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May 28 – June 29: Mary McCann, Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Set for Atlantic Theater Company’s U.S. Premiere of OUR NEW GIRL

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10411787_544710168970688_3079733808734275223_nAtlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) is presenting the US premiere of Nancy Harris’ play OUR NEW GIRL, directed by Gaye Taylor UpchurchLisa JoyceHenry Kelemen and CJ Wilson will join previously-announced Atlantic Theater Company founding member Mary McCann for this limited run, which began previews Wednesday, May 28 and will open Tuesday, June 10 for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 29, 2014 off-Broadway at Atlantic Stage 2 (330 West 16th Street) in New York. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased online, or by calling 866-811-4111.

Behind the shiny door of Hazel Robinson’s perfect London home, nothing is as it seems. Hazel’s husband Richard, a plastic surgeon, has embarked on his latest charitable quest in Haiti, leaving the heavily-pregnant Hazel with a failing business and a problem son. When a professional nanny arrives unannounced on the Robinsons’ doorstep, Hazel finds her home under the shadow of a perfect stranger with an agenda of her own. In OUR NEW GIRL, up-and-coming Irish playwright Nancy Harris presents a psychological drama about the darker side of modern parenthood.

Lisa Joyce has recently been seen off-Broadway in Signature Theatre Company’s The Mound Builders and as a recurring character on “The Following” and HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” Ten year-old Henry Kelemen makes his stage debut in OUR NEW GIRL, following roles in the films What Maisie Knew and Mr. Poppers Penguins. After recently appearing on Broadway in Bronx BombersCJ Wilson returns to Atlantic Theater Company, where he was seen in The Voysey Inheritance and Ethan Coen’s Offices.

OUR NEW GIRL features scenic design by Timothy R. Mackabee, costume design by Sarah J. Holden, lighting design by David Weiner, and sound design by Stowe Nelson.

Atlantic Theater Company is the award-winning Off-Broadway theater that produces great plays simply and truthfully by utilizing an artistic ensemble.  Atlantic believes that the story of a play and the intent of its playwright are at the core of the creative process. The plays in the Atlantic repertory, from both new and established playwrights, are boldly interpreted by today’s finest theater artists and resonate with contemporary audiences.

Since its inception over 27 years ago, Atlantic has produced more than 150 plays including Tony Award-winning productions of Spring Awakening andThe Beauty Queen of Leenane (Martin McDonagh); world premieres ofAlmost an EveningOffices and Happy Hour (Ethan Coen); The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Cripple of Inishmaan (Martin McDonagh); BodyAwareness (Annie Baker); Romance (David Mamet); Through a Glass Darkly(Bergman, adapted by Jenny Worton); Farragut North (Beau Willimon);Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling (Adam Rapp); Bluebird and Harper Regan (Simon Stephens); Storefront Church (John Patrick Shanley);Blue/Orange (Joe Penhall); Port Authority and Dublin Carol (Conor McPherson); Writer’s Block (Woody Allen); American Buffalo and Edmond (David Mamet); The Cider House Rules(adapted by Peter Parnell); Celebration & The RoomThe Collection & A Kind of Alaska and The Hothouse (Harold Pinter); Gabriel (Moira Buffini); Oohrah! (Bekah Brunstetter); MojoParlour Song (Jez Butterworth); Boys’ Life andThe Lights (Howard Korder); Distant Fires (Kevin Heelan); Missing Persons (Craig Lucas).

During its history, Atlantic has garnered twelve Tony Awards®, eleven Lucille Lortel Awards, fifteen Obie Awards, seven Drama Desk Awards, five Outer Critics Circle Awards, and three Drama League Awards.  Atlantic also operates The Atlantic Theater Company Acting School, which has an undergraduate program in conjunction with NYU, as well as a two-year professional acting program and a six-week intensive workshop every summer. Atlantic partners with schools and teachers throughout the greater metropolitan area coordinating in-school visits of teaching artists and post-theater talkbacks.

Producing great plays is only half of Atlantic’s mission. The ATLANTIC ACTING SCHOOL, founded in 1983, operates as both a private conservatory and an undergraduate program in conjunction with New York University. The school focuses on the Practical Aesthetics acting technique, which grew out of a series of NYU summer workshops in Vermont with playwright David Mamet and actor William H. Macy.

The ATLANTIC ACTING SCHOOL fosters new generations of theater artists and audiences by creating a student ensemble that allows emerging actors to hone their craft in a safe yet challenging environment. This year the school reached an enrollment of 440 students representing a large cross-section of social, economic and ethnic backgrounds. Distinguished guest lecturers include Sam Shepard, Margo Jefferson, Gore Vidal, Mary Steenburgen, Nicky Silver, Ted Danson and program graduates Kristen Johnston, Camryn Manheim and Eddie Cahill. Atlantic is committed to preparing its students for all aspects of a performing arts career.

Other articles on C.J. Wilson:
Peter Scolari, C.J. Wilson, Francois Battiste, Chris Henry Coffey and More Begin Previews in Eric Simonson’s The Bronx Bombers at Circle in the Square Theatre on January 10, 2014
Production Photos: Primary Stages Presents World Premiere of Eric Simonson’s Bronx Bombers Featuring C.J. Wilson, Francois Battiste, Chris Henry Coffey, Richard Topol and More at The Duke on 42nd Street, Opens October 8, 2013
C.J. Wilson navigates armor and swordplay in Signature Theatre Company’s World Premiere of Kenneth Lonergan’s Medieval Play
Photos: Laila Robins, Sean Dugan, C.J. Wilson, Peter Francis James, Bill Irwin and Tricia Paoluccio at Signature Theatre Company’s revival of Edward Albee’s The Lady From Dubuque

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Jun. 4-29: Tony Award–winner BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More Set for A.C.T.’s U.S. Premiere of Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse 
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein 
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below 
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
June 5-7: National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Crafting a Career
Photos: The George Gee Swing Orchestra at SWING46; Launches Indiegogo Campaign for New CD, Swing Makes You Happy
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
Asia Flores Debuts Royal72Co Fashion Line at Pa’ina Lounge
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
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  Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder Leads 2014 Tony Award Nominations; Bryan Cranston, LaTanya Richardson, Neil Patrick Harris, Mark Rylance, Audra McDonald, Leigh Silverman among nominees Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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



Jun. 4-29: Tony Award–winner BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More Set for A.C.T.’s U.S. Premiere of The Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse

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The Orphan of Zhao starring Bd Wong has performances at A.C.T. though June 29, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

The Orphan of Zhao starring Bd Wong has performances at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater though June 29, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

BD Wong (photo by Lia Chang)

BD Wong (photo by Lia Chang)

Tony Award–winner  BD Wong comes home to San Francisco to make his American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) debut in the U.S. premiere of James Fenton’s acclaimed adaptation of The Orphan of Zhao, a classic Chinese legend that has its roots in the fourth century BCEat A.C.T.’s Geary Theater (415 Geary Street, San Francisco) June 4–29, 2014. Press night is Wednesday, June 11, 2014. Tickets ($20–$120) are on sale now and may be purchased online at act-sf.org or by calling 415.749.2228.

Helmed by A.C.T.’s artistic director Carey Perloff, The Orphan of Zhao is an epic story of self-sacrifice and revenge. In the aftermath of a political coup, a country doctor is forced to sacrifice his own son in order to save the last heir of a noble and massacred clan. Often described as the Chinese Hamlet, this enduring tale was the first Chinese play to be translated in the West nearly 300 years ago and has inspired countless operas, plays, and movies. The Guardian praised Fenton’s adaptation as “haunting . . . [a] drama hewn out of a myth that speaks across the centuries,” and The Times of London called it “an emotionally piercing marvel.”

Says Perloff: “Discovering The Orphan of Zhao was incredibly eye-opening for me, an insight into a vivid moment in Chinese culture and an introduction to a major classic of suspense and sacrifice rarely seen in the Western theater. The Zhao story has been told in China for a millennium, most recently in a vivid Chinese film called Sacrifice. Its arrival on the Geary stage, starring BD Wong, continues our exploration of Chinese culture with a remarkable company of Asian American actors and theater artists, including Stuck Elevator composer Byron Au Yong who is composing the many songs and live musical interludes in the production. We hope our audiences will be as transported and surprised by this stunning piece of world theater as we were when we first encountered it.”

The cast for The Orphan of Zhao includes Marie-France Arcilla (Stuck Elevator at A.C.T.; Working at Prospect Theater Company), Stan Egi (Golden Child off Broadway), Philip Estrera (third-year A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts student; A Christmas Carol at A.C.T.), Nick Gabriel (A.C.T. Resident Artist; Napoli! at A.C.T.), Cindy Im (Stuck Elevator and 4000 Miles at A.C.T.; The Snow Queen at San Jose Repertory Theatre), Orville Mendoza (Peter and the Starcatcher on Broadway; Miss Saigon National tour), Paolo Montalban (Pacific Overtures and The King and I on Broadway), Brian Rivera (Yellowjackets at Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Macbeth at Sacramento Shakespeare Festival), Sab Shimono (Pacific Overtures on Broadway; original cast member of Mame on Broadway), Julyana Soelistyo (Tony Award–nominee for Golden Child on Broadway), Daisuke Tsuji (King Lear at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Dralion by Cirque du Soleil), and BD Wong (M. Butterfly; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).

Stan Egi Julyana Soelistyo. Photo by Lia Chang Paolo Montalban Sab Shimono Orville Mendoza
BD Wong received the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World, Clarence Derwent, and Tony Awards for his Broadway debut in M. Butterfly-an unprecedented achievement. His television credits include “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “All-American Girl,” “Oz,” “And the Band Played On,” and “Awake”. On film, Wong can be seen in Jurassic Park, The Freshman, Father of the Bride, Seven Years in Tibet, Executive Decision, The Salton Sea, Stay, and Mulan. On Broadway, Wong has performed in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Pacific Overtures. Regional theater credits include, Herringbone (Williamstown Theatre Festival, McCarter Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse). Upcoming projects include Focus (Warner Bros.), “The Normal Heart” (HBO), and Jurassic World (Universal). He is also the author of the critically acclaimed memoir “Following Foo…” (Harper Entertainment). Wong is a San Francisco native.

Carey Perloff is celebrating her 21st year as artistic director of A.C.T., and is known for championing innovative productions of classics and new writing for the theater. Perloff has directed a wide range of work at A.C.T., most recently including Elektra, Endgame and Play, Scorched, The Homecoming, Tosca Cafe (cocreated with Val Caniparoli and recently toured Canada), A.C.T.-commissioned translations/adaptations of Hecuba, The Misanthrope, and her own play The Colossus of Rhodes (Susan Smith Blackburn Award finalist). Her latest play, Higher, won the 2011 Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation Theatre Visions Fund Award and received its world premiere in 2012. Before joining A.C.T., Perloff was artistic director of Classic Stage Company in New York, which won numerous OBIE awards under her leadership. A recipient of the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the National Corporate Theatre Fund’s 2007 Artistic Achievement Award, Perloff received a B.A. Phi Beta Kappa in classics and comparative literature from Stanford University and was a Fulbright Fellow at Oxford. She will provide oversight and input throughout the project, disseminate the research findings to the theater community at large, organize the final convening, and formulate and oversee implementation for any next steps identified by the research.

The creative team for The Orphan of Zhao includes scenic designer Daniel Ostling (Major Barbara and Stuck Elevator at A.C.T.), costume designer Linda Cho (2014 Tony Award nominee for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder; Two Gentlemen of Verona at The Old Globe), lighting designer Lap Chi Chu (Romeo and Juliet at California Shakespeare Theater; Other Desert Cities at the Mark Taper Forum), sound designer Jake Rodriguez (Rock ‘N’ Roll and Blackbird at A.C.T.), composer Byron Au Yong (Stuck Elevator at A.C.T.), with movement by Stephen Buescher (Head of Movement and Physical Theater at A.C.T.’s M.F.A. Program).

A.C.T. will offer numerous InterACT events—many of which are presented free of charge—in association with The Suit that will give patrons opportunities to get closer to the action while making a whole night out of their evening at the theater. Visit act-sf.org/interact to learn more about subscribing to these events throughout the season:

      • Bike to the Theater Night Wed., June 4
      • Prologue: Tue., June 10, 5:30 p.m. Get inside the artistic process at this lively preshow discussion with A.C.T. artistic staff.
      • Theater on the Couch: Fri., June 13, following the 8 p.m. performance Led by Dr. Mason Turner, chief of psychiatry at San Francisco’s Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, this exciting postshow discussion series explores the minds, motives, and behaviors of the characters and addresses audience questions.
      • Audience Exchanges:Tue., June 17, 7 p.m. | Sun., June 22, 2 p.m. | Wed., June 25, 2 p.m. After the show, stick around for a lively Q&A session with the actors and artists who create the work onstage.
      • OUT with A.C.T.:
        Wed., June 18, following the 8 p.m. performance
        The best LGBT night in town! Mingle with the cast and enjoy free drinks and treats at this popular afterparty.
      • Symposium:Saturday, June 21, 2 p.m. You’re invited to join us after the show for a lively discussion! A.C.T. invites you to join us in the theater immediately following your performance for a discussion and Q&A with a local expert. The discussion will be moderated by A.C.T. dramaturg Michael Paller. Can’t make it to the event? We’ll be streaming it live online!
      • Wine Series:Tue., June 24, 7 p.m.
      • PlayTime: Sat., June 28, 12:30 p.m.

The Orphan of Zhao is a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, CA, with performances, July 8-August 3, 2014.

A.C.T.’s production of The Orphan of Zhao is sponsored by BNY Mellon Wealth Management, National Endowment for the Arts, and United Airlines. The Orphan of Zhao is made possible by executive producers Jo S. Hurley; Jack and Susy Wadsworth; Nola Yee; producers Marcia and Jim Levy; Robina and John Riccitiello; Dr. and Mrs. Gideon Sorokin; Laney and Pasha Thornton; Aaron Vermut and Adriana Lopez Vermut; and associate producers Richard Davis and Bill Lowell; Marcia and Geoffrey Green; Betty Hoener; Sue Yung Li and Dale Ikeda; Merrill Randol Sherwin; Beverly and Loring Wyllie; with additional support by Hafner Vineyard; Pause Wine Bar; and Piazza Market Catering.A.C.T. would like to acknowledge its 2013–14 company sponsors Frannie Fleishhacker; Priscilla and Keith Geeslin; Mr. and Mrs. John Goldman; Ambassador James C. Hormel and Michael P. Nguyen; Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston, The Shenson Foundation; Burt and Deedee McMurtry; Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock; Patti and Rusty Rueff; Ms. Kathleen Scutchfield; Mary and Steven Swig; Jeff and Laurie Ubben.

A.C.T. subscribers enjoy incredible savings, unparalleled access, exclusive benefits, and personalized customer service. Subscribers save as much as 33 percent off single-ticket prices. Full-time students, educators, and administrators with valid ID save up to 50 percent off select packages. Senior discounts are available for certain series. A.C.T.’s competitive subscriber benefits include free ticket exchanges up to the day of scheduled tickets, priority seating, ticket insurance, access to convenient prepaid parking one block away from the theater, and discounts for neighborhood restaurants. http://www.act-sf.org/subscribe 415.749.2250.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below
Jun. 4-29: Tony Award–winner BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More Set for A.C.T.’s U.S. Premiere of Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse 
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein 
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
June 5-7: National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder Leads 2014 Tony Award Nominations; Bryan Cranston, LaTanya Richardson, Mark Rylance, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Leigh Silverman among nominees
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang Receives $275,000 Doris Duke Artist Award
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
Asia Flores Debuts Royal72Co Fashion Line at Pa’ina Lounge
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
Miss Saigon’s Francis Jue Receives Elliot Norton Award Nomination for Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actor
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
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
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Photos: Backstage with Michi Barall and the cast of Regina Taylor’s stop.reset. at Signature Theatre
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
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
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Other articles on BD Wong:
Jun. 4-29: Tony Award–winner BD Wong Leads Cast of A.C.T.’s U.S. Premiere of Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse
May 19: The Orphan of Zhao’s BD Wong and A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff in Conversation at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater
In Rehearsal with BD Wong at Dixon Place for Live Concert Recording of Herringbone
BD Wong Creates Kickstarter Campaign for his Live Concert Recording of HERRINGBONE, to be performed May 21-22 as a Benefit for Dixon Place
BD Wong to Star in Live Concert Recording of HERRINGBONE for Two Nights Only as a Benefit for Dixon Place, May 21-22
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Oskar Eustis, BD Wong, Brian d’Arcy James, Francis Jue, Jennifer Lim and Leigh Silverman at WNYC’s The Greene Space
Photos: BD Wong, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Brandon Victor Dixon, Tom Viola at “Passing It On: An Evening of Mentorship to Benefit Rosie’s Theater Kids”
Photos: BD Wong in Rehearsal for “Passing It On: An Evening of Mentorship to Benefit Rosie’s Theater Kids”
The SFIAAFF30 Kicks Off with World Premiere of White Frog Featuring Booboo Stewart, Harry Shum, Jr., Joan Chen, Kelly Hu and BD Wong, at the Castro Theater on March 8
Tony award-winning actor BD Wong stars in NBC’s Awake; video preview and interview
Cindy Cheung Debuts SPEAK UP CONNIE…Her Solo Show, directed by BD Wong at Stage Left Studio, January 17-25, 2012
Extended through 8/23- “In Rehearsal” Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at Library of Congress Featuring Robert Lee and Leon Ko’s Heading East Starring BD Wong, Thom Sesma as Scar in The Lion King Las Vegas
OCA Awards Gala Photos: David Henry Hwang, Tamlyn Tomita, BD Wong, Dr. Bobby Fong & Tammy Duckworth
Dr. Bobby Fong, BD Wong and Tammy Duckworth to Receive Awards at National OCA Convention in NY on 8/6
Photo Preview of BD Wong and the Cast of Heading East at the Asia Society, 5/24-26
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Multimedia: BD Wong, Anastasia Barzee, Clarke Thorell, Cindy Cheung and Orville Mendoza at Rattlestick Playwrights Theaters’ Musical Mix ‘n’ Mingle
BD Wong, Anastasia Barzee, Cindy Cheung and Orville Mendoza in Rattlestick’s Musical Mix ‘n’ Mingle
BD Wong Stars in the La Jolla Playhouse Production of Herringbone, August 1-30
David Henry Hwang, Kathryn Layng and BD Wong at the Asian American Writers Workshop Literary Awards

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia made her jazz vocalist debut in Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz “LADY” at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York. All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2014 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com


June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein

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(from left) Richard Thomas stars as Iago, Blair Underwood as Othello, and Kristen Connolly as Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello, directed by Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, June 22 - July 27, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.

(from left) Richard Thomas stars as Iago, Blair Underwood as Othello, and Kristen Connolly as Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello, directed by Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, June 22 – July 27, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.

Blair Underwood leads the cast in the title role of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Othello, the first show in the Old Globe’s 2014 Summer Shakespeare Festival, and stars alongside Richard Thomas as Iago, and Kristen Connolly as Desdemona.  Performances run June 22 – July 27, with Opening Night on Saturday, June 28 at 8:00 p.m. Subscription tickets to the Globe’s 2014 Summer Season range from $92 to $332. Single tickets start at $29. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

Directed by Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, the cast also features Broadway and Globe veterans Noah Bean (Michael Cassio; Yellow Face, “Damages”), Jonny Orsini(Roderigo; The Nance), Mark Pinter (The Duke of Venice; the Globe’s Hamlet and Charley’s Aunt), Angela Reed (Emilia;Rock ‘n’ Roll, the Globe’s August: Osage County), and Mike Sears (Brabantio, Gratiano; La Jolla Playhouse’s Sideways and His Girl Friday).  Joining them are Old Globe/USD M.F.A. Program actors Erin Elizabeth Adams (Bianca), Meaghan Boeing (Ensemble),Lindsay Brill (Ensemble), Charlotte Bydwell (Ensemble), Lowell Byers (Ensemble), Jamal Douglas (Othello’s Aide-de-Camp), Adam Gerber (Ensemble), Kushtrim Hoxha (Montano), Stephen Hu (Ensemble), Tyler Kent (Ensemble),Robbie Simpson (Ensemble), Megan M. Storti (Ensemble), and Patrick Zeller (Lodovico).

The cast of Othello: (back row, from left) Robbie Simpson, Stephen Hu, Mike Sears, Jonny Orsini, Megan M. Storti, Mark Pinter, Noah Bean, Patrick Zeller, Adam Gerber, and Kushtrim Hoxha; (middle row) Lowell Byers, Charlotte Bydwell, Richard Thomas, Blair Underwood, Kristen Connolly, Angela Reed, and Jamal Douglas; (front row) Meaghan Boeing, Erin Elizabeth Adams, Lindsay Brill, and Tyler Kent. Shakespeare's Othello, directed by Old Globe Artistic director Barry Edelstein, runs June 22 - July 27, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.

The cast of Othello: (back row, from left) Robbie Simpson, Stephen Hu, Mike Sears, Jonny Orsini, Megan M. Storti, Mark Pinter, Noah Bean, Patrick Zeller, Adam Gerber, and Kushtrim Hoxha; (middle row) Lowell Byers, Charlotte Bydwell, Richard Thomas, Blair Underwood, Kristen Connolly, Angela Reed, and Jamal Douglas; (front row) Meaghan Boeing, Erin Elizabeth Adams, Lindsay Brill, and Tyler Kent. Shakespeare’s Othello, directed by Old Globe Artistic director Barry Edelstein, runs June 22 – July 27, 2014 at The Old Globe. Photo by Jim Cox.

The creative team includes Wilson Chin (Scenic Design), Katherine Roth (Costume Design), Stephen Strawbridge(Lighting Design), Acme Sound Partners with Jason Crystal (Sound Design), Curtis Moore (Original Music), Ryan Nestor (Music Director), Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum (Fight Director), Ursula Meyer (Voice and Text Coach), Tara Rubin Casting (Casting), and Leila Knox (Stage Manager).

Two-time Golden Globe Award nominee Underwood most recently made his acclaimed Broadway debut in the iconic role of Stanley in Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire and garnered rave reviews opposite Cicely Tyson in Lifetime’s The Trip to Bountiful Also making their Globe debuts are Emmy Award winner Thomas (“The Americans,” “The Waltons”) and Connolly (“House of Cards,” The Cabin in the Woods). No stranger to the Bard, Underwood starred in Measure for Measurefor the 1993 summer season at the New York Shakespeare Festival (aka Shakespeare in the Park). Thomas and Connolly continue collaborations with Edelstein that began in New York: Thomas starred in Edelstein’s critically acclaimed production of Timon of Athens at The Public Theater in 2011, and Connolly in three Shakespeare plays that Edelstein helped produce at The Public. All three actors are making their Old Globe debuts.

From New York’s Shakespeare in the Park to Balboa Park, Artistic Director Barry Edelstein makes his outdoor directorial debut in The Old Globe’s Lowell Davies Festival Theatre with one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. Despite the prejudices in Venice, the brilliant general Othello excels both on the battlefield and in the halls of state. But when he marries Desdemona, his envious lieutenant Iago sets in motion a diabolical plan to destroy him. Edelstein gives us a riveting, intense, and intimate production where poetry soars and swords clash, where true love and wrenching jealousy collide.

“The gifted actors who have assembled for Othello this summer make the case for the Globe’s preeminence among American Shakespeare theatres,” said Edelstein. “This talented company, led by Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas, and Kristen Connolly, grace our stage with their skills and imagination, and it’s my honor both to direct them and also to welcome them to San Diego.”

 Blair Underwood. Photo courtesy of The Old Globe.

Blair Underwood. Photo courtesy of The Old Globe.

Blair Underwood (Othello) is an award-winning actor/writer/director/producer. Underwood has received two Golden Globe Award nominations, 10 NAACP Image Award nominations (six wins), and was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for former Vice President Al Gore’s album An Inconvenient Truth. His theatre credits include the recent Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire, which garnered him a 2012 Drama League Distinguished Performance Award nomination; his one-man show IM4: From the Mountaintop to Hip Hop; and Purlie, New York Shakespeare Festival’s Measure for MeasureThe Game of Love and Chance, and Love Letters. His television credits include “Ironside,” The Trip to Bountiful, “The Event,” “In Treatment,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” “Sex and the City,” Mama Flora’s Family, Murder in Mississippi, Soul of the Game, “City of Angels,” The Wishing Tree, andHeat Wave. His film credits include The Art of Getting By, Madea’s Family Reunion, Something New, Full Frontal, Rules of Engagement, Deep Impact, Just Cause, Posse, Set It Off, The Second Coming (director, executive producer, writer, and star), and The Bridge to Nowhere (directorial debut). He is the co-founder of Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA). In 2009, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation opened the Blair Underwood Clinic, a full-service, state-of-the art HIV/AIDS treatment clinic in Washington, D.C. The clinic was named after him due to his longtime charity advocacy.

Richard Thomas. Photo by Lia Chang

Richard Thomas. Photo by Lia Chang

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

Kristen Connolly. Photo courtesy of The Old Globe.

Kristen Connolly. Photo courtesy of The Old Globe.

Kristen Connolly (Desdemona) is making her Globe debut, having worked with Barry Edelstein on King Lear, All’s Well That Ends Well, and Measure for Measure, all at The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. She most recently completed work on the History Channel miniseries Houdini opposite Adrien Brody and is best known for playing Christina Gallagher on Netflix’s series “House of Cards.” Her other film credits include The Cabin in the WoodsThe BayThe HappeningRevolutionary RoadCertainty, and the soon-to-be-released A Good Marriage, written by Stephen King. Her television credits include “Nurse Jackie,” “The Good Wife,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Mercy,” and the web series “iChannel.”

Othello is supported in part through gifts from Qualcomm, Joan and Irwin Jacobs, Ann Davies, Brian and Silvija Devine, Nina and Robert Doede, and Pamela Farr and Buford Alexander. Additional support is provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. Photo by Joseph Moran.

Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. Photo by Joseph Moran.

Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein (Director) is a stage director, producer, author, and educator. Widely recognized as one of the leading authorities on the works of Shakespeare in the United States, he has directed nearly half of the Bard’s works. He recently made his Globe directorial debut with Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale starring Billy Campbell, the first Shakespeare to be staged in our indoor theatre in over a decade. As Director of the Shakespeare Initiative at The Public Theater (2008-2012), he oversaw all of the company’s Shakespearean productions, as well as its extensive educational, community outreach, and artist-training programs. At The Public, Edelstein staged Julius Caesar starring Jeffrey Wright for Shakespeare in the Park and The Merchant of Venice featuring Ron Leibman’s Obie Award-winning portrayal of Shylock. He was also Associate Producer of The Public’s Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino. From 1998-2003 he was Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company, where he produced and directed some of New York’s most memorable classical productions. Edelstein’s Shakespearean directorial credits include The Winter’s Tale with David Strathairn, Timon of Athenswith Richard Thomas, As You Like It with Gwyneth Paltrow, and Richard III with John Turturro. His additional credits include the Lucille Lortel Award-winning revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons; the world premiere of Steve Martin’s The Underpants, which he commissioned; Molière’s The Misanthrope starring Uma Thurman in her stage debut; and the world premiere of novelist Nathan Englander’s play The Twenty-Seventh Man. Edelstein has taught Shakespearean acting at The Juilliard School, NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, and the University of Southern California. His book Thinking Shakespeare (called by New York magazine “a must-read for actors”) was published in 2007 and is now the standard text on American Shakespearean acting. He is also the author of Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions.

SEASON SUBSCRIPTIONS offer substantial savings with special subscriber benefits. Subscriptions can be purchased online at http://www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE [234-5623], or by visiting the box office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Subscriptions to the Globe’s 2014 Summer Season range from $92 to $332. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and younger, seniors, and groups of 10 or more.

Presented in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, the Old Globe 2014 Shakespeare Festival also includes Shakespeare’s comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona, directed by Globe alumnus and Tony Award nominee Mark Lamos (Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Pentecost, Resurrection Blues). The Summer Season will also feature Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning musical Into the Woods, which made its World Premiere at The Old Globe in 1986, in an inventive reimagining by Fiasco Theater, directed by Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld, in a production that originated at McCarter Theatre Center. Rounding out the season is Ronald Harwood’s comedy Quartet, directed by Richard Seer. Into the Woods will run on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre and Quartet in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

Additional events taking place during the run of Othello include:

INSIGHTS SEMINAR: Othello
Monday, June 23 at 7:00 p.m. 
The seminar series features a panel selected from the current show. Reception at 6:30 p.m. FREE

POST-SHOW FORUMS: Othello 
Tuesdays, July 1 and July 8 and Wednesday, July 2. 
Discuss the play with members of the cast and crew following the performance. FREE

SHAKESPEARE IN THE GARDEN: Othello
Wednesday, July 2, Friday, July 11, Tuesdays, July 15, Saturday July 19, Thursday, July 24. 
Short lectures presented by members of the artistic team reveal fascinating insights about the play and the production. Shakespeare in the Garden lectures are presented at 7:00 p.m. in the Craig Noel Garden. FREE

DON’T MISS: Emmy Award-winning actor Richard Thomas (Iago) stars in A Distant Country Called Youth, an intimate look at the making of an artist—Tennessee Williams. One night only, Monday, June 9 at 7:00 p.m. on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Spanning Tennessee Williams’s life from his seminal younger years in St. Louis to the successful Broadway opening of The Glass Menagerie more than 20 years later, this one-man show weaves together elements from his extraordinary life, tormented family relationships, distant travels, casual lovers, and career ups and downs. A Distant Country Called Youth was adapted by Steve Lawson from The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams, Volume I: 1920-1945, edited by Albert J. Devlin and Nancy M. Tischler, published by New Directions, and presented by special arrangement with Samuel French Inc.

LOCATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego’s Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available during performances ($10). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org.

A REMINDER: Balboa Park’s 100-year-old Cabrillo Bridge, which provides access to Laurel Street and the west side of the Park, will be closed to automobiles and vehicular traffic through June during Caltrans’s seismic retrofitting process. The bridge will remain accessible to pedestrians and bicycles, so patrons could arrive a bit earlier and enjoy the short walk across the iconic bridge towards Plaza de Panama and the historic views of the California Tower and Dome. To access The Old Globe during this repair period, vehicle traffic should enter Balboa Park from the east via Park Boulevard and President’s Way. The Organ Pavilion, Alcazar Garden, and Hall of Champions lots all offer ample parking, and a lovely short walk through the Park. Guests may also be dropped off in front of the Mingei International Museum. The Balboa Park valet is located in front of the Japanese Friendship Garden. For directions and up-to-date information, please visit www.TheOldGlobe.org/Directions.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country’s leading professional regional theatres and has stood as San Diego’s flagship arts institution for over 75 years. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Michael G. Murphy, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 14 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theatre’s education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and MurderThe Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair, and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.

Other articles on Othello:
Jun. 22 – July 27: Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Set for Old Globe Debut in OTHELLO
utsandiego.com: Globe taps Richard Thomas for ‘Othello’
broadwayworld.com: Richard Thomas & Kristen Connolly Set for The Old Globe’s OTHELLO
sandiegocountynews.com: Richard Thomas Debut In Old Globe’s Othello
timesofsandiego.com: Old Globe Announces Stars of Othello to Kick Off Summer Shakespeare Festival

Other articles on Richard Thomas:
Mar. 21-May 4: Richard Thomas, Ron Rifkin, Hallie Foote and Khaled Nabaway Set for Arena Stage’s World Premiere of Lawrence Wright’s Camp David
Mar. 21 – May 4: Arena Stage Presents World Premiere of Lawrence Wright’s Camp David Starring Tony Award winner Ron Rifkin and Emmy Award winner Richard Thomas
MTC’s An Enemy of The People Starring Boyd Gaines and Richard Thomas Begin Previews at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Richard Thomas and Boyd Gaines to star in An Enemy of the People at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre during Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2012-2013 Season
Tony Award – winning Playwright Terrence McNally to be Honored at Westport Country Playhouse Annual Gala, September 24, 2012
Photos: Highlights of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan (3pm) with Andre Bishop, Mary Beth Hurt, Jennifer Lim, Angela Lin, Philip Kan Gotanda, Thom Sesma, Sab Shimono, Richard Thomas, Jay O. Sanders, and more
Photos: Highlights of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan (8pm) with Oskar Eustis, Patti LuPone, Lisa Emery, Ann Harada, Paolo Montalban, Thom Sesma, Sab Shimono, Henry Stram, Richard Thomas, John Weidman and more
Photos: In Rehearsal with Director Bartlett Sher and the cast of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Jun. 4-29: Tony Award–winner BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More Set for A.C.T.’s U.S. Premiere of Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse 
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below 
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
June 5-7: National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder Leads 2014 Tony Award Nominations; Bryan Cranston, LaTanya Richardson, Neil Patrick Harris, Mark Rylance, Audra McDonald, Leigh Silverman among nominees
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
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
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph 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
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 
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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


Jun. 4: Meet Forbidden City, USA’s Author and Filmmaker Arthur Dong in L.A. Chinatown

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FC Book front coverlr

Chinese Historical Society of Southern California is presenting a book talk and signing with award-winning writer/filmmaker Arthur Dong, who will introduce his new book, Forbidden City, USA, on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 at 7 p.m., in LA Chinatown at Castelar Elementary School, 840 Yale St., Los Angeles 90012. (Free Parking – enter schoolyard lot via College Street)

Event Special: Free DVD with each book sale. Refreshments will be served.

Forbidden City, USA captures the magic and glamour of the Chinese American nightclub scene, which peaked in San Francisco during World War II. Previously unpublished personal stories, along with over four hundred stunning images and rare artifacts, are presented in this sexy and insightful chronicle of Asian American performers who defied racial and cultural barriers to pursue their showbiz dreams.

It was the mid-1930s: Prohibition was repealed and the Great Depression was waning. With a global conflict on the rise, people were out to drink, dine, dance, and see a show to forget their woes—and what a surprise for the world to behold an emerging generation of Chinese American entertainers commanding the stage in their own nightclubs. Forbidden City, USA reveals the sassy, daring, and sometimes heartbreaking memories of the dancers, singers, and producers who lived this story, and it weaves in a fascinating collection of photos, postcards, menus, programs, and yes, even souvenir chopsticks. Together they recreate a forgotten era, treating readers to a dazzling night on the town.

Forbidden City, USA is the culmination of filmmaker and writer Arthur Dong’s nearly thirty-year devotion to the topic, originally inspired by the author’s research for his documentary of the same name.
More info: www.forbiddencitybook.com.

These are t-shirts that were made during the release of the documentary "Forbidden City, USA." There're only a handful left and they'll be door prizes at the June 4 book talk in L.A. Chinatown.

These are t-shirts that were made during the release of the documentary “Forbidden City, USA.” There’re only a handful left and they’ll be door prizes at the June 4 book talk in L.A. Chinatown.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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 Arthur Dong:
STORIES FROM CHINESE AMERICA: The Arthur Dong Collection, Vol. 2 as 4 disc DVD Box Set, Parties in LA (11/6) and SF (11/13)
Hollywood Chinese: The Arthur Dong Collection Exhibition at the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, has been extended through November 7, 2010
Multimedia: George Takei, Nancy Kwan, Lisa Lu and Tsai Chin attend Hollywood Chinese: The Arthur Dong Collection Exhibition Opening Night
The Chinese American Museum partners with Academy award nominated filmmaker Arthur Dong on a groundbreaking exhibition about Hollywood’s forgotten past
In Arthur Dong’s Hollywood Chinese, Chinese Tinseltown Tales told by Asian Silver Screen Icons

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Fred Korematsu, American Hero and Civil Rights Activist Dies at 86
Crafting a Career
Photos: The George Gee Swing Orchestra at SWING46; Launches Indiegogo Campaign for New CD, Swing Makes You Happy
Jun. 4-29: Tony Award–winner BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More Set for A.C.T.’s U.S. Premiere of Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse 
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below 
June 5-7: National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More 
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
Asia Flores Debuts Royal72Co Fashion Line at Pa’ina Lounge
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
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  Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder Leads 2014 Tony Award Nominations; Bryan Cranston, LaTanya Richardson, Neil Patrick Harris, Mark Rylance, Audra McDonald, Leigh Silverman among nominees Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

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


Second Stage Uptown: 2g Presents Readings of Anna Moench’s Three Kingdoms on 6/9 and Sung Rno and Aaron Jones’ Galois on 6/16

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Victor Maog, 2g artistic director and Jane Jung, 2g managing director at The Steinberg Awards at Lincoln Center in New York on November 18, 2013. Photo by Lia Chang

Victor Maog, 2g Artistic Director and Jane Jung, 2g Managing Director, at The Steinberg Awards at Lincoln Center in New York on November 18, 2013. Photo by Lia Chang

Second Generation Productions (2g), a pioneering incubator and producer of Asian American theater, is launching the Second Stage Residency Series at Second Stage Uptown (Christopher Burney, Curator) with readings of 2g’s commissions by Anna Moench and Sung Rno & Aaron Jones on June 9 & 16 at 7:00pm, Second Stage Uptown – McGinn Cazale Theater – 2162 Broadway at 76th Street in New York.

The Second Stage Residency Series at Second Stage Uptown has been created to support the rich diversity of New York City’s emerging theatrical companies and provide them with a platform to bring their work to new audiences. “Victor Maog is a former Van Lier Directing Fellow at Second Stage Theatre, and it is a natural fit to start this series with 2g,” said Christopher Burney, Curator of Second Stage Uptown. “I look forward to many summers showcasing the work of New York’s most adventurous young companies and introducing wider audiences to these inventive artists.”

2g Artistic Director Victor Maog states, “Second Stage Theatre, Artistic Director Carole Rothman, and Curator Chris Burney gave birth to my NYC directing career and this is just another example of their advocacy for excellence and inclusion in the city. We’re honored to be the inaugural company to help expand the scope of what stories can be told on a major stage.”

Three Kingdoms
By Anna Moench
Directed by Victor Maog
Monday, June 9th at 7pm

It’s summer in the suburbs, and Wendy’s father, Han, is arriving on a flight from China. After 40 years of no contact, they have a lot of catching up to do–Wendy has a happy family, a lovely home, and is living the American Dream. But when he arrives, everyone quickly realizes that picking up where they left off won’t be easy. A multigenerational drama about the complexities of the Asian American experience. The reading of Three Kingdoms features Jennifer Lim, Grant Shaud, Les Mau, Wai Ching Ho, Kailey Bray, Jeffrey Omura, and Nick Lehane.

Galois
By Sung Rno and Aaron Jones
Directed by Victor Maog
Monday, June 16th at 7pm

A rock-mathematical-musical expression of the chaotic, brilliant, and all too brief life of Evariste Galois, who discovered a branch of mathematics as a precocious teenager, yet died in 1830′s revolutionary Paris at 21 in a duel over a woman’s love.

Free, RSVP here www.brownpapertickets.com/event/702442

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder Leads 2014 Tony Award Nominations; Bryan Cranston, LaTanya Richardson, Neil Patrick Harris, Mark Rylance, Audra McDonald, Leigh Silverman among nominees Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014
Jun. 4-29: Tony Award–winner BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More Set for A.C.T.’s U.S. Premiere of Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company
June 5-7: National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
May 20: George Gee Swing Orchestra CD – “Swing Makes You Happy!” Party at Swing 46 Jazz & Supper Club
Photos: The George Gee Swing Orchestra at SWING46; Launches Indiegogo Campaign for New CD, Swing Makes You Happy
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
Asia Flores Debuts Royal72Co Fashion Line at Pa’ina Lounge
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
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
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Fred Korematsu, American Hero and Civil Rights Activist Dies at 86
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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


Jun. 16: Project1Voice & NBLCA Presents Staged Reading of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf Featuring Trazana Beverley, LaChanze, Adriane Lenox, Tonya Pinkins, Lillias White, Denise Burse Fernandez, Marva Hicks, Roslyn Ruff and More

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Project1VOICE is presenting FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF by Ntozake Shange in partnership with the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. (NBLCA) on Monday, June 16, 2014 at the Harlem Hospital Pavilion at 506 Lenox Ave./Malcolm X Boulevard in New York City. The fourth annual 1VOICE/1PLAY/1DAY event celebrates what it means to be female in the 21st century, with a focus on empowering women and girls.

This international experience, which includes over 30 black theaters and diverse institutions throughout the world, will feature readings by prominent actors and local enthusiasts. Project1VOICE and NBLCA will present the flagship production in New York City, showcasing a star-studded cast under the direction of renowned actor and director Seret Scott. Actors participating in the NYC reading include Tony Award-winners Trazana Beverley, LaChanze, Adriane Lenox, Tonya Pinkins, Lillias White. Also featured are Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Brenda Braxton, Denise Burse Fernandez, Lori Carlos, Hope Clark, Caroline Clay, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Elain Graham, Allison Williams Foster, Harriett D Foy, Marva Hicks, Janet League-Katzin, Barbara Montgomery, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Flor de Liz Perez, Stephanie Pope, Michele Shay, Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Angela Robinson-Whitehurst, Roslyn Ruff, Flo Wiley, Michelle Wilson. The reading will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by author, journalist, and blogger Demetria Lucas, with author Terrie Williams, author and HIV activist Dawn Breedon, and HIV and health advocate Dr. Aletha Maybank.

For a complete list of participating theaters, visit www.project1VOICE.orgTickets are $75, including a VIP reception with the cast and playwright. Tickets can be purchased at www.nblca.org.

2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the stage debut of FOR COLORED GIRLS… The seminal work of American literature uniquely combines poetry, dance and music—placing the African American female’s experience in America unapologetically at center stage. The Tony and Obie Award-winning play is a compilation of 20 poems, collectively called a “choreopoem.” Shange’s poetry expresses the struggles and obstacles that all women may face in their lives. It is performed by a cast of seven women characters, each of whom is only known by a color, such as Lady in Red. The women in the play learn to celebrate their beauty, their friendships, their scars, their successes, and their connection to something larger and divine. With vivid, lyrical language—specific in its pain and universal in its reach—FOR COLORED GIRLS… evokes feelings that continue to excite, inspire, and transform audiences around the world, four decades after becoming a Broadway sensation.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Project1VOICE on this production of Shange’s , with such an impressive group of actors and partners,” said C. Virginia Fields, President and CEO of NBLCA. “The play continues to speak to the most challenging issues facing women; it is an important reminder in our continued fight against HIV and other health disparities and social barriers that have a disproportionate impact on women of color. FOR COLORED GIRLS… inspires us, celebrates women, and honors those who are committed to advancing social change.”

“The FOR COLORED GIRLS… Initiative celebrates and honors womanhood. This is a movement that seeks to empower, and to encourage good mental and physical health care practices among women and girls using art as the catalyst for ongoing conversations to ignite change,” said Project1VOICE Founder and CEO Erich McMillan-McCall. “This initiative is inspired by my mother—all mothers; what better way to celebrate and honor womanhood. Together, Project1VOICE with NBLCA and all our partners internationally will educate, enlighten, entertain, and save lives!”

Project1VOICE, in partnership with NBLCA, will use the staged readings of FOR COLORED GIRLS… to expand the conversation about the well-being of women and girls. For more information about 1VOICE/1PLAY/1DAY and other programs and events offered by Project1VOICE, visit www.project1VOICE.org. To find out more about the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc., visit www.nblca.org.

About FOR COLORED GIRLS…
Playwright Ntozake Shange (née Paulette Williams) attended Barnard College and UCLA, earning both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in American Studies. Her work as an educator, performer/director and writer draws heavily on her experiences of being a black female in America. Best known for her play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, other plays by Shange include A Photograph: A Study of Cruelty, Boogie Woogie Landscapes, Spell No. 7 and Black and White Two Dimensional Planes.

About Project1VOICE (Producer)
Founded by actor/producer Erich McMillan-McCall, Project1VOICE is a national organization whose mission is to strengthen and promote African American theater and playwrights through its innovative initiatives and approaches to audience development, volunteerism and community engagement, as well as fundraising. Project1VOICE focuses attention on the challenges confronting African American theaters and assists in providing solutions for sustainability and long-term institutional growth with programs that educate, enlighten and entertain. Project1VOICE seeks to preserve the legacy of African American theater and cultivate future generations of artists and arts patrons. What began as a grassroots organization for survival in response to the economic downturn of 2008-09 soon developed into a national initiative.

Celebrating its 4th successful year, Project1VOICE is an evolving and continuing voice for American theater. Key members of the Project1VOICE team are producer/production manager Gwen Gilliam, award-winning playwright and MOTOWN: The Musical director Charles Randolph-Wright and marketing consultant/producer Marcia Pendelton (Walk Tall Girl Productions). FOR COLORED GIRLS… is made possible with special permission granted by Samuel French.

About the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. (Producer)
The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. (NBLCA), founded in 1987, is the oldest and largest national non-profit organization of its kind in the United States. NBLCA’s mission is to educate, mobilize, and empower African American leaders to meet the challenge of fighting HIV/AIDS and other health disparities in their local communities through advocacy and policy; capacity-building; technical assistance; awareness; testing and screening; and linkage to care. www.nblca.org

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Second Stage Uptown: 2g Presents Readings of Anna Moench’s Three Kingdoms on 6/9 and Sung Rno and Aaron Jones’ Galois on 6/16 
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July 
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014 
Jun. 16: Project1Voice & NBLCA Presents Staged Reading of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf Featuring Trazana Beverley, LaChanze, Adriane Lenox, Tonya Pinkins, Lillias White, Denise Burse Fernandez, Marva Hicks, Roslyn Ruff and More
June 13-14: Washington National Opera Presents Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
Francis Jue, Bryan Cranston, Olympia Dukakis, Paul Daigneault, All The Way, The Jungle Book, The Flick, Tribes, Hairspray Among 32nd Annual Elliot Norton Award Winners
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
Jun. 4-29: Tony Award–winner BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More Set for A.C.T.’s U.S. Premiere of Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse 
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein 
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below 
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan 
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
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 
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
Photos: Backstage with Michi Barall and the cast of Regina Taylor’s stop.reset. at Signature Theatre Febone1960.net Review: Power Play Powerful & Suspenseful 
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party 
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Other articles about Denise Burse:
Photos: Denise Burse, Michael Genet, Doug Eskew, Tracie Thoms, Sakina Ansari-Wilson and More Celebrate Marcus Gardley’s dance of the holy ghosts Opening Night at Center Stage
Center Stage Photo Preview: Denise Burse and Michael Genet in Marcus Gardley’s dance of the holy ghosts, Opens October 16, 2013
Oct. 9 – Nov. 17: Denise Burse and Michael Genet Star in Marcus Gardley’s dance of the holy ghosts at Center Stage
Photos: Denise Burse, Lizan Mitchell, Novella Nelson, Arthur French at Regina Taylor’s stop. reset with LaTanya Richardson Jackson at Signature
Denise Burse, Harriett D. Foy, Lynda Gravatt, Nikiya Mathis, Dennis Parlato, Saycon Sengbloh and Tracie Thoms in Marcus Gardley’s The House That Will Not Stand in 2012 Powerhouse Theater Season, July 20-22, 2012
Photos: Larry Bryggman, Denise Burse, Peter Jay Fernandez, Tim Hopper, Arliss Howard, Kobi Libii, Mary McCann, Neil Pepe, David Pittu, Steve Rosen, Sheila Tapia, Debra Winger at Atlantic Theatre’s Opening Night of Gabe McKinley’s CQ/CX
Denise Burse, Michael Early, Phillip James Brannon, Malesha Jessie & Ellen Mandel featured in HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANGSTON HUGHES at Cornelia Street Café
Denise Burse & Peter Jay Fernandez Featured in INTAR Reading of Andrew Dolan’s The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther King
Multimedia: The 52nd Street Project Benefit Photos: Michael Cerveris, James Monroe Inglehart, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Matthew Morrison, Greg Naughton and Kelli O’Hara
Michael Cerveris, Matthew Morrison & Kelli O’Hara sing for 52nd Street Project’s Benefit
Multimedia: Zooman and The Sign Opening Night Party
Slideshow – On October 16, 2005, The Virginia Theatre was renamed the August Wilson Theatre

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia made her jazz vocalist debut in Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz “LADY” at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York. All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2014 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com


A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More, Opens June 11

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Tony Award winner BD Wong stars as Cheng Ying in American Conservatory Theater’s production of 'The Orphan of Zhao'. Photo by Kevin Berne.

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

Tony Award–winner BD Wong is currently starring in the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.)’s  U.S. premiere of James Fenton’s acclaimed adaptation of The Orphan of Zhao, a classic Chinese legend that has its roots in the fourth century BCEat A.C.T.’s Geary Theater (415 Geary Street, San Francisco) through June 29, 2014. Press night is Wednesday, June 11, 2014. Tickets ($20–$120) are on sale now and may be purchased online at act-sf.org or by calling 415.749.2228.

Helmed by A.C.T.’s artistic director Carey Perloff, The Orphan of Zhao is an epic story of self-sacrifice and revenge. In the aftermath of a political coup, a country doctor is forced to sacrifice his own son in order to save the last heir of a noble and massacred clan. Often described as the Chinese Hamlet, this enduring tale was the first Chinese play to be translated in the West nearly 300 years ago and has inspired countless operas, plays, and movies. The Guardian praised Fenton’s adaptation as “haunting . . . [a] drama hewn out of a myth that speaks across the centuries,” and The Times of London called it “an emotionally piercing marvel.”

Cheng Ying (BD Wong), a country doctor is threatened by guards (Nick Gabriel) in American Conservatory Theater’s production of 'The Orphan of Zhao’. Photo by Kevin Berne. Cheng Ying (BD Wong), a country doctor, is summoned by the Princess (Marie-France Arcilla) to deliver her child in American Conservatory Theater’s production of 'The Orphan of Zhao' at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.
Says Perloff: “Discovering The Orphan of Zhao was incredibly eye-opening for me, an insight into a vivid moment in Chinese culture and an introduction to a major classic of suspense and sacrifice rarely seen in the Western theater. The Zhao story has been told in China for a millennium, most recently in a vivid Chinese film called Sacrifice. Its arrival on the Geary stage, starring BD Wong, continues our exploration of Chinese culture with a remarkable company of Asian American actors and theater artists, including Stuck Elevator composer Byron Au Yong who is composing the many songs and live musical interludes in the production. We hope our audiences will be as transported and surprised by this stunning piece of world theater as we were when we first encountered it.”

The Emperor (Paolo Montalban) stands atop his newly finished Crimson Cloud Tower in American Conservatory Theater’s production of 'The Orphan of Zhao' at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne. The aged Princess (Marie-France Arcilla) in American Conservatory Theater’s production of 'The Orphan of Zhao' at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.
The cast for The Orphan of Zhao includes Marie-France Arcilla (Stuck Elevator at A.C.T.; Working at Prospect Theater Company), Stan Egi (Golden Child off Broadway), Philip Estrera (third-year A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts student; A Christmas Carol at A.C.T.), Nick Gabriel (A.C.T. Resident Artist; Napoli! at A.C.T.), Cindy Im (Stuck Elevator and 4000 Miles at A.C.T.; The Snow Queen at San Jose Repertory Theatre), Orville Mendoza (Peter and the Starcatcher on Broadway; Miss Saigon National tour), Paolo Montalban (Pacific Overtures and The King and I on Broadway), Brian Rivera (Yellowjackets at Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Macbeth at Sacramento Shakespeare Festival), Sab Shimono (Pacific Overtures on Broadway; original cast member of Mame on Broadway), Julyana Soelistyo (Tony Award–nominee for Golden Child on Broadway), Daisuke Tsuji (King Lear at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Dralion by Cirque du Soleil), and BD Wong (M. Butterfly; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).

Gongsun Chujiu (Sab Shimono) in American Conservatory Theater’s production of 'The Orphan of Zhao' at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.

Gongsun Chujiu (Sab Shimono) in American Conservatory Theater’s production of ‘The Orphan of Zhao’ at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.

BD Wong received the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World, Clarence Derwent, and Tony Awards for his Broadway debut in M. Butterfly-an unprecedented achievement. His television credits include “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “All-American Girl,” “Oz,” “And the Band Played On,” and “Awake”. On film, Wong can be seen in Jurassic Park, The Freshman, Father of the Bride, Seven Years in Tibet, Executive Decision, The Salton Sea, Stay, and Mulan. On Broadway, Wong has performed in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Pacific Overtures. Regional theater credits include, Herringbone (Williamstown Theatre Festival, McCarter Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse). Upcoming projects include Focus (Warner Bros.), “The Normal Heart” (HBO), and Jurassic World (Universal). He is also the author of the critically acclaimed memoir “Following Foo…” (Harper Entertainment). Wong is a San Francisco native.

General Wei Jiang (Orville Mendoza), Gongsun Chujiu (Sab Shimono) and Zhao Dun (Nick Gabriel) in American Conservatory Theater’s production of The Orphan of Zhao at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.

General Wei Jiang (Orville Mendoza), Gongsun Chujiu (Sab Shimono) and Zhao Dun (Nick Gabriel) in American Conservatory Theater’s production of The Orphan of Zhao at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.

Carey Perloff is celebrating her 21st year as artistic director of A.C.T., and is known for championing innovative productions of classics and new writing for the theater. Perloff has directed a wide range of work at A.C.T., most recently including Elektra, Endgame and Play, Scorched, The Homecoming, Tosca Cafe (cocreated with Val Caniparoli and recently toured Canada), A.C.T.-commissioned translations/adaptations of Hecuba, The Misanthrope, and her own play The Colossus of Rhodes (Susan Smith Blackburn Award finalist). Her latest play, Higher, won the 2011 Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation Theatre Visions Fund Award and received its world premiere in 2012. Before joining A.C.T., Perloff was artistic director of Classic Stage Company in New York, which won numerous OBIE awards under her leadership. A recipient of the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the National Corporate Theatre Fund’s 2007 Artistic Achievement Award, Perloff received a B.A. Phi Beta Kappa in classics and comparative literature from Stanford University and was a Fulbright Fellow at Oxford. She will provide oversight and input throughout the project, disseminate the research findings to the theater community at large, organize the final convening, and formulate and oversee implementation for any next steps identified by the research.

Cheng Ying’s wife (Julyana Soelistyo) and the cast of American Conservatory Theater's production of 'The Orphan of Zhao' at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.

Cheng Ying’s wife (Julyana Soelistyo) and the cast of American Conservatory Theater’s production of ‘The Orphan of Zhao’ at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.

The creative team for The Orphan of Zhao includes scenic designer Daniel Ostling (Major Barbara and Stuck Elevator at A.C.T.), costume designer Linda Cho (2014 Tony Award winner for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder; Two Gentlemen of Verona at The Old Globe), lighting designer Lap Chi Chu (Romeo and Juliet at California Shakespeare Theater; Other Desert Cities at the Mark Taper Forum), sound designer Jake Rodriguez (Rock ‘N’ Roll and Blackbird at A.C.T.), composer Byron Au Yong (Stuck Elevator at A.C.T.), with movement by Stephen Buescher (Head of Movement and Physical Theater at A.C.T.’s M.F.A. Program).

Cheng Bo (Daisuke Tsuji) and the Palace Guards in American Conservatory Theater’s production of 'The Orphan of Zhao' at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.


Cheng Bo (Daisuke Tsuji) and the Palace Guards in American Conservatory Theater’s production of ‘The Orphan of Zhao’ at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.

A.C.T. will offer numerous InterACT events—many of which are presented free of charge—in association with The Suit that will give patrons opportunities to get closer to the action while making a whole night out of their evening at the theater. Visit act-sf.org/interact to learn more about subscribing to these events throughout the season:

      • Theater on the Couch: Fri., June 13, following the 8 p.m. performance Led by Dr. Mason Turner, chief of psychiatry at San Francisco’s Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, this exciting postshow discussion series explores the minds, motives, and behaviors of the characters and addresses audience questions.
      • Audience Exchanges:Tue., June 17, 7 p.m. | Sun., June 22, 2 p.m. | Wed., June 25, 2 p.m. After the show, stick around for a lively Q&A session with the actors and artists who create the work onstage.
      • OUT with A.C.T.:
        Wed., June 18, following the 8 p.m. performance
        The best LGBT night in town! Mingle with the cast and enjoy free drinks and treats at this popular afterparty.
      • Symposium:Saturday, June 21, 2 p.m. You’re invited to join us after the show for a lively discussion! A.C.T. invites you to join us in the theater immediately following your performance for a discussion and Q&A with a local expert. The discussion will be moderated by A.C.T. dramaturg Michael Paller. Can’t make it to the event? We’ll be streaming it live online!
      • Wine Series:Tue., June 24, 7 p.m.
      • PlayTime: Sat., June 28, 12:30 p.m.

The Orphan of Zhao is a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, CA, with performances, July 8-August 3, 2014.

From left: Daisuke Tsuji, Orville Mendoza, and Julyana Soelistyo in American Conservatory Theater's production of The Orphan of Zhao at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.


From left: Daisuke Tsuji, Orville Mendoza, and Julyana Soelistyo in American Conservatory Theater’s production of The Orphan of Zhao at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne.

A.C.T.’s production of The Orphan of Zhao is sponsored by BNY Mellon Wealth Management, National Endowment for the Arts, and United Airlines. The Orphan of Zhao is made possible by executive producers Jo S. Hurley; Jack and Susy Wadsworth; Nola Yee; producers Marcia and Jim Levy; Robina and John Riccitiello; Dr. and Mrs. Gideon Sorokin; Laney and Pasha Thornton; Aaron Vermut and Adriana Lopez Vermut; and associate producers Richard Davis and Bill Lowell; Marcia and Geoffrey Green; Betty Hoener; Sue Yung Li and Dale Ikeda; Merrill Randol Sherwin; Beverly and Loring Wyllie; with additional support by Hafner Vineyard; Pause Wine Bar; and Piazza Market Catering.A.C.T. would like to acknowledge its 2013–14 company sponsors Frannie Fleishhacker; Priscilla and Keith Geeslin; Mr. and Mrs. John Goldman; Ambassador James C. Hormel and Michael P. Nguyen; Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston, The Shenson Foundation; Burt and Deedee McMurtry; Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock; Patti and Rusty Rueff; Ms. Kathleen Scutchfield; Mary and Steven Swig; Jeff and Laurie Ubben.

A.C.T. subscribers enjoy incredible savings, unparalleled access, exclusive benefits, and personalized customer service. Subscribers save as much as 33 percent off single-ticket prices. Full-time students, educators, and administrators with valid ID save up to 50 percent off select packages. Senior discounts are available for certain series. A.C.T.’s competitive subscriber benefits include free ticket exchanges up to the day of scheduled tickets, priority seating, ticket insurance, access to convenient prepaid parking one block away from the theater, and discounts for neighborhood restaurants. http://www.act-sf.org/subscribe 415.749.2250.

Cheng Bo (Daisuke Tsuji) threatens Tu’an Gu (Stan Egi) in American Conservatory Theater’s production of 'The Orphan of Zhao'. Photo by Kevin Berne. Tu’an Gu (Stan Egi) trains the Demon Mastiff (Brian Rivera) in American Conservatory Theater’s production of 'The Orphan of Zhao' at The Geary Theater. Photo by Kevin Berne. Photo by Kevin Berne.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
July 31-Aug. 3: Drama Desk Nominee Joel de la Fuente stars in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths at ACT, Helmed by Lisa Rothe
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Jun. 16: Project1Voice & NBLCA Presents Staged Reading of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf Featuring Trazana Beverley, LaChanze, Adriane Lenox, Tonya Pinkins, Lillias White, Denise Burse Fernandez, Marva Hicks, Roslyn Ruff and More
June 13-14: Washington National Opera Presents Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder Leads 2014 Tony Award Nominations; Bryan Cranston, LaTanya Richardson, Neil Patrick Harris, Mark Rylance, Audra McDonald, Leigh Silverman among nominees
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein 
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
June 5-7: National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
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
Asia Flores Debuts Royal72Co Fashion Line at Pa’ina Lounge
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
Miss Saigon’s Francis Jue Receives Elliot Norton Award Nomination for Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actor
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
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
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Photos: Backstage with Michi Barall and the cast of Regina Taylor’s stop.reset. at Signature Theatre
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
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
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Other articles on BD Wong:
Jun. 4-29: Tony Award–winner BD Wong Leads Cast of A.C.T.’s U.S. Premiere of Orphan of Zhao, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse
May 19: The Orphan of Zhao’s BD Wong and A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff in Conversation at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater
In Rehearsal with BD Wong at Dixon Place for Live Concert Recording of Herringbone
BD Wong Creates Kickstarter Campaign for his Live Concert Recording of HERRINGBONE, to be performed May 21-22 as a Benefit for Dixon Place
BD Wong to Star in Live Concert Recording of HERRINGBONE for Two Nights Only as a Benefit for Dixon Place, May 21-22
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Oskar Eustis, BD Wong, Brian d’Arcy James, Francis Jue, Jennifer Lim and Leigh Silverman at WNYC’s The Greene Space
Photos: BD Wong, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Brandon Victor Dixon, Tom Viola at “Passing It On: An Evening of Mentorship to Benefit Rosie’s Theater Kids”
Photos: BD Wong in Rehearsal for “Passing It On: An Evening of Mentorship to Benefit Rosie’s Theater Kids”
The SFIAAFF30 Kicks Off with World Premiere of White Frog Featuring Booboo Stewart, Harry Shum, Jr., Joan Chen, Kelly Hu and BD Wong, at the Castro Theater on March 8
Tony award-winning actor BD Wong stars in NBC’s Awake; video preview and interview
Cindy Cheung Debuts SPEAK UP CONNIE…Her Solo Show, directed by BD Wong at Stage Left Studio, January 17-25, 2012
Extended through 8/23- “In Rehearsal” Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at Library of Congress Featuring Robert Lee and Leon Ko’s Heading East Starring BD Wong, Thom Sesma as Scar in The Lion King Las Vegas
OCA Awards Gala Photos: David Henry Hwang, Tamlyn Tomita, BD Wong, Dr. Bobby Fong & Tammy Duckworth
Dr. Bobby Fong, BD Wong and Tammy Duckworth to Receive Awards at National OCA Convention in NY on 8/6
Photo Preview of BD Wong and the Cast of Heading East at the Asia Society, 5/24-26
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Multimedia: BD Wong, Anastasia Barzee, Clarke Thorell, Cindy Cheung and Orville Mendoza at Rattlestick Playwrights Theaters’ Musical Mix ‘n’ Mingle
BD Wong, Anastasia Barzee, Cindy Cheung and Orville Mendoza in Rattlestick’s Musical Mix ‘n’ Mingle
BD Wong Stars in the La Jolla Playhouse Production of Herringbone, August 1-30
David Henry Hwang, Kathryn Layng and BD Wong at the Asian American Writers Workshop Literary Awards

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia made her jazz vocalist debut in Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz “LADY” at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York. All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2014 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com


Photos: Saul Williams, Christopher Jackson, Saycon Sengbloh, Ben Thompson, John Earl Jelks, Joshua Boone, Dyllon Burnside and Tonya Pinkins star in HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME, Opens June 19

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Award-winning slam poet, actor, singer, musician Saul Williams (Slam), Christopher Jackson (After Midnight), Saycon Sengbloh (Motown The MusicalFela!), Ben Thompson (Matilda), John Earl Jelks (Radio Golf – Tony nomination), Joshua Boone (Brownsville Song [b side for Tray] at Actors Theatre of Louisville), Dyllon Burnside (“Prison Break”) and Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins (Jelly’s Last JamCaroline or Change, Play On!) star in HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME, the new Broadway musical inspired by the lyrics of Tupac Shakur.  Written by Todd Kreidler and directed by Kenny Leon, HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME is currently in previews at the Palace Theatre (1564 Broadway at 47th Street). The production officially opens on Thursday, June 19, 2014.

The Cast of Holler If Ya Hear Me. Photo by Joan Marcus

The Cast of Holler If Ya Hear Me. Photo by Joan Marcus

HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME, the world inside Tupac Shakur’s music and lyrics, blazes to life in a non-biographical story about friendship, family, revenge, change and hope. Inner city lives struggle for peace against the daily challenges they face in this entertaining and original musical. Through the poetry of one of the 20th century’s most influential and culturally prominent voices, we are given a window into realities of the streets still relevant today.

The Cast of Holler If Ya Hear Me. Photo by Joan Marcus

The Cast of Holler If Ya Hear Me. Photo by Joan Marcus

Saul Williams plays John, Christopher Jackson is Vertus, Saycon Sengbloh is Corinne, Ben Thompson plays Griffy, John Earl Jelks plays Street Preacher, Joshua Boone is Darius, Dyllon Burnside is Anthony and Tonya Pinkins plays Mrs. Weston.

Saul Willams and Saycon Sengbloh. Photo by Joan Marcus

Saul Willams and Saycon Sengbloh. Photo by Joan Marcus

The ensemble features Afi Bijou (Fela!), Mel Charlot (Three-time World Hip Hop Champion), Carrie Compere(Shrek National Tour), Otis CottonAriana Groover (Bare Off-Broadway), Jared Joseph (Book of Mormon National Tour), Jahi Kearse (Baby It’s You), Muata Langley (freestyle Krump performer), Valentine Norton (“American Idol”), Christina Sajous (Spider-Man:  Turn off the Dark), Charlene “Chi Chi” SmithJaime Lincoln Smith (Ruined Off-Broadway), Donald Webber, Jr. (Motown The Musical) and Joaquina Kalukango (Antony and Cleopatra).

John Earl Jelks and Saul Williams. Photo by Joan Marcus Saul Williams, Dyllon Burnside and Joshua Boone. Photo by Joan Marcus
Joining director Kenny Leon (A Raisin in the Sun [2004 and 2014], Fences [2010], The Mountaintop) and author Todd Kreidler (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and direction of How I Learned What I Learned) on the creative team, are Tony Award winning choreographer Wayne Cilento (Wicked, The Who’s Tommy, How to Succeed…[1995], AIDA, Sweet Charity [2004]), and musical supervisor Daryl Waters (Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk, The Color Purple, Memphis).

Tonya Pinkins and Christopher Jackson. Photo by Joan Marcus

Tonya Pinkins and Christopher Jackson. Photo by Joan Marcus

Kenny Leon winner of the award for Best Direction of a Play for A Raisin in the Sun poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Tony Awards on June 8, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

Kenny Leon winner of the award for Best Direction of a Play for A Raisin in the Sun poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Tony Awards on June 8, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

The creative team also includes scenic design by Edward Pierce (The Other Place, Shatner’s World) based on original concepts by David Gallo, projections by Zachary G. Borovay (No Man’s LandWaiting for Godot), costumes by Reggie Ray (Stick Fly), lighting by Mike Baldassari (Cabaret [1998/2014], First Date), sound byJohn Shivers (Kinky Boots) and David Patridge (Soul Doctor) and casting by Caparelliotis Casting (Casa ValentinaThe Trip to Bountiful).

HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME is produced on Broadway by Afeni ShakurEric L. GoldChunsoo ShinJessica Green and Marcy Kaplan-Gold.  General Manager is Richard Martini for KL Management.

Tickets are now on sale through Ticketmaster at www.Ticketmaster.com or by calling 877-250-2929.  Tickets available in person at the Palace Theatre box office, 1564 Broadway at 47th Street. Ticket prices range from $59 to $139 (all prices include a$2.00 facility fee).   Use code MPEN for special preview prices listed on the flyer. A limited number of student tickets at $35 are available through TIX4STUDENTS at www.tix4students.com. TIX4STUDENTS is an annual membership program for students 18+ only that provides access to purchase student tickets online in advance (validation of student status required). HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME is participating in this program as part of their commitment to being accessible to college students.ImageProxy-1.mvc

Other articles by Lia Chang:
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More, Opens June 11
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
Jun. 16: Project1Voice & NBLCA Presents Staged Reading of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf Featuring Trazana Beverley, LaChanze, Adriane Lenox, Tonya Pinkins, Lillias White, Denise Burse Fernandez, Marva Hicks, Roslyn Ruff and More
June 13-14: Washington National Opera Presents Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein 
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below 
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
June 5-7: National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
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
LAByrinth Extends New York Times Critic’s Pick Sunset Baby, Starring John Earl Jelks, DeWanda Wise and Harvey Gardner Moore, to December 15
Photos: LAByrinth’s Opening Night of Dominique Morisseau’s Sunset Baby with John Earl Jelks, DeWanda Wise, Harvey Gardner Moore, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tracie Thoms, Alano Miller and More
Photos: John Earl Jelks, DeWanda Wise, Harvey Gardner Moore, André De Shields at Dominique Morisseau’s Sunset Baby
Nov. 6 – Dec. 8: Tony Nominee John Earl Jelks, Dewanda Wise and Harvey Gardner Moore Star in Labyrinth’s American Premiere of Sunset Baby by Dominique Morisseau at Bank Street Theater
Photos: Opening Night of Will Power’s Fetch Clay, Make Man with John Earl Jelks, Richard Masur, Nikki M. James, K. Todd Freeman, Ray Fisher 
NYTW Production Photos of Fetch Clay, Make Man: Ray Fisher, Nikki M. James, John Earl Jelks, K. Todd Freeman
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Late Night with Holy Land’s Jojo Gonzalez
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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



July 31-Aug. 3: Drama Desk Nominee Joel de la Fuente stars in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths at ACT, Helmed by Lisa Rothe

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Joel de la Fuente as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths. Photo by Lia Chang

Joel de la Fuente as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths. Photo by Lia Chang

Central Heating Lab at ACT presents Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, starring Drama Desk nominee Joel de la Fuente, July 31 – August 3, 2014 at the ACT Theatre Allen Arena, 700 Union Street, Seattle, WA.

Joel de la Fuente as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata's Hold These Truths. Photo by Lia Chang

Joel de la Fuente as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths. Photo by Lia Chang

Inspired by the true story of University of Washington student Gordon Hirabayashi, Hold These Truths follows Gordon during the U.S. Government’s decision to forcibly remove and incarcerate people of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

Hirabayashi openly defied the relocation and internment and refused to report for evacuation to an internment camp, instead turning himself in to the FBI to assert his belief that these practices were racially discriminatory. Consequently, he was convicted by a U.S. Federal District Court in Seattle of defying the exclusion order and violating curfew. Hirabayashi appealed his conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against him in 1943. Following World War II and his imprisonment, Hirabayashi obtained a doctoral degree in sociology and became a professor. In 1987, his conviction was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Helmed by Lisa Rothe, Joel de la Fuente will reprise his role as Gordon Hirabayashi and 36 other characters in Hold These Truths, which had its New York premiere in October 2012 in a production by Epic Theatre Ensemble at the Theatre at the 14th Street Y. Sakata’s solo show tells the story of Gordon Hirabayshi as he fights to reconcile his country’s betrayal and to maintain his passionate belief in the U.S. Constitution. In Hold These Truths we witness Hirabayashi as he journeys toward a greater understanding of America’s triumphs – and a confrontation with its failures.

In the dressing room with Joel de la Fuente, who stars as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata's Hold These Truths at The Theatre at the 14th Street Y in New York on November 24, 2012. Joel is holding a photo of Esther Schmoe and Gordon Hirabayashi on their wedding day. Photo by Lia Chang

In the dressing room with Joel de la Fuente, who stars as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths at The Theatre at the 14th Street Y in New York on November 24, 2012. Joel is holding a photo of Esther Schmoe and Gordon Hirabayashi on their wedding day. Photo by Lia Chang

Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi (1918-2012) was an American sociologist best known for his resistance to the Japanese-American internment during World War II. He was one of the only three to openly defy it. After being convicted for curfew violation he was sentenced to 90 days in prison. The verdict was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Hirabayashi v. United States (1943). They unanimously ruled against him. He later spent a year in federal prison for refusing induction into the armed forces after they had sent out a racially discriminatory survey to Japanese-Americans demanding renunciation of allegiance to the emperor of Japan. In 1987, the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit overturned his conviction from 1943. In 2012, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Hirabayashi for his principled stand against Japanese-American internment.

“One of the stunning things about Joel de la Fuente’s performance in Jeanne Sakata’s gripping one-man show is how completely he embodies the real-life character of Gordon Hirabayashi….de la Fuente, under the direction of Lisa Rothe, also plays many other characters—but his portrayal of Hirabayashi, whom President Obama just this year posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, feels eerily true to life.”
The New Yorker, October 2012

Joel de la Fuente as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths. Photo by Lia Chang

Joel de la Fuente as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths. Photo by Lia Chang

“Jeanne Sakata’s eloquent one-man drama about civil rights giant Gordon Hirabayashi provides a concise examination of a fascinating chapter in American history….Joel de la Fuente plays Hirabayashi wtih buoyant, magnetic enthusiasm, under the direction of Lisa Rothe.”
The Washington Post/API, October 2012

“The astounding performance that Joel de la Fuente delivers as Gordon Hirabayashi is reason enough to recommend Hold These Truths…with Jeanne Sakata at the helm, we are treated to a dazzling, literary script that’s full of humor.”
New York Times Readers’ Review, October 2012

“Moving, instructive, thrilling….Travel downtown to be inspired by script, actor, and history in equal measure….Culled to its human and emotional essence, we hold Hirabayashi’s story as we must all ‘hold these truths.’”
Urban Excavations, October 2012

“Resonates with vitality and power….This is what living, breathing theater is about. Unforgettable.”
Technorati, October 2012

Joel de la Fuente comments: “Gordon’s story teaches us that the actions of one individual can have tremendous power. Gordon believed long enough to remind us of what it means to be American. As history teaches us, this is a lesson so important that it cannot be learned just once. We must always be willing to learn it again.

“Perhaps the biggest blessing of doing Jeanne Sakata’s HOLD THESE TRUTHS is that not only do I get to be an instrumental part in telling the story of a remarkable hero, but I am being asked to draw on my experiences as an AMERICAN. Gordon Hirabayashi is of Asian heritage, but he is also a citizen of the United States. Asian American actors so rarely get an opportunity to be seen on our stages as Americans, so to do so while telling such a remarkable story has been one of the most satisfying artistic experiences of my life.”
Sponsored by the Tateuchi Foundation, this production will bring the Drama Desk Award nominated performance of Joel de la Fuente to Seattle for the first time. ACT Theatre is pleased to partner with the Wing Luke Museum to present additional immersion activities surrounding the play and Hold These Truths is also supported with additional funding from the John Graham Foundation.

The creative team features Set Design by Mikiko Suzuki McAdams; Lighting Design by Cat Tate Starmer; Costume Design by Meg Weedon; and Sound Designer/Composer Daniel Kluger.

Hold These Truths Performances:

Thursday, July 31, 7:30pm (Post-show discussion)

Friday, August 1, 7:30pm (Post-show Panel – with Steve Sumida, Frank Abe, and Jeanne Sakata)

Saturday, August 2, 7:30pm (Post-show discussion)

Sunday, August 3, 2:00pm (Post-show discussion)

Additional Immersion Events:

· Saturday August 2, 2:00pm – “From Page to Stage” Playwright Jeanne Sakata will share her experiences in researching and writing the play Hold These Truths.

Jeanne Sakata (Photo by Lia Chang)

Jeanne Sakata (Photo by Lia Chang)

· August 9 Conscience and the Constitution a documentary by Frank Abe at Wing Luke Museum

Tickets: Adults: Single tickets start at $20. Also included on the monthly ACTPass Membership. Call (206) 292-7676 or visit www.acttheatre.org.

About The Central Heating Lab: Launched in 2007, The Central Heating Lab at ACT serves as an incubator and catalyst for new works. ACT cultivates, produces, and presents artists working in all performance genres and provides an artistic home for a variety of local performance groups and artists. Relationships develop daily with individual actors, performers and playwrights while established partnerships with groups such as the Azeotrope, The Seagull Project, 14/48, and Icicle Creek Theatre Festival grow and develop. New programs are added throughout the year. With year-round programming produced by The Central Heating Lab at ACT alongside ACT’s Mainstage plays, ACT offers its patrons a unique opportunity to maximize their theatre experience-the ACTPass: all you can see for only $30 per month. ACTPass Members can attend nearly all ACT produced performances.

Joel de la Fuente. Photo by Lia Chang

Joel de la Fuente. Photo by Lia Chang

Joel de la Fuente (actor, Hold These Truths) Onstage, Joel most recently performed the solo drama, Hold These Truths for its New York premiere at Epic Theater (Drama Desk Nomination), for a sold-out run in Hawaii at the prestigious Honolulu Theatre for Youth, as part of the 10th Annual soloNOVA Arts Festival and at Playmaker’s Rep in Chapel Hill, NC.  Joel just wrapped shooting his second season of the original series, “Hemlock Grove,” as Dr. Johann Pryce, exclusively available on Netflix. On screen, he stars in the feature film Brief Reunion, currently available on iTunes (garnering Audience Choice Award, Gotham International Film Festival; Best Narrative Film Award, University Film and Video Association).

Selected New York theatrical credits include: Ivanov in Ivanov (Mint Theater/NAATCO, Jonathan Bank, dir.); The Downtown Plays (Tribeca Theater Festival, John Rando, dir.); Claudio in Beatrice and Benedict with the New York Philharmonic (conducted by Sir Colin Davis); The Square (Lisa Petersen, dir.); America Dreaming (Michael Mayer, dir.); Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (NYSF, Adrian Hall, dir.).

In 2005, Joel served as the Artistic Associate of the National Asian American Theater Company. In addition to Ivanov, Joel has also appeared with NAATCO in the world premiere of Cowboy v. Samurai; Caryl Churchill’s, a number; Fuente Ovejuna (David Herskovitz, dir.); and as Iago in Othello, among others.

Other theatrical credits include: Vershinin in The Three Sisters (Chautauqua Theatre Conservatory, Brian Mertes, dir.); Ariel in The Tempest (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); Florizel in The Winter’s Tale (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Darko Tresjnak, dir.); Chay Yew’s Wonderland (La Jolla Playhouse, Lisa Petersen, dir.); Liu Mengmei in the Peter Sellars’ production of The Peony Pavilion which performed in Vienna, Rome, Paris, and London’s Barbican Centre.

On television, Joel spent ten seasons appearing as TARU technician Ruben Morales in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”. He was a series regular on the Fox drama, “Space: Above & Beyond”; and has had recurring roles on: “E.R.”; “High Incident”; and the Sidney Lumet series, “100 Centre Street”.

Joel de la Fuente as Dr. Johann Pryce in Netflix's Hemlock Grove. Photo: Netflix

Joel de la Fuente as Dr. Johann Pryce in Netflix’s Hemlock Grove. Photo: Netflix

Additional film credits include: Personal Velocity (Sundance Jury Prize Winner, Best Film); The Adjustment Bureau; The Happening; Heights; Return to Paradise; From Other Worlds; and Forgetting the Girl.

As a writer, Joel’s essay on his experiences as an Asian American actor is published in Pyong Gap Min’s “Struggle for Ethnic Identity,” and he is a co-writer of Life Document 2: Identity with Pulitzer Prize winner, Ayad Akthar, which won the Columbia Students Award for Best Film in 2002.

Joel is an alumnus oF Brown University and the Graduate Acting Program at N.Y.U. and resides in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters.

Lisa Rothe

Lisa Rothe

Lisa Rothe (Director) most recently directed Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata for Epic Theatre Ensemble (nominated for a Drama Desk award for Best Solo Performance) and Honolulu Theatre for Youth; Penelope by Ellen McLaughlin & Sarah Kirkland Snider at Playmakers Repertory Company and this summer, she will be directing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for the Chautauqua Theater Company. She is also currently developing a new opera about Ada Byron (Ada) by composer Kim Sherman and librettist Margaret Vandenburg, which was presented last spring as a part of the Center for Contemporary Opera’s Development Series. Lisa has workshopped, developed and directed over one hundred new plays and musicals, working with many award winning writers. In NY, she has directed and/or developed work with Lark Play Development Center, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater , Epic Theatre Ensemble, New Georges, The Women’s Project, The Foundry, Ensemble Studio Theatre, 52nd Street Project, Naked Angels, BAM, Summer Play Festival, NYMF, Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival (Best Director), National Actors Theater, Keen Company (Keen Teens), Orchard Project, Voice & Vision, HERE, Dixon Place, among others. Regionally, she has worked with Indiana Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Shakespeare Theatre, Vermont Stage Company, The New Harmony Project, Synchronicity Theatre, Chautauqua Theatre, Riverside Theatre. Lisa has worked with the World Wide Orphan Foundation (WWO) in Ethiopia, creating theatre with local children and teens and has taught and directed at many theatre programs around the country including NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, Yale School of Drama, The Juilliard School, Chautauqua Conservatory and many others. She is a graduate of NYU’s Graduate Acting Program and Director’s Lab, as well as a Drama League alum, Fox Fellow, member of the Women’s Project Director’s Lab and is currently serving on the boards of the League of Professional Theatre Women and the Theatre World Awards. Lisa is also the director of Offsite Programs and Partnerships at the Lark Play Development Center where she deals with providing expanded opportunities for playwrights, aimed at advancing new work to production nationally and globally.

Jeanne Sakata. Photo by Lia Chang

Jeanne Sakata. Photo by Lia Chang

Jeanne Sakata’s (Playwright) Hold These Truths (formerly Dawn’s Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi), had its world premiere in 2007 at Los Angeles’ East West Players, co-presented by the UCLA Department of Asian American Studies, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and the Japanese American National Museum. In its 2012 New York premiere at the Epic Theatre Ensemble, Hold These Truths opened to unanimous rave reviews from The New Yorker, The Washington Post/API, and many other theatre critics, resulting in a Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance, and a subsequent Hawaiian premiere, co-presented by Daniel Dae Kim and the Honolulu Theatre For Youth. Developed by the Lark Play Development Center and the New York Theatre Workshop, it has also been performed at Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion with Silk Road Rising/Millennium Park, the University of California at Riverside and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where it served as the inspiration and theatrical centerpiece of the civil rights symposium Civil Liberties, National Security and the Legacies of the Japanese Removal and Incarceration. With the East West Players Theatre For Youth program in 2008 and 2010, the play has twice toured high schools and junior high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Hold These Truths is now part of the Jeanne Sakata Collection in the Library of Congress Playwrights Archive, Asian American Pacific Islander Collection, Washington DC. (www.holdthesetruths.info, www.facebook.com/holdthesetruths)

 Hold These Truths' star Joel de la Fuente and playwright Jeanne Sakata on the red carpet of The Drama Desk Awards at The Town Hall in New York on May 19, 2013. Photo by Lia Chang

Hold These Truths’ star Joel de la Fuente and playwright Jeanne Sakata on the red carpet of The Drama Desk Awards at The Town Hall in New York on May 19, 2013. Photo by Lia Chang

Jeanne is also a renowned actress whose acclaimed “cross-gender” portrayal of Master Hua in Chay Yew’s RED at East West Players earned her the LA Ovation Award for Best Lead Actress. She has performed across the country at the The Public Theater, Lincoln Center Theater, Kennedy Center, Mark Taper Forum, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Rep, American Conservatory Theater, Northlight Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Berkeley Rep, A Contemporary Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Syracuse Stage and the Arizona Theatre Company, and developed new works with The Sundance Institute Theatre Lab and the Ojai Playwrights Festival. Screen credits include “NCIS Los Angeles,” “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns,” “Desperate Housewives,” “ER,” “Threat Matrix,” “Line of Fire,” “Presidio Med,” “American Family,” “Numb3rs,” John Ridley’s “I Got You,” the MOW’s “The Reading Room,” “Hiroshima,” “Consensual Relations,” and the feature films The Babymakers, XXX2: State of the Union and American Fusion.

Jeanne recently received a Best Actress Award for her role in Adultolescence at the Monaco Charity Film Festival and in December 2011, she was honored with an Outstanding Artist Award for her career achievements by Los Angeles’ Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theatre. (www.jeannesakata.com)

(www.facebook.com/holdthesetruths, www.holdthesetruths.info)

Below are interviews with Hold These Truths‘ playwright Jeanne Sakata, star Joel de la Fuente and director Lisa Rothe.

Hold These Truths‘ playwright Jeanne Sakata talks about her inspiration to write Gordon Hirabayashi’s life story, how she did her research, why she chose the solo show format and what she hopes audiences will take away from de la Fuente’s performance.

Hold These Truths‘ star Joel de la Fuente talks about the challenges of playing 30+ characters and the impact playing Gordon Hirabayashi has had for him.

Director Lisa Rothe discusses how she first became involved with Hold These Truths, her history with Joel de la Fuente, how attending a Quaker meeting influenced her design and concept of the set, her prior knowledge of Gordon Hirabayashi, and her exposure to the internment camps.

Other Hold These Truths Articles:
Apr. 23-27: Joel de la Fuente Stars in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths at PlayMaker’s Repertory Company
dailytarheel.com: One-man show ‘Hold These Truths’ feels like an ensemble production
triangleartsandentertainment.org: “Hold These Truths” Is Mesmerizing and Multidimensional
indyweek.com: Theater review: PlayMakers’ Hold These Truths
Mar. 17: Reading of Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths starring Joel de la Fuente at People’s Light & Theatre
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Hold These Truths Opening Night at Honolulu Theatre for Youth’s Tenney Theatre with Daniel Dae Kim, Joel de la Fuente and Jeanne Sakata
Brief Reunion Starring Joel de la Fuente, Alexie Gilmore and Scott Shepherd, Opens in NY & L.A. on January 18, 2013
Hold These Truths Video Feature: Playwright Jeanne Sakata, Star Joel de la Fuente and Director Lisa Rothe
Video: Interview with Lisa Rothe, Director of Critically Acclaimed Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, starring Joel de la Fuente
Video: Q & A with Jeanne Sakata, Award Winning Actress Makes Playwrighting Debut Telling Story of Gordon Hirabayashi with Hold These Truths
Photos and Video: Daniel Dae Kim, Ann Harada, Greg Watanabe and More at Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths starring Joel de la Fuente
Photos: Opening Night with Hold These Truths’ Playwright Jeanne Sakata and Star Joel de la Fuente, a Revelation as Gordon Hirabayashi; Performances Extended through November 25, 2012
Epic Theatre Ensemble Presents New York Premiere of Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths Starring Joel de la Fuente at the Theatre at the 14th Street Y, October 12-November 18, 2012
Remembering Civil Rights Leader Gordon Hirabayashi,1918- 2012
President Obama Names Asian American Civil Rights Hero Gordon Hirabayashi Recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom
Reading of Jeanne Sakata’s Dawn’s Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi Starring Joel de la Fuente in New York
Thom Sesma Stars in Jeanne Sakata’s Dawn’s Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi

Other articles by Lia Chang:
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More, Opens June 11
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Jun. 16: Project1Voice & NBLCA Presents Staged Reading of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf Featuring Trazana Beverley, LaChanze, Adriane Lenox, Tonya Pinkins, Lillias White, Denise Burse Fernandez, Marva Hicks, Roslyn Ruff and More
June 13-14: Washington National Opera Presents Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein 
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
June 5-7: National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
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
Asia Flores Debuts Royal72Co Fashion Line at Pa’ina Lounge
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
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
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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


Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, dead at 91, 1922 – 2014

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Ruby Dee Photo by Lia Chang

Ruby Dee Photo by Lia Chang

Ruby Dee, the award-winning actress and activist whose seven-decade career included triumphs on stage and screen, has died. She was 91.

Dee died peacefully at her New Rochelle, New York, home on Wednesday, according to her representative, Michael Livingston.

See: CNN: Screen, stage legend Ruby Dee dead at 91

Other Articles about Ruby Dee:
insidemovies.ew.com: Inside Movies Pioneering actress Ruby Dee dies at 91
Ruby Dee dead at 91: Legendary stage and screen actress — and Civil Rights leader — frequently costarred with husband Ossie Davis
abcnews.com: Oscar Nominee Ruby Dee Dead at 91

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Woodie King, Jr.’s New Federal Theatre’s 40th Anniversary Gala at Edison Ballroom
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
Jun. 16: Project1Voice & NBLCA Presents Staged Reading of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf Featuring Trazana Beverley, LaChanze, Adriane Lenox, Tonya Pinkins, Lillias White, Denise Burse Fernandez, Marva Hicks, Roslyn Ruff and More
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein 
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More, Opens June 11
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
June 13-14: Washington National Opera Presents Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below 
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
June 5-7: National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
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
May 20: George Gee Swing Orchestra CD – “Swing Makes You Happy!” Party at Swing 46 Jazz & Supper Club
Grace Park, Daisuke Nakazawa & Alessandro Borgognone, and Ming Chen Hsu Honored with Apex for Youth 2014 Inspiration Awards
Asian American Federation Celebrates Cao K.O with Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Former City Comptroller John Liu, Assemblyman Ron Kim and More
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Late Night with Holy Land’s Jojo Gonzalez
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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


Lia Chang: Late Night Singing with Garth Kravits at 54 Below with The Skivvies, at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland and Michael Raye’s Soul Gathering

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The Skivvies at 54 Below - (L-R) Nick Cearley, Garth Kravits, Andrew Gutauskas and Lauren Molina on June 4, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

The Skivvies at 54 Below – (L-R) Nick Cearley, Garth Kravits, Andrew Gutauskas and Lauren Molina on June 4, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Garth Kravits with The Skivvies at 54 Below in New York on June 4, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Garth Kravits with The Skivvies at 54 Below in New York on June 4, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

It’s the first Wednesday night of June at 54 Below, and actor/singer Garth Kravits is singing and shaking his bon-bon onstage with The Skivvies, wearing nothing more than an apron and blue boxer briefs, with white stars.

Award-winning singer-actors Lauren Molina (Marry Me a LittleSweeney ToddRock of Ages) and Nick Cearley (All Shook Up) became YouTube sensations as The Skivvies, a “musically thrilling” undie-rock, comedy-pop duo who don’t just strip down their musical arrangements, they literally strip down to their underwear to perform their distinctive mashups and eccentric originals for cello and ukulele, with touches of glockenspiel, melodica, and a surprising array of under-used instruments.

Soundcheck for The Skivvies at 54 Below in New York on June 4, 2014 with Andrew Gutauskas, Nick Cearley, Wesley Taylor, Garth Kravits, Lauren Molina and Shannon Ford. Photo by Lia Chang

Soundcheck for The Skivvies at 54 Below in New York on June 4, 2014 with Andrew Gutauskas, Nick Cearley, Wesley Taylor, Garth Kravits, Lauren Molina and Shannon Ford. Photo by Lia Chang

Actors Garth Kravits and Lauren Molina promote their Bucks County Playhouse Production of Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play, at KYW News Radio in Philadelphia, PA on December 23, 2013. Photo by Mandee Kuenzle

Actors Garth Kravits and Lauren Molina promote their Bucks County Playhouse Production of Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play, at KYW News Radio in Philadelphia, PA on December 23, 2013. Photo by Mandee Kuenzle

Nick Cearley, Garth Kravits and Lauren Molina at 54 Below in New York on June 4, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Nick Cearley, Garth Kravits and Lauren Molina at 54 Below in New York on June 4, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Garth Kravits, Tony winner Lena Hall and Wesley Taylor performed with The Skivvies at 54 Below in New York on June 4, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Garth Kravits, Tony winner Lena Hall and Wesley Taylor performed with The Skivvies at 54 Below in New York on June 4, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Kravits met Lauren Molina at Radio City Music Hall in 2006, where they both performed in numbers from their Broadway shows, she was appearing in Sweeney Todd and he was in The Drowsy Chaperone. Their paths crossed again in 2012 at Bucks County Playhouse  in Bucks County, PA, where they appeared in and collaborated on numerous musical arrangements for It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Last Christmas, they returned to Bucks County Playhouse to work on Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play.

“The Skivvies were really blowing up and I mentioned to her that I would love to perform with them in the future,” said Kravits.

Other guest stars of the night at 54 Below included newly minted Tony winner Lena Hall (Yitzhak in Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Lesli Margherita (Matilda), Wesley Taylor (Rock of Ages), Jim Newman (Hands on a Hardbody) and Roe Hartrampf (Unnatural Acts).
Playbill.com: Tony Nominee Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor, Jim Newman and More Strip with The Skivvies

Garth Kravits and Jim Caruso at Birdland in New York on March 17, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang Jim Caruso, Eric Bergen, Garth Kravits and Rene Ruiz at Jim Caruso's Cast Party at Birdland in New York in 2005.
In 2004, Kravits was appearing in the Drama Desk winning Off-Broadway production of Toxic Audio In LoudMouth. It was at the closing night performance that Kravits met Jim Caruso, the charming and talented host of Jim Caruso’s Cast Party, an open mike celebration of the Broadway, Jazz and nightclub communities. The following Monday, Kravits began his weekly visits to sing at Cast Party, which he continued throughout his run on Broadway during The Drowsy Chaperone. In the clip below, Kravits sings You’re My Twin by Bill Larkin at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland on May 5, 2014.

broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: Jim Caruso’s CAST PARTY, Including Aaron Ramey, Michele Lee, and More!

Bassist Gary Foote, drummer John Digiulio, Garth Kravits and Michael Raye at The Soul Gathering at The West End Cafe in New York on April 22, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Bassist Gary Foote, drummer John Digiulio, Garth Kravits and Michael Raye at The Soul Gathering at The West End Cafe in New York on April 22, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

One of Kravits’ oldest friends on the music scene, Michael Raye, a legendary musician, composer and music director, has hosted one of the coolest jam sessions in New York. The Soul Gathering has been a New York City institution for more than 20 years. After a brief hiatus, The Soul Gathering is back on Tuesday nights at The West End Cafe at 107th and West End Ave in New York.

Kravits is also appearing in a new commercial for Captain D’s, a family restaurant chain.

Upcoming projects include private industry readings of the new Broadway-bound musical Gettin’ the Band Back Together on June 24, helmed by Tony winner John Rando (Urinetown) in New York, starring Tony nominee Constantine Maroulis (Jekyll & Hyde) and Marilu Henner (The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife).

Ryan Duncan, Brandon Williams and Garth Kravits in Gettin' The Band Back Together at George Street Playhouse in September, 2013. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Ryan Duncan, Brandon Williams and Garth Kravits in Gettin’ The Band Back Together at George Street Playhouse in September, 2013. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Read the full article at theatermania.com: Constantine Maroulis and Marilu Henner to Star in Gettin’ the Band Back Together Industry Reading

Garth Kravits. Photo by Lia Chang

Garth Kravits. Photo by Lia Chang

From July 25-27, Kravits will be featured in the Powerhouse Theater Season workshop production of the Michael Grief helmed A Walk on the Moon, featuring music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman, and book and additional lyrics by Pamela Gray. The workshop is part of the 30th year of the New York Stage and Film and Vassar College collaboration. Performances for A Walk on the Moon will take place in The Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film at Vassar College.

Synopsis:
“It’s the summer of 1969 in a Catskill Mountains bungalow colony. While her husband spends each week working in the city, Pearl Kantrowitz finds herself drawn toward a free-spirited traveling salesman. Her personal crisis plays out against one of America’s most tumultuous summers, as astronauts walk on the moon, the Vietnam War escalates, and Woodstock takes place right down the road. Michael Greif, the award-winning director of Rent, Grey Gardens and Next To Normal, returns to Powerhouse with this deeply romantic story of awakening, adapted from the hit film.”

For more information, visit Powerhouse.Vassar.edu.

Garth Kravits sings at Michael Raye's The Soul Gathering at The West End Cafe in New York on April 22, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Garth Kravits sings at Michael Raye’s The Soul Gathering at The West End Cafe in New York on April 22, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Other Articles on Garth Kravits:
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below
Garth Kravits, Suzzanne Douglas, Erin Dilly, Gavin Lee and More Set for “From Carousel to Kinky Boots”, Bickford Theatre Guild’s annual fundraiser
Dec. 4 – 29: Garth Kravits Returns to Bucks County Playhouse for Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play
centraljersey.com: Clang Clang Clang!’Meet Me in St. Louis’ in Bucks County
BWW Interviews: Garth Kravits Talks about Bucks County Playhouse’s MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS: A RADIO PLAY
nj.com: Jersey actor Garth Kravits sings the praises of appearing on Broadway and closer to home

Other articles on Meet Me in St. Louis:
Two Delaware Valley Holiday Shows Make A National Top-10 List
Mainstreet.com names Bucks County Playhouse’s Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play as One of Ten “Top Holiday Shows”, Performances through December 29, 2013
Dec. 24: Garth Kravits and Lauren Molina, Stars of Bucks County Playhouse’s Holiday Show Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play, to Appear on Good Day Philadelphia
The Reporter: Bucks County Playhouse presents a flawless, picturesque “Meet me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play”
The Morning Call: Bucks Playhouse’s ‘Meet me in St. Louis’ is delightfully nostalgic
New Hope Free Press: Review: ‘Meet Me In St. Louis’ At Bucks County Playhouse
phindie.com: MEET ME IN SAINT LOUIS: A LIVE RADIO PLAY (Bucks County Playhouse): 60-second review
philly.com: Review: Meet Me in St. Louis, A Live Radio Play

Other articles by Lia Chang:
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein 
Jun. 16: Project1Voice & NBLCA Presents Staged Reading of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf Featuring Trazana Beverley, LaChanze, Adriane Lenox, Tonya Pinkins, Lillias White, Denise Burse Fernandez, Marva Hicks, Roslyn Ruff and More
June 13-14: Washington National Opera Presents Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
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: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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


Jun. 23: Norm Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen Set to Present Awards at The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall

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Andre De Shields. Photo by Lia Chang Chapman Roberts. Photo by Lia Chang Norm Lewis. Photo by Lia Chang

 

Norm Lewis, Chapman Roberts and David H. Greer, Paula Marie Black, Stephen C. Byrd, in association with Richard Allen Center for Culture and Art, Queensborough Performing Arts Center and the California African American Museum, will present The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream, an all-male tribute honoring jazz musicians Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, and Paul Robeson, on June 23, 2014 at 8 P.M. in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City.

Norm Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen will be on hand to present awards to Geoffrey Holder, Louis Johnson, Stephen C. Byrd, Harold Wheeler, Noble Sissle, Larry Hamlin, Berry Gordy, Luther Henderson, Donald McKayle, and Robert Guillaume.

The black tie gala concert, celebrating 100 years of jazz at Carnegie Hall, on Broadway and the 40th Anniversary of The Wiz, features the largest cast of African American Men of the Broadway stage, a veritable who’s who of performers, dancers, musicians and composers including:

Vocalists
Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Billy Porter, Larry Marshall, Kevin Ramsey, Glenn Turner, Doug Eskew, Milton Craig Neeley, Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Adrian Bailey, Marcus Naylor, Rome Neal, Leotis Clyburn, Branden Cook, Brandon Bain, Avon Long, David Helper, Raun Ruffin, Jason Cook, Lee Summers, Stanley Hopkins, Claude Jay, Forest Ray, Keith David, Rob “Ike” Barnes, Bobby Harden, Obba Babatunde, Kirk Taylor, Wilkie Ferguson, Lacy Darryl Phillips, Clent Bowers, Avon Marshall, Scott J. Foster, Brandon Victor Dixon, Kenneth Kamal Scott, Raymond Patterson, D’Ambrose Boyd, Ken Ard, Thom Scott, C.E. Smith, Johnathan Lee Iverson, Torrence Bristow, Jayson Kolbicz, and Clifton Davis.

Dancers:
Derek Grant, Bakaari Wilder, Jason Samuel Smith, Joseph Web, Dule Hill, Vincent Bingham, Omar Edwards, and Alde Lewis.

Musicians:
Frank Owens, David Alan Bunn, William Foster McDaniel, Kenny Seymour, Julius Williams, and Abdul Hamid Royal (Piano)
Conductors Sipho Kunene and Buddy Williams, Clyde Bullard (Drums), Bass Keith Robinson (Bass) and Van Gibbs (Guitar).

Featuring “Broadway Brown”, Youth Cast Members from The Lion King, Matilda, Motown, Kinky Boots, Scottsboro Boys, Raisin in the Sun and South Pacific, including Douglas Baldeo, Guy Barfield, Judah Bellamy, Cole Bullock, Nile Bullock, Niles Fitch, Jeremy Gumbs, Robert (Kyle) Harris, Ryan Harris, Joshua Jackson, Alphonso Jones, Jaden Jordon, Aubrey Omari Joseph, Luke Kain, Darius Kaleb, Clifford Lee, D’Andre Lee, Raymond Luke, Jr., Caleb McLaughlin, Marquis Neal and Chris Sumpter.

The program will feature the New York premieres of David Alan Bunn’s Live The Dream Overture – A Soulful Fanfare and Chapman Roberts/William Foster McDaniel Legacy, in additions to selections by Blake, Jordan, Waller / Henderson, Ellington, and other Broadway favorites.
photo_1
Click here to purchase tickets.
The Black Stars of the Great White Way Official Website

Other articles on Andre De Shields:
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
May 8: New Dramatists Presents Reading of Lonnie Carter’s Bronzeville Featuring André De Shields, Nambi Evelyn Kelley, April Matthis, and Danyon Davis
André De Shields, Mary Zimmerman, Among 4 Elliot Norton Award Nominations for Huntington’s World Premiere of The Jungle Book, a co-production with The Goodman
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
André De Shields to receive 2014 Making Waves Award; will perform “Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory” at Florida Atlantic University
Nov. 16: Conversations with the Divine with Owais Ahmed, Baize Buzan, Kathryn Cesarz, Kamal Hans, Brian Grey, Donica Lynn, Patrese McClain and Miranda Zola at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
André De Shields Delivers Keynote at the International Conference of Fine Arts Deans in New Orleans
Photos: André De Shields, Mary Zimmerman, Akash Chopra, Richard M. Sherman, Kevin Carolan, Larry Yando, Nehal Joshi and More Celebrate The Jungle Book Opening Night at Huntington Theatre in Boston
Click here for more articles on André De Shields.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More, Opens June 11
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
June 5-7: National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
Late Night Singing with Garth Kravits at 54 Below with The Skivvies, at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland and Michael Raye’s Soul Gathering
May 12: Tony Award Nominee Norm Lewis Debuts as ‘The Phantom’ and Sierra Boggess Returns as Christine in Phantom of The Opera
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
May 20: George Gee Swing Orchestra CD – “Swing Makes You Happy!” Party at Swing 46 Jazz & Supper Club
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
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 
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Late Night with Holy Land’s Jojo Gonzalez
Miss Saigon’s Francis Jue Receives Elliot Norton Award Nomination for Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actor
Photos: The George Gee Swing Orchestra at SWING46; Launches Indiegogo Campaign for New CD, Swing Makes You Happy
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
Jun. 22 – July 27: Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Set for Old Globe Debut in OTHELLO
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Photos: Backstage with Michi Barall and the cast of Regina Taylor’s stop.reset. at Signature Theatre
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999 Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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


David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage Appointed to the Playwriting Faculty of Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program

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David Henry Hwang. Photo by Lia Chang

David Henry Hwang. Photo by Lia Chang

Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang and Pulitzer prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage have been appointed as faculty to the MFA Theatre Program at Columbia University School of the Arts. Hwang is the new director of the Playwrighting Concentration, while the pair will both serve as Associate Professors of Theatre in Playwriting.

“David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage are among the most influential and accomplished American dramatists of the past several decades,” said Christian Parker, Chair of the Master of Fine Arts Theatre Program at Columbia University School of the Arts. “Their work respectively cuts across genres, audiences and aesthetics. Both have contributed immeasurably to making the stories of underrepresented characters visible in a historically homogeneous field. Each of them brings a passion for the possibilities for social dialogue that can stem from great theatrical storytelling, and a great sense of generosity and rigor about training a new generation of artists.”

David Henry Hwang’s work includes the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Aida (co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival), and Tarzan. Upcoming productions include two new musicals: The Forgotten Arm, with music and lyrics by Aimee Mann and Paul Bryan, for the Public Theater; and Pretty Dead Girl, with music and lyrics by Anne-Marie Milazzo. As America’s most-produced living opera librettist, he has written four pieces with composer Philip Glass, including The Voyage (Metropolitan Opera, 1992), as well as Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar (two 2007 Grammy Awards), Bright Sheng’s The Silver River (1997), Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland (2007 “World Premiere of the Year” by Opernwelt magazine), Howard Shore’s The Fly (2008) and Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier (2014). Upcoming operas include Through the Looking Glass with Unsuk Chin for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Dream of the Red Chamber with Bright Sheng for the San Francisco Opera. Mr. Hwang penned the screenplays for M. Butterfly (1993), starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone; Golden Gate (1994), starring Matt Dillon and Joan Chen; and Possession (co-writer, 2002), starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart. With the pop star Prince, he co-wrote the song “Solo,” released on Prince’s 1994 gold album Come. He is currently writing a feature film for Dreamworks Animation and the film adaptation of Chinglish, to be directed by Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, the Fast & Furious franchise), as well as creating an original television series, “Shanghai,” for Lions Gate and Bravo. Hwang is a Tony Award® winner and three-time nominee, a three-time Obie Award winner, and a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He received the 2011 PEN/Laura Pels Award, the 2012 William Inge Award, the 2012 Steinberg “Mimi” Award, and the 2014 Doris Duke Artist Award, and recently completed his the Residency One Playwright term at NYC’s Signature Theatre, which produced a season of his plays, including the world premiere of his newest work Kung Fu in February 2014. He serves as President of Young Playwrights Inc, and sits on the boards of the Lark Play Development Center, The American Theatre Wing, and The Actors Fund.

“I’m thrilled for this opportunity to serve the MFA playwriting students at Columbia, helping them develop their own unique and idiosyncratic voices, and building a practical foundation for their future lives in the theatre,” said Hwang. “I couldn’t ask for better partners than Lynn, Chuck Mee and the accomplished artists of the Theatre Program, and feel deeply honored to join the School of Arts during this exciting period of innovation and expansion.”

Lynn Nottage

Lynn Nottage

Lynn Nottage won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Ruined. Her other plays include A Stone’s Throw; Intimate Apparel; Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; and Mud, River, Stone. These plays have been developed and produced at theaters both nationally and internationally. She was a MacArthur Fellow (2007), a Guggenheim Fellow (2005) and Lucille Lortel Fellow (2007). Nottage served as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Playwriting Program in 2013.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be joining David, Chuck and the wonderful faculty of the MFA Theatre Program at Columbia University School of the Arts,” said Nottage. “I look forward to being part of a vital and creative conversation with the next generation of dynamic theatre artists.”

“That we have the great fortune to team David and Lynn up with Charles L. Mee, who has energized and raised the profile of our program enormously in his past several years with us, represents a tremendous and transformational boon to the Columbia MFA program in Playwriting,” Parker stated. “Together, these three writers cut across a multiplicity of experiences and modes of theatrical storytelling, creating an ideal trifecta of influences and teaching styles for our playwrights. This is a most exciting time for the Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program. I know I speak on behalf of all of my colleagues and our students when I offer David and Lynn a warm welcome to our community.”

The Playwriting Concentration in the Theatre Program at Columbia University School of the Arts works to help playwrights develop their own unique voices. The curriculum begins with a workshop in the first year that focuses on collaboration with actors, directors, dramaturgs and managers in the Program. The second year builds upon the creative relationships fostered in the first year towards a fully staged production in the spring, and allows the students to diversify their skill set into other media, like writing for film and television or musical theatre. In the third year of the program, each playwright gets to choose a favorite playwright to serve as personal mentor in writing and producing his or her thesis play, which then gets presented at New Plays Now, Columbia’s playwriting festival in the spring. Both Hwang and Nottage have served as mentors to candidates for the MFA in Playwriting.

“Not only will we now have on our faculty three of the most well-respected playwrights working today, but also three truly magnificent teachers,” said Dean Becker. “I know that together they will build a unique and fascinating program.”

Source: Columbia University: DAVID HENRY HWANG AND LYNN NOTTAGE APPOINTED TO THE PLAYWRITING FACULTY OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF THE ARTS THEATRE PROGRAM

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Late Night Singing with Garth Kravits at 54 Below with The Skivvies, at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland and Michael Raye’s Soul Gathering
Jun. 23: Norm Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen Set to Present Awards at The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More, Opens June 11
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
July 31-Aug. 3: Drama Desk Nominee Joel de la Fuente stars in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths at ACT, Helmed by Lisa Rothe
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014
Francis Jue, Bryan Cranston, Olympia Dukakis, Paul Daigneault, All The Way, The Jungle Book, The Flick, Tribes, Hairspray Among 32nd Annual Elliot Norton Award Winners
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>
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan 
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
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 
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
Photos: Backstage with Michi Barall and the cast of Regina Taylor’s stop.reset. at Signature Theatre 
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party 
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

David Henry Hwang Articles:
June 13-14: Washington National Opera Presents Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang Receives $275,000 Doris Duke Artist Award
Signature’s Production of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu, starring Cole Horibe, Phoebe Strole and Francis Jue, extends through April 6, 2014 
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu 
Signature’s Production Photos of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu, Opens February 24, 2014
Celebrating the Year of the Horse with David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu at Signature Theatre; Previews begin February 4, 2014 
Feb. 4 – Mar. 16: Phoebe Strole, Jon Rua, Join Cole Horibe and More for Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu 
Feb. 4 – Mar. 16: Cole Horibe, Francis Jue, Peter Kim and More Set for Signature’s
World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu

Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards 
Signature Theatre’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu Stars SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE’s Cole Horibe as Bruce Lee 
Ryun Yu, Christopher Gorham, Linda Park, Sab Shimono, Emily Kuroda, Ki Hong Lee, Justin James Hughes star in David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face Premiering on YOMYOMF Network on 6/8 & 6/9 
David Henry Hwang to Receive the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award at the 5th Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards on October 29, 2012 
Signature Theatre’s Revival of David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and The Railroad Set for Wuzhen Theatre Festival in Wuzhen, China, May 9-12, 2013 
Photos: David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and The Railroad Opening Night at Signature Theatre 
Photos: Partying with the Cast of David Henry Hwang’s Golden Child; Extended Run Ends December 16, 2012 
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Oskar Eustis, BD Wong, Brian d’Arcy James, Francis Jue, Jennifer Lim and Leigh Silverman at WNYC’s The Greene Space 
Filmmaker Justin Lin Acquires Film Rights to David Henry Hwang’s Critically Acclaimed Broadway Comedy Chinglish
David Henry Hwang Set as Signature Theatre’s Residency One Playwright for the 2012-2013 Season
David Henry Hwang to Receive 2012 William Inge Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award 
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Nothing is Sacred in David Henry Hwang’s Comedy of Mistaken Racial Identity
Francis Jue, At Home on the Stage
The Making of the Flower Drum Song Cast Album
Flower Drum Song, An American Story The Literary Legacy of C.Y. Lee
Click here for more articles on David Henry Hwang.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia made her jazz vocalist debut in Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz “LADY” at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York. All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2014 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com


June 23: André De Shields, Billy Porter, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon, James Monroe Iglehart, Norm Lewis, Chapman Roberts and More Set for The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall

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Norm Lewis, Chapman Roberts and David H. Greer, Paula Marie Black, Stephen C. Byrd, in association with Richard Allen Center for Culture and Art, Queensborough Performing Arts Center and the California African American Museum, will present The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream, an all-male tribute honoring jazz musicians Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, and Paul Robeson, on June 23, 2014 at 8 P.M. in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City.

Andre De Shields. Photo by Lia Chang Chapman Roberts. Photo by Lia Chang Norm Lewis. Photo by Lia Chang
Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen will be on hand to present awards to Geoffrey Holder, Louis Johnson, Stephen C. Byrd, Harold Wheeler, Noble Sissle, Larry Hamlin, Berry Gordy, Luther Henderson, Donald McKayle, and Robert Guillaume.

The black tie gala concert, celebrating 100 years of jazz at Carnegie Hall, on Broadway and the 40th Anniversary of The Wiz, features the largest cast of African American Men of the Broadway stage, a veritable who’s who of performers, dancers, musicians and composers including:

James Monroe Iglehart, winner of the Tony Award for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for "Aladdin" poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Tony Awards on June 8, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

James Monroe Iglehart, winner of the Tony Award for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for “Aladdin” poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Tony Awards on June 8, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

Vocalists
Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, Billy Porter, James Monroe Iglehart, Larry Marshall, Kevin Ramsey, Glenn Turner, Doug Eskew, Milton Craig Neeley, Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Adrian Bailey, Marcus Naylor, Rome Neal, Leotis Clyburn, Branden Cook, Brandon Bain, Avon Long, David Helper, Raun Ruffin, Jason Cook, Lee Summers, Stanley Hopkins, Claude Jay, Forest Ray, Keith David, Rob “Ike” Barnes, Bobby Harden, Obba Babatunde, Kirk Taylor, Wilkie Ferguson, Lacy Darryl Phillips, Clent Bowers, Avon Marshall, Scott J. Foster, Brandon Victor Dixon, Kenneth Kamal Scott, Raymond Patterson, D’Ambrose Boyd, Ken Ard, Thom Scott, C.E. Smith, Johnathan Lee Iverson, Torrence Bristow, Jayson Kolbicz, and Clifton Davis.

Dancers:
Derek Grant, Bakaari Wilder, Jason Samuel Smith, Joseph Web, Dule Hill, Vincent Bingham, Omar Edwards, and Alde Lewis.

Musicians:
Frank Owens, David Alan Bunn, William Foster McDaniel, Kenny Seymour, Julius Williams, and Abdul Hamid Royal (Piano)
Conductors Sipho Kunene and Buddy Williams, Clyde Bullard (Drums), Bass Keith Robinson (Bass) and Van Gibbs (Guitar).

Featuring “Broadway Brown”, Youth Cast Members from The Lion King, Matilda, Motown, Kinky Boots, Scottsboro Boys, Raisin in the Sun and South Pacific, including Douglas Baldeo, Guy Barfield, Judah Bellamy, Cole Bullock, Nile Bullock, Niles Fitch, Jeremy Gumbs, Robert (Kyle) Harris, Ryan Harris, Joshua Jackson, Alphonso Jones, Jaden Jordon, Aubrey Omari Joseph, Luke Kain, Darius Kaleb, Clifford Lee, D’Andre Lee, Raymond Luke, Jr., Caleb McLaughlin, Marquis Neal and Chris Sumpter.

The program will feature the New York premieres of David Alan Bunn’s Live The Dream Overture – A Soulful Fanfare and Chapman Roberts/William Foster McDaniel Legacy, in additions to selections by Blake, Jordan, Waller / Henderson, Ellington, and other Broadway favorites.

Click here to purchase tickets.
The Black Stars of the Great White Way Official Website

Other articles on Andre De Shields:
Jun. 23: Norm Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen Set to Present Awards at The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
May 8: New Dramatists Presents Reading of Lonnie Carter’s Bronzeville Featuring André De Shields, Nambi Evelyn Kelley, April Matthis, and Danyon Davis
André De Shields, Mary Zimmerman, Among 4 Elliot Norton Award Nominations for Huntington’s World Premiere of The Jungle Book, a co-production with The Goodman
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
André De Shields to receive 2014 Making Waves Award; will perform “Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory” at Florida Atlantic University
Nov. 16: Conversations with the Divine with Owais Ahmed, Baize Buzan, Kathryn Cesarz, Kamal Hans, Brian Grey, Donica Lynn, Patrese McClain and Miranda Zola at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
André De Shields Delivers Keynote at the International Conference of Fine Arts Deans in New Orleans
Photos: André De Shields, Mary Zimmerman, Akash Chopra, Richard M. Sherman, Kevin Carolan, Larry Yando, Nehal Joshi and More Celebrate The Jungle Book Opening Night at Huntington Theatre in Boston
Click here for more articles on André De Shields.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Late Night Singing with Garth Kravits at 54 Below with The Skivvies, at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland and Michael Raye’s Soul Gathering
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014
David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage Appointed to the Playwriting Faculty of Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More, Opens June 11
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
May 12: Tony Award Nominee Norm Lewis Debuts as ‘The Phantom’ and Sierra Boggess Returns as Christine in Phantom of The Opera
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
May 20: George Gee Swing Orchestra CD – “Swing Makes You Happy!” Party at Swing 46 Jazz & Supper Club
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
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 
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Late Night with Holy Land’s Jojo Gonzalez
Photos: The George Gee Swing Orchestra at SWING46; Launches Indiegogo Campaign for New CD, Swing Makes You Happy
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
Jun. 22 – July 27: Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Set for Old Globe Debut in OTHELLO
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Photos: Backstage with Michi Barall and the cast of Regina Taylor’s stop.reset. at Signature Theatre
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999 Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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


Jun 25: Garth Kravits, Britt Bonney, Erik Jareth Ransom, Julia Meinwald, Claire Fornarola, David Ingber Set for TUNE IN TIME at Stage 72

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Garth Kravits. Photo by Lia Chang

Garth Kravits. Photo by Lia Chang

Turnpike Productions (Amy Engelhardt & Heather Shields) Presents TUNE IN TIME, New York City’s Ultimate Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge on Wednesday, June 25 and Tuesday, July 1 at Stage 72 (The Triad), 158 W 72nd Street, NYC, at 9p.m.

$10 COVER plus a two drink minimum (CASH ONLY)
Reservations strongly suggested.

Click here for tickets.

TUNE IN TIME successfully launched with two shows / competitions in April. Brave musical theater writers Britt Bonney, Erik Jareth Ransom, Julia Meinwald, Garth Kravits, Claire Fornarola and one of the champions from the April 2014 run of TUNE IN TIME, David Ingber, will step up to the musical plate on June 25, to  take on the challenge of writing a song from a musical whose title is, literally, picked from a hat in the style determined by a spin of The Dreaded Genre Wheel. Will it be a historical epic? Something á la Rodgers & Hammerstein? Experimental? Or even [insert name of large theme-park owning mega-corporation-turned-Broadway-megalopolis here]? Oh . . . and they have just 20 minutes to do it.

On July 1, Natalie Lovejoy, Kevin Hammonds, Pamela Grayson, William TN Hall, Matt Patrick Walsh and Alexander Oyen are scheduled to jump in. Celebrity judges for JUNE 25 include playwright/librettist Marc Acito (Allegiance, Room with a View, How I Paid for College), and actress/singer/director Diane Phelan (Pan Asian Rep)!.

Emily McNamara hosts TUNE IN TIME at Stage 72.

Emily McNamara hosts TUNE IN TIME at Stage 72.

TUNE IN TIME is produced by MAC Songwriting Award-winner Amy Engelhardt, (formerly of Grammy-nominated vocal band, The Bobs) and Heather Shields, co-founder of While We Wait Productions. “Tune in Time is a great combination of theater experience and performance instinct, but in this show it’s the writers, not the actors who will dare to live at the lip of their creativity,” says Engelhardt. “It’s serious fun; you’ve got to trust your instincts and commit 300 percent. Often, they come up with entire plots to justify the songs they write. TUNE IN TIME is unpredictable, egoless and above all, funny. I can’t wait to hear what comes out of these minds and fingers!”

TUNE IN TIME is hosted by cabaret uberhost Emily McNamara (The Chocolate Show, NEWSical, Getting the Band Back Together). Acclaimed musical director Nate Buccieri (Brandy’s, The Duplex, Don’t Tell Mama) will be on the keys.

But the true stars of the evening are the brains of the writers. Can they write a TUNE IN TIME?

Other Articles on Garth Kravits:
Late Night Singing with Garth Kravits at 54 Below with The Skivvies, at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland and Michael Raye’s Soul Gathering
broadwayworld.com: TUNE IN TIME, New York’s New Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge Show, Returns to Stage 72, 6/25 and 7/1
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
June 4: Garth Kravits, Lena Hall, Lesli Margherita, Wesley Taylor and More Strip Down with The Skivvies at 54 Below
Garth Kravits, Suzzanne Douglas, Erin Dilly, Gavin Lee and More Set for “From Carousel to Kinky Boots”, Bickford Theatre Guild’s annual fundraiser
Dec. 4 – 29: Garth Kravits Returns to Bucks County Playhouse for Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play
centraljersey.com: Clang Clang Clang!’Meet Me in St. Louis’ in Bucks County
BWW Interviews: Garth Kravits Talks about Bucks County Playhouse’s MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS: A RADIO PLAY
nj.com: Jersey actor Garth Kravits sings the praises of appearing on Broadway and closer to home

Other articles on Meet Me in St. Louis:
Two Delaware Valley Holiday Shows Make A National Top-10 List
Mainstreet.com names Bucks County Playhouse’s Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play as One of Ten “Top Holiday Shows”, Performances through December 29, 2013
Dec. 24: Garth Kravits and Lauren Molina, Stars of Bucks County Playhouse’s Holiday Show Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play, to Appear on Good Day Philadelphia
The Reporter: Bucks County Playhouse presents a flawless, picturesque “Meet me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play”
The Morning Call: Bucks Playhouse’s ‘Meet me in St. Louis’ is delightfully nostalgic
New Hope Free Press: Review: ‘Meet Me In St. Louis’ At Bucks County Playhouse
phindie.com: MEET ME IN SAINT LOUIS: A LIVE RADIO PLAY (Bucks County Playhouse): 60-second review
philly.com: Review: Meet Me in St. Louis, A Live Radio Play

Other articles by Lia Chang:
June 22 – July 27: Blair Underwood, Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Lead the Cast of The Old Globe’s Othello, helmed by Barry Edelstein 
Jun. 16: Project1Voice & NBLCA Presents Staged Reading of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf Featuring Trazana Beverley, LaChanze, Adriane Lenox, Tonya Pinkins, Lillias White, Denise Burse Fernandez, Marva Hicks, Roslyn Ruff and More
June 13-14: Washington National Opera Presents Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
May 31 – June 22: Annette O’Toole Leads Cast of Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third” Helmed by Michael Cumpsty at Two River Theater Company 
May 28 – June 29: Lisa Joyce, Henry Kelemen and CJ Wilson Join Mary McCann in Atlantic Theater Company’s OUR NEW GIRL
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
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: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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. All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2014 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com



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

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Two-time Tony nominee and Emmy winner André De Shields, who portrayed the title character in The Wiz 40 years ago as of January 2015, brought the house down at Carnegie Hall on Monday, June 23, 2014, where he sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in his original Broadway costume as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream.

The Wiz's André De Shields brought the house down as he sang " So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard" in his original Broadway costume as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

The Wiz’s André De Shields brought the house down as he sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in his original Broadway costume as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Chapman Roberts and Norm Lewis. Photo by Lia Chang

Chapman Roberts and Norm Lewis. Photo by Lia Chang

The black tie gala concert presented by Norm Lewis, Chapman Roberts, David H. Greer, Paula Marie Black, Stephen C. Byrd, in association with Richard Allen Center for Culture and Art, Queensborough Performing Arts Center and the California African American Museum, was an all-male tribute honoring jazz musicians Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, and Paul Robeson that celebrated 100 years of jazz at Carnegie Hall, on Broadway and the 40th Anniversary of The Wiz, and featured the largest cast of African American Men of the Broadway stage at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

Norm Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen presented awards to Geoffrey Holder, Louis Johnson, Stephen C. Byrd, Harold Wheeler, Noble Sissle, Larry Hamlin, Berry Gordy, Luther Henderson, Donald McKayle, and Robert Guillaume.

The Wiz's Andre De Shields at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

The Wiz’s André De Shields at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

“The good Lord created black people, and black people created everything else!” said André De Shields, when he took the stage on Monday night at Carnegie Hall in New York during The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream.

The New York Times‘ Stephen Holden writes,

“That uproarious zinger delivered by the cheeky, outspoken latter-day vaudevillian Andre De Shields was the best one-liner in “Black Stars of the Great White Way,” a sprawling nostalgic extravaganza at Carnegie Hall on Monday evening celebrating the contributions of African-American men to Broadway over the last century.

Mr. Roberts’s first all-star show took place in 2013. Monday’s performance, subtitled “Live the Dream!,” was a reunion that commemorated 100 years of African-American theater music and dance with a special emphasis on “The Wiz,” which opened on Broadway 40 years ago next January. Mr. De Shields, who played the title role in “The Wiz,” sang its uplifting anthem, “Believe in Yourself,” as he swirled around the stage in a flamboyant red-and-white costume with cape.”

The Wiz's André De Shields brought the house down as he sang "So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard" in his original Broadway costume as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

The Wiz’s André De Shields brought the house down as he sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in his original Broadway costume as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Check out the video excerpt from André De Shields’ performance.

Click on the link to The New York Times article to read the full music review.
The New York Times: Gentlemen Take a Bow in a Theater Tribute

Featured performers included Guy Davis, Longineu Parsons, Norm Lewis, Keith David, Chuck Cooper, Ben Vereen, Brandon Victor Dixon, Clifton Davis, Obba Babatunde and cast members from the original cast of Dreamgirls, cast members from the original cast of Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk and more. The program also featured the New York premieres of David Alan Bunn’s Live The Dream Overture – A Soulful Fanfare and Chapman Roberts/William Foster McDaniel Legacy, in additions to selections by Blake, Jordan, Waller / Henderson, Ellington, and other Broadway favorites. Check back for my featured highlights of the night in photos and video.

The Wiz's André De Shields brought the house down as he sang "So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard" in his original Broadway costume as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

The Wiz’s André De Shields brought the house down as he sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in his original Broadway costume as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

The veritable who’s who of performers, dancers, musicians and composers including:

Vocalists
Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, James Monroe Iglehart, Larry Marshall, Kevin Ramsey, Glenn Turner, Doug Eskew, Milton Craig Neeley, Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Adrian Bailey, Marcus Naylor, Rome Neal, Leotis Clyburn, Branden Cook, Brandon Bain, Avon Long, David Helper, Raun Ruffin, Jason Cook, Lee Summers, Stanley Hopkins, Claude Jay, Forest Ray, Keith David, Rob “Ike” Barnes, Bobby Harden, Obba Babatunde, Kirk Taylor, Wilkie Ferguson, Lacy Darryl Phillips, Clent Bowers, Avon Marshall, Scott J. Foster, Brandon Victor Dixon, Kenneth Kamal Scott, Raymond Patterson, D’Ambrose Boyd, Ken Ard, Thom Scott, C.E. Smith, Johnathan Lee Iverson, Torrence Bristow, Jayson Kolbicz, and Clifton Davis.

Dancers:
Derek Grant, Bakaari Wilder, Jason Samuel Smith, Joseph Web, Dule Hill, Vincent Bingham, Omar Edwards, and Alde Lewis.

Musicians:
Frank Owens, David Alan Bunn, William Foster McDaniel, Kenny Seymour, Julius Williams, and Abdul Hamid Royal (Piano)
Conductors Sipho Kunene and Buddy Williams, Clyde Bullard (Drums), Bass Keith Robinson (Bass) and Van Gibbs (Guitar).

Featuring “Broadway Brown”, Youth Cast Members from The Lion King, Matilda, Motown, Kinky Boots, Scottsboro Boys, Raisin in the Sun and South Pacific, including Douglas Baldeo, Guy Barfield, Judah Bellamy, Cole Bullock, Nile Bullock, Niles Fitch, Jeremy Gumbs, Robert (Kyle) Harris, Ryan Harris, Joshua Jackson, Alphonso Jones, Jaden Jordon, Aubrey Omari Joseph, Luke Kain, Darius Kaleb, Clifford Lee, D’Andre Lee, Raymond Luke, Jr., Caleb McLaughlin, Marquis Neal and Chris Sumpter.

Other articles on Andre De Shields:
June 23: André De Shields, Billy Porter, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon, Clifton Davis, Norm Lewis, Chapman Roberts and More Set for The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
Jun. 23: Norm Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen Set to Present Awards at The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More
May 8: New Dramatists Presents Reading of Lonnie Carter’s Bronzeville Featuring André De Shields, Nambi Evelyn Kelley, April Matthis, and Danyon Davis
André De Shields, Mary Zimmerman, Among 4 Elliot Norton Award Nominations for Huntington’s World Premiere of The Jungle Book, a co-production with The Goodman
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
André De Shields to receive 2014 Making Waves Award; will perform “Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory” at Florida Atlantic University
Nov. 16: Conversations with the Divine with Owais Ahmed, Baize Buzan, Kathryn Cesarz, Kamal Hans, Brian Grey, Donica Lynn, Patrese McClain and Miranda Zola at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
André De Shields Delivers Keynote at the International Conference of Fine Arts Deans in New Orleans
Photos: André De Shields, Mary Zimmerman, Akash Chopra, Richard M. Sherman, Kevin Carolan, Larry Yando, Nehal Joshi and More Celebrate The Jungle Book Opening Night at Huntington Theatre in Boston
Click here for more articles on André De Shields.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Photos: Meshach Taylor Celebrates 67th Birthday with Arlene and Joe Mantegna, Delta Burke, Gerald McRaney, Jean Smart, Dennis Franz, Ernie Hudson, John Heard, Keith Szarabajka, Stuart Gordon, Shadoe Stevens and More
Jun 25: Garth Kravits, Britt Bonney, Erik Jareth Ransom, Julia Meinwald, Claire Fornarola, David Ingber Set for TUNE IN TIME at Stage 72
Late Night Singing with Garth Kravits at 54 Below with The Skivvies, at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland and Michael Raye’s Soul Gathering
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014
David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage Appointed to the Playwriting Faculty of Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More, Opens June 11
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
May 12: Tony Award Nominee Norm Lewis Debuts as ‘The Phantom’ and Sierra Boggess Returns as Christine in Phantom of The Opera
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
May 20: George Gee Swing Orchestra CD – “Swing Makes You Happy!” Party at Swing 46 Jazz & Supper Club
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
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 
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Late Night with Holy Land’s Jojo Gonzalez
Photos: The George Gee Swing Orchestra at SWING46; Launches Indiegogo Campaign for New CD, Swing Makes You Happy
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
Jun. 22 – July 27: Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Set for Old Globe Debut in OTHELLO
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Photos: Backstage with Michi Barall and the cast of Regina Taylor’s stop.reset. at Signature Theatre
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999 Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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


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

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Obba Babatunde and cast members from the original cast of Dreamgirls, performed “Steppin’ to the Bad Side,” at Carnegie Hall in New York on Monday, June 23, 2014, as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream.

Obba Babatunde and members of the original cast of Dreamgirls sang “Steppin’ to the Bad Side”   as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Obba Babatunde and members of the original cast of Dreamgirls sang “Steppin’ to the Bad Side” as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Chapman Roberts and Norm Lewis. Photo by Lia Chang

Chapman Roberts and Norm Lewis. Photo by Lia Chang

The black tie gala concert presented by Norm Lewis, Chapman Roberts, David H. Greer, Paula Marie Black, Stephen C. Byrd, in association with Richard Allen Center for Culture and Art, Queensborough Performing Arts Center and the California African American Museum, was an all-male tribute honoring jazz musicians Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, and Paul Robeson that celebrated 100 years of jazz at Carnegie Hall, on Broadway and the 40th Anniversary of The Wiz, and featured the largest cast of African American Men of the Broadway stage at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

Norm Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen presented awards to Geoffrey Holder, Louis Johnson, Stephen C. Byrd, Harold Wheeler, Noble Sissle, Larry Hamlin, Berry Gordy, Luther Henderson, Donald McKayle, and Robert Guillaume.

The New York Times‘ Stephen Holden writes,

“Not once during the show was the word “diva” uttered. When “the original cast of ‘Dreamgirls’ ” was announced, there was not a fictional Supreme in sight. Instead, a nine-man ensemble sang a hearty rendition of “Steppin’ to the Bad Side,” one of the strongest numbers in “Dreamgirls.”

Click on the link to The New York Times article to read the full music review.
The New York Times: Gentlemen Take a Bow in a Theater Tribute

Check out the video excerpt of Obba Babatunde and cast members from the original cast of Dreamgirls.

Featured performers included Guy Davis, Longineu Parsons, Norm Lewis, Keith David, Chuck Cooper, André De Shields, Ben Vereen, Brandon Victor Dixon, Clifton Davis, cast members from the original cast of Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk and more. The program also featured the New York premieres of David Alan Bunn’s Live The Dream Overture – A Soulful Fanfare and Chapman Roberts/William Foster McDaniel Legacy, in additions to selections by Blake, Jordan, Waller / Henderson, Ellington, and other Broadway favorites. Check back for my featured highlights of the night in photos and video.

The veritable who’s who of performers, dancers, musicians and composers including:

Vocalists
Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, James Monroe Iglehart, Larry Marshall, Kevin Ramsey, Glenn Turner, Doug Eskew, Milton Craig Neeley, Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Adrian Bailey, Marcus Naylor, Rome Neal, Leotis Clyburn, Branden Cook, Brandon Bain, Avon Long, David Helper, Raun Ruffin, Jason Cook, Lee Summers, Stanley Hopkins, Claude Jay, Forest Ray, Keith David, Rob “Ike” Barnes, Bobby Harden, Obba Babatunde, Kirk Taylor, Wilkie Ferguson, Lacy Darryl Phillips, Clent Bowers, Avon Marshall, Scott J. Foster, Brandon Victor Dixon, Kenneth Kamal Scott, Raymond Patterson, D’Ambrose Boyd, Ken Ard, Thom Scott, C.E. Smith, Johnathan Lee Iverson, Torrence Bristow, Jayson Kolbicz, and Clifton Davis.

Dancers:
Derek Grant, Bakaari Wilder, Jason Samuel Smith, Joseph Web, Dule Hill, Vincent Bingham, Omar Edwards, and Alde Lewis.

Musicians:
Frank Owens, David Alan Bunn, William Foster McDaniel, Kenny Seymour, Julius Williams, and Abdul Hamid Royal (Piano)
Conductors Sipho Kunene and Buddy Williams, Clyde Bullard (Drums), Bass Keith Robinson (Bass) and Van Gibbs (Guitar).

Featuring “Broadway Brown”, Youth Cast Members from The Lion King, Matilda, Motown, Kinky Boots, Scottsboro Boys, Raisin in the Sun and South Pacific, including Douglas Baldeo, Guy Barfield, Judah Bellamy, Cole Bullock, Nile Bullock, Niles Fitch, Jeremy Gumbs, Robert (Kyle) Harris, Ryan Harris, Joshua Jackson, Alphonso Jones, Jaden Jordon, Aubrey Omari Joseph, Luke Kain, Darius Kaleb, Clifford Lee, D’Andre Lee, Raymond Luke, Jr., Caleb McLaughlin, Marquis Neal and Chris Sumpter.

Other articles on Live the Dream:
Photos & Video: The Wiz’s André De Shields Sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
June 23: André De Shields, Billy Porter, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon, Clifton Davis, Norm Lewis, Chapman Roberts and More Set for The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
Jun. 23: Norm Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen Set to Present Awards at The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More

Other articles on Andre De Shields:
May 8: New Dramatists Presents Reading of Lonnie Carter’s Bronzeville Featuring André De Shields, Nambi Evelyn Kelley, April Matthis, and Danyon Davis
André De Shields, Mary Zimmerman, Among 4 Elliot Norton Award Nominations for Huntington’s World Premiere of The Jungle Book, a co-production with The Goodman
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
André De Shields to receive 2014 Making Waves Award; will perform “Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory” at Florida Atlantic University
Nov. 16: Conversations with the Divine with Owais Ahmed, Baize Buzan, Kathryn Cesarz, Kamal Hans, Brian Grey, Donica Lynn, Patrese McClain and Miranda Zola at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
André De Shields Delivers Keynote at the International Conference of Fine Arts Deans in New Orleans
Photos: André De Shields, Mary Zimmerman, Akash Chopra, Richard M. Sherman, Kevin Carolan, Larry Yando, Nehal Joshi and More Celebrate The Jungle Book Opening Night at Huntington Theatre in Boston
Click here for more articles on André De Shields.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Photos: Meshach Taylor Celebrates 67th Birthday with Arlene and Joe Mantegna, Delta Burke, Gerald McRaney, Jean Smart, Dennis Franz, Ernie Hudson, John Heard, Keith Szarabajka, Stuart Gordon, Shadoe Stevens and More
Jun 25: Garth Kravits, Britt Bonney, Erik Jareth Ransom, Julia Meinwald, Claire Fornarola, David Ingber Set for TUNE IN TIME at Stage 72
Late Night Singing with Garth Kravits at 54 Below with The Skivvies, at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland and Michael Raye’s Soul Gathering
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014
David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage Appointed to the Playwriting Faculty of Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More, Opens June 11
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
May 12: Tony Award Nominee Norm Lewis Debuts as ‘The Phantom’ and Sierra Boggess Returns as Christine in Phantom of The Opera
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
May 20: George Gee Swing Orchestra CD – “Swing Makes You Happy!” Party at Swing 46 Jazz & Supper Club
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
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 
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Late Night with Holy Land’s Jojo Gonzalez
Photos: The George Gee Swing Orchestra at SWING46; Launches Indiegogo Campaign for New CD, Swing Makes You Happy
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
Jun. 22 – July 27: Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Set for Old Globe Debut in OTHELLO
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Photos: Backstage with Michi Barall and the cast of Regina Taylor’s stop.reset. at Signature Theatre
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999 Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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


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

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Tony and Drama Desk Award winner Ben Vereen (Pippin) performed Stephen Schwartz’s “For Good,” from Wicked, at Carnegie Hall in New York on Monday, June 23, 2014, as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream.

Ben Vereen performed “For Good,” from Wicked as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Ben Vereen performed “For Good,” from Wicked as part of The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Chapman Roberts and Norm Lewis. Photo by Lia Chang

Chapman Roberts and Norm Lewis. Photo by Lia Chang

The black tie gala concert presented by Norm Lewis, Chapman Roberts, David H. Greer, Paula Marie Black, Stephen C. Byrd, in association with Richard Allen Center for Culture and Art, Queensborough Performing Arts Center and the California African American Museum, was an all-male tribute honoring jazz musicians Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, and Paul Robeson that celebrated 100 years of jazz at Carnegie Hall, on Broadway and the 40th Anniversary of The Wiz, and featured the largest cast of African American Men of the Broadway stage at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen presented awards to Geoffrey Holder, Louis Johnson, Stephen C. Byrd, Harold Wheeler, Noble Sissle, Larry Hamlin, Berry Gordy, Luther Henderson, Donald McKayle, and Robert Guillaume.

Ben Vereen. Photo by Lia Chang

Ben Vereen. Photo by Lia Chang

The New York Times‘ Stephen Holden writes,

“Mr. Vereen capped the evening with a tender rendition of Stephen Schwartz’s “For Good,” from “Wicked.” The song’s tagline evokes the mentoring tradition that more than one guest described as standing on the shoulders of those who came before: “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”

Click on the link to The New York Times article to read the full music review.
The New York Times: Gentlemen Take a Bow in a Theater Tribute

Check out the video excerpt of Ben Vereen singing Stephen Schwartz’s “For Good,” from Wicked.

Featured performers included Guy Davis, Longineu Parsons, Norm Lewis, Keith David, Chuck Cooper, André De Shields,  Brandon Victor Dixon, Clifton Davis, Obba Babatunde and cast members from the original cast of Dreamgirls, cast members from the original cast of Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk and more. The program also featured the New York premieres of David Alan Bunn’s Live The Dream Overture – A Soulful Fanfare and Chapman Roberts/William Foster McDaniel Legacy, in additions to selections by Blake, Jordan, Waller / Henderson, Ellington, and other Broadway favorites. Check back for my featured highlights of the night in photos and video.

The veritable who’s who of performers, dancers, musicians and composers included:

Vocalists
Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields, James Monroe Iglehart, Larry Marshall, Kevin Ramsey, Glenn Turner, Doug Eskew, Milton Craig Neeley, Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Adrian Bailey, Marcus Naylor, Rome Neal, Leotis Clyburn, Branden Cook, Brandon Bain, Avon Long, David Helper, Raun Ruffin, Jason Cook, Lee Summers, Stanley Hopkins, Claude Jay, Forest Ray, Keith David, Rob “Ike” Barnes, Bobby Harden, Obba Babatunde, Kirk Taylor, Wilkie Ferguson, Lacy Darryl Phillips, Clent Bowers, Avon Marshall, Scott J. Foster, Brandon Victor Dixon, Kenneth Kamal Scott, Raymond Patterson, D’Ambrose Boyd, Ken Ard, Thom Scott, C.E. Smith, Johnathan Lee Iverson, Torrence Bristow, Jayson Kolbicz, and Clifton Davis.

Dancers:
Derek Grant, Bakaari Wilder, Jason Samuel Smith, Joseph Web, Dule Hill, Vincent Bingham, Omar Edwards, and Alde Lewis.

Musicians:
Frank Owens, David Alan Bunn, William Foster McDaniel, Kenny Seymour, Julius Williams, and Abdul Hamid Royal (Piano)
Conductors Sipho Kunene and Buddy Williams, Clyde Bullard (Drums), Bass Keith Robinson (Bass) and Van Gibbs (Guitar).

Featuring “Broadway Brown”, Youth Cast Members from The Lion King, Matilda, Motown, Kinky Boots, Scottsboro Boys, Raisin in the Sun and South Pacific, including Douglas Baldeo, Guy Barfield, Judah Bellamy, Cole Bullock, Nile Bullock, Niles Fitch, Jeremy Gumbs, Robert (Kyle) Harris, Ryan Harris, Joshua Jackson, Alphonso Jones, Jaden Jordon, Aubrey Omari Joseph, Luke Kain, Darius Kaleb, Clifford Lee, D’Andre Lee, Raymond Luke, Jr., Caleb McLaughlin, Marquis Neal and Chris Sumpter.

Other articles on Live the Dream:
Photos and Video: Obba Babatunde and cast members from the original cast of Dreamgirls perform at Carnegie Hall in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream
Photos & Video: The Wiz’s André De Shields Sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
June 23: André De Shields, Billy Porter, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon, Clifton Davis, Norm Lewis, Chapman Roberts and More Set for The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
Jun. 23: Norm Lewis, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen Set to Present Awards at The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
Jun. 23: The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall Features Chapman Roberts, Norm Lewis, André De Shields Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon and More

Other articles on Andre De Shields:
May 8: New Dramatists Presents Reading of Lonnie Carter’s Bronzeville Featuring André De Shields, Nambi Evelyn Kelley, April Matthis, and Danyon Davis
André De Shields, Mary Zimmerman, Among 4 Elliot Norton Award Nominations for Huntington’s World Premiere of The Jungle Book, a co-production with The Goodman
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
André De Shields to receive 2014 Making Waves Award; will perform “Frederick Douglass: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory” at Florida Atlantic University
Nov. 16: Conversations with the Divine with Owais Ahmed, Baize Buzan, Kathryn Cesarz, Kamal Hans, Brian Grey, Donica Lynn, Patrese McClain and Miranda Zola at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater
Photos: André De Shields, Michael Shannon, Rajiv Joseph, Christine Sherrill, Doug Peck, Alexis J. Rogers, Karen Ziemba and More Celebrate 2013 Jeff Equity Awards
André De Shields Delivers Keynote at the International Conference of Fine Arts Deans in New Orleans
Photos: André De Shields, Mary Zimmerman, Akash Chopra, Richard M. Sherman, Kevin Carolan, Larry Yando, Nehal Joshi and More Celebrate The Jungle Book Opening Night at Huntington Theatre in Boston
Click here for more articles on André De Shields.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Photos: Meshach Taylor Celebrates 67th Birthday with Arlene and Joe Mantegna, Delta Burke, Gerald McRaney, Jean Smart, Dennis Franz, Ernie Hudson, John Heard, Keith Szarabajka, Stuart Gordon, Shadoe Stevens and More
Jun 25: Garth Kravits, Britt Bonney, Erik Jareth Ransom, Julia Meinwald, Claire Fornarola, David Ingber Set for TUNE IN TIME at Stage 72
Late Night Singing with Garth Kravits at 54 Below with The Skivvies, at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland and Michael Raye’s Soul Gathering
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014
David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage Appointed to the Playwriting Faculty of Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program
A.C.T.’s Production Photos of The Orphan of Zhao starring BD Wong, Sab Shimono, Julyana Soelistyo, Stan Egi, Orville Mendoza, Paolo Montalban and More, Opens June 11
Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’ ‘it could be worse’ Series Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat, Alison Fraser, Gideon Glick and More Airs on Pivot TV in June; and on Hulu in July
Lucille Lortel Awards for Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Open House, Good Person of Szechwan
May 12: Tony Award Nominee Norm Lewis Debuts as ‘The Phantom’ and Sierra Boggess Returns as Christine in Phantom of The Opera
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
May 20: George Gee Swing Orchestra CD – “Swing Makes You Happy!” Party at Swing 46 Jazz & Supper Club
Photos: André Braugher, Ami Brabson, Christine Toy Johnson, Antoinette LaVecchia, Richard Topol, Victor Williams, Nikkole Salter, Elizabeth Van Dyke at Oni Faida Lampley’s Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory
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 
Signature Theatre to Be Honored with the 2014 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Photos: Late Night with Holy Land’s Jojo Gonzalez
Photos: The George Gee Swing Orchestra at SWING46; Launches Indiegogo Campaign for New CD, Swing Makes You Happy
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
Jun. 22 – July 27: Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Set for Old Globe Debut in OTHELLO
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph honored at Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards
Q & A with Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play’s Garth Kravits
Photos: Backstage with Michi Barall and the cast of Regina Taylor’s stop.reset. at Signature Theatre
Photos: The 58th Annual Drama Desk Awards and After Party
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999 Crafting a Career
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Lia Chang Photo by GK

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia recently 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, Lorey Hayes, Marcus Naylor and Phynjuar, 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.

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


Photos: Meshach Taylor Celebrates 67th Birthday with Arlene and Joe Mantegna, Delta Burke, Gerald McRaney, Jean Smart, Dennis Franz, Ernie Hudson, John Heard, Keith Szarabajka, Jack Wallace, Stuart Gordon, Shadoe Stevens and More

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Gia Mantegna, Joe Mantegna, Mia Mantegna, Arlene Mantegna, Esme Taylor, Meshach Taylor, Don,Yasmine Taylor, Tariq Taylor, Tamar Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang

Gia Mantegna, Joe Mantegna, Mia Mantegna, Arlene Mantegna, Esme Taylor, Meshach Taylor, Don Charles, Yasmine Taylor, Tariq Taylor, Tamar Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang

Lia Chang, Meshach Taylor and Tami Chang. Photo by Lia Chang

Lia Chang, Meshach Taylor and Tami Chang. Photo by Lia Chang

Emmy Award-Nominated actor Meshach Taylor turned 67 this year and was feted at the home of Arlene and Joe Mantegna in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. My sister Tami and I were fortunate enough to join in on the family celebration with his wife Bianca Ferguson, daughters Tamar Taylor, Esme Taylor, Yasmine Taylor, and son Tariq Taylor.

Esme Taylor, Yasmine Taylor, Meshach Taylor, Tamar Taylor and Tariq Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang Tariq Taylor, Yasmine Taylor, Bianca Ferguson, Tamar Taylor and Esme Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang

Also in attendance: Taylor’s”Designing Women” co-stars Delta Burke and her husband Gerald McRaney, Jean Smart and her husband Richard Gilliland, his “Dave’s World” co-star Shadoe Stevens and his wife Beverly Cunningham, The Hudson Family- Ernie Hudson, his wife Linda and their sons Ross and Andrew.

Delta Burke, Meshach Taylor and Gerald McRaney at Taylor's 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang Joe Mantegna, Richard Gilliland, Meshach Taylor and Jean Smart. Photo by Lia Chang

 

Shadoe Stevens, Meshach Taylor and Beverly Cunningham at Taylor’s 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Stevens and Taylor appeared on “Dave’s World”. Photo by Lia Chang Ross Hudson, Meshach Taylor, Linda Hudson, Andrew Hudson and Ernie Hudson. Photo by Lia Chang
Meshach Taylor at his 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Meshach Taylor at his 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Taylor worked in radio in Indianapolis, IN., and his first professional gig was in the National tour of the musical Hair. He honed his craft in repertory theater as a member of Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, and the Organic Theater Company alongside Mantegna, André De Shields, Dennis Franz, John Heard, Keith Szarabajka, Jack Wallace, and director Stuart Gordon. While in Chicago, he appeared in Streamers, Native Son, The Island and Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, for which he garnered the Joseph Jefferson Award. He received an Emmy Award for his role as Jim in the WTTV production of “Huckleberry Finn,” and hosted Chicago television show “Black Life”. In 1998, Taylor made his Broadway debut as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, starring alongside Toni Braxton.

Meshach Taylor and Toni Braxton in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast at the Palace Theatre in New York (1998). Photo courtesy of Playbill.com vault

Meshach Taylor as Lumiere and Toni Braxton as Belle in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast at the Palace Theatre in New York (1998). Photo courtesy of Playbill.com vault

Meshach Taylor and Joe Mantegna in Criminal Minds - "The Fallen". Photo: Screen Grab/CBS © 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Meshach Taylor and Joe Mantegna in Criminal Minds – “The Fallen”. Photo: Screen Grab/CBS © 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taylor had his second guest starring appearance on episode 13 of CRIMINAL MINDS, “The Road Home” on the CBS Television Network. The episode, which marked series star Joe Mantegna’s directorial debut, first aired in January, 2014 and was rebroadcast on June 11, 2014.

The Criminal Minds Team: Joe Mantegna, Meshach Taylor and Dan Ramm at Taylor’s 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Dan Ramm co-wrote the first episode of Criminal Minds that Taylor appeared in on November, 2012. Photo by Lia Chang

The Criminal Minds Team: Joe Mantegna, Meshach Taylor and Dan Ramm at Taylor’s 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Dan Ramm co-wrote the first episode of Criminal Minds that Taylor appeared in on November, 2012. Photo by Lia Chang

While the BAU looks for a vigilante killer on the loose in Cleveland, Rossi is concerned when his former Marine sergeant (Taylor returns as Rossi’s Former Marine Sergeant, Harrison Scott), goes missing and heads to Los Angeles to find him. Click below to see some clips of Meshach on CRIMINAL MINDS, “The Road Home”.

An Organic Theater Reunion at Meshach Taylor's 67th birthday in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. From left to right: Joe Mantegna, Ina Jaffe, Arlene Mantegna, Jack Wallace, Meshach Taylor, Carolyn Gordon, John Heard, Lenny Kleinfeld, Keith Szarabajka, Josephine Paoletti, Vinny Guastaferro, Stuart Gordon, Dennis Franz, Roberta Custer. Photo by Lia Chang

An Organic Theater Reunion at Meshach Taylor’s 67th birthday in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. From left to right: Joe Mantegna, Ina Jaffe, Arlene Mantegna, Jack Wallace, Meshach Taylor, Carolyn Gordon, John Heard, Lenny Kleinfeld, Keith Szarabajka, Josephine Paoletti, Vinny Guastaferro, Stuart Gordon, Dennis Franz, Roberta Custer. Photo by Lia Chang

Taylor had an Organic Theater reunion with Ina Jaffe, Jack Wallace, Carolyn Gordon, John Heard, Lenny Kleinfeld, Keith Szarabajka, Josephine Paoletti, Vinny Guastaferro, Stuart Gordon, Dennis Franz and Roberta Custer.

John Heard and Meshach Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang Stuart Gordon, Vinny Guastaferro and Meshach Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang Caleb Szarabajka, Meshach Taylor and Keith Szarabajka. Photo by Lia Chang
The cast of Designing Women- Jean Smart, Alice Ghostley, Meshach Taylor, Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Dixie Carter. (Photo courtesy of CBS)

The cast of Designing Women- Jean Smart, Alice Ghostley, Meshach Taylor, Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Dixie Carter. (Photo courtesy of CBS)

Delta Burke and Meshach Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang

Delta Burke and Meshach Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang

In 1979, Taylor moved to Los Angeles, where he has crafted a gallery of memorable characters in film and on television, including his Emmy nominated turn in the long-running CBS hit sitcom “Designing Women” as Anthony Bouvier, the assistant at the fictitious Sugarbaker interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia, starring Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Jean Smart. He was a series regular on “Dave’s World” (CBS), and has had recurring guest starring appearances on Nickelodeon’s “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” and “Buffalo Bill” (NBC) with Dabney Coleman. He has appeared on “The Unit” (CBS), “Jessie” (Disney Channel),”“Hannah Montana” (Disney Channel), “The Drew Carey Show” (ABC), “Static Shock” (Kids WB!), “Caroline in the City” (NBC), “Aaahh!!! Real Monsters” (Nickelodeon), “Women of the House” (CBS), “In the Heat of the Night” (NBC), “Punky Brewster” (NBC), “What’s Happening Now!”, “Hill Street Blues” (NBC), “ALF” (NBC), “Melba” (CBS), “The Golden Girls” (NBC), “Cagney & Lacey” (CBS), “Barney Miller” (ABC), “M*A*S*H” (CBS), “Lou Grant” (CBS), “The White Shadow” (CBS), “The Incredible Hulk” (CBS), and “Barnaby Jones”(CBS). His made-for-TV movies include The Right Connections with MC Hammer, Sidney Sheldon’s Nothing Lasts Forever with Brooke Shields, Virtual Seduction, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child and Double, Double, Toil and Trouble with the Olsen Twins. Taylor also hosted his own series on HGTV, The Urban Gardener with Meshach Taylor and was a regular panelist on the 2000 revival of the television game show “To Tell the Truth”. He co-hosted Living Live! with Florence Henderson on Retirement Living TV; in 2008, the program was revamped as The Florence Henderson Show.

Joe Mantegna, Joanie and Dennis Franz, Meshach Taylor, Gerald McRaney and Delta Burke celebrated Taylor's 67th birthday in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Joe Mantegna, Joanie and Dennis Franz, Meshach Taylor, Gerald McRaney and Delta Burke celebrated Taylor’s 67th birthday in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Keliher Walsh and Meshach Taylor in Year of the Rabbit. Photo by Betsy Newman

Keliher Walsh and Meshach Taylor in Year of the Rabbit. Photo by Betsy Newman

Taylor has appeared in the feature films Wigger, Damien: Omen II, The Howling, Jacks or Better, Kid ‘N Play’s Class Act, How to Murder a Millionaire, David Mamet’s House of Games, The Allnighter, The Last Innocent Man with Ed Harris, Explorers, Friends and Family, The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue, One More Saturday Night, Warning Sign, and Inside Out with Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason.

Taylor last appeared onstage at Ensemble Studio Theater-LA in Keliher Walsh’s Year of the Rabbit in 2012, playing Vietnam vet JC Bridges, who upon returning from his first tour in Vietnam in 1967, experienced hatred and racism in the turbulent States. The play examines wartime experiences from Vietnam and Afghanistan. Click here to read more about the play.

Joe Mantegna and Meshach Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang Gia Mantegna, Joe Mantegna, Mia Mantegna, Arlene Mantegna, Meshach Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang

 

Click to view slideshow.
Other articles on Meshach Taylor:
Criminal Minds: The Road Home
hollywoodreporter.com: ‘Criminal Minds’: Joe Mantegna on Rossi’s Military Past, Teases Season Mystery
indystar: Longtime IPS Teacher Celebrates 100th Birthday
tvline.com: Joe Mantegna: Criminal Minds’ Tribute to War Veterans Packs an Emmy-Caliber Performance
hollywoodreporter.com: ‘Criminal Minds’: Joe Mantegna on Rossi’s Military Past, Teases Season Mystery
xfinity.comcast.net: Joe Mantegna Thrilled About His ‘Criminal Minds’ Marine Storyline
brittany-frederick.com: Interview with Joe Mantegna Emmy Award-Nominated Actor Meshach Taylor (“Designing Women”) Guest Stars on Criminal Minds as Rossi’s Former Marine Sergeant, Harrison Scott on November 14, 2012
Meshach Taylor talks Wigger on Wendy Williams Show

Los Angeles Times: And Then There Was Anthony … : ‘DESIGNING WOMEN’S’ MESHACH TAYLOR ENDS THE SERIES AS HE BEGAN–WITH DIGNITY (May 23, 1993)
People: Designing Women’s Man (May 18, 1992)

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Photos and Video: Obba Babatunde and cast members from the original cast of Dreamgirls perform at Carnegie Hall in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream
Photos & Video: The Wiz’s André De Shields Sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
Photos and Video: Ben Vereen Performs at Carnegie Hall in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream
June 23: André De Shields, Billy Porter, Chuck Cooper, Brandon Victor Dixon, Clifton Davis, Norm Lewis, Chapman Roberts and More Set for The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014
Jun 25: Garth Kravits, Britt Bonney, Erik Jareth Ransom, Julia Meinwald, Claire Fornarola, David Ingber Set for TUNE IN TIME at Stage 72
Late Night Singing with Garth Kravits at 54 Below with The Skivvies, at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland and Michael Raye’s Soul Gathering
Bryan Cranston, Audra McDonald, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessie Mueller, Lena Hall, Sophie Okonedo, Kenny Leon, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All The Way, A Raisin in the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and More Take Home 2014 Tony Awards
Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014
David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage Appointed to the Playwriting Faculty of Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photos: AALDEF Honors Mari Matsuda, Aasif Mandvi, and John Chou in 2014 at 40th Anniversary Celebration
Apr. 23-27: Joel de la Fuente Stars in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths at PlayMaker’s Repertory Company
Jun. 22 – July 27: Richard Thomas and Kristen Connolly Set for Old Globe Debut in OTHELLO
Photos: Backstage and Opening Night of Signature’s World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu
Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz Presents “LADY” Featuring Lia Chang, Monica Garrido, Carolyn Holmes, Noel Simon’ Wippler, Linda Hudson, Adi Meyerson and Kathleen Doran
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph 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
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by GK

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


Lia Chang: Reports of ‘Designing Women’ star Meshach Taylor’s Death are Premature

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Meshach Taylor at his 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Meshach Taylor at his 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Actor Meshach Taylor is currently battling a 2 year bout with cancer, and on Friday, June 27, 2014, Taylor’s family posted this message on his Facebook page.

It is with love and gratitude that we sorrowfully announce that our darling, amazingly brilliant and dynamic, Meshach, the incredible father, husband, son and friend has begun his grand transition. Our friends who know and love us, please offer your prayers for his peace and blazing light as he ascends to the heavens. Those who need to call the family please do. Those who desire to post memories, we are open and graciously accepting all gestures of peace.

Love,
the Taylor Family
Tariq Taylor, Yasmine Taylor, Tamar Lashae Taylor, Esme Taylor

Due to this Facebook post, it was erroneously interpreted by fans and several news sites that he had passed.

As a close friend of the family, I just got off the phone with his daughter, Esme Taylor, and she confirmed that while he is terminally ill, the reports of his death are premature.

Meshach Taylor is best known for his Emmy-nominated turn as ex-con turned law student Anthony Bouvier on the CBS hit sitcom “Designing Women” (1986-1993), and for his portrayal of Hollywood Montrose, a flamboyant window dresser in the 1987 box office hit and cult classic romantic comedy film Mannequin. He played plastic surgeon Sheldon Baylor on the CBS sitcom “Dave’s World” (1993-1997), and appeared as Tony on the short-lived NBC sitcom Buffalo Bill opposite Dabney Coleman. From 2004-2007, Taylor played Alastair Wright, the history teacher turned school principal, on Nickelodeon’s sitcom, “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide.”

Meshach Taylor was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 11, 1947, but was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Indianapolis, Indiana. His parents, Hertha Mae Ward and Joseph T. Taylor were college professors. In 1967, Taylor’s father became the first black dean of Indiana University’s downtown campus, and after the merger that created Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in 1969, he became the first dean of the new institution’s school of liberal arts. Taylor is the eldest of three, his siblings are Judith Taylor and Hussain Taylor. He has four children, his oldest daughter, Tamar Lashae Taylor  from his first marriage. He married Bianca Ferguson in 1983. They have three children, Yasmine Taylor, Esme Taylor, and son Tariq Taylor, and four grandchildren.

Taylor caught the acting bug in high school, then studied drama at Ohio’s Wilmington College, before transferring to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. A few credits short of completing his studies, Taylor returned to Indianapolis to work at a local radio station as a State House political correspondent. Taylor would return 20 years later to Florida A&M to complete his remaining requirements, and graduated on May 1, 1993.

Meshach Taylor, Jose Martinez, Dennis Franz and Joe Mantegna in Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1973). Photo courtesy of Joe Mantegna

Meshach Taylor, Jose Martinez, Dennis Franz and Joe Mantegna in Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1973). Photo courtesy of Joe Mantegna

Taylor’s first professional gig was in a National tour of the musical Hair. The last stop of the two year tour was Chicago. When the run concluded, Taylor stayed and honed his craft in repertory theater for eight years as a member of Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, and the Organic Theater Company alongside Mantegna, André De Shields, Dennis Franz, John Heard, Keith Szarabajka, Jack Wallace, and director Stuart Gordon. While in Chicago, he appeared in Streamers, Native Son (1979 Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination for Actor in a Principal Role in a Play), The Island, and Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, for which he garnered the 1977 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Principal Role in a Play. He received a Chicago Emmy Award for his role as Jim in the WTTV production of “Huckleberry Finn,” and hosted a Chicago television show “Black Life,” on the local NBC affiliate.

An Organic Theater Reunion at Meshach Taylor's 67th birthday in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. From left to right: Joe Mantegna, Ina Jaffe, Arlene Mantegna, Jack Wallace, Meshach Taylor, Carolyn Gordon, John Heard, Lenny Kleinfeld, Keith Szarabajka, Josephine Paoletti, Vinny Guastaferro, Stuart Gordon, Dennis Franz, Roberta Custer. Photo by Lia Chang

An Organic Theater Reunion at Meshach Taylor’s 67th birthday in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. From left to right: Joe Mantegna, Ina Jaffe, Arlene Mantegna, Jack Wallace, Meshach Taylor, Carolyn Gordon, John Heard, Lenny Kleinfeld, Keith Szarabajka, Josephine Paoletti, Vinny Guastaferro, Stuart Gordon, Dennis Franz, Roberta Custer. Photo by Lia Chang

John Heard and Meshach Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang Stuart Gordon, Vinny Guastaferro and Meshach Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang Caleb Szarabajka, Meshach Taylor and Keith Szarabajka. Photo by Lia Chang
Promotional portrait of the cast of the television series, 'Designing Women,' c. 1987. Clockwise from bottom left: Jean Smart, Alice Ghostley, Delta Burke, Dixie Carter, Annie Potts and Meshach Taylor. (Photo by Fotos International/Courtesy Getty Images)

Promotional portrait of the cast of the television series, ‘Designing Women,’ c. 1987. Clockwise from bottom left: Jean Smart, Alice Ghostley, Delta Burke, Dixie Carter, Annie Potts and Meshach Taylor. (Photo by Fotos International/Courtesy Getty Images)

In 1978, Taylor moved to Los Angeles, where he crafted a gallery of memorable characters in film and on television. In May 1981, the ninth season of “M*A*SH,” Taylor was seen as a corpsman in the final episode, “The Life You Save,” and appeared as Tony in the short-lived NBC sitcom Buffalo Bill opposite Dabney Coleman. From 1986 – 1993, Taylor played lovable ex-con turned law student Anthony Bouvier, the assistant at the fictitious Sugarbaker interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia, on the CBS sitcom “Designing Women” starring Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts, and Jean Smart. In 1989, he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

From 1993 – 1997, he portrayed plastic surgeon Sheldon Baylor on the CBS sitcom “Dave’s World”. From 2004-2007, Taylor played Alastair Wright, the history teacher turned school principal, and appeared on Nickelodeon’s “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide”.

He appeared on “The Unit” (CBS), “Jessie” (Disney Channel),”“Hannah Montana” (Disney Channel), “The Drew Carey Show” (ABC), “Static Shock” (Kids WB!), “Caroline in the City” (NBC), “Aaahh!!! Real Monsters” (Nickelodeon), “Women of the House” (CBS), “In the Heat of the Night” (NBC), “Punky Brewster” (NBC), “What’s Happening Now!”, “Hill Street Blues” (NBC), “ALF” (NBC), “Melba” (CBS), “The Golden Girls” (NBC), “Cagney & Lacey” (CBS), “Barney Miller” (ABC), “M*A*S*H” (CBS), “Lou Grant” (CBS), “The White Shadow” (CBS), “The Incredible Hulk” (CBS), and “Barnaby Jones”(CBS). His made-for-TV movies include The Right Connections with MC Hammer, Sidney Sheldon’s Nothing Lasts Forever with Brooke Shields, Virtual Seduction, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child and Double, Double, Toil and Trouble with the Olsen Twins.

Meshach Taylor and Toni Braxton in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast at the Palace Theatre in New York (1998). Photo courtesy of Playbill.com vault

Meshach Taylor and Toni Braxton in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast at the Palace Theatre in New York (1998). Photo courtesy of Playbill.com vault

In 1998, Taylor made his Broadway debut as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, starring alongside Toni Braxton and James Barbour.

In 1996, Taylor hosted his own series on HGTV,”The Urban Gardener with Meshach Taylor,” and in 1998, he hosted “Meshach Taylor’s Hidden Caribbean” on the Travel Channel. He was a regular panelist on the 2000 revival of the television game show ”To Tell the Truth”. He co-hosted “Living Live! with Florence Henderson” on Retirement Living TV; in 2008, the program was revamped as “The Florence Henderson Show”.

Hello dolly ... Andrew McCarthy and Meshach Taylor in Mannequin Photograph: Allstar/20th Century Fox/Sportsphoto

Hello dolly … Andrew McCarthy and Meshach Taylor in Mannequin Photograph: Allstar/20th Century Fox/Sportsphoto

Taylor has appeared in the feature films Mannequin and Mannequin Two: On the MoveDamien: Omen II, The Howling, Jacks or Better, Kid ‘N Play’s Class Act, How to Murder a Millionaire, David Mamet’s House of Games, The Allnighter, The Last Innocent Man with Ed Harris, Explorers, Friends and Family, The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue, One More Saturday Night, Warning Sign,Wigger, and Inside Out with Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason.

Keliher Walsh and Meshach Taylor in Year of the Rabbit. Photo by Betsy Newman

Keliher Walsh and Meshach Taylor in Year of the Rabbit. Photo by Betsy Newman

Taylor last appeared onstage at Ensemble Studio Theater-LA in Keliher Walsh’s Year of the Rabbit in 2012, playing Vietnam vet JC Bridges, who upon returning from his first tour in Vietnam in 1967, experienced hatred and racism in the turbulent States. The play examines wartime experiences from Vietnam and Afghanistan. Click here to read more about the play.

In November 2012, Taylor guest-starred on “Criminal Minds” (CBS) opposite Joe Mantegna (Rossi) as Harrison Scott, Rossi’s former Marine sergeant with whom he served in Vietnam on the episode, “The Fallen”. He reprised this role in the episode “The Road Home, ” helmed by Mantegna, which aired in January, 2014.

Meshach Taylor and Joe Mantegna in Criminal Minds - "The Fallen". Photo: Screen Grab/CBS © 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Criminal Minds Team: Joe Mantegna, Meshach Taylor and Dan Ramm at Taylor’s 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Dan Ramm co-wrote the first episode of Criminal Minds that Taylor appeared in on November, 2012. Photo by Lia Chang
Click below to see some clips of Meshach on CRIMINAL MINDS, “The Road Home”.

Meshach Taylor turned 67 this year and was feted at the home of Arlene and Joe Mantegna in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. My sister Tami and I were fortunate enough to join in on the family celebration with his wife Bianca Ferguson, daughters Tamar Taylor, Esme Taylor, Yasmine Taylor, and son Tariq Taylor.

Esme Taylor, Yasmine Taylor, Meshach Taylor, Tamar Taylor and Tariq Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang Tariq Taylor, Yasmine Taylor, Bianca Ferguson, Tamar Taylor and Esme Taylor. Photo by Lia Chang
Also in attendance: Taylor’s”Designing Women” co-stars Delta Burke and her husband Gerald McRaney, Jean Smart and her husband Richard Gilliland, his “Dave’s World” co-star Shadoe Stevens and his wife Beverly Cunningham, The Hudson Family- Ernie Hudson, his wife Linda and their sons Ross and Andrew.

Delta Burke, Meshach Taylor and Gerald McRaney at Taylor's 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang Joe Mantegna, Richard Gilliland, Meshach Taylor and Jean Smart. Photo by Lia Chang

 

Shadoe Stevens, Meshach Taylor and Beverly Cunningham at Taylor’s 67th birthday party in Toluca Lake, CA on April 12, 2014. Stevens and Taylor appeared on “Dave’s World”. Photo by Lia Chang Ross Hudson, Meshach Taylor, Linda Hudson, Andrew Hudson and Ernie Hudson. Photo by Lia Chang
Other articles on Meshach Taylor:
Photos: Meshach Taylor Celebrates 67th Birthday with Arlene and Joe Mantegna, Delta Burke, Gerald McRaney, Jean Smart, Dennis Franz, Ernie Hudson, John Heard, Keith Szarabajka, Stuart Gordon, Shadoe Stevens and More
indystar: Longtime IPS Teacher Celebrates 100th Birthday
Jan. 22: Emmy Award-Nominated Actor Meshach Taylor (“Designing Women”) Guest Stars on Criminal Minds as Rossi’s Former Marine Sergeant, Harrison Scott
Criminal Minds: The Road Home
hollywoodreporter.com: ‘Criminal Minds’: Joe Mantegna on Rossi’s Military Past, Teases Season Mystery
brittany-frederick.com: Interview with Joe Mantegna
Happy Birthday Meshach Taylor
tvline.com: Joe Mantegna: Criminal Minds’ Tribute to War Veterans Packs an Emmy-Caliber Performance
hollywoodreporter.com: ‘Criminal Minds’: Joe Mantegna on Rossi’s Military Past, Teases Season Mystery
xfinity.comcast.net: Joe Mantegna Thrilled About His ‘Criminal Minds’ Marine Storyline
Emmy Award-Nominated Actor Meshach Taylor (“Designing Women”) Guest Stars on Criminal Minds as Rossi’s Former Marine Sergeant, Harrison Scott on November 14, 2012
Meshach Taylor talks Wigger on Wendy Williams Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLXaDgr-ASc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wln9O9bjD9U
Playbill.com: Beauty’s Meshach Taylor and Nine’s Myra Lucretia Taylor Take Flight in L.A.By Ernio Hernandez (Jan. 22, 2005)
Playbill.com: Braxton-Taylor-Barbour Beast Begins Sept. 9 By Robert Simonson and Robert Viagas (Aug. 21, 1998)
Los Angeles Times: And Then There Was Anthony … : ‘DESIGNING WOMEN’S’ MESHACH TAYLOR ENDS THE SERIES AS HE BEGAN–WITH DIGNITY (May 23, 1993)
People: Designing Women’s Man (May 18, 1992)

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