard Theatre’s leadership includes Douglas Aibel (Artistic Director), Sarah Stern (Artistic Director), and Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell (Executive Producer).

For more information, please visit www.vineyardtheatre.org.

Other articles about Ann Harada:
Vineyard Theatre Presents World Premiere of Michael Mayer Helmed BROOKLYNITE Featuring Ann Harada, Nick Choksi, Matt Doyle, Nicolette Robinson, Andrew Call and More, January 30 – March 22 
Ann Harada Ends Run on Broadway in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘Cinderella’ on December 14; Set for World Premiere of ‘Brooklynite’ at The Vineyard in January 2015
Photos: Harriet Harris, John Tartaglia, Christine Toy Johnson, Alan Muraoka, James Saito and More celebrate Ann Harada’s Debut at Lincoln Center in the American Songbook Series
Feb. 22: Lincoln Center Presents Cinderella’s Ann Harada in the American Songbook Series in the Allen Room at Frederick P. Rose Hall
Ann Harada Plays Cinderella’s Stepsister Charlotte in Broadway Premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella at the Broadway Theatre
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 on May 19, 2013
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
Photos and Video: Daniel Dae Kim, Ann Harada, Greg Watanabe and More at Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths starring Joel de la Fuente
Shinsai: Theaters for Japan Photos: (8pm) with Oskar Eustis, Patti LuPone, Lisa Emery, Ann Harada, Paolo Montalban, Thom Sesma, Sab Shimono, Henry Stram, Richard Thomas, John Weidman and more

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Clik here to view.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 by Lia Chang:
Jeanne Sakata, Jeremy Guskin, Angela Sauer, Andrew Ross Wynn, Elyse Mirto and More Set for A Noise Within’s FIGARO, March 1-May 10 
Photos: John W. Kuo, Jessica Hagedorn, and Neal Katyal Receive AALDEF 2015 Justice in Action Awards
Suzan-Lori Parks’ FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 Winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History 
Photos: Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jennifer Lim, Jo Mei, James Saito, Sue Jin Song, Harriet Harris and More at Opening Night of The World of Extreme Happiness
Photos: “Swimming Awkward Moment,” the newest works by painter Arlan Huang at Trestle Gallery through March 27
Video: Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad and More Share Stories in American Masters-August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand Documentary
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Mar. 4: Tony Award-Winner Lillias White, Carol Fredette & More to be Honored at 30th Annual Bistro Awards at Gotham Comedy Club
Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I, Starring Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Kick off Rehearsals; Previews Begin March 12
Stan Egi, Ellen Crawford, Paige Lindsey White, Bruce Turk, Greg Watanabe and More Set for Jessica Kubzansky helmed PYGMALION at The Pasadena Playhouse, March 17- April 12, 2015
CAAMFest 2015 Honors Filmmaker Arthur Dong with World Premiere Screenings of Forbidden City, USA (3/14), The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (3/15) & In Conversation with B. Ruby Rich (3/20)
CAAMFest Presents Ursula Liang’s Documentary 9-Man: Northern California Premiere at the Great Star Theatre on March 13; East Bay Premiere at The New Parkway Theater on March 22
Video: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY’s Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor Stephen McKinley Henderson and director Austin Pendleton set for THEATER TALK
Broadway Bound Doctor Zhivago Featuring Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu and More Kicks Off Rehearsal; Previews Begin March 27
THE GET DOWN, Baz Luhrmann’s New Drama Series Set in 1970s NYC That Gave Birth to Hip-Hop, Punk and Disco, to Premiere on Netflix in 2016
The American Playwriting Foundation Creates The Relentless Award to Honor the late Philip Seymour Hoffman
Variety.com: Ken Jeong to Star in ABC Medical Comedy Pilot ‘Dr. Ken’
Photos: Hudson Yang, Randall Park, Eddie Huang, Richard Lui, Lori Tan Chinn and More at #FreshOffTheBoat Viewing Party at The Circle NYC
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Advantageous, Oh Lucy!, Meru, Umrika, The Chinese Mayor, The Stanford Prison Experiment Among 2015 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
Photos: Lillias White, Scott Wakefield, Ebony Jo-Ann, Tina Fabrique, Marjorie Johnson, Akin Babatundé, Alan Govenar and More at TEXAS IN PARIS at The York Theatre Company
New York City Blizzard Does Not Deter Broadway Icon Chita Rivera From Performing in Concert Taping for THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Series
Photos: Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang, NEFA, Graham Sheffield CBE and Susan Stockton Receive 2015 ISPA Awards
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
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
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
Crafting a Career
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

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Jose Llana. Photo by Bill Bustamante

On Thursday, March 12, 2015, Broadway vet Jose Llana is making his Lincoln Center “American Songbook” debut in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 165 West 65th Street, Rose Building, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10023.

Llana’s recent star turn as Marcos in David Byrne & Fat Boy Slim’s Here Lies Love at The Public Theater (dir. Alex Timbers), was his most charismatic and seductive to date, and garnered him a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical.

Llana’s concert will be a virtual Here Lies Love reunion onstage with musical direction by Kimberly Grigsby (HLL musical director); musical arrangements and orchestrations by Matt Stine (HLL musical editor) and Cody Owen Stine; and HLL cast members Jaygee Macapugay (Imelda), Jeigh Madjus and Enrico Rodriguez as his background singers. The musicians include Kimberly Grigsby (Piano), Kevin Garcia (Drums), Pete Donovan (Bass), Simon Kafka (Guitar) and Jack Bashkow (Reeds).

Showtime: 8:00 pm. Call CenterCharge at 212.721.6500 (10:00 am–9:00 pm) for ticket availability. $100 tickets include an afterparty.

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

Jose Llana’s Broadway credits include Chip Tolentino in William Finn’s The 25^th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee (Drama Desk Award, dir. James Lapine), El Gato in Wonderland, Wang Ta in David Henry Hwang’s adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song, Angel in RENT (dir. Michael Greif), Jessie-Lee in Streetcorner Symphony and his debut as Lun Tha in the 1996 Revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King & I opposite Donna Murphy and Lou Diamond Phillips. Off-Broadway appearances include Adam in Falling For Eve (York), Gabey in On the Town (dir. George C. Wolfe, Delacorte) and Adam Guettel’s Saturn Returns (dir. Tina Landau, Public Theater). Regional appearances include Bill Sikes in Oliver! (Papermill), Guillaume in Cameron Mackintosh’s Martin Guerre (Guthrie Theater), Tin Man in Ballad of Little Jo (Steppenwolf Theater, dir. Tina Landau, Jefferson Nomination – Best Supporting Actor) and Candide in Candide (Prince Theater, Barrymore Nomination – Best Actor). TV/Film appearances include HBO’s “Sex and the City“ opposite Margaret Cho and Hitch with Will Smith. Appearing on numerous cast albums Jose is also a best-selling recording artist on the VIVA Philippines label.  Training from Manhattan School of Music.  Jose is a constant advocate for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and serves on the Advisory Committee for Broadway Impact for Marriage Equality.  www.josellana.com

KIM GRIGSBY – Musical Director/Piano
Music directing/conducting credits include, on Broadway: Spider- Man: Turn Off The Dark (music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge); Spring Awakening (music by Duncan Sheik); The Light in the Piazza (lyrics & music by Adam Guettel); Caroline, or Change (music by Jeanine Tesori); The Full Monty (lyrics & music by David Yazbek); You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown; and Twelfth Night (music by Jeanine Tesori); and Off-Broadway, Brooklynite! (music and lyrics by Peter Lerman); The Fortress of Solitude (music and lyrics by Michael Friedman); Here Lies Love (music and lyrics by David Byrne); Coraline (lyrics & music by Stephin Merritt); Mother Courage and Her Children (music by Jeanine Tesori); Two Gentlemen of Verona; Songs From an Unmade Bed (various composers, lyrics by Mark Campbell); The Immigrant (music by Steven Alper); Radiant Baby (music by Debra Barsha); and Twelfth Night (music by Duncan Sheik). For the Lincoln Center Songbook Series, Kimberly has appeared with Michael Winther, Duncan Sheik, Michael Friedman and the 2005 concert of Spring Awakening. Other collaborations include My Life Is A Fairy Tale and Orphan of Zhao, both with lyrics & music by Stephin Merritt for Lincoln Center Festival; Telaio: Desdemona (by Susan Botti); and the premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, The Unicorn and Me for Washington National Opera. Ms. Grigsby holds degrees from Southern Methodist University and Manhattan School of Music.

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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

Below are excerpts from my interview with Jose.

Lia: What is your lineup for your Lincoln Center “American Songbook” debut?
Jose: The program will be a celebration of my 19 year career that will include R&H, Adam Guettel, Leonard Bernstein, William Finn and, of course, David Byrne. There will also be a Tagalog song from my Filipino album along with some pop music for fun.

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.

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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

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 was it 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. ;)

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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.

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

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.

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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

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.

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

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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.

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

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

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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: 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?

Related 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: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
Apple Video Podcast: New York Post Writer Michael Riedel Interviews David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora of Here Lies Love
Six Questions for Melody Butiu, Currently Appearing as Estrella in David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim’s Here Lies Love at The Public
Photos: David Byrne, Jaygee Macapugay, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora Bring the ‘Here Lies Love’ Disco to the Apple Store Soho
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Photos: André de Shields, Adam Chanler-Berat, Jose Llana, Kevin Mambo, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Kyle Beltran, Kim Brockington and More at The Fortress of Solitude
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
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
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
NYMF: Prison Dancer starring Jose Llana, Jeigh Madjus, Marc delaCruz, Catherine Ricafort, Moses Villarama, Cosmo Clemens, Enrico Rodriguez, Albert Guerzon, Andrew Eisenman and Nathan Ramos at Theatre at St. Clement’s, July 20-28, 2012
Tony Award Winner Lea Salonga Leads Stellar Cast in First All-Filipino Concert for Philippine Development Foundation, “PhilDev Celebrates Broadway: Suites by Sondheim” at Alice Tully Hall
Alan Ariano, Rona Figueroa, Jose Llana, & Orville Mendoza in Long Season Ayala Foundation USA Gala in SF on 9/25/10:
Photos: Jose Llana, Stephanie Umoh & cast of Falling for Eve
Christine Toy Johnson’s PAPER SON at Queens Theatre in the Park Studio Theatre
Harada, Leung, Llana, Johnson, Takara Sing Once On This Island on May 16 at Theatre at Saint Peter’s
The Making of the Flower Drum Song Cast Album
Flower Drum Song, An American Story

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Photos: John W. Kuo, Jessica Hagedorn, and Neal Katyal Receive AALDEF 2015 Justice in Action Awards
Suzan-Lori Parks’ FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 Winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History 
Photos: Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jennifer Lim, Jo Mei, James Saito, Sue Jin Song, Harriet Harris and More at Opening Night of The World of Extreme Happiness
Photos: “Swimming Awkward Moment,” the newest works by painter Arlan Huang at Trestle Gallery through March 27
Video: Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad and More Share Stories in American Masters-August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand Documentary
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Mar. 4: Tony Award-Winner Lillias White, Carol Fredette & More to be Honored at 30th Annual Bistro Awards at Gotham Comedy Club
Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I, Starring Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Kick off Rehearsals; Previews Begin March 12
Broadway Bound Doctor Zhivago Featuring Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu and More Kicks Off Rehearsal; Previews Begin March 27
CAAMFest 2015 Honors Filmmaker Arthur Dong with World Premiere Screenings of Forbidden City, USA (3/14), The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (3/15) & In Conversation with B. Ruby Rich (3/20)
CAAMFest Presents Ursula Liang’s Documentary 9-Man: Northern California Premiere at the Great Star Theatre on March 13; East Bay Premiere at The New Parkway Theater on March 22
Video: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY’s Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor Stephen McKinley Henderson and director Austin Pendleton set for THEATER TALK
THE GET DOWN, Baz Luhrmann’s New Drama Series Set in 1970s NYC That Gave Birth to Hip-Hop, Punk and Disco, to Premiere on Netflix in 2016
The American Playwriting Foundation Creates The Relentless Award to Honor the late Philip Seymour Hoffman
Variety.com: Ken Jeong to Star in ABC Medical Comedy Pilot ‘Dr. Ken’
Photos: Hudson Yang, Randall Park, Eddie Huang, Richard Lui, Lori Tan Chinn and More at #FreshOffTheBoat Viewing Party at The Circle NYC
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Advantageous, Oh Lucy!, Meru, Umrika, The Chinese Mayor, The Stanford Prison Experiment Among 2015 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
Photos: Lillias White, Scott Wakefield, Ebony Jo-Ann, Tina Fabrique, Marjorie Johnson, Akin Babatundé, Alan Govenar and More at TEXAS IN PARIS at The York Theatre Company
New York City Blizzard Does Not Deter Broadway Icon Chita Rivera From Performing in Concert Taping for THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Series
Photos: Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang, NEFA, Graham Sheffield CBE and Susan Stockton Receive 2015 ISPA Awards
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
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
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
Crafting a Career
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

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The Billie Holiday Theatre kicks off a two-year residency at the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse with Brothers from the Bottom, starring actor and TONY Award-winning producer Wendell Pierce (SELMA, “Treme,” “The Wire”), March 6-29, 2015. The cast also features two-time Emmy Award winner Kevin Mambo, who played the title role in Fela! on Broadway and recently appeared in the critically-acclaimed Fortress of Solitude, Toccarra Cash, Thaddeus Daniels, Wendell Franklin and Megan Robinson.
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Clik here to view.BHT artistic director Jackie Alexander, author of Brothers from the Bottom, will also direct. The Brooklyn Music School Playhouse is located at 126 Saint Felix Street between Hanson and Lafayette, in the heart of the BAM Cultural District.

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

Below is a previews promo code BFTB for $5 off general admission (regularly priced at $30).
Code is valid for the following performances only:
March 6th at 8pm
March 7th at 3pm & 8pm
March 8th at 2pm
https://www.vendini.com/ticket-software.html…

Thanks to a special partnership with the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse, The Billie Holiday Theatre (BHT) will present  their acclaimed productions to Brooklyn’s flourishing Downtown Cultural District, as their award-winning theatre home in Bed-Stuy’s Restoration Plaza undergoes a multi-million dollar facelift.

Alexander’s Brothers from the Bottom deals with the hot button topic of gentrification, an incendiary subject for Brooklynites and New Yorkers alike. In the play, a real estate project threatens the fabric of a New Orleans neighborhood, and unravels the bond between brothers. “It’s a particularly relevant subject for us,” says Alexander, “since our residency and our permanent home are both central locations for the gentrification debates taking place in Brooklyn.”

Wendell Pierce, an accomplished Julliard trained actor, has conquered all realms of media with critically praised performances in theater, film, television and broadcast radio. The TONY, Emmy, Obie and Peabody winning actor and producer is best known for his portrayals on HBO’s ground breaking television series “The Wire” and “Treme”. Pierce is currently co-starring on CBS’ “The Odd Couple,” Showtime’s “Ray Donovan” and this year’s Oscar nominee for Best Picture, SELMA. He continues to host the Peabody Award winning national radio program, Jazz at Lincoln Center. Pierce is honored to be doing theatre for BHT. “When I moved to New York in 1981, I lived almost around the corner from BHT so I’ve almost come full circle in those 34 years.”

Check out the Wendell Pierce’s video promo below.

Brothers from the Bottom writer and director Jackie Alexander is a prolific award-winning actor, writer, producer and director for theater and film. BHT named Alexander artistic director in 2013 after devoting its entire 2010-2011 season to Alexander’s work; commissioning him to write three new plays, one of which was Brothers from the Bottom; and making him the only playwright in the forty-two year history of the theatre to receive such an honor.

Original Music: Edward Anderson and Darrell Lavigne (Bleu Orleans); Set Design: Felix Cochren (Broadway credits: Amen Corner, Inacent Black, Home);Assistant Set Designer: Patrice Davidson; Costume Design: Helen Simmons-Collen; Lighting Design: Joyce Liao; Sound Design: Douglas Forbes; Stage Manager: Avan Littles.

The Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation is invested in forward-thinking, provocative and relevant work and partnerships with world-class artists and institutions, such as Wendell Pierce and the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse. The Restoration Center for Arts and Culture is dedicated to promoting arts and culture in Brooklyn with a range of arts programming, including a multidisciplinary youth arts academy, several professional dance company residencies and the Skylight Gallery with exhibits curated by renowned artists.

“The move to Brooklyn’s downtown cultural district is a natural progression in our evolution for the Billie Holiday Theatre,” says Alexander. “This residency, coupled with acclaimed actor Wendell Pierce’s performance in Brothers from the Bottom, presents BHT with an invaluable opportunity to re-establish ourselves as one of New York’s premier Off-Broadway houses, introduce our work to a new demographic and cultivate our existing audience base.” Brooklyn Music School artistic-executive director Piruz Partow agrees saying, “This partnership makes real sense. For decades, both our organizations have continued to make high quality programming accessible for Brooklynites.”

Related articles:
Wendell Pierce, Kevin Mambo, Toccarra Cash, Thaddeus Daniels, Wendell Franklin and Megan Robinson Set for The Billie Holiday Theatre Production of Jackie Alexander’s Brothers from the Bottom, Mar. 6-29 
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Cheryl L. Davis’ Maid’s Door Sweeps AUDELCOs with 7 Wins; Complete List of 2014 AUDELCO Recipients
The Fortress of Solitude, starring Adam Chanler-Berat, André De Shields, Kyle Beltran, Kevin Mambo, Rebecca Naomi Jones ends extended run 11/16; Ghostlight to Record Cast Album
Photos: André De Shields, Adam Chanler-Berat, Jose Llana, Kevin Mambo, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Kyle Beltran, Kim Brockington and More at The Fortress of Solitude 
The Fortress of Solitude starring André De Shields, Adam Chanler-Berat, Kevin Mambo, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Kyle Beltran & More at The Public
Mar. 7-Apr. 6: André De Shields, Adam Chanler-Berat, Kyle Beltran, Kevin Mambo and More Set for DTC’s World Premiere Musical The Fortress of Solitude,  A Co-Production with The Public Theater 
Aug. 14: André De Shields, Keith David, Tony Plana, Hill Harper, Armando Riesco, Kevin Mambo, Colman Domingo, and Peter McRobbie Set for Staged Reading of Toast By Lemon Andersen at Guild Hall

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Clik here to view.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 by Lia Chang:
Photos: John W. Kuo, Jessica Hagedorn, and Neal Katyal Receive AALDEF 2015 Justice in Action Awards
Suzan-Lori Parks’ FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 Winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History 
Photos: Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jennifer Lim, Jo Mei, James Saito, Sue Jin Song, Harriet Harris and More at Opening Night of The World of Extreme Happiness
Photos: “Swimming Awkward Moment,” the newest works by painter Arlan Huang at Trestle Gallery through March 27
Video: Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad and More Share Stories in American Masters-August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand Documentary
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Mar. 4: Tony Award-Winner Lillias White, Carol Fredette & More to be Honored at 30th Annual Bistro Awards at Gotham Comedy Club
Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I, Starring Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Kick off Rehearsals; Previews Begin March 12
Broadway Bound Doctor Zhivago Featuring Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu and More Kicks Off Rehearsal; Previews Begin March 27
CAAMFest 2015 Honors Filmmaker Arthur Dong with World Premiere Screenings of Forbidden City, USA (3/14), The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (3/15) & In Conversation with B. Ruby Rich (3/20)
CAAMFest Presents Ursula Liang’s Documentary 9-Man: Northern California Premiere at the Great Star Theatre on March 13; East Bay Premiere at The New Parkway Theater on March 22
Video: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY’s Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor Stephen McKinley Henderson and director Austin Pendleton set for THEATER TALK
THE GET DOWN, Baz Luhrmann’s New Drama Series Set in 1970s NYC That Gave Birth to Hip-Hop, Punk and Disco, to Premiere on Netflix in 2016
The American Playwriting Foundation Creates The Relentless Award to Honor the late Philip Seymour Hoffman
Variety.com: Ken Jeong to Star in ABC Medical Comedy Pilot ‘Dr. Ken’
Photos: Hudson Yang, Randall Park, Eddie Huang, Richard Lui, Lori Tan Chinn and More at #FreshOffTheBoat Viewing Party at The Circle NYC
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Advantageous, Oh Lucy!, Meru, Umrika, The Chinese Mayor, The Stanford Prison Experiment Among 2015 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
Photos: Lillias White, Scott Wakefield, Ebony Jo-Ann, Tina Fabrique, Marjorie Johnson, Akin Babatundé, Alan Govenar and More at TEXAS IN PARIS at The York Theatre Company
New York City Blizzard Does Not Deter Broadway Icon Chita Rivera From Performing in Concert Taping for THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Series
Photos: Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang, NEFA, Graham Sheffield CBE and Susan Stockton Receive 2015 ISPA Awards
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
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
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
Crafting a Career
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

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Ars Nova (Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Renee Blinkwolt, Managing Director) is presenting the world premiere of Small Mouth Sounds, a new play by Bess Wohl, directed by OBIE Award-winner Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) for a limited Off-Broadway engagement,  March 10 – April 11, at Ars Nova (511 West 54th Street). Official Opening Night is Monday, March 23.
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Small Mouth Sounds features Jessica Almasy (A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes), Marcia DeBonis (Television: “Homeland”), OBIE Award-winner Jojo Gonzalez (The Romance of Magno Rubio), Brad Heberlee (This Beautiful City), Sakina Jaffrey (Television: “House of Cards”), Erik Lochtefeld (Metamorphoses) and Babak Tafti (The North Pool).

In the overwhelming quiet of the woods, six runaways from city life embark on a silent retreat. As these strangers confront internal demons both profound and absurd, their vows of silence collide with the achingly human need to connect. Filled with awkward humor, this strange and compassionate new play asks how we address life’s biggest questions when words fail us.

Small Mouth Sounds includes scenic design by Laura Jellinek, costume design by Tilly Grimes, lighting design by Mike Inwood, sound design by Stowe Nelson, projection design by Andrew Schneider and prop design by Noah Mease.

Bess Wohl was a member of Ars Nova’s 2012-2013 Play Group, where the play was first developed, in addition to Ars Nova’s Summer Artist Retreat program. Small Mouth Sounds marks Rachel Chavkin’s first return to Ars Nova since her OBIE Award-winning direction of the smash hit Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.

Tickets are $35. A special ticket initiative aimed at matching Ars Nova’s innovative emerging artists with diverse, adventurous audiences, offers tickets at $15 from March 10 – 14 and $25 from March 16 – 21. Tickets are now on sale to Ars Nova members. Mighty Nova Memberships start at $50 and offer free tickets to Ars Nova’s Off-Broadway productions, discounts to all comedy, music and developmental programming and other perks. To become a member, and book your Small Mouth Sounds tickets today, visit www.arsnovanyc.com/membership or call 212-352-3101.

Small Mouth Sounds plays March 10 through April 11 as follows: Monday through Wednesday at 7pm and Thursday through Saturday at 8pm. Tickets available by visiting arsnovanyc.com or calling 212-352-3101.

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Clik here to view.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 about Jojo Gonzalez:
Myra Lucretia Taylor, JoJo Gonzalez, Linda Powell, Don Sparks and More in Long Wharf Theatre’s 50th Season Opening Production of OUR TOWN through November 2
Photos: Late Night with Holy Land’s Jojo Gonzalez
Tina Chilip, Jojo Gonzalez, Marcus Ho and More in Leviathan Lab’s Twelfth Night Production Photos, Performances through 11/19
Photos: Tina Chilip, Jojo Gonzalez, Dave Shih and More in NAATCO’s A Dream Play
NAATCO Presents A Dream Play at Here, March 22 – April 13, 2013
NAATCO’s All-Asian American cast for The Seagull features Marcus Ho, Mia Katigbak and Orville Mendoza

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Jeanne Sakata, Jeremy Guskin, Angela Sauer, Andrew Ross Wynn, Elyse Mirto and More Set for A Noise Within’s FIGARO, March 1-May 10 
Stan Egi, Ellen Crawford, Paige Lindsey White, Bruce Turk, Greg Watanabe and More Set for Jessica Kubzansky helmed PYGMALION at The Pasadena Playhouse, March 17- April 12, 2015
Michael Mayer Helmed BROOKLYNITE Featuring Ann Harada, Matt Doyle, Nicolette Robinson, Andrew Call, Nick Cordero and More, Extends through March 29
Jose Llana Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12
Jaime Castañeda to Helm Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ at La Jolla Playhouse, February 2-28, 2016
Brandon J. Dirden, Merritt Janson, Roslyn Ruff, Andrew Hovelson, Roger Robinson Set for World Premiere of YOUR BLUES AIN’T SWEET LIKE MINE, written and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson at Two River Theater, April 11-May 3
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Photos: John W. Kuo, Jessica Hagedorn, and Neal Katyal Receive AALDEF 2015 Justice in Action Awards
Suzan-Lori Parks’ FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 Winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History 
Photos: Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jennifer Lim, Jo Mei, James Saito, Sue Jin Song, Harriet Harris and More at Opening Night of The World of Extreme Happiness
Photos: “Swimming Awkward Moment,” the newest works by painter Arlan Huang at Trestle Gallery through March 27
Video: Viola Davis, Charles Dutton, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, Suzan-Lori Parks, Phylicia Rashad and More Share Stories in American Masters-August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand Documentary
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Mar. 4: Tony Award-Winner Lillias White, Carol Fredette & More to be Honored at 30th Annual Bistro Awards at Gotham Comedy Club
Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I, Starring Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Kick off Rehearsals; Previews Begin March 12
Broadway Bound Doctor Zhivago Featuring Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu and More Kicks Off Rehearsal; Previews Begin March 27
CAAMFest 2015 Honors Filmmaker Arthur Dong with World Premiere Screenings of Forbidden City, USA (3/14), The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (3/15) & In Conversation with B. Ruby Rich (3/20)
CAAMFest Presents Ursula Liang’s Documentary 9-Man: Northern California Premiere at the Great Star Theatre on March 13; East Bay Premiere at The New Parkway Theater on March 22
Video: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY’s Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor Stephen McKinley Henderson and director Austin Pendleton set for THEATER TALK
THE GET DOWN, Baz Luhrmann’s New Drama Series Set in 1970s NYC That Gave Birth to Hip-Hop, Punk and Disco, to Premiere on Netflix in 2016
The American Playwriting Foundation Creates The Relentless Award to Honor the late Philip Seymour Hoffman
Variety.com: Ken Jeong to Star in ABC Medical Comedy Pilot ‘Dr. Ken’
Photos: Hudson Yang, Randall Park, Eddie Huang, Richard Lui, Lori Tan Chinn and More at #FreshOffTheBoat Viewing Party at The Circle NYC
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Advantageous, Oh Lucy!, Meru, Umrika, The Chinese Mayor, The Stanford Prison Experiment Among 2015 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners
Photos: Lillias White, Scott Wakefield, Ebony Jo-Ann, Tina Fabrique, Marjorie Johnson, Akin Babatundé, Alan Govenar and More at TEXAS IN PARIS at The York Theatre Company
New York City Blizzard Does Not Deter Broadway Icon Chita Rivera From Performing in Concert Taping for THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Series
Photos: Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang, NEFA, Graham Sheffield CBE and Susan Stockton Receive 2015 ISPA Awards
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
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
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
Crafting a Career
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

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Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, continues its 2014/15 Season with Guadalupe in the Guest Room, a new play by Tony Meneses, directed by Daniella Topol. The production began previews on February 14 and will continue through March 15, 2015. Tickets starting at $20 and ticket packages for Two River’s spring season of three world premieres are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org. Guadalupe in the Guest Room is supported by lead production sponsor U.S. Trust.

All Photos: T. Charles Erickson

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Socorro Santiago (Guadalupe) and Alfredo Huereca (Roberto) in Guadalupe in the Guest Room at Two River Theater. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Guadalupe in the Guest Room tells the story of two people—with nothing in common but a shared grief—who bond in the most unexpected ways. The play is a deeply moving and very funny celebration of life, new beginnings, and the healing power of telenovelas. The cast includes Deonna Bouye (Raquel), Alfredo Huereca (Roberto), Socorro Santiago (Guadalupe), and Charles Socarides (Steve).

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Charles Socarides (Steve) and Socorro Santiago (Guadalupe) in Guadalupe in the Guest Room at Two River Theater. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

“Guadalupe in the Guest Room is an exquisite play,” says Artistic Director John Dias. “The writing is warm and often very funny, and the characters are exquisitely drawn, so real you feel like they’re your friends. Tony Meneses achieves something I have never seen so beautifully captured: the state of confusion when you’re surrounded by a language not your own—and the joy of a connection that transcends language. Infused through the entire piece is a bittersweet sense of loss, the ache that underscores everything when a loved one has been lost.”

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Alfredo Huereca and Deonna Bouye in a telenovela scene from Guadalupe in the Guest Room at Two River Theater. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Playwright Tony Meneses is currently a 2015/2016 Ars Nova Play Group Resident Playwright and a 2014/2015 Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow. He is the recipient of The Kennedy Center ACTF Latino Playwriting Award and was a finalist for the National Latino Playwriting Award.

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Charles Socarides (Steve) and Socorro Santiago (Guadalupe) in Guadalupe in the Guest Room at Two River Theater. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Director Daniella Topol’s recent world-premiere productions include Martyna Majok’s Ironbound (Steppenwolf Theatre) and Cori Thomas’s When January Feels Like Summer (EST/P73). She directed A Wind in the Willows Christmas at Two River last season.

The creative team for Guadalupe in the Guest Room includes scenic designer Marion Williams, costume designer Karen Perry, lighting designer Jiyoun Chang, sound designer Jane Shaw, and wig designer Erin Hicks. The fight director is J. Steven White, the dialect coach isRosie Berrido, the casting is by Zoe Rotter, and the production stage manager is Kate Croasdale.

Ticket Information

Ticket prices range from $45 to $65, with discounts available for groups, seniors, and U.S. military personnel, their families, and veterans. A limited number of $20 tickets are available for every performance; $20 tickets may be partial view. Tickets for patrons under 30 are $20 and include the best available seats at every performance. Tickets are available from tworivertheater.org or 732.345.1400.

Nosotros: A Day at the Theater
March 7, 2015 from 2:30-4:30pm
A special afternoon for parents, grandparents, and children!
At this special performance, Guadalupe in the Guest Room will be translated into Spanish via a screen visible to the audience. The performance will last from 3-4:30 pm. While the adults in the family watch the play, their children and grandchildren will enjoy stories, theater games, and snacks in the theater lobby under the supervision of bilingual teaching artists and babysitters. These family-friendly events will take place between the hours of 2:30 and 4:30pm. This special event is presented as part of Two River’s ongoing Nosotrosseries and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance’s Stages Festival, the state’s largest annual theater festival that provides discounted and free theater performances, workshops and, events for all ages throughout the month of March. Tickets for this performance are $10; patrons should use the code “Spanish captions” when booking.

Inside Two River
Inside Two River is a series of events specially curated for each Two River Theater production. For more information or to reserve seats, patrons should visit tworivertheater.org or call 732.345.1400.  

Book Club: Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Sunday, March 8 at 4:30pm in the Victoria Mastrobuono Library (following the 3pm performance) 
Guadalupe in the Guest Room is a new play about a Mexican woman, Guadalupe, who must learn to find a connection with her American son-in-law after the unexpected death of her daughter. Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, Wild, tells of her attempt to find healing by hiking the Pacific Crest Trail after the devastating death of her mother. Literary Manager Anika Chapin will lead a discussion of love, loss, and unexpected sources of healing.

The Art of Dealing with Life-Changing Events
Saturday, March 14 from 4:30–6pm in the Two River Theater Lobby
Using the characters from Guadalupe in the Guest Room as examples, Resilience Strategist Barbara Rubel will lead workshop attendees through the Palette of Grief: The Art of Dealing with Life-Changing Events. This hands-on activity visually captures emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and physical and spiritual reactions due to difficult life events, allowing attendees to explore their unique loss experiences and find meaning in grief. Important to note: This activity should not be completed when a person has recently experienced a loss and is acutely feeling intense reactions. Also, no participant will be expected to share their experiences with the group. The activity can be completely with or without collaboration from other attendees. There is no cost to attend this workshop. Space is limited and RSVPs are strongly suggested. Patrons can book a spot by calling Two River Theater’s box office at 732.345.1400 or visitingwww.tworivertheater.org.

Audience Extras
Before Play and Lobby Display
Audiences will learn more about this production in Two River’s Before Play lecture series, which takes place 45 minutes prior to every performance, and Lobby Display.

Post-Play Conversations
Discussions with the cast and a member of Two River’s Artistic staff will take place on Wednesday, March 4 at 1pm.

Access and Virtual Tour
Working with Google, Two River has created and launched a virtual tour of its facility, which lives on Google Maps andtworivertheater.org. This virtual tour provides an additional level of support and benefit for patrons who use wheelchairs or require other assistance by allowing them to virtually come through the theater’s front doors and view the space in detail in advance of their visit.

An audio-described performance is scheduled for Wednesday, March 11 at 1pm and an open-captioned performance is scheduled for Saturday, March 14 at 3pm. Tickets are available at a discounted rate of $25 for patrons using these services. To reserve wheelchair-accessible seating or tickets to a performance listed above, patrons should call 732.345.1400 or e-mail boxoffice@trtc.org.

Calendar
Wednesday, March 4 at 1pm and 7pm
Thursday, March 5 at 10am (student matinee) and at 8pm
Friday, March 6 at 8pm
Saturday, March 7 at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, March 8 at 3pm
Wednesday, March 11 at 1pm and 7pmT
Thursday, March 12 at 10am (student matinee) and at 8pm
Friday, March 13 at 8pm
Saturday, March 14 at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, March 15 at 3pm

Sponsorship
Guadalupe in the Guest Room is supported by lead sponsor U.S. Trust. Inside Two River is sponsored by The William T. Morris Foundation. The Before Play series is sponsored by Zager Fuchs, PC.

Two River Theater is supported in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a division within the Department of State and a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Stone Foundation of New Jersey, Monmouth University, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Durso Wealth Management Group at Morgan Stanley, Investors Bank, Unterberg Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, William T. Morris Foundation, Springpoint Senior Living Foundation at the Atrium at Navesink Harbor, and many other generous foundations, corporations and individuals.

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, creates great American theater performed by award-winning artists. We produce American and world masterpieces, and new plays and musicals. Two River Theater offers new-play commissions and artistic development activities that support the most adventurous artists in the American theater; invites its audience to be part of the creative process through readings and open rehearsals; and cultivates students and young people to participate in innovative arts-education programs and become a new generation of theatergoers. Founded in 1994 by Joan and Dr. Robert M. Rechnitz, Two River Theater is easily accessible by car, train, or bus, with great restaurants and shopping within walking distance of the theater. For more information, visit tworivertheater.org or call 732.345.1400.

Related articles:
Deonna Bouye, Alfredo Huereca, Socorro Santiago, Charles Socarides set for World Premiere of ‘Guadalupe in the Guest Room’ by Tony Meneses at Two River Theater; February 14-March 15

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Clik here to view.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.

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Crafting a Career
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

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Omar Metwally, Rajiv Joseph and Arian Moayed in the Vivian Beaumont Theater Lobby for the 2013 Steinberg Playwright Award Reception on November 18, 2013. Photo by Lia Chang

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is presenting the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize® finalist Rajiv Joseph’s play Guards at the Taj, starring Tony Award® nominees Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed, and directed by Tony Award® nominated actor and director Amy Morton.

Guards at the Taj will begin previews Wednesday, May 20, officially open Thursday, June 11 and play a limited engagement through Sunday, June 28 Off Broadway atAtlantic Theater Company at The Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street).

In 1648 India, two Imperial Guards watch from their post as the sun rises for the first time on the newly-completed Taj Mahal – an event that shakes their respective worlds. When they are ordered to perform an unthinkable task, the aftermath forces them to question the concept of friendship, beauty and duty, and changes them forever.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company member Amy Morton’s directing credits include The Way West, Penelope, Clybourne Park, American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Pillowman, Dublin Carol and Topdog/Underdog for the company. She received Tony® and Drama Desk award nominations for both her acclaimed performances in the most recent revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and August: Osage County on Broadway in addition to appearing in over thirty Steppenwolf Theatre Company productions.

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Playwright Rajiv Joseph on the set of his new play, “Describe the Night” at the Shubert Theatre in New York on November 21, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Rajiv Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize® and received a Drama Desk award nomination for Outstanding Play. His other plays include Gruesome Playground Injuries, Animals Out of Paper, The North Pool, The Lake Effect and Mr. Wolf. He is the librettist and co-lyricist for the musical, Fly. Joseph also wrote for the Showtime series “Nurse Jackie” for its third and fourth seasons and was the co- screenwriter of the film Draft Day, which was released last year, starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner. Joseph received his B.A. in Creative Writing from Miami University and his M.F.A. in Playwriting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa. Joseph was named a 2010 Rockefeller Fellow by United States Artists. He is the recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award, the Whiting Award, the Glickman Award, the 2013 Equity Jeff Award for The Lake Effect, produced by Silk Road Rising in Chicago and the prestigious 2013 Steinberg Playwright Award from the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Omar Metwally received a Tony Award® nomination for his performance in Sixteen Wounded on Broadway and appeared in As You Like It at The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. He was featured in Steven Spielberg’s Munich, Gavin Hood’s Rendition and Julian Schnabel’s Miral and will be seen this spring in Gideon Raff’s new television series “Dig.”

Arian Moayed was honored with a Theater World Award and Tony® and Drama League nominations for his breakthrough performance in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo on Broadway. Off-Broadway he received a Drama Desk nomination for Masked and has appeared in King Lear, Food & Fadwa and American Pilot. He is currently developing the pilot for the thriller mini -series “The Accidental Wolf” starring Kelli O’Hara.

Guards at the Taj will feature scenic design by Timothy R. Mackabee, costume design by Bobby Frederick Tilley II, lighting design by David Weiner, original music and sound design by Rob Milburn& Michael Bodeen, special effects design by Jeremy Chernick and fight direction by J. David Brimmer.

Guards at the Taj was awarded the 2015 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, given annually for an unproduced, full-length play of social relevance by an emerging American playwright.

Playwright Rajiv Joseph wins Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award for New Play GUARDS AT THE TAJ; Set for World Premiere at Atlantic Theater Company in May 

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Crafting a Career
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

Image may be NSFW.
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Clik here to view.Theatre 167 is presenting the world premiere of The Church of Why Not, a new play inspired by the believers and skeptics, the Jews, Christians and Muslims, the activists and addicts, and the seekers and lost souls who pass through the doors of a church on the Upper West Side – staged at the very spot that inspired it.

Created through Theatre 167’s deeply collaborative system of collective authorship, The Church of Why Not began preview performances on February 20, 2015 and will continue through March 15, at the West End Theatre in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew,  263 W 86th St in New York. Tickets are available at www.theatre167.org.

As one of New York City’s most diverse and bustling destinations, The Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew brings together Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists and more through a dynamic slate of programs and initiatives. In addition to the founding Methodist congregation, the church hosts the Jewish congregation B’nai Jeshurun, an Ethiopian Evangelical congregation, the Arab Youth Orchestra, LGBT Bapti-Metho-Costals, a homeless shelter, soup kitchen and the West Side Campaign Against Hunger. The Church of Why Not tells the story of this vibrant congregation and the people who pass through its doors.

The Church of Why Not is conceived and directed by Ari Laura Kreith and written by Camilo Andres Almonacid, Jenny Lyn Bader and J. Stephen Brantley.

The cast of The Church of Why Not features Elizabeth A. Bell (Overdue, Oswald’s Backyard), J.Stephen Brantley, Brandi Bravo (I Like to Be Here, A Snowfall in Berlin), Mariana Cardenas (The Look in Her Eyes, Tell Like It Is), Erin Cherry, Nick Fehlinger (Jackson Heights 3am), Nathaniel Gotbaum, Daniel K. Isaac (Anna Nicole The Opera), Azhar Khan (HBO’s “Veep,” FX’s “Damages,” Sleepwalk With Me), Jon Krupp (Milk, Lost and Found), Elodie Morss (You are Now the Owner of This Suitcase), Emma Orelove (Our Town, Romeo and Juliet), Heather Lee Rogers (The Comedy of Errors), Derick Sherrier, Marshall Spann (The Jackson Heights Trilogy), Trevor St. John-Gilbert (Les Miserables, This Will All Be Yours), Millie Torchetti (Godspell, Smokey Joe’s Café) and Lisann Valentin (FX’s “Rescue Me,” I Like To Be Here).

With scenic design by Bradley Wehrle (Gallery Players, Artistic New Directions), costume design by Jessa-Raye Court (Boomerang Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, NYMF’s Barcode), lighting design by John Salutz, sound design by  Beth Lake (Freud’s Last Session, The Light in the Piazza) and  musical direction by Ben Morss (Sidewalks of New York).  Abbey Bay (The Assembly’s That Poor Dream), is the production stage manager. Bo Frazier (The Dinner Party, Haunting Julia) is the assistant director. Elizabeth A. Bell is the production manager. The costume/set assistant is Tut Herbet. Frankie Wong is the production intern. Public relations services are by John Capo Public Relations.

The title of the play is inspired by a quote from Reverend K. Karpen, who spoke about how his Church has embraced such diverse communities so vigorously. “At other churches, they ask ‘Why?”, said Reverend Karpen. “Here we ask ‘Why not?'”

The Church of Why Not will be performed on Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm and Sundays at 7pm through March 15.

The West End Theatre in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew is located at 263 West 86th Street, half a block from the 86th Street stop on the 1 train.

Best known for creating and producing The Jackson Heights Trilogy, a six hour epic about the Queens, New York neighborhood told in 14 languages, Theatre 167 creates, cultivates and supports new work by artists of wide-ranging backgrounds and beliefs. Experimenting with form and process to create theatrical productions that celebrate a multitude of voices, the company develops and produces works that build bridges between and among the city’s most diverse communities.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
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Photos: “Swimming Awkward Moment,” the newest works by painter Arlan Huang at Trestle Gallery through March 27
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Jeanne Sakata, Jeremy Guskin, Angela Sauer, Andrew Ross Wynn, Elyse Mirto and More Set for A Noise Within’s FIGARO, March 1-May 10 
Mar. 4: Tony Award-Winner Lillias White, Carol Fredette & More to be Honored at 30th Annual Bistro Awards at Gotham Comedy Club
Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
OBIE Award-winner Jojo Gonzalez, Jessica Almasy, Marcia DeBonis, Brad Heberlee, Sakina Jaffrey, Erik Lochtefeld and Babak Tafti Set for Ars Nova’s World Premiere of SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, March 10 – April 11; OBIE Winner Rachel Chavkin to Direct
Jose Llana Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12
Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I, Starring Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Kick off Rehearsals; Previews Begin March 12
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Crafting a Career
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

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On Wednesday, April 15, 2015, the New-York Historical Society is presenting An American Soldier, featuring Huang Ruo, David Henry Hwang, with moderator Agnes Hsu-Tang, as part of The Bernard and Irene Schwartz Distinguished Speakers Series at 7:00 pm.

In October 2011, 19-year-old Chinese-American Army Pvt. Danny Chen was found dead in a guard tower at his base in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. In an intimate conversation highlighted by musical performances by special guests, composer Huang Ruo and librettist David Henry Hwang explore their opera, An American Soldier, which reveals the dangerous and tragic consequences of prejudice through the story of Pvt. Chen’s death.

Huang Ruo, an award-winning conductor, has been cited by The New Yorker as “one of the world’s leading young composers.” His opera Dr. Sun Yat-Sen was recently given its American premiere by the Santa Fe Opera in 2014, and will be given its Canadian premiere by the Vancouver Opera in 2016. David Henry Hwang, a renowned playwright and screenwriter as well as America’s most-produced living opera librettist, is the award-winning author of M. Butterfly. Agnes Hsu-Tang (moderator), a UNESCO cultural policy advisor and documentarian, is a managing director of the Metropolitan Opera.

Co-presented by U.S.-China Cultural Institute, cultural associate of the Committee of 100.

Location: The Robert H. Smith Auditorium at The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West (at Richard Gilder Way, West 77th Street) in New York.

TICKETS: Tickets are $38, $24 for nonmembers. For more information, please call (212) 485-9268 or click here to purchase tickets.

An American Soldier is part of the New-York Historical Society’s Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion Exhibition, on view through April 19, 2015, 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.

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“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.

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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.

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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

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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.

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.

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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.

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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).

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

David Henry Hwang Articles:
Washington National Opera Presents Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
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
The Los Angeles Philharmonic presents West Coast premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Opera Alice in Wonderland, Featuring Libretto Co-Written with David Henry Hwang, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on February 27-28 
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Click here for more articles on David Henry Hwang.

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Other Articles by Lia Chang:
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Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
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Crafting a Career
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

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TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is presenting The Lake Effect, the newest drama from Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The Lake Effect began previews March 4th for a March 7th opening, and will continue performances through March 29, 2015. For tickets and information, visit www.TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

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Bernard (Jason Bowen) argues with Priya (Nilanjana Bose) and Vijay (Adam Poss) in Rajiv Joseph’s new play The Lake Effect presented by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto through March 29. Photo credit: Kevin Berne

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Playwright Rajiv Joseph and his director Giovanna Sardelli on the set of his new play, “Describe the Night” at the Shubert Theatre in New York on November 21, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Set in a shuttered Indian restaurant, The Lake Effect centers on the owner’s grown children as they ponder the legacy of their family business. This engaging new work, which has already been awarded the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play, is helmed by TheatreWorks’ New Works Director Giovanna Sardelli, who also directed the world premiere of Joseph’s The North Pool at TheatreWorks. That production was lauded by critics and audiences, receiving the Will Glickman Award and the Edgerton New American Play Award.

Borrowing its title from a meteorological phenomenon that occurs when a cold weather system passes over a warmer body of water, resulting in a deluge of snow or icy rain, The Lake Effect unfolds in layers of emotional and psychological torrents. Estranged siblings Vijay (Adam Poss) and Priya (Nilanjana Bose) find themselves at the restaurant of their ailing father. Through the course of the play, the duo sorts through the remnants of pain and love left after a childhood forever marred by the death of their mother. In addition to their difficulties with grief and reconciliation, Vijay and Priya also clash with Bernard (Jason Bowen), whose complex relationship with their father ranges from sometime bookie to close friend and surrogate son. Laced with moments of both tenderness and comedy, The Lake Effect is a richly woven portrait of family dysfunction, unlikely friendship, and the strange ways death can unearth long-buried truths.

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Playwright Rajiv Joseph accepts his Jeff Award for New Work – Play for The Lake Effect, produced by Silk Road Rising. Photo by Lia Chang

Called “Simply brilliant” by Showbiz Chicago, The Lake Effect opened at Chicago’s Silk Road Rising in 2013, and was honored with the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play. The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Jones described the play’s in-depth look at “the struggle of the well-educated children of immigrants, who might reject the careful, small-business ways of their parents, and surely do not share their accents, but who inevitably remain tied to their family in ways they struggle to fully process.” His review went on to praise “Joseph’s rich storytelling abilities” noting, “You’re never ahead of this prismatic play, which reminds me in places of Tracy Letts’ Superior Donuts, but nonetheless manages to be very distinctive. It’s especially admirable in its sense of balance.”

Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards

TheatreWorks has assembled a dynamic cast for The Lake Effect including Adam Poss, who reprises his role as “Vijay” after starring in the Chicago premiere of The Lake Effect in 2013. About his performance, Stage and Cinema noted, “Every time that Poss tossed out an incredulous ‘What?’ it was filled with more layers than most actors find in an entire monologue.” TheatreWorks audiences will remember Mr. Poss as the young student in Joseph’s psychological thriller The North Pool. He also appeared in Animals Out of Paper at Steppenwolf Garage. Other Chicago credits include Christopher Shinn’s Teddy Ferrara at The Goodman Theatre and the world premiere of Antebellum, written and directed by Robert O’Hara at Athenaeum Theatre. Mr. Poss is a member of Erasing the Distance, an organization dedicated to education about mental illness through theatre. Regionally, he appeared at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC in The History Boys. Television credits include “Chicago Fire,” “Shameless,” and” The Mob Doctor”.

Nilanjana Bose joins the cast as “Priya.” Ms. Bose has performed widely in both the United States and India, and received her BFA in theatre from The Juilliard School. Off- Broadway theatre credits include Tamburlaine the Great (Theatre for a New Audience) and The Memorandum (The Actors Company Theatre). She was also featured in the Dorset Theatre Festival production of Noises Off, and has appeared internationally in productions with Shakespeare Society Productions (New Delhi, India) and Calcutta Club Productions (Kolkata, India).

Jason Bowen will play the role of “Bernard” in this production. Boston theatre credits include A Raisin in the Sun (“Joseph Asagai”), Ma Rainey’ s Black Bottom (“Levee”), and Ruined (“Fortune”) at Huntingon Theatre Company, as well as Othello (“Othello”), The Tempest (“Ferdinand”), and Twelfth Night (“Orsino”) at Actors’ Shakespeare Project. Bowen has received numerous awards including Best Actor at the 2013 Independent Reviewers of New England Awards for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Best Actor in Boston Magazine’s 2012 Best of Boston Awards.

Director Giovanna Sardelli is TheatreWorks’ Director of New Works. She helmed the world premieres of Rajiv Joseph productions The North Pool, All This Intimacy, and Animals Out of Paper, for which she received a Joe A. Callaway Award for Outstanding Director. A long-time collaborator of Joseph’s, Sardelli also directed The Leopard and the Fox with Alter Ego Productions and Huck & Holden at Cherry Lane Theatre. Other credits include The Whipping Man (Old Globe Theatre) and world premieres of Christopher Wall’s Dreams of the Washer King (Playwrights Realm), Lila Rose Kaplan’s Wildflower (Second Stage), Zoe Kazan’s Absalom (Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival) and Adriana Sevan’s Taking Flight (developed: Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, world premiere: Center Theatre Group). Ms. Sardelli received her MFA from the Graduate Acting Program at NYU and graduated from its Director’s Lab.

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Playwright Rajiv Joseph on the set of his new play, “Describe the Night” at the Shubert Theatre in New York on November 21, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Rajiv Joseph came to national attention when his celebrated hit Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo became a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and received an Outstanding New American Play Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. With direction by Moisés Kaufman, Bengal Tiger was a sensational hit at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles in 2009 and moved to the Mark Taper Forum in 2010 where the New York Times described it as a “boldly imagined, harrowing and surprisingly funny drama.” The show made its Broadway debut starring Robin Williams in March 2011. Joseph’s other New York productions include Gruesome Playground Injuries, All This Intimacy, and Animals Out of Paper (all at Second Stage Theatre); The Leopard and the Fox (adaptation, Alter Ego); and Huck & Holden (Cherry Lane Theatre). He received his BA in Creative Writing from Miami University and his MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is the librettist and co-lyricist for the musical, Fly. Joseph also wrote for the Showtime series “Nurse Jackie” for its third and fourth seasons and was the co- screenwriter of the film Draft Day, which was released last year, starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner.  He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa. Joseph was named a 2010 Rockefeller Fellow by United States Artists. He is the recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award, the Whiting Award, the Glickman Award, the 2013 Equity Jeff Award for The Lake Effect, produced by Silk Road Rising in Chicago and the prestigious 2013 Steinberg Playwright Award from the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. This year two of his new plays, Mr. Wolf and Guards at the Taj, will premiere at South Coast Repertory and Atlantic Theatre Company, respectively. Guards at the Taj was awarded the 2015 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, given annually for an unproduced, full-length play of social relevance by an emerging American playwright.

Playwright Rajiv Joseph wins Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award for New Play GUARDS AT THE TAJ; Set for World Premiere at Atlantic Theater Company in May 

Tony Award® Nominees Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed to star in Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ, helmed by Amy Morton, at Atlantic Theater Company, May 20-June 28

With some 100,000 patrons per year, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has captured a national reputation for artistic innovation and integrity, often presenting Bay Area theatergoers with their first look at acclaimed musicals, comedies, and dramas, directed by award-winning local and guest directors, and performed by professional actors cast locally and from across the country. A home for artists developing new works, it was at TheatreWorks that Memphis, the 2010 Tony Award-winning musical that played on Broadway for three years before embarking on a 19 month national tour, was first workshopped and received its world premiere. It is currently enjoying an extended run on London’s West End.

SHOWS: Previews: 8:00 PM Tuesdays: 7:30 PM, Wednesdays: 2:00PM, 7:30PM, Thursdays and Fridays: 8:00 PM, Saturdays: 2:00 PM, 8:00 PM, Sundays: 2:00 PM, 7:00 PM.

TICKETS: $19 (30 and under) – $74; savings available for educators, seniors, and patrons 30 and under. A $6 convenience fee will be assessed for online and telephone orders. Pricing subject to change. For information or to order tickets visit theatreworks.org or call (650) 463-1960

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NYU Theatrical Production Presents the World Premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s Describe the Night in the Shubert Theatre at Tisch School of the Arts through November 24
Nov. 19-24: NYU Theatrical Production Presents the World Premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s Describe the Night in the Shubert Theatre at Tisch School of the Arts
East West Players’ Los Angeles Premiere of “Animals Out of Paper” by Rajiv Joseph, Featuring C.S. Lee and Tess Lina, Opens Sept. 10, 2014
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Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Photos: Francis Jue, Telly Leung, Jennifer Lim, Jo Mei, James Saito, Sue Jin Song, Harriet Harris and More at Opening Night of The World of Extreme Happiness
Photos: “Swimming Awkward Moment,” the newest works by painter Arlan Huang at Trestle Gallery through March 27
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Mar. 8- 29: Pursuit of the Perfect Plate: tokyo fish story Premieres at South Coast Repertory starring Lawrence Kao, Jully Lee, Eddie Mui, Sab Shimono and Ryun Yu
OBIE Award-winner Jojo Gonzalez, Jessica Almasy, Marcia DeBonis, Brad Heberlee, Sakina Jaffrey, Erik Lochtefeld and Babak Tafti Set for Ars Nova’s World Premiere of SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, March 10 – April 11; OBIE Winner Rachel Chavkin to Direct
Jose Llana Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12
Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I, Starring Ken Watanabe, Kelli O’Hara, Ruthie Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Paul Nakauchi and More Kick off Rehearsals; Previews Begin March 12
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CAAMFest Presents Ursula Liang’s Documentary 9-Man: Northern California Premiere at the Great Star Theatre on March 13; East Bay Premiere at The New Parkway Theater on March 22
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Crafting a Career
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

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Due to popular demand, Theatre for A New Audience’s critically acclaimed production of Soho Rep.’s An Octoroon has been extended again and will play through March 29 at Theatre for a New Audience, Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place in Brooklyn.

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Maechi Aharanwa, Danielle Davenport, and Pascale Armand in Theatre for a New Audience’s production of Soho Rep.’s AN OCTOROON by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Sarah Benson. Photo by Gerry Goodstein

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s widely acclaimed play, directed by Sarah Benson, Artistic Director, Soho Rep, has played to sold out houses since previews began on February 14. The production opened on February 26.

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Mary Wiseman and Austin Smith in Theatre for a New Audience’s production of Soho Rep.’s AN OCTOROON by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Sarah Benson. Photo by Gerry Goodstein

The cast for Soho Rep.’s An Octoroon includes Maechi Aharanwa, Pascale Armand, Danielle Davenport, Amber Gray, Ian Lassiter, Austin Smith, Haynes Thigpen, and Mary Wiseman.

Click here for bios of the cast and creative team.

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Haynes Thigpen, Austin Smith, and Amber Gray in Theatre for a New Audience’s production of Soho Rep.’s AN OCTOROON by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Sarah Benson. Photo by Gerry Goodstein

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Haynes Thigpen and Ian Lassiter in Theatre for a New Audience’s production of Soho Rep.’s AN OCTOROON by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Sarah Benson. Photo by Gerry Goodstein

Soho Rep. originally produced the World Premiere of An Octoroon (Opening Night May 4, 2013). It was last season’s most exciting new play, winning two OBIE Awards, including Best New American Play. The New York Times called it then “exhilarating” and made it a Critic’s Pick, and the Wall Street Journal called it “one of the biggest hits of the season.” An Octoroon was also included in the Top Ten 2014 Best Theatre lists of The New York Times, Time Out New York, and The Guardian.

Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins takes on Dion Boucicault’s 1859 play, The Octoroon, about forbidden love and slavery in the American South and “uses the plot of the Irish playwright’s antebellum melodrama as the starting point for a bigger, wilder play” (The New Yorker).

In An Octoroon, Judge Peyton is dead, and his plantation, Terrebonne, is in financial ruins. Peyton’s handsome nephew George arrives as heir apparent, and quickly falls in love with Zoe, a beautiful “octoroon.” But, the evil overseer M’Closky has other plans­for both Terrebonne and Zoe.

The creative team includes Mimi Lien (sets), Wade Laboissonniere (costumes), Matt Frey (lights), Matt Tierney (sound), Jeff Sugg (projections), Cookie Jordan (wigs and makeup), César Alvarez (songs, music, & music director), J. David Brimmer (fight director), David Neumann (choreography), Noah Mease (props), Lester St. Louis (cellist) and Amanda Spooner (stage management).

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Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Photo by Lia Chang

BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS (Playwright). Branden’s plays include Appropriate (Obie Award; Outer Critics Circle nomination; Signature Theatre), Neighbors (The Public Theater), War (Yale Rep), and An Octoroon (Obie Award; Soho Rep). He is currently a Residency Five playwright at the Signature Theatre and a former Lila Acheson Wallace fellow at The Juilliard School. His work has been seen at Yale Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Victory Gardens Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Vineyard Theatre, Matrix Theatre in L.A., Mixed Blood Theatre is Minneapolis, CompanyOne in Boston and the HighTide Festival in the UK. He is under commissions from Lincoln Center/LCT3 and MTC. His honors include a Paula Vogel Award, a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the inaugural Tennessee Williams award.

SARAH BENSON (Director) has been the Artistic Director of the Obie Award-winning Soho Rep since 2007. Recent New York credits include Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ An Octoroon (Soho Rep); Lucas Hnath’s A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney (Soho Rep); David Adjmi’s Elective Affinities (site-specific); Sarah Kane’s Blasted (Soho Rep, Obie Award and Drama Desk nomination); and The Lisps’ musical Futurity (A.R.T. & Walker Arts Center). Other credits include Gregory S. Moss’ House of Gold (Woolly Mammoth) and Ajax (A.R.T.). Upcoming: The Lisps’ Futurity and Richard Maxwell’s Samara.

Single tickets, on sale now, are $60-$85 and may be purchased online at www.tfana.org, by phone at 866-811-4111, or in person at the Theatre for a New Audience Box Office (262 Ashland Place). Box office hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 1:00pm to 6:00pm. A limited number of premium seats are available for $100. New Deal tickets for ages 30 and under or full-time students of any age are priced at $20 each and can be purchased online, by phone, or in person at the box office. Subscriptions for Theatre for a New Audience’s 2014-2015 Season are $147 for a 3-play package and are available by calling (212) 229-2819, ext. 10. For information or to subscribe online, visit www.tfana.org. Performances are Tuesday through Sunday evenings at 7:30pm, with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00pm.

Related articles:
Photos: Tonya Pinkins, Trezana Beverley, Tyrone M. Henderson and More Set for World Premiere of War by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins at Yale Repertory Theatre through December 13
Branden Jacob-Jenkins’ Appropriate, Lisa Kron’s Fun Home, Sonya Tayeh, Emmanuel Brown, Mia Katigbak, K. Todd Freeman, John Earl Jelks Among 2014 OBIE Award Winners
Photos: Cheryl Lynn Bruce, André De Shields, Sandra Marquez, Chay Yew, Dennis Zacek and More Celebrate Opening Night of Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins at Victory Gardens

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OBIE Award-winner Jojo Gonzalez, Jessica Almasy, Marcia DeBonis, Brad Heberlee, Sakina Jaffrey, Erik Lochtefeld and Babak Tafti Set for Ars Nova’s World Premiere of SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, March 10 – April 11; OBIE Winner Rachel Chavkin to Direct
Jose Llana Set for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Debut on March 12
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CAAMFest Presents Ursula Liang’s Documentary 9-Man: Northern California Premiere at the Great Star Theatre on March 13; East Bay Premiere at The New Parkway Theater on March 22
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Mar. 24: An Evening with Amy Tan at New-York Historical Society
Broadway Bound Doctor Zhivago Featuring Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt, Paul Nolan, Lora Lee Gayer, Melody Butiu and More Kicks Off Rehearsal; Previews Begin March 27
Michael Mayer Helmed BROOKLYNITE Featuring Ann Harada, Matt Doyle, Nicolette Robinson, Andrew Call, Nick Cordero and More, Extends through March 29
Brandon J. Dirden, Merritt Janson, Roslyn Ruff, Andrew Hovelson, Roger Robinson Set for World Premiere of YOUR BLUES AIN’T SWEET LIKE MINE, written and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson at Two River Theater, April 11-May 3
Tony Award® Nominees Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed to star in Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ, helmed by Amy Morton, at Atlantic Theater Company, May 20-June 28
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Photos: John W. Kuo, Jessica Hagedorn, and Neal Katyal Receive AALDEF 2015 Justice in Action Awards
Suzan-Lori Parks’ FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 Winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History 
Variety.com: Ken Jeong to Star in ABC Medical Comedy Pilot ‘Dr. Ken’
Photos: Hudson Yang, Randall Park, Eddie Huang, Richard Lui, Lori Tan Chinn and More at #FreshOffTheBoat Viewing Party at The Circle NYC
Photos: Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang, NEFA, Graham Sheffield CBE and Susan Stockton Receive 2015 ISPA Awards
Photos: Late Night at HERE LIES LOVE with Jaygee Macapugay, David Byrne, Jose Llana, Conrad Ricamora, Melody Butiu and More
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
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
Crafting a Career
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
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Matt Doyle, Ann Harada, Tom Alan Robbins, Grace McLean, and Andrew Call in Vineyard Theatre’s Brooklynite. (© Carol Rosegg)

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Nicolette Robinson as Astrolass . Photo by Carol Rosegg

The Vineyard’s world premiere of the original musical BROOKLYNITE is extending its limited engagement by one week due to popular demand, and will now run through Sunday, March 29. Helmed by Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, SPRING AWAKENING), BROOKLYNITE opened on Wednesday, February 25.

This limited engagement was originally scheduled to run through Sunday, March 22nd.

Mr. Mayer directs a company that features Andrew Call (FOUND, ROCK OF AGES), Gerard Canonico (SPRING AWAKENING), Max Chernin (BRIGHT STAR), Nick Choksi (INDIAN INK, NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812), Tony Award nominee Nick Cordero (BULLETS OVER BROADWAY), Matt Doyle (WAR HORSE, THE BOOK OF MORMON), Carla Duren (110 IN THE SHADE), Ann Harada (AVENUE Q at The Vineyard and on Broadway, CINDERELLA), John-Michael Lyles (ANGELINA BALLERINA), Grace McLean (BEDBUGS, NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812), Tom Alan Robbins (THE LION KING, SUNSET BOULEVARD), Nicolette Robinson (“The Affair” , “Hart of Dixie” ), and Remy Zaken (SPRING AWAKENING, THE ANTHEM).

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Nick Cordero as Avenging Angelo, Gerard Canonico as Kid Comet, Grace McLean as Blue Nixie. Photo by Carol Rosegg

With a completely original book by Peter Lerman and Michael Mayer and music and lyrics by Peter Lerman (winner of the Jonathan Larson Award), BROOKLYNITE is choreographed by Steven Hoggett (THE LAST SHIP, THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, ONCE) and directed by Michael Mayer. BROOKLYNITE is inspired by the real Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company located in Park Slope and features characters that were created especially for the musical by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman.

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The Superheroes (l to r): Nick Cordero as Avenging Angelo, Grace McLean as Blue Nixie, Max Chernin as Captain Clear, Nicolette Robinson as Astrolass, Andrew Call as El Fuego, Gerard Canonico as Kid Comet. Photo by Carol Rosegg

BROOKLYNITE features scenic design by Donyale Werle, costume design by Andrea Lauer, lighting design by Kevin Adams, sound design by Kai Harada, video and projection design by Andrew Lazarow, with Kimberly Grigsby serving as musical director.

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Nicolette Robinson as Astrolass and Matt Doyle as Trey Swieskowski. Photo by Carol Rosegg

In BROOKLYNITE, Trey Swieskowski is an idealistic hardware store clerk who dreams of becoming a superhero. Astrolass, Brooklyn’s most celebrated superhero, is determined to throw in the cape and live like a normal Brooklynite. When they meet they hatch a plan that will change their lives forever. But can they save Brooklyn when it suddenly teeters on the brink of disaster?