I had a fancy time at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala, FANCY THAT, A Project Extravaganza, held at the Edison Ballroom on May 4, 2015, thanks to my hosts Denise Burse Fernandez and her husband Peter Jay Fernandez, who are among the countless professional theater artists who have mentored and nurtured kids of The 52nd Street Project for more than two decades.

(seated) Selena Evans, Robert Evans, MaameYaa Boafo, Jeremiah Abiah, Denise Burse Fernandez, (standing) Akwasi Taha, Marva Hicks, Peter Jay Fernandez, Garth Kravits attend The 52nd Street Project’s Fancy That Benefit at The Edison Ballroom in New York on May 4, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

The gala dinner raises money for The 52nd Street Project’s theatrical and educational programming and this year Edie Falco hosted the evening, which kicked off with a cocktail hour, followed by a seated dinner, a live auction and a suite of performances.

Lewis Black, Nancy Giles, Jessica Hecht, Judy Kuhn, Mark Linn-Baker, Tim Blake Nelson, and Frank Wood were among the 330 attendees who packed the elegant retro Edison Ballroom. The gala was a smashing success, drawing the largest crowd in a couple of years.

The 52nd Street Project’s Fancy That Benefit at The Edison Ballroom in New York on May 4, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Ms. Falco acted as emcee and reminisced about her experiences volunteering for the Project over the past 15 years. The focus of the entertainment portion of the evening was original songs with lyrics by Project kids on the theme of “Fancy,” set to music and performed by professional adult artists.

The performance got started with “The Not So Fancy Bulldog” with lyrics by Ethan Zenteno, age 10, music by Peter Lerman and performed by Tony nominated Bryce Pinkham with backing vocals by Kendal Hartse and Akron Watson.

Next was “What You Had To” with lyrics by Stasia Bree Quiñones, age 17, composed and performed by soul singer/songwriter Stephanie McKay.

Following this came “Super Regular Harmless Turtle Squad” with lyrics by Justin Bannister, age 13, composed by Broadway legend David Yazbek and performed by Kendal Hartse, Taylor Trensch and Adrienne Warren.

Then there was “What is Space?” by Jayda Camacho, age 13, composed by singer/songwriter Elizabeth Ziman and performed by Tony winner Lena Hall.

Concluding the evening was “Lifestyle” with lyrics by Chamel Rodney, age 17, and set to music by Nick Blaemire, and performed by Mr. Blaemire with 2015 Lucille Lortel Award winner Jacob-Ming Trent and Broadway star Matthew Saldívar.

The kids introduced their songs, commenting on the inspiration for each, sat at the corner of the stage while there work was performed, and took a bow with the singers at the end.

Lyricists Justin Bannister, Ethan Zenteno, Jayda Camacho, Stasia Bree Quiñones and Chamel Rodney take a bow after the performances of their songs at The 52nd Street Project’s Fancy That Benefit at The Edison Ballroom in New York on May 4, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Written by John Sheehy, the show was directed by Jonathan Bernstein, with musical director Kimberly Grigsby on piano, Freddy Hall on guitar and John Epcar on percussion, lighting design by Greg MacPherson, sound design by Drew Levy, set and prop design by George Babiak, Stephanie Berger, Iris Brown and Crystal Thompson, with stage management by Colleen Sherry.

The income from the evening exceeded expectations, topping $310,000 or over 20% of the Project’s annual expenses. All of the Project’s year-round programming is free to the children who participate and the presentations of the Project’s theatrical programming (28 performances of 8 productions each year) are free and open to the general public at their Five Angels Theater, 789 Tenth Avenue, in Manhattan.

Willie Reale, Denise Burse Fernandez and Peter Jay Fernandez attend The 52nd Street Project’s Fancy That Benefit at The Edison Ballroom in New York on May 4, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

About The 52nd Street Project
The 52nd Street Project (The Project) was founded in 1981 by actor/playwright and 1994 MacArthur Fellow Willie Reale in response to a deepening need to improve the quality of life for New York’s inner-city children. Reale, an actor, playwright, and company member of the Ensemble Studio Theater (EST), used his company privileges to reach out to the children of the neighborhood by creating theatrical endeavors specifically for them. This was done with the cooperation and support of EST and its across-the-street-neighbor, the Police Athletic League’s Duncan Center. The Project is now an independent not-for-profit organization that creates over eighty new plays and serves over 125 children every year.

The 52nd Street Project has been a place where many preeminent theater-makers have volunteered their efforts to mentor kids from Hell’s Kitchen. To name just a few: Billy Crudup, Peter Dinklage, David Lindsay-Abaire, Frances McDormand, Cynthia Nixon, Oliver Platt, Theresa Rebeck, Jose Rivera, Martha Plimpton and Lili Taylor.

The Project is about making children proud of themselves. The Project is not about teaching children to act, although they will learn to. It is not about teaching them to write plays, although they will learn that as well. What it is about is giving a kid an experience of success. It is about giving a kid an opportunity to prove that he or she has something of value to offer, something that comes from within that he or she alone possesses, something that cannot be taken away.

In 2010 The 52nd Street Project, opened a theater—the first of their own—at 789 Tenth Avenue between 52nd & 53rd Streets.

Related articles:
Photos: Willie Reale, Frances McDormand, Lewis Black, Bela Fleck, Renee Goldsberry, Duncan Sheik, Lisa Benavides, Abigail Washburn, Tim Blake Nelson at The 52nd Street Project Benefit
Multimedia: The 52nd Street Project Benefit Photos: Michael Cerveris, James Monroe Inglehart, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Matthew Morrison, Greg Naughton and Kelli O’Hara

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington and Roscoe Orman. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Ruthie Ann Miles, Helen Mirren, Kristin Chenoweth, Alex Sharp, Andy Karl, Annaleigh Ashford, Richard McCabe, Robert Fairchild Among 2015 Outer Critics Circle Winners; Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Leads with 5; An American in Paris wins 4, The King and I and Hamilton Each Receive 3
Hamilton Sweeps 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards with 10 Wins; Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 3
Hamilton tops Lucille Lortel Award Nominations along with Into the Woods, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Invisible Hand, The Nether and The Fortress of Solitude
Tony Award® Nominees Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed to star in Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ, directed by Amy Morton, at Atlantic Theater Company, May 20-June 28
THE KING AND I Broadway Revival Cast Recording Starring Tony Award nominees Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe and Ruthie Ann Miles- now available for pre-order, release date on June 2
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS AND FUN HOME Lead 2015 Tony Award Nominations with 12 each; Ken Watanabe, Ruthie Ann Miles, Kelli O’Hara, Chita Rivera, Bradley Cooper, Kristin Chenoweth, Bill Nighy, Helen Mirren, Elisabeth Moss, Carey Mulligan, Ruth Wilson, K. Todd Freeman, Patricia Clarkson Among the Nominees
Hamilton leads 2015 Drama Desk Awards Nominations with 13, along with An American in Paris, Something Rotten!, The Visit, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
81st Annual Drama League Awards Nominations
Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama 
2014-15 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations; Something Rotten!, On the Twentieth Century, An American in Paris garner most nods
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
Photos: Aasif Mandvi, Sheetal Sheth, Jimmy O. Yang, Raymond J. Lee, Tobias Wong and more celebrate HBO’s AAPI Heritage Month Screening of Jonathan Yi’s “East of Main Street: Taking the Lead” Documentary 
Photos: Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Spring Exhibition, CHINA: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, May 7–August 16
George Takei Receives Distinguished Medal of Honor at Japanese American National Museum’s 2015 Gala Dinner; JANM Acquires Japanese American Incarceration Artifacts once slated for public auction
White House Blog: Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month; ‏White House Summit on AAPIs is May 12
President Barack Obama’s Proclamation for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 2015
Photos: Garth Kravits, Laura Benanti, Brian Nash, Lena Hall, Erin Davie and More in “Broadway Sings Tori” Benefit Concert for RAINN
Production Photos: Tony Award Winners Chita Rivera and Roger Rees star in Terrence McNally’s THE VISIT
Photos: David Byrne, Alex Timbers, Jaygee Macapugay, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Adam Guettel, Sarah Saltzberg and More Celebrate Jose Llana’s Lincoln Center American Songbook Debut
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee, Joycelyne Lew
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Photos: Inside THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE CD Release Concert with André De Shields, Kevin Mambo, Adam Chanler-Berat, Michael Friedman and More
David Henry Hwang, Laura Poitras, Amitav Ghosh, Deeyah Khan, Bill Rauch, Robert Battle, Carrie Mae Weems named among 13 Ford Foundation “Art of Change” Fellows
Thom Sesma, Emily Padgett, J. Elaine Marcos and Thai Superstar Bie Sukrit lead the cast of the world premiere of WATERFALL at The Pasadena Playhouse, May 29 – June 28 and Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, October 1-25
Crafting a Career

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

RED BANK, NJ— Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst will launch its 2015/16 Season in September with   with August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, directed by Brandon J. Dirden and will include the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, directed by Jessica Stone; a new music-theater production of Shakespeare’s Pericles created by Rinde Eckert and David Schweizer; and the Transport Group’s critically acclaimed production of I Remember Mama, directed by Jack Cummings III.

New works include the world premiere of Lives of Reason by Robert Rechnitz and Kenneth Stunkel, directed by Jonathan Fox, and the American premiere of Mexican playwright Barbara Colio’s Ropes, translated into English by Maria Alexandria Beech and directed by Lisa Rothe.

Season Subscriptions are on sale now at 732.345.1400 or 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ. Subscribers save 25% on tickets, receive prime seating and a number of additional benefits. Visit tworivertheater.org for more details. Ticket prices for individual shows range from $15 to $65.

“The 2015/16 season is built around the theme of family,” says Artistic Director John Dias. “Both in the content of the plays, which each deal with the complicated bonds between families—those you are born to and those you build within a community—and for Two River Theater itself. We are welcoming back several artists who are part of our family, and introducing several we have long wanted to bring into the fold. We have always believed that theater is a place for artists and audiences to come together and examine and celebrate the bonds that connect us as humans, and Managing Director Michael Hurst and I are proud that our season will be full of these rich opportunities.”

TWO RIVER THEATER’S 2015/16 SEASON

August Wilson’s SEVEN GUITARS

Directed by Brandon J. Dirden

Rechnitz Theater

September 12-October 4, 2015

Press Opening: September 18

Two River Theater opens its season with August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, Two River’s third American Century Cycle production following its acclaimed productions of Jitney and Two Trains Running. Seven Guitars takes audiences to Pittsburgh, 1948, where local blues guitarist Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton sits on the edge of stardom. Brandon J. Dirden is making his directorial debut with this production. As an actor, Dirden has appeared at Two River in Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine, Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, and August Wilson’s Jitney. On Broadway, he played Martin Luther King, Jr., opposite Bryan Cranston’s Lyndon Johnson in the Tony Award-winning All the Way. His Off-Broadway credits include The Piano Lesson, for which he received Obie, Theatre World, and AUDELCO Awards, and Drama League and Lortel nominations. On television, he can be seen as Agent Aderholt in the FX series The Americans. Seven Guitars will feature cast members Crystal Dickinson (Broadway’s You Can’t Take It With You and Clybourne Park) as Louise and Jason Dirden (Two River’s Topdog/Underdog and Broadway’s A Raisin in the Sun) as Canewell.

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart

Choreographed by Denis Jones

Directed by Jessica Stone  

Rechnitz Theater

November 14-December 13, 2015

Press Opening: November 20

Director Jessica Stone returns to Two River, where she made her debut last season with Alan Ayckbourn’s Absurd Person Singular, to direct A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, winner of the 1963 Tony Award for Best Musical. The production will be choreographed by Denis Jones (Honeymoon in Vegas). Inspired by Stone’s acclaimed 2010 Williamstown Theatre Festival production, Two River’s  …Forum will feature an all-male troupe of actors led by Christopher Fitzgerald (Broadway’s An Act of God, the original cast of Wicked, Young Frankenstein) as Pseudolus, a slave who tries to win his freedom by playing matchmaker for his innocent young master.

LIVES OF REASON

By Robert Rechnitz and Kenneth Stunkel

Directed by Jonathan Fox

Marion Huber Theater

January 9-February 7, 2016

Press Opening: January 15

Set at an English Department faculty party, Lives of Reason exposes the challenges of intellectual life—and what happens when one woman’s secret passions explode and her authentic self is revealed. This world premiere is written by Two River founder Robert Rechnitz and Kenneth Stunkel, and directed by former Two River Artistic Director Jonathan Fox, who currently serves as Executive Artistic Director of the Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara. The cast will include John Ahlin (Off-Broadway’s Orson’s Shadow, Two River’s Charlotte’s Web) and Maureen Silliman (Two River’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Glass Menagerie). This production will be sponsored by Monmouth University.

ROPES

By Bárbara Colio
English Translation by Maria Alexandria Beech

Directed by Lisa Rothe

Marion Huber Theater

February 20-March 20, 2016

Press Opening: February 26

In this beautiful and universal story about forgiveness, love, and loss, three brothers rendezvous at an airport to meet the father who abandoned them as children, and who is now the most famous tightrope walker of all time. Written by Bárbara Colio, one of Latin America’s leading contemporary playwrights, Ropes will be directed by Lisa Rothe (Hold These Truths at Epic Theatre Ensemble), Director of Global Exchange at the Lark Play Development Center in New York.  Two River Theater will present select performances ofRopes in Spanish as part of its ongoing Nosotros program, which is dedicated to engaging Monmouth County’s Latino community and furthering the work of Latino theater artists.

PERICLES

By William Shakespeare

Original Music and Additional Lyrics by Rinde Eckert

Directed by David Schweizer 

Rechnitz Theater

April 16-May 8, 2016

Press Opening: April 22

Shakespeare’s thrilling and epic tale of adventure, shipwreck and romance will be brought to new life with original songs by Pulitzer Prize-finalist Rinde Eckert, who will also appear in the production, directed by David Schweizer. Eckert and Schweizer’s previous collaborations include And God Created Great Whales, an Obie Award-winning operatic adaptation of Moby-Dick. In connection with its production of Pericles, Two River will produce “A Little Shakespeare,” a 75-minute version of Pericles performed by high school students. Performances will be presented in Two River’s Marion Huber Theater in December 2015.

I REMEMBER MAMA

By John Van Druten

Directed by Jack Cummings III

Rechnitz Theater

June 4-26, 2016

Press Opening: June 10

Ten veteran powerhouse actresses (led by Barbara Andres as Mama) will perform all 25 roles in John Van Druten’s beloved classic about a working-class Norwegian family in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. The Transport Group’s production of I Remember Mama, directed by Jack Cummings III, was celebrated as one of the best theater productions of 2014 in The New York Times and The New Yorker.

 WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Based on the Book by Maurice Sendak

Directed by Kim Selody

Produced by Presentation House Theatre, Vancouver, Canada

Originally Adapted for the Stage by Tag Theatre of Glasgow

June 9-12, 2016

Adapted from Maurice Sendak’s landmark children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are is an intimate “guided play” experience for kids ages 3 to 7 and their adults. Max’s bedroom is transformed into the various landscapes of his adventures, from a rolling ocean to a forest. The audience then becomes the Wild Things as each child is each given a mask and encouraged to “let the Wild Rumpus start!”

Plays, artists, dates, and ticket prices are subject to change. For additional information, visit tworivertheater.org. 

Ticket Information

Season Subscriptions are on sale now; prices range from $83.25 to $292.50. Subscribers save 25% on tickets, receive prime seating and a number of additional benefits. Visit tworivertheater.org for more details.

Ticket prices for all productions except A Little Shakespeare: Pericles and Where the Wild Things Are range from $37 to $65, with discounts available for groups, seniors, and U.S. military personnel, their families, and veterans. A limited number of $20 tickets are available for every performance; $20 tickets may be partial view. Tickets for patrons under 30 are $20 and include the best available seats at every performance.

Ticket prices for A Little Shakespeare: Pericles are $20 for adults and $15 for children under age 12.  Tickets for Where the Wild Things Are are $25.

Sponsors and Supporters

Two River Theater is supported in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a division within the Department of State and a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Columbus Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Stone Foundation of New Jersey, Monmouth University, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Durso Wealth Management Group at Morgan Stanley, Monmouth Medical Center Foundation, Wells Fargo, Investors Bank, Brookdale Community College, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, William T. Morris Foundation, Springpoint Senior Living Foundation at the Atrium at Navesink Harbor, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, and many other generous foundations, corporations and individuals.

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

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington and Roscoe Orman. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY, HAMILTON, Austin Pendleton & More Win Off Broadway Alliance Awards
HAMILTON, James Houghton, Usman Ally, Ayad Akhtar, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Douglas Thompson and Suzan-Lori Parks among 2015 Obie Award Winners
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Ruthie Ann Miles, Helen Mirren, Kristin Chenoweth, Alex Sharp, Andy Karl, Annaleigh Ashford, Richard McCabe, Robert Fairchild Among 2015 Outer Critics Circle Winners; Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Leads with 5; An American in Paris wins 4, The King and I and Hamilton Each Receive 3
Hamilton Sweeps 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards with 10 Wins; Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 3
Tony Award® Nominees Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed to star in Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ, directed by Amy Morton, at Atlantic Theater Company, May 20-June 28
THE KING AND I Broadway Revival Cast Recording Starring Tony Award nominees Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe and Ruthie Ann Miles- now available for pre-order, release date on June 2
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS AND FUN HOME Lead 2015 Tony Award Nominations with 12 each; Ken Watanabe, Ruthie Ann Miles, Kelli O’Hara, Chita Rivera, Bradley Cooper, Kristin Chenoweth, Bill Nighy, Helen Mirren, Elisabeth Moss, Carey Mulligan, Ruth Wilson, K. Todd Freeman, Patricia Clarkson Among the Nominees
Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama 
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
Photos: Aasif Mandvi, Sheetal Sheth, Jimmy O. Yang, Raymond J. Lee, Tobias Wong and more celebrate HBO’s AAPI Heritage Month Screening of Jonathan Yi’s “East of Main Street: Taking the Lead” Documentary 
George Takei Receives Distinguished Medal of Honor at Japanese American National Museum’s 2015 Gala Dinner; JANM Acquires Japanese American Incarceration Artifacts once slated for public auction
White House Blog: Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month; ‏White House Summit on AAPIs is May 12
President Barack Obama’s Proclamation for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 2015
Photos: Garth Kravits, Laura Benanti, Brian Nash, Lena Hall, Erin Davie and More in “Broadway Sings Tori” Benefit Concert for RAINN
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee, Joycelyne Lew
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Photos: Inside THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE CD Release Concert with André De Shields, Kevin Mambo, Adam Chanler-Berat, Michael Friedman and More
David Henry Hwang, Laura Poitras, Amitav Ghosh, Deeyah Khan, Bill Rauch, Robert Battle, Carrie Mae Weems named among 13 Ford Foundation “Art of Change” Fellows
Thom Sesma, Emily Padgett, J. Elaine Marcos and Thai Superstar Bie Sukrit lead the cast of the world premiere of WATERFALL at The Pasadena Playhouse, May 29 – June 28 and Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, October 1-25
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Crafting a Career

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

Kevin Mambo. Photo by Lia Chang

Signature Theatre has announced that due to an injury sustained by actor Sahr Ngaujah in a recent automobile-related incident, the role of Jonathan in Athol Fugard’s The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek will be played by Kevin Mambo until Mr. Ngaujah is able to return to the production.

Signature recently announced a second one week extension for the world premiere, which opened on Monday, May 11 and already extended once through June 7. The play will now run through June 14 in The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues).

The cast includes Bianca Amato (LCT’s Macbeth) as Elmarie, Leon Addison Brown (Signature’s The Train Driver) as Nukain, Caleb McLaughlin (The Lion King) as Bokkie, Tony Award nominee Sahr Ngaujah (Fela!) as Jonathan.

With The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, Athol Fugard, Signature’s 2012 Playwright-in-Residence and winner of the 2011 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, returns with a new play suggested by the life of outsider artist Nukain Mabusa. Aging farm laborer Nukain has spent his life transforming the rocks at Revolver Creek, South Africa, into a vibrant garden of painted flowers. Now, the final unpainted rock, as well as his young companion Bokkie, has forced Nukain to confront his legacy as a painter, a person and a black man in 1980s South Africa. When the landowner’s wife arrives with demands about the painting, the profound rifts of a country hurtling toward the end of apartheid are laid bare.

The design team includes Christopher H. Barreca (Scenic Design), Susan Hilferty (Costume Design), Stephen Strawbridge (Lighting Design), Stowe Nelson (Sound Design), Barbara Rubin (Dialect Coach). Linda Marvel is the Production Stage Manager. Casting by Telsey + Company, Karyn Casl, CSA.

Tickets for the extension performances start at $35. To purchase tickets for all Signature productions, call Ticket Services at 212-244-7529 (Tues. – Sun., 11am – 6pm) or visit signaturetheatre.org.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington and Roscoe Orman. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Related articles:
Photos: Inside THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE CD Release Concert with André De Shields, Kevin Mambo, Adam Chanler-Berat, Michael Friedman and More
Photos: André De Shields, Adam Chanler-Berat, Jose Llana, Kevin Mambo, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Kyle Beltran, Kim Brockington and More at The Fortress of Solitude 
Jackie Alexander’s BROTHERS FROM THE BOTTOM Starring Wendell Pierce, Kevin Mambo, Toccarra Cash, Thaddeus Daniels, Wendell Franklin and Megan Robinson at the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse through March 29

Other articles by Lia Chang
Garth Kravits on Showtime’s NURSE JACKIE on May 24
BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY, HAMILTON, Austin Pendleton & More Win Off Broadway Alliance Awards
HAMILTON, James Houghton, Usman Ally, Ayad Akhtar, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Douglas Thompson and Suzan-Lori Parks among 2015 Obie Award Winners
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Ruthie Ann Miles, Helen Mirren, Kristin Chenoweth, Alex Sharp, Andy Karl, Annaleigh Ashford, Richard McCabe, Robert Fairchild Among 2015 Outer Critics Circle Winners; Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Leads with 5; An American in Paris wins 4, The King and I and Hamilton Each Receive 3
Hamilton Sweeps 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards with 10 Wins; Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 3
THE KING AND I Broadway Revival Cast Recording Starring Tony Award nominees Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe and Ruthie Ann Miles- now available for pre-order, release date on June 2
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS AND FUN HOME Lead 2015 Tony Award Nominations with 12 each; Ken Watanabe, Ruthie Ann Miles, Kelli O’Hara, Chita Rivera, Bradley Cooper, Kristin Chenoweth, Bill Nighy, Helen Mirren, Elisabeth Moss, Carey Mulligan, Ruth Wilson, K. Todd Freeman, Patricia Clarkson Among the Nominees
Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama 
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
Photos: Aasif Mandvi, Sheetal Sheth, Jimmy O. Yang, Raymond J. Lee, Tobias Wong and more celebrate HBO’s AAPI Heritage Month Screening of Jonathan Yi’s “East of Main Street: Taking the Lead” Documentary 
George Takei Receives Distinguished Medal of Honor at Japanese American National Museum’s 2015 Gala Dinner; JANM Acquires Japanese American Incarceration Artifacts once slated for public auction
White House Blog: Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month; ‏White House Summit on AAPIs is May 12
President Barack Obama’s Proclamation for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 2015
Photos: Garth Kravits, Laura Benanti, Brian Nash, Lena Hall, Erin Davie and More in “Broadway Sings Tori” Benefit Concert for RAINN
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee, Joycelyne Lew
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Photos: Inside THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE CD Release Concert with André De Shields, Kevin Mambo, Adam Chanler-Berat, Michael Friedman and More
David Henry Hwang, Laura Poitras, Amitav Ghosh, Deeyah Khan, Bill Rauch, Robert Battle, Carrie Mae Weems named among 13 Ford Foundation “Art of Change” Fellows
Thom Sesma, Emily Padgett, J. Elaine Marcos and Thai Superstar Bie Sukrit lead the cast of the world premiere of WATERFALL at The Pasadena Playhouse, May 29 – June 28 and Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, October 1-25
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Crafting a Career

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

Laura Benanti hosted the 60th Annual Drama Desk Awards at Town Hall in New York tonight. The Drama Desk Awards, which are presented annually, honor outstanding achievement by professional theater artists on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway.

The Public Theater’s production of the Broadway bound Hamilton was the big winner of the night in seven categories including Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Renee Elise Goldsberry), Outstanding Director of a Musical (Thomas Kail), Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical (Nevin Steinberg); and three for Lin-Manuel Miranda in the categories of Outstanding Music,  Outstanding Book of a Musical and Outstanding Lyrics.  Andy Blankenbuehler also received a Special Drama Desk Award for his choreography for Hamilton.

Alex Sharp as Christopher and the cast of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Photo by Joan Marcus

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won for Outstanding Play (Simon Stephens) and in five other categories including Outstanding Actor in a Play (Alexander Sharp), Outstanding Director of a Play (Marianne Elliott), Outstanding Project Design (Finn Ross), Outstanding Lighting Design (Paule Constable), and Outstanding Sound Design in a Play (Ian Dickinson).

Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope in ‘An American in Paris’ (Photo: Angela Sterling)

An American in Paris won for Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Robert Fairchild), Outstanding Choreography of a Musical (Christopher Wheeldon), Outstanding Orchestrations (Christopher Austin) and Outstanding Set Design (Bob Crowley).

Congrats to all of the winners in bold.

Outstanding Play
Clare Barron, You Got Older
Lisa D’Amour, Airline Highway
Anthony Giardina, The City of Conversation 
Stephen Adly Guirgis, Between Riverside and Crazy
Elizabeth Irwin, My Manãna Comes
Simon Stephens, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time-winner
Jack Thorne, Let the Right One In 

Alex Sharp as Christopher and the cast of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Photo by Joan Marcus

Outstanding Musical
An American in Paris
Hamilton-winner
Fly By Night
Pretty Filthy
Something Rotten
The Visit

Outstanding Revival of a Play
The Elephant Man-winner
Fashions for Men
Ghosts
The Iceman Cometh
Tamburlaine the Great
The Wayside Motor Inn

Bradley Cooper as John Merrick, Alessandro Nivola as Dr. Fredrik Treves & Patricia Clarkson as Mrs. Kendal in The Elephant Man. Photo by Joan Marcus

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Into the Woods
The King and I-winner
On the Town
On the Twentieth Century
Pageant
Side Show

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

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Reed Birney, I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard
Bradley Cooper, The Elephant Man
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy
Ben Miles, Wolf Hall, Parts 1 & 2
Bill Pullman, Sticks and Bones
Alexander Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time-winner

Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II in ‘The Audience’ (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Brooke Bloom, You Got Older
Kathleen Chalfant, A Walk in the Woods
Kristin Griffith, The Fatal Weakness
Jan Maxwell, The City of Conversation
Helen Mirren-The Audience
Carey Mulligan, Skylight
Tonya Pinkins, Rasheeda Speaking

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Brian d’Arcy James, Something Rotten!
Robert Fairchild, An American in Paris-winner
Jeremy Kushnier, Atomic
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Matthew Morrison, Finding Neverland
Ryan Silverman, Side Show

Kristin Chenoweth stars in ‘On the Twentieth Century’ on Broadway (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, John & Jen
Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century-winner
Leanne Cope, An American in Paris
Erin Davie, Side Show
Lisa Howard, It Shoulda Been You
Chita Rivera, The Visit

K. Todd Freeman and the cast of “Airline Highway” at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Joan Marcus

K. Todd Freeman wins a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in “Airline Highway.” Photo courtesy of K. Todd Freeman/Facebook

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
F. Murray Abraham, It’s Only a Play
Reed Birney, You Got Older
K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway-winner
Jonathan Hadary, Rocket to the Moon
Jason Butler Harner, The Village Bike
Jonathan Hogan, Pocatello
José Joaquin Perez, My Mañana Comes

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It with You-winner
Beth Dixon, The City of Conversation
Julie Halston, You Can’t Take It with You
Paola Lázaro-Muñoz, To the Bone
Lydia Leonard, Wolf Hall, Parts 1 & 2
Julie White, Airline Highway

The cast of You Can’t Take It with You. Photo by Joan Marcus

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Christian Borle, Something Rotten!-winner
Peter Friedman, Fly By Night
Josh Grisetti, It Shoulda Been You
Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century
Leslie Odom Jr., Hamilton
Brad Oscar, Something Rotten!
Max von Essen, An American in Paris

Christian Borle (right) plays Shakespeare as rock star opposite Brian d’Arcy James’ rival playwright in “Something Rotten!”
Photo: Joan Marcus

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Carolee Carmello, Finding Neverland
Tyne Daly, It Shoulda Been You
Elizabeth A. Davis, Allegro
Renee Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton-winner
Luba Mason, Pretty Filthy
Nancy Opel, Honeymoon in Vegas
Elizabeth Stanley, On the Town

The Schuyler sisters work it in Paul Tazewell’s costumes: Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Jasmine Cephas Jones, who plays their sib and Hamilton’s mistress. Photo by Joan Marcus

Outstanding Director of a Play
Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time-winner
Jeremy Herrin, Wolf Hall, Parts 1 & 2
Anne Kauffman, You Got Older
Lila Neugebauer, The Wayside Motor Inn
Austin Pendleton, Between Riverside and Crazy
Joe Tantalo, Deliverance
John Tiffany, Let the Right One In

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Carolyn Cantor, Fly By Night
Bill Condon, Side Show
John Doyle, The Visit
Thomas Kail, Hamilton-winner
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Outstanding Choreography
Joshua Bergasse, On the Town
Warren Carlyle, On the Twentieth Century
Steven Hoggett, The Last Ship
Austin McCormick, Rococo Rouge
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris-winner

Outstanding Music
Jason Robert Brown, Honeymoon in Vegas
Michael Friedman, The Fortress of Solitude
John Kander, The Visit
Dave Malloy, Ghost Quartet
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton-winner
Sting, The Last Ship

Outstanding Lyrics
Jason Robert Brown, Honeymoon in Vegas
Fred Ebb, The Visit
Michael Friedman, The Fortress of Solitude
Karey Kirkpatrick & Wayne Kirkpatrick, Something Rotten!
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton-winner
Benjamin Scheuer, The Lion

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Hunter Bell & Lee Overtree, Found
Karey Kirkpatrick & John O’Farrell, Something Rotten!
Craig Lucas, An American in Paris
Terence McNally, The Visit
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton-winner
Kim Rosenstock, Will Connolly, & Michael Mitnick, Fly By Night

Outstanding Orchestrations
Christopher Austin, An American in Paris-winner
Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Allegro
Larry Hochman, Something Rotten!
Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton
Rob Mathes, The Last Ship
Don Sebesky, Larry Blank, Jason Robert Brown, & Charlie Rosen, Honeymoon in Vegas

Outstanding Music in a Play
Cesar Alvarez, An Octoroon
Danny Blackburn & Bryce Hodgson, Deliverance
Sean Cronin, Kill Me Like You Mean It
Bongi Duma, Generations
Freddi Price, The Pigeoning
Arthur Solari & Jane Shaw, Tamburlaine the Great-winner

Outstanding Revue
Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging!
Just Jim Dale-winner
Lennon: Through a Glass Onion
Lonesome Traveler

Outstanding Set Design
Bob Crowley, An American in Paris-winner
Christine Jones, Let The Right One In
David Korins, Hamilton
Mimi Lien, An Octoroon
Scott Pask, The Visit
Daniel Zimmerman, Fashions for Men

Outstanding Costume Design
Bob Crowley, An American in Paris
Bob Crowley, The Audience
Christopher Oram, Wolf Hall, Parts 1 & 2
Paul Tazewell, Hamilton
Andrea Varga, The Fatal Weakness
Catherine Zuber, Gigi-winner

Outstanding Lighting Design
Howell Binkley, Hamilton
Paule Constable, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time-winner
Paule Constable & David Plater, Wolf Hall, Parts 1 & 2
Maruti Evans, Deliverance
Natasha Katz, The Iceman Cometh
Ben Stanton, Our Lady of Kibeho

Outstanding Projection Design
59 Productions, An American in Paris
Roger Hanna & Price Johnston, Donogoo
Darrel Maloney, Found
Peter Nigrini, Our Lady of Kibeho
Finn Ross, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time-winner
Austin Switser, Big Love

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Peter Hylenski, Side Show
Scott Lehrer, The King & I
Scott Lehrer & Drew Levy, Honeymoon in Vegas
Brian Ronan, The Last Ship
Nevin Steinberg, Hamilton-winner
Jon Weston, An American in Paris

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
Nathan Davis, The Other Mozart
Ien Denio, Deliverance
Ian Dickinson (for Autograph), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time-winner
Gareth Fry, Let the Right One In
John Gromada, Lives of the Saints
Matt Tierney, Our Lady of Kibeho

Queen of the Night producer Randy Weiner shows off his Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. Photo courtesy of Randy Weiner/Facebook

Outstanding Solo Performance
Christina Bianco, Application Pending
Jonny Donahoe, Every Brilliant Thing
Tom Dugan, Wiesenthal
Mona Golabek, The Pianist of Willesden Lane
Joely Richardson, The Belle of Amherst
Benjamin Scheuer, The Lion-winner

Unique Theatrical Experience
Catch Me!
Everybody Gets Cake
The Human Symphony
Queen of the Night-winner
A Rap Guide to Religion

Special Awards: Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theatre.

For 2014-15, these awards are:
This year the nominators chose to bestow a special award for outstanding ensemble to the actors who so brilliantly shared a room in the world of A. R. Gurney’s The Wayside Motor Inn: Kelly AuCoin, Jon DeVries, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Rebecca Henderson, Marc Kudisch, Jenn Lyon, Lizbeth Mackay, David McElwee, Ismenia Mendes, and Will Pullen.

To Bess Wohl, the Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: For establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater, and having a breakthrough year with the eclectic American Hero, Pretty Filthy, and Small Mouth Sounds. Her writing expresses sensitivity, compassion, and humor with a sure hand.

To John Douglas Thompson: For invigorating theater in New York through his commanding presence, classical expertise, and vocal prowess. This season he demonstrated exceptional versatility in Tamburlaine the Great, and The Iceman Cometh.

To Ensemble Studio Theatre: For its unwavering commitment to producing new works by American playwrights since 1968, and enriching this season with productions of When January Feels Like Summer, Winners, and Five Times in One Night. EST’s Youngblood program fostered and nurtured Hand to God, setting Tyrone off on his devilish path to Broadway.

To Andy Blankenbuehler: For his inspired and heart-stopping choreography in Hamilton, which is indispensible to the musical’s storytelling. His body of work is versatile, yet a dynamic and fluid style is consistently evident. When it’s time to “take his shot,” Blankenbuehler hits the bull’s-eye.

The 2014-2015 Drama Desk Nominating Committee is composed of: Barbara Siegel, chairperson, (author and freelance critic); Benjamin Coleman (literary associate, Samuel French, Inc.); Adrian Dimanlig (“Interludes,”www.adriandimanlig.com); Steve Garrin (broadcast producer; sound designer); Mahayana Landowne (theater director; interactive artist); and Steve Marsh (Director, Graduate Studies, Department of Theatre Arts, Stony Brook University).

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington and Roscoe Orman. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
AAFLTV “Focus on the Philippines” Monday nights in June, hosted by Jennifer Betit Yen, Erin Quill and Lia Chang
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
Photos: Anna May Wong as Fashion Muse in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Dr. Leroy Chiao honored with 2015 Blue Cloud Award at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala
Photos: Dr. Leroy Chiao, The Hon. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Shirley and Walter Wang Honored at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala 
Photos: Garth Kravits as a Statue of Liberty Street Performer on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie
The 2015 Broadway Cast Recording of The Lincoln Center Theater Production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I Starring Tony Award nominees Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe and Ruthie Ann Miles, available on June 2; Extended Run and National Tour Announced
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Photos and Video: Telly Leung, Yumi Kurosawa, Lei Pasifika, Soh Daiko perform at The Met’s Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Production Photos: Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed in World Premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ at Atlantic Theater Company; Opens June 11
Original Cast of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE including Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, to Reunite for 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert on July 6
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee, Joycelyne Lew
Photos: David Byrne, Alex Timbers, Jaygee Macapugay, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Adam Guettel, Sarah Saltzberg and More Celebrate Jose Llana’s Lincoln Center American Songbook Debut
BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY, HAMILTON, Austin Pendleton & More Win Off Broadway Alliance Awards
HAMILTON, James Houghton, Usman Ally, Ayad Akhtar, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Douglas Thompson and Suzan-Lori Parks among 2015 Obie Award Winners 
Ruthie Ann Miles, Helen Mirren, Kristin Chenoweth, Alex Sharp, Andy Karl, Annaleigh Ashford, Richard McCabe, Robert Fairchild Among 2015 Outer Critics Circle Winners; Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Leads with 5; An American in Paris wins 4, The King and I and Hamilton Each Receive 3 
Hamilton Sweeps 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards with 10 Wins; Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 3 
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS AND FUN HOME Lead 2015 Tony Award Nominations with 12 each; Ken Watanabe, Ruthie Ann Miles, Kelli O’Hara, Chita Rivera, Bradley Cooper, Kristin Chenoweth, Bill Nighy, Helen Mirren, Elisabeth Moss, Carey Mulligan, Ruth Wilson, K. Todd Freeman, Patricia Clarkson Among the Nominees
81st Annual Drama League Awards Nominations
Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
2014-15 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations; Something Rotten!, On the Twentieth Century, An American in Paris garner most nods
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
Video: The cast of HAMILTON at The Public Theater pays tribute to A Chorus Line on the 40th anniversary of its first performance in the Newman Theater at The Public
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Hamilton tops Lucille Lortel Award Nominations along with Into the Woods, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Invisible Hand, The Nether and The Fortress of Solitude
Suzan-Lori Parks’ FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 Winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History 
Photos: Inside THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE CD Release Concert with André De Shields, Kevin Mambo, Adam Chanler-Berat, Michael Friedman and More
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced!
Click here  for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.
All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2015 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com

The stars are aligning tonight for the 69th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Tony winners Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming, and the evening will be packed with entertainment and performances. The 2015 Tony Awards is being broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City, on CBS, on Sunday, June 7th 8:00 – 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT time delay) and are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

Jennifer Lopez, Nick Jonas, Kiesza, Harry Connick, Jr., Jennifer Grey, Joel Grey, Dulé Hill, Judith Light, Patina Miller, Bernadette Peters and Phylicia Rashad will take the stage at Radio City Music Hall.

As previously announced the night will feature a special performance by Josh Groban who will be joined on stage by 175 performers. The night will also include performances by Kristin Chenoweth and the cast of On the Twentieth Century; Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe and Ruthie Ann Miles from The King and I; Sydney Lucas, Michael Cerveris and Beth Malone from Fun Home; Brian d’Arcy James, Brad Oscar and the cast of Something Rotten!, Leanne Cope, Robert Fairchild, Brandon Uranowitz, Max von Essen and the cast of An American in Paris, Chita Rivera and the cast of The Visit; Tony Yazbeck and the cast of On the Town; Matthew Morrison, Kelsey Grammer and the cast of Finding Neverland; Vanessa Hudgens, Cory Cott and Victoria Clark and the cast of Gigi; Lisa Howard, Adam Heller and Tyne Daly from It Shoulda Been You. The evening will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Jersey Boys on Broadway.

Other names who will be taking center stage include: Bradley Cooper, Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, Amanda Seyfried, Ashley Tisdale, Bryan Cranston, Joe Manganiello, Kiefer Sutherland, Anna Chlumsky, Larry David, Jason Alexander, Misty Copeland, Sting, Corey Stoll, David Hyde Pierce, Debra Messing, Jennifer Nettles, Marg Helgenberger, Rita Wilson, Rose Byrne, Thomas Sadoski, Sutton Foster, Taye Diggs, Taylor Schilling, Bobby Cannavale and Tommy Tune, among others.

The 2015 Tony Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, June 7th, 2015 (8:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET/PT time delay) on the CBS Television Network, live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Tony Awards, which honors theater professionals for distinguished achievement on Broadway, has been broadcast on CBS since 1978. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

For more information on the Tony Awards, visit TonyAwards.com and Facebook.com/TheTonyAwards and follow @TheTonyAwards on Instagram and Twitter.

About the Tony Awards
The 2015 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. At The Broadway League, Robert E. Wankel is Chairman and Charlotte St. Martin is President. At the American Theater Wing, William Ivey Long is Chairman and Heather A. Hitchens is President.

IBM, the official information technology partner of the Tony Awards, develops, designs, and hosts the official Tony Awards digital experience across platforms, including http://www.TonyAwards.com. Carnegie Mellon University is the first-ever, exclusive higher education partner of the Tony Awards. United Airlines is the official airline of the Tony Awards. Paramount Hotel is the official hotel partner of the Tonys. City National Bank is the official bank of the Tony Awards. Porsche Cars North America, Inc., manufacturer of exclusive sports cars, is celebrating dynamic performance as the official sports car of the Tony Awards. La Crema, known for elegant Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, is the official wine of the Tony Awards. USA TODAY is the official media partner of the Tony Awards. PEOPLE is the official magazine partner of the Tony Awards. Clear Channel Spectacolor is an official media partner of the Tony Awards and co-producer of the Tonys Simulcast in Times Square. The Hollywood Reporter is an official media partner of The Tony Awards. Nordstrom is the official sponsor of the Tony Awards Red Carpet.

Related articles:
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS AND FUN HOME Lead 2015 Tony Award Nominations with 12 each; Ken Watanabe, Ruthie Ann Miles, Kelli O’Hara, Chita Rivera, Bradley Cooper, Kristin Chenoweth, Bill Nighy, Helen Mirren, Elisabeth Moss, Carey Mulligan, Ruth Wilson, K. Todd Freeman, Patricia Clarkson Among the Nominees
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
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

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington and Roscoe Orman. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Photos: Garth Kravits as a Statue of Liberty Street Performer on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee, Joycelyne Lew
The 2015 Broadway Cast Recording of The Lincoln Center Theater Production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I Starring Tony Award nominees Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe and Ruthie Ann Miles, available on June 2; Extended Run and National Tour Announced
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Photos and Video: Telly Leung, Yumi Kurosawa, Lei Pasifika, Soh Daiko perform at The Met’s Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Tony Award® Nominees Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed star in Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ at Atlantic Theater Company; Opens June 11
Original Cast of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE including Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, to Reunite for 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert on July 6
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
Photos: Aasif Mandvi, Sheetal Sheth, Jimmy O. Yang, Raymond J. Lee, Tobias Wong and more celebrate HBO’s AAPI Heritage Month Screening of Jonathan Yi’s “East of Main Street: Taking the Lead” Documentary 
HBO® Celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month With Jonathan Yi’s “East of Main Street: Taking the Lead” Documentary Featuring Lucy Liu, Daniel Dae Kim, BD Wong, Aasif Mandvi, Russell Wong, Lucille Soong, Jimmy O. Yang, Melanie Kannokada, Dennis Oh, Sheetal Sheth, Raymond J. Lee, Nivedita Kulkarni, Tobias Wong, Michelle Goike, Veronica Reyes-How and Katarina Zhu
Hamilton leads 2015 Drama Desk Awards Nominations with 13, along with An American in Paris, Something Rotten!, The Visit, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Photos: Garth Kravits, Laura Benanti, Brian Nash, Lena Hall, Erin Davie and More in “Broadway Sings Tori” Benefit Concert for RAINN
Photos: David Byrne, Alex Timbers, Jaygee Macapugay, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Adam Guettel, Sarah Saltzberg and More Celebrate Jose Llana’s Lincoln Center American Songbook Debut
81st Annual Drama League Awards Nominations
Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
2014-15 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations; Something Rotten!, On the Twentieth Century, An American in Paris garner most nods
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
Video: The cast of HAMILTON at The Public Theater pays tribute to A Chorus Line on the 40th anniversary of its first performance in the Newman Theater at The Public
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Hamilton tops Lucille Lortel Award Nominations along with Into the Woods, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Invisible Hand, The Nether and The Fortress of Solitude
Suzan-Lori Parks’ FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS, PARTS 1, 2 & 3 is the 2015 Winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History 
Photos: Inside THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE CD Release Concert with André De Shields, Kevin Mambo, Adam Chanler-Berat, Michael Friedman and More
David Henry Hwang, Laura Poitras, Amitav Ghosh, Deeyah Khan, Bill Rauch, Robert Battle, Carrie Mae Weems named among 13 Ford Foundation “Art of Change” Fellows
Click here  for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.
All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2015 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com

Project1VOICE will recapture the magic of the legendary Negro Ensemble Company with benefit staged readings of Home by Samm-Art Williams in locations around the world on Monday June 15, 2015. This international salute to the American theater will honor the 35^th year anniversary of HOME’s Broadway debut and will celebrate the legacy of the historic Negro Ensemble Company. The fifth annual 1VOICE/1PLAY/1DAY international event will also commemorate another milestone–this one in civil rights—the 150^th anniversary of the 13^th Amendment to the United States Constitution.  This amendment ended slavery and involuntary servitude in America–officially making the United States of America home for any then–enslaved persons and their descendants.  This international theater experience—including over 30 black theaters, museums and diverse institutions throughout the world–will feature prominent actors including Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) alums and local enthusiasts. NEC alums and others will return to their hometowns to participate in special HOME-coming stage readings: Andre Holland Selma and Cinemax’s The KNICK (Birmingham), James Pickens Jr. ABC’s Greys Anatomy (Cleveland), Woodie King, Jr., producer/director and Aku Kadogo For Colored Girls… (Detroit). These events will explore the meaning of home– is it a place, a state of mind or both? How it connects us as human beings? How it enriches and heals us? The readings will be followed by a panel discussion in select cites.

Elain Graham and S. Epatha Merkerson. Photo by Lia Chang

Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Photo by Lia Chang

Project1VOICE and the Negro Ensemble Company is presenting the flagship production in New York City at the Harlem Hospital Mural Pavilion–506 Lennox Avenue at West 135^th Street–on June 15, 2015 at 7PM. Directed by renowned Negro Ensemble Company alum and Tony Award nominee Michele Shay (A Raisin in the Sun, Seven Guitars), the NYC cast includes Negro Ensemble Company alums Elain Graham (While I Yet Live, Smash, 666 Park Ave) Golden Globe, Emmy, SAG and NAACP Award winning S. Epatha Merkerson (Law and Order, Lackawanna Blues) and Tony Award Winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Seven Guitars, Selma). The flagship post show discussion will be led by national television and radio legal analyst Eric L. Welch Guster, founder and managing attorney of the Guster Law Firm. Tony Nominee Norm Lewis (Scandal, Phantom of the Opera) is scheduled to introduce the evening. Proceeds from the NYC-Manhattan event will benefit Project1VOICE and the Negro Ensemble Company. HOME will be ASL interpreted.

Norm Lewis. Photo by Lia Chang

For NYC flagship presentation tickets ONLY and a partial list of participating organizations visit: www.project1VOICE.org. HOME is presented by special permission granted by Samuel French.

General admission $25
w/Reception at 6PM—$50
w/Post show reception and meet and greet–$75

Home, received great acclaim at NEC in 1979, transferring to Broadway’s Cort Theatre on May 7^th, 1980. The original cast starred Charles Brown, L. Scott Caldwell and Michele Shay with direction by NEC co-founder Douglas Turner Ward. The play ran for 278 performances. Home is rich in specific detail about the African American experience and universal in its reach.

WATCH Project1VOICE on ARISE 360 with Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Arthur French and Erich McMillan-McCall

Also on June 15, P1V NYC will present a special 50^th anniversary staged-reading of another NEC seminal work, Happy Ending by Douglas Turner Ward. This presentation will take place at 2PM in the Harlem Hospital Mural Pavilion. Directed by critically acclaimed Yale University alum Timothy Douglas (Arena Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park) the cast includes: original NEC member Arthur French (A Trip to Bountiful), Ebony Jo-Ann (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Lizan Mitchell (Having Our Say) and Leslie Odom, Jr. (Hamilton). Happy Ending/Day of Absence a program of two one-act plays premiered at the St. Mark’s Playhouse in Manhattan on November 15, 1965 and ran for 504 performances. This was prior to the NEC’s inception. Ward received a Drama Desk Award for his writing. Tickets are available at www.project1voice.org. HAPPY ENDING is made possible with special permission granted by the Dramatists Play Services.

At the New York City event, NEC co-founder Douglas Turner Ward and original director of HOME will receive the first annual Special Project1VOICE Honors Award for Lifetime Achievement.  Actor/Director Billie Allen will receive the first annual Project1VOICE Honors NYC Award for Outstanding Achievement in the American Theater.

A staged reading of HOME will also be presented on June 15^th at the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn. This reading features NEC alums Peggy Alston, Dean Irby and Carol Maillard directed by Femi Sarah Heggie. For P1V Brooklyn tickets and information visit www.weeksvillesociety.org.

About HOME
HOME is a brilliantly inventive, lyrically expressive play deals joyfully with the coming of age of a young black man from rural South Carolina. The action begins on the small farm in South Carolina that Cephus Miles, an orphan, has inherited from his family. Young and strong, he is content to work the land—until his childhood sweetheart rejects him and goes off to college. Not believing in the Vietnam War, Cephus is imprisoned as a draft evader for refusing to serve. By the time he is released, Cephus has lost his land to the tax collector so he heads north to build a new life. With a good job and a slinky new girlfriend, he finds the big city exciting and rewarding. But soon after, the dream begins to fade—Cephus loses his job and becomes involved in drugs and prostitution. Pulling himself together, he returns to South Carolina and settles back on the land with his old sweetheart. Despite all, he has never lost his joyous goodwill, his indomitable spirit and the conviction that one day his quest for fulfillment will be rewarded.

About the playwright Samm-Art Williams
Samm-Art Williams was born in Burgaw, North Carolina. He is an American playwright and screenwriter, and a stage and film/TV actor. He entered New York City theater as an actor in 1973, performing with New York’s famed Negro Ensemble Company. Much of his work as writer concerns the African-American experience. He was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his play Home (1979), which moved from the Negro Ensemble Company to a Broadway production in 1980. Among his television credits Williams wrote the PBS productions Kneeslappers and Experiment in Freedom; episodes for the series Cagney and Lacey, The New Mike Hammer, Miami Vice and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and the NBC special Motown Returns to the Apollo (1986), among other work.  He received two Emmy nominations for his work for TV series. Among his other plays are The Dance on Widows’ Row, The Waiting Room and Montford Point Marin.

About HAPPY ENDING
Happy Ending is the story of two sisters, Ellie and Vi, who work as maid and laundress for the wealthy Harrisons. As the play begins they are sitting at the kitchen table in a tenement apartment in Harlem, lamenting the end of their good times. Mr. Harrison has discovered his wife in an act of infidelity. The sisters fear that if the marriage breaks up they will be both out of a job. Their nephew, Junie, chides them for their slavish sentiments at a time when blacks are on the march toward liberation. But Ellie explains the facts of life to him: how she feeds and dresses her relatives and furnishes their homes at the Harrison’s expense.

About the playwright Douglas Turner Ward
Douglas Turner Ward is a Negro Ensemble Company co-founder, actor, director, and playwright. He was born in Burnside. He moved to NYC in 1949 at the age of nineteen. In 1956, Ward began his off-Broadway career as an actor in Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh; he went on to perform and understudy for a part in A Raisin in the Sun. In 1965, Ward, Robert Hooks, and Gerald Krone formed the Negro Ensemble Company; he made his playwriting debut that same year with the oft produced Happy Ending/Day of Absence. In 1967, the Negro Ensemble Company was officially opened with Ward serving as artistic director; some of the NEC’s notable productions include A Soldier’s Play, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, Home, First Breeze of Summer and The River Niger, which became the company’s first play to go to Broadway. The River Niger eventually won a Tony Award for Best Play. Ward went on to write other plays, including The Reckoning and Brotherhood.

As a result of Ward and his colleagues’ hard work, the Negro Ensemble Company went on to produce more than two hundred plays, and to become a place for Black theater professionals to gain experience and prominence in the theatre, television and film. Some notable actors who have worked with the Negro Ensemble Company include Adoph Caesar, Louis Gossett, Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, Roxie Roker, Esther Rolle, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Denzel Washington.

“The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. is honored to have a role in celebrating the legacy and the legends responsible for making Theatre great.  It is our contention that without the extraordinary vision of Douglas Turner Ward, Co-founder, Playwright, Actor and Director, the art of Theatre could not have created the profound impact on American culture, international politics and intellectual/social progression that has informed more than three generations.  With assistance from brilliant playwrights, including Samm-Art Williams, Steve Carter, Judi Ann Mason, Wole Soyinka, Charles Fuller, and Leslie Lee, NEC touched and moved the world with innovative thought and amazing performances.  The time to pay homage is long overdue.  It is our sincere hope that we follow the footsteps today and in all the future today’s in ways that give tribute,” says Karen Brown, Negro Ensemble Company Executive Director.

“The overall mission of the NEC is to present live theatre performances by and about black people to a culturally diverse audience that is often underserved by the theatrical community. The NEC cannon created emotionally resonant characters with depth and variety. The NEC paved the way for black Americans to present a voice that had been aggressively stifled for three hundred years–opening the door for others. With the NEC, many black actors found their first opportunity to play characters with depth and meaning. What an honor for Project1VOICE to celebrate and honor the brilliance of this indefatigable legacy of NEC–a legacy that continues to transform American and global theater today. NEC is truly part of the ground on which we all stand,” says Erich McMillan-McCall CEO/Founder of Project1VOICE.

Project1VOICE, in partnership with organizations all over the world will use the staged readings of HOME to expand the conversation about the need to preserve the legacy and tradition of the American theater most specifically African American playwrights and theaters worldwide.  For more information about 1VOICE/1PLAY/1DAY and other programs and events offered by Project1VOICE, visit www.project1VOICE.org.

Erich McMillan-McCall

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.   Project1VOICE has produced 5 staged readings in as many years–Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress, The Amen Corner by James Baldwin, A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange respectively. In 2013 a special staged reading of Four Little Girls: Birmingham 1963 was performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in association with Howard University, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, African Continuum and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. This event– directed by NEC alum and Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad–commemorated the 50^th anniversary of the bombing that killed the four girls in Birmingham, Alabama. The reading was performed on the precise 50^th anniversary date–Sunday, September 15, 2013 and live streamed globally.

Now celebrating its 5^th consecutive 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). HOME is made possible with special permission granted by Samuel French. HAPPY ENDING is made possible with special permission granted by the Dramatists Play Services.

ABOUT NEGRO ENSEMBLE COMPANY (Producer)
The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. (NEC) is the premiere theatrical performance company developing and producing important and superior works by and about African American artists. The company was founded in 1967 by playwright Douglas Turner Ward, actor/producer Robert Hooks, theater manager Gerald Krone. The NEC created a legacy producing critical works that illuminate the very heart and soul of our culture and experience.

Since its founding in 1967, the NEC has produced more than two hundred new plays and provided a theatrical home for more than four thousand cast and crew members. Among its ranks have been some of the world’s finest creative talents from stage, television and film, including Charles Fuller, Louis Gossett Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Leslie Lee, Phylica Rashad, Roxie Roker, Esther Rolle and Denzel Washington. The NEC is respected worldwide for its commitment to excellence and has won dozens of honors and awards. It has garnered 1 Pulitzer Prize, 2 Tony Awards, 13 Obies; with a total of 46 total theatrical achievement awards. While these accolades point to the larger success of the NEC, it has created something far greater. It has been a constant source and sustenance for black actors, directors, writers and other theater professionals as they have worked to break down walls of racial injustices.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Related articles:
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
Peter Jay Fernandez, Francois Battiste, Charles Brice, J. Bernard Calloway, Bryan Terrell Clarke, Patrick Cummings, Devin E. Haqq, Billy Eugene Jones, Stanley Wayne Mathis, Cedric Turner, Stephen Tyrone Williams Set for PROJECT1VOICE’s Benefit Staged Reading of A Soldier’s Story at Kumble Theatre on June 17, 2013
Two River Theater 2015/16 Season Lineup includes Brandon J. Dirden helmed Seven Guitars, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Pericles, I Remember Mama, Lives of Reason and Ropes
HAMILTON AND CURIOUS INCIDENT take top honors at 2015 Drama Desk Awards
BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY, HAMILTON, Austin Pendleton & More Win Off Broadway Alliance Awards
HAMILTON, James Houghton, Usman Ally, Ayad Akhtar, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Douglas Thompson and Suzan-Lori Parks among 2015 Obie Award Winners 
Ruthie Ann Miles, Helen Mirren, Kristin Chenoweth, Alex Sharp, Andy Karl, Annaleigh Ashford, Richard McCabe, Robert Fairchild Among 2015 Outer Critics Circle Winners; Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Leads with 5; An American in Paris wins 4, The King and I and Hamilton Each Receive 3 
Hamilton Sweeps 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards with 10 Wins; Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 3 
81st Annual Drama League Awards Nominations
Video: The cast of HAMILTON at The Public Theater pays tribute to A Chorus Line on the 40th anniversary of its first performance in the Newman Theater at The Public
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Hamilton tops Lucille Lortel Award Nominations along with Into the Woods, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Invisible Hand, The Nether and The Fortress of Solitude
ALL MY CHILDREN ALUM Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams to Co-Chair the 2015 National Black Theatre Festival, August 3-8
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Photos: Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s YOUR BLUES AIN’T SWEET LIKE MINE starring Brandon J. Dirden, Merritt Janson, Roslyn Ruff, Andrew Hovelson and Charles Weldon at Two River Theater
Cheryl L. Davis’ Maid’s Door Sweeps AUDELCOs with 7 Wins; Complete List of 2014 AUDELCO Recipients

Other articles by Lia Chang
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
The King and I wins 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Kelli O’Hara (Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Ruthie Ann Miles (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design)
The King and I’s Ruthie Ann Miles Wins #TonyAwards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Photos: 2015 Tony Award Winners and Performances
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee, Joycelyne Lew
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Cultural Interplay between the East and West in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More 
Dr. Leroy Chiao honored with 2015 Blue Cloud Award at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala
Photos: Dr. Leroy Chiao, The Hon. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Shirley and Walter Wang Honored at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala 
Photos: Garth Kravits as a Statue of Liberty Street Performer on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced!
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Tony Award® Nominees Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed star in Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ at Atlantic Theater Company; Opens June 11
Original Cast of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE including Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, to Reunite for 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert on July 6
Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama 
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Crafting a Career

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

Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz is presenting the 12th Anniversary Celebration/Fundraiser on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at the world famous Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 236 East Third Street (bet B & C Aves) in New York. 

Doors open at 5:30pm,the show begins at 6:00pm. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased online.

The featured performers include Rodney Kendrick, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Eric Lewis (Elew), Andre “Chez” Lewis, Roseanna Vitro, Carol Woods, Arlee Leonard, Lezlie Harrison, Corcoran Holt, Dennis Day, TC Carney III, Eric Frazier, Steve Cromity, Jeffrey King, Hilliard Greene, Dezron L Douglas, Patience Higgins, Jeff King, TK Blue, Steven Kroon, David F. Gibson, Bernard Linnette, Frederika Krier, Rachiim Ausar Sahu, Michael C. Lewis, Cyril D. Greene and Yoichi Uzeki.

Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams, who portrayed the iconic couple “Angie and Jesse” on the long running daytime television series “All My Children,” will serve as Celebrity Co-Chairs for the 2015 National Black Theatre Festival, August 3-8 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Connect with the Marvtastic passion, splendor and valor of the African and the African American cultures as Black Theatre takes center stage in Winston-Salem, NC over six exciting days.

Highlights include the Star Studded Opening Night Celebrity Gala, Theatre Productions, Readers’ Theatre of New Works/Plays, Theatre Workshops, International Colloquium (presented by NBTF, Winston-Salem State University and the Black Theatre Newtork), the Youth/Celebrity Project and Teen TeenTastic, films, seminars, a teen poetry slam and the International Vendor’s Market which features vendors and crafts from every corner of the globe and live entertainment. Don’t forget to buy a 2015 Souvenir Journal and learn more about the participating companies, the distinguished NBTF honorees, a map of the performance venues and much more.

August 3, 2015
5:30pm – OPENING NIGHT GALA – $262 (#1)
Make reservations for this glamorous event.
Tickets $262 per person, $2,620 table seating 10.
(M.C. Benton Convention Center)

6:30pm – CELEBRITY PROCESSION
With NBTF Co-Chairs, Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams.

6:45pm – AWARDS PRESENTATION
2015 National Black Theatre Festival Honorees
Sidney Poitier Lifelong Achievement Award
Bill Cobbs
Larry Leon Hamlin Producer Award
Nate Jacobs
Emerging Producer Award
Erich McMillan-McCall
August Wilson Playwright Award
Katori Hall
Lloyd Richards Director Award
Clinton Turner Davis
Living Legend Award
A. Peter Bailey
Maurice Hines
Robert Hooks
Grace Jones
Hattie Winston
Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design
ESOSA
Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design
Allen Lee Hughes
Outstanding Achievement in Scenic Design
Harlan Penn
Theatre Longevity Award
The Carpetbag Theatre, Inc. – Knoxville, TN
Special Recognition Award
Karamu House (100 years old)
Cleveland, OH
Special Recognition Award
Rachel P. Jackson
Marvtastic Philanthrophy Award
The Millennium Fund
Theatre Arts & Humanitarian Award
Warren Dell Leggett
9:00pm – BLACK STARS OF THE GREAT WHITE WAY

A Chapman Roberts Concept, Inc., New York, NY
A soaring music and dance celebration of the glorious 100 year history of African Americans on Broadway and at Carnegie Hall, this Gala All Broadway Star Production is specifically designed to honor NBTF luminaries past and present. (Musical – General Audience) University of North Carolina School of the Arts Stevens Center

10:30pm – CELEBRITY RECEPTION
Mix and mingle with the honorees,celebrity guests and other theatre patrons. (Marriott Hotel)

Theatre Festival Play Schedule – A schedule of plays and events can be obtained by contacting the NBTF for a printed schedule or going online to NBTF.org. The schedule will include the play’s title, date, time, location and the play number. Some plays are performed several times during the week, so knowing the play number is very important.

Purchasing Tickets – Advance tickets may be purchased for the 2015 festival by calling the Festival box office at (336) 723-7907. These tickets will be mailed up to two weeks prior to the festival or picked up at the M.C. Benton Convention Center.

On Thursday, August 6, 2015, the Celebration of Life reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. will be at the Convention Center from 3 to 7pm.

The late Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. at The Festival’s opening night gala on July 29, 2013. Born on February 14, 1938 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Garland Lee Thompson, Sr., passed away quickly and peacefully on November 18, 2014. He was 76 years old. Photo by Lia Chang

Live Jazz and African/Native American Drummers and more; complimentary food and wine will be served. To join the presenting committee, email your full name to ndove@hotmail.com or call 678-739-6674.

Feb. 14: Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. with a Memorial at St. James Presbyterian Church; Presentation-Reception at Theater for the New City
Photos: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Micki Grant, Woodie King Jr., Voza Rivers, Talvin Wilks, Garland Thompson Jr., Charles Turner, Jamal Joseph, Debra Ann Byrd and More at harlem is…Theater
Remembering Garland Lee Thompson, Sr. (1938-2014); Memorial Set for February 14, 2015

If you are interested in being one of the 1,500 volunteers for the National Black Theatre Festival, download a volunteer application from www.NBTF.org or call (336) 723-2266.

The NBTF official hotels are:
Marriott Twin City Quarter Embassy Suites
425 N. Cherry Street 460 N. Cherry Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101 Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336/725-3500 – 877/ 888-9762 336/724-3400 – 800/362-2779
www.marriott.com http://www.embassysuites.com

Visit www.NBTF.org for other festival hotels.

Festival History
Founded in Winston-Salem by the late Larry Leon Hamlin in 1989 and hosted by the North Carolina Black Repertory Company (NCBRC), NBTF is a biennial event with a purpose of uniting black theatre companies from around the world and ensuring the presence of this phenomenal genre. Mr. Leon Hamlin described the experience as “MARVTASTIC,” a combination of marvelous and fantastic! With the support of Dr. Maya Angelou, who served as the Festival’s first Chairperson, the National Black Theatre Festival was born. The ’89 Festival offered 30 performances by 17 of America’s best professional black theatre companies. It attracted national and international media coverage. According to The New York Times, “The 1989 National Black Theatre Festival was one of the most historic and culturally significant events in the history of black theatre and American theatre in general.” Over 10,000 people attended. Today that number reaches well over 65,000 attendees.

Ten years prior to starting the National Black Theatre Festival, Larry Leon Hamlin founded another black theater movement in Winston-Salem that is still present today. The North Carolina Black Repertory Company is the state’s first professional Black theater company. NCBRC is committed to introducing diverse audiences to Black classics, the development and production of new works, improving artistic quality, and sustaining Black theatre internationally. NCBRC was founded with the purpose of providing theatre professionals the opportunity to earn a living through their craft.

NCBRC presents three to four productions annually featuring members of its ensemble or through collaborations with other theatre companies from around the country. The annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration and the holiday presentation of Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity have become two of the Company’s staples. The critically acclaimed NCBRC production, Mahalia, Queen of Gospel (written and directed by Mabel Robinson, the company’s Artistic Director) was a National Black Theatre Festival showcase performance.

National Black Theatre Festival Articles
journalnews.com:‘All My Children’ stars to co-chair National Black Theatre Festival
ALL MY CHILDREN ALUM Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams to Co-Chair the 2015 National Black Theatre Festival, August 3-8
journalnews.com:‘All My Children’ stars to co-chair National Black Theatre Festival
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Cheryl L. Davis’ Maid’s Door Sweeps AUDELCOs with 7 Wins; Complete List of 2014 AUDELCO Recipients
Chapman Roberts, Loretta Abbott, André De Shields, David Greer, Norm Lewis, Cherine Anderson, Lawrence Evans, Colby Christina & Nicholas A. Jenkins to Receive Special AUDELCO Awards on Nov. 17; 2014 AUDELCO Nominees Announced
2014 AUDELCO Nominations Announced; Ceremony at Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space on November 17
National Black Theatre Festival Photos: Backstage with André De Shields, Marie Thomas, Erin Cherry, Sean Phillips and Morocco Omari in Knock Me A Kiss
Hal Williams, S. Epatha Merkerson, Ben Guillory, Oz Scott, Jonathan McCrory and Starletta DuPois among 2013 National Black Theatre Festival® Honorees
Two Films by Fay Hauser-Price Screen during the National Black Theatre Festival at the Central Library in Winston-Salem on July 31, 2013
Tonya Pinkins, Dorien Wilson, Pauletta Pearson Washington, Roscoe Orman, Rain Pryor, André De Shields, Debbi Morgan, Chester Gregory, Tommy Ford and More Set for National Black Theatre Festival® in Winston-Salem, NC
Photos: Charles Smith’s Knock Me A Kiss Starring André De Shields Featured in Encore Performances at The National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC, July 30-August 1, 2013
The Chronicle Features Lorey Hayes’ Power Play
Febone1960.net Review: Power Play Powerful & Suspenseful
A Summer in Bangkok for Thom Sesma, Star of Signature’s Miss Saigon
Celebrity Actress, Pauletta Pearson Washington returns home to North Carolina starring at 2013 National Black Theatre festival with Roscoe Orman (“Sesame Street,” Willie Dynamite) and all star cast in Lorey Hayes’ award-winning “Power Play”, a play about Politics, Passion and The Power of God
Video: Power Play’s Lorey Hayes and Lia Chang on The Carmen Mathis Show

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Photos and Video: BD Wong at premiere of JURASSIC WORLD at the Dolby Theatre
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
The King and I wins 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Kelli O’Hara (Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Ruthie Ann Miles (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design)
The King and I’s Ruthie Ann Miles Wins #TonyAwards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Photos: 2015 Tony Award Winners and Performances
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
HAMILTON AND CURIOUS INCIDENT take top honors at 2015 Drama Desk Awards
Photos: Anna May Wong as Fashion Muse in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Dr. Leroy Chiao honored with 2015 Blue Cloud Award at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala
Photos: Dr. Leroy Chiao, The Hon. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Shirley and Walter Wang Honored at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala 
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Photos: Garth Kravits as a Statue of Liberty Street Performer on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Original Cast of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE including Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, to Reunite for 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert on July 6
BETWEEN RIVERSIDE & CRAZY, HAMILTON, Austin Pendleton & More Win Off Broadway Alliance Awards
HAMILTON, James Houghton, Usman Ally, Ayad Akhtar, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Douglas Thompson and Suzan-Lori Parks among 2015 Obie Award Winners
Hamilton Sweeps 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards with 10 Wins; Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 3
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS AND FUN HOME Lead 2015 Tony Award Nominations with 12 each; Ken Watanabe, Ruthie Ann Miles, Kelli O’Hara, Chita Rivera, Bradley Cooper, Kristin Chenoweth, Bill Nighy, Helen Mirren, Elisabeth Moss, Carey Mulligan, Ruth Wilson, K. Todd Freeman, Patricia Clarkson Among the Nominees
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Crafting a Career

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

Hartford Stage’s production of the Darko Tresnjak helmed Hamlet garnered nine nominations for the 2014-2015 Connecticut Critics Circle Awards including Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Actor in a Play (Zach Appelman), Outstanding Director of a Play (Darko Tresnjak), Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Edward James Hyland), Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Andrew Long), Outstanding Lighting Design (Matthew Richards), Outstanding Costume Design (Fabio Toblini), Outstanding Sound Design (Jane Shaw), and Outstanding Debut (Brittany Vicars).

Andrew Long, Brittany Vicars, Edward James Hyland, and Kate Forbes in Hamlet at Hartford Stage. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

Carmen de Lavallade

Special Awards recipients include Carmen de Lavallade, who will receive the Killen Award for outstanding contribution to Connecticut theater, the Summer Theatre of New Canaan for its DramaRamas program, the Split Knuckle Theatre Company for its production of “Endurance,” and Shawn Boyle, for his work on Yale Repertory’s production of “Elevada.”

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents New York Premiere of Carmen de Lavallade’s Solo Show AS I REMEMBER IT

The ceremony, which is as much a celebration of theater in Connecticut as it is the opportunity to acknowledge excellence, will be held at The Iseman Theater, located at 1156 Chapel Street in New Haven on Monday, June 22. The event, which begins at 7:30 p.m., is open to the public. Seating is limited and will be available on a first-come-first-served basis. Click here for more information.

Congrats to all of the nominees.

Outstanding Production of a Play

Arcadia, Yale Rep
Elevada, Yale Rep
Hamlet, Hartford Stage
Reverberation, Hartford Stage
The Liar, Westport Country Playhouse

Outstanding Production of a Musical

All Shook Up, Ivoryton
Fiddler on the Roof, Goodspeed
Holiday Inn, Goodspeed
Kiss Me, Kate, Hartford Stage
…Spelling Bee, Playhouse on Park

Outstanding Actress in a Play

Laurel Casillo
Elevada, Yale Rep
Margaret Colin
Second Mrs. Wilson, Long Wharf 
Keilly MacQuail
Bad Jews, Long Wharf
Nikki Walker
Intimate Apparel, Westport Country Playhouse
Shaunette Renee Wilson
The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Yale Rep

Outstanding Actor in a Play

Zach Appelman
Hamlet, Hartford Stage
Aaron Krohn
The Liar, Westport Country Playhouse
Luke Macfarlane
Reverberation, Hartford Stage
Tom Pecinka
Arcadia, Yale Rep
Steven Skybell
The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Yale Rep

Outstanding Actress in a Musical

Nancy Anderson
Guys and Dolls, Goodspeed
Danielle Bowen
All Shook Up, Ivoryton
Elissa DeMaria
Little Shop of Horrors , MTC Mainstage
Patti Murin
Holiday Inn, Goodspeed
Rebecca Spigelman
Hairspray, STONC

Outstanding Actor in a Musical

David Edwards
La Cage Aux Folles, Ivoryton
Preston Ellis
All Shook Up, Ivoryton
Michael Damian Fasano
Footloose, Seven Angels
Adam Heller
Fiddler on the Roof, Goodspeed
Noah Racey
Holiday Inn, Goodspeed

Outstanding Director of a Play

James Bundy
Arcadia, Yale Rep
Jackson Gay
Elevada, Yale Rep
Penny Metropulos
The Liar, Westport Country Playhouse
Darko Tresnjak
Hamlet, Hartford Stage
Maxwell Williams
Reverberation, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Director of a Musical

Richard Amelius
All Shook Up, Ivoryton
Gordon Greenberg
Holiday Inn, Goodpseed
Susan Haefner
…Spelling Bee, Playhouse on Park
Rob Ruggiero
Fiddler on the Roof, Goodspeed
Darko Tresnjak
Kiss Me, Kate, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play

Edward James Hyland
Hamlet, Hartford Stage
Greg Keller
Elevada, Yale Rep
Andrew Long
Hamlet, Hartford Stage
Carl Lundstedt
Reverberation, Hartford Stage
Max Gordon Moore
Arcadia, Yale Rep

Tyrone Mitchell Henderson and Tonya Pinkins in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ War at Yale Rep. Photo by Joan Marcus

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play

Rebekah Brockman
Arcadia, Yale Rep
Rebekah Brockman
The Liar, Westport Country Playhouse
Kate Forbes
Hamlet, Hartford Stage
Kristin Harlow
Angels in America, Playhouse on Park
Tonya Pinkins
War, Yale Rep

Photos: Tonya Pinkins, Trezana Beverley, Tyrone M. Henderson and More Set for World Premiere of War by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins at Yale Repertory Theatre through December 13 

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical

Elizabeth DeRosa
Fiddler on the Roof, Goodspeed
Barrie Kreinik
Fiddler on the Roof, Goodspeed
Sharon Malone
Hairspray, STONC
Susan Mosher
Holiday Inn, Goodspeed
Megan Sikora
Kiss Me, Kate, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

Scott Cote
Guys and Dolls, Goodspeed
Stephen DeRosa
Sing For Your Shakespeare, Westport Country Playhouse
Noah Marlowe
Holiday Inn, Goodspeed
John Payonk
Fiddler on the Roof, Goodspeed
Nick Reynolds
Hairspray, STONC

Outstanding Choreographer

Richard Amelius
All Shook Up, Ivoryton
Peggy Hickey
Kiss Me, Kate, Hartford Stage
Denis Jones
Holiday Inn, Goodspeed
Alex Sanchez
Guys and Dolls, Goodspeed
David Wanstreet
Fingers and Toes, Ivoryton

Outstanding Set Design

Andromache Chalfant
Reverberation, Hartford Stage
Alexander Dodge
Kiss Me, Kate, Hartford Stage
Alexander Dodge
Private Lives, Hartford Stage
Chika Shimizu
The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Yale Rep
James Youmans
Ether Dome, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Lighting Design

David Lander
Ether Dome, Hartford Stage
John Lassiter
Fiddler on the Roof, Goodspeed
Tyler Micoleau
Elevada, Yale Rep
Matthew Richards
Hamlet, Hartford Stage
Matthew Richards
Reverberation, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Costume Design

Tracy Christensen
Guys & Dolls, Goodspeed
Jessica Ford
The Liar, Westport Country Playhouse
Fabio Toblini
Hamlet, Hartford Stage
Fabio Toblini
Kiss Me, Kate, Hartford Stage
Alejo Vietti
Holiday Inn, Goodspeed

Outstanding Sound Design

David Budries
Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Long Wharf
Kate Marvin
Elevada, Yale Rep
Adam Phalen
Forever, Long Wharf
Jane Shaw
Hamlet, Hartford Stage
Matt Tierney
The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Yale Rep

Outstanding Ensemble

Cast of Altar Boyz
Playhouse on Park
Brandon Beaver
Nick Bernardi
Adam Cassel
Greg Laucella
Mark G. Merritt
Brock Putnam

Cast of Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Long Wharf
Penny Balfour
Grayson DeJesus
Tom Riis Farrell
Ronald Guttman
David Margulies
Dina Shihabi
Jake Silberman
Jonathan Spivey
Robbie Tann

Cast of …Spelling Bee
Playhouse on Park
Kevin Barlowski
Hillary Ekwall
Emily Kron
Steven Mooney
Maya Naff
Joel Newsome
Norman Payne
Natalie Sannes
Scott Scaffidi

Cast of Woody Sez
TheaterWorks
David Finch
David M. Lutken
Leenya Rideout
Helen J. Russell

Outstanding Debut

Curtis J. Cook
Brownsville Song, Long Wharf
Carl Lundstedt
Reverberation, Hartford Stage
Dina Shihabi
Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Long Wharf
Brittany Vicars
Hamlet, Hartford Stage

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Teagle F. Bougere, Jeremy Kushnier, Amanda Leigh Cobb, Edward James Hyland and More set for Pittsburgh Public Theater’s OTHELLO through May 17
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London, July 2 – October 18, 2015
Photos: Anna May Wong as Fashion Muse in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Photos and Video: BD Wong at premiere of JURASSIC WORLD at the Dolby Theatre
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
AAFLTV “Focus on the Philippines” Monday nights in June, hosted by Jennifer Betit Yen, Erin Quill and Lia Chang
The King and I wins 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Kelli O’Hara (Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Ruthie Ann Miles (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design)
The King and I’s Ruthie Ann Miles Wins #TonyAwards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Photos: 2015 Tony Award Winners and Performances
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
Dr. Leroy Chiao honored with 2015 Blue Cloud Award at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala
Photos: Dr. Leroy Chiao, The Hon. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Shirley and Walter Wang Honored at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala 
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Photos: Garth Kravits as a Statue of Liberty Street Performer on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Original Cast of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE including Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, to Reunite for 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert on July 6
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced
Crafting a Career

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

Mike Pride, Pulitzer Prize Administrator (left) and Lee C. Bollinger, President of Columbia University (center), present the 2015 Drama Prize to Stephen Adly Guirgis on Thursday, May 28, 2015, at a luncheon ceremony at Low Library on the Columbia University campus in New York City. Photos by Eileen Barroso and Jake Young

On Monday, June 22, Barefoot Theatre Company celebrates the second annual Vassallo Awards with a Spring Gala beginning at 7:15 pm at the American Ballroom Theater on 25 West 31st Street in Manhattan. Actress Anna Chlumsky (“VEEP”) and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis (Riverside and Crazy) are among those honored for artistic achievements.

The ceremony, hosted by VH1’s Ellie Lee, also honors mentorship and educational outreach to the younger generation of artists in memory of Ed Vassallo, whose artistic career spanned 20 years and included work producing for the LAByrinth Theatre Company and volunteering with the 52nd Street Project.

RED-CARPET CELEBRATION
VIP COCKTAIL HOUR – 7:15pm / CURTAIN – 8pm
Running Time (presentation & awards ceremony) – 75mins
$25 in advance / $35 at the door
Tickets: web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/10010055

Chlumsky, who will accept the Vassallo Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts, said of all the theatre companies she’s been linked to, “Barefoot is the one I most respect, that I most enjoy working with.” Guirgis, who recently received the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Between Riverside and Crazy, a nuanced, beautifully written play about a retired police officer faced with eviction that uses dark comedy to confront questions of life and death, will receive the Vassallo Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting. Barefoot also salutes Kamilah Forbes of Hi-Arts with the Educational Outreach Program Award, and Daniel Talbott of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater with the Mentorship Award.

Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Video: ATC Uncovered: Guards of the Stage — A Playwright’s Talk with Stephen Adly Guirgis and Rajiv Joseph

In addition to the awards presentation, the Gala includes live music, dancing and a performance of Waiting for Waiting For Godot by Mike Reiss, Emmy and Peabody award-winning writer for “The Simpsons”. Directed by Barefoot Theatre Company founder and Artistic Director Francisco Solorzano, the short play stars Jerry Adler (Larry David’s Fish in the Dark), Allison Anderegg, Jeremy Brena, Charles Everett, Daniel K. Isaac, Kenneth King, Margaret Ladd, Sevrin Mason, Michael Pantozzi, and Christa Wroblewski. “I’ve had the good fortune of working several times with Frank and Barefoot,” Reiss said. “They are consummate professionals and wonderful people.”

Barefoot founded the awards after Vassallo lost a two-year battle with cancer in 2014. The company was inspired to recognize Vassallo’s dedication to the arts, which included work producing the TENN99 and NYNY festivals for the LAByrinth Theatre Company as well as feature films which saw release at the Tribeca Film Festival and IFC/Sundance Selects. Vassallo’s passion extended to work as a mentor with the 52nd Street Project, which pairs New York City children and teens from with professional theatre artists. For this reason, the awards acknowledge not only artistic achievements but also educational outreach and mentorship that engages the next generation of artists.

The Vassallo Awards are sponsored by Sixpoint Brewery, American Ballroom Theater & Barefoot Studio Pictures.

Barefoot Theatre Company was founded in 1999 by a multicultural group of artists determined to produce vital, thought-provoking works, both new and existing. Now based out of both New York City and Los Angeles, hey have developed, work shopped and produced over 150 new plays staged at INTAR; RATTLESTICK; THE FLEA; CHERRY LANE THEATRE; IRT THEATER; HERE ARTS CENTER; THE BRICK; LABYRINTH THEATER CO., THE ACTOR’S STUDIO, and THEATRE ROW THEATRES, among others. Recent collaborations with award-winning writers include Jose Rivera, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristoffer Diaz, Israel Horovitz, Bernardo Cubria, Hilary Bettis, Mando Alvarado, Ed. Cardona Jr., Mike Reiss, actors Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke, Bobby Cannavale, Gina Gershon, Richard Kind, Mickey Sumner, Craig ‘muMs’ Grant, Will Rogers, Caitlin FitzGerald, Alfredo Narciso, Annabella Sciorra, and Michael Stuhlbarg. Now in its 16th season, Barefoot is also developing films via sister company Barefoot Studio Pictures. Their award winning short film, Floating Sunflowers, is currently playing the festival circuit and stars ensemble members Anna Chlumsky (“Veep”; My Girl; In the Loop) and Lynn Cohen (Munich; Hunger Games 2; “Sex and the City”). Another short, written and directed by Caitlin FitzGerald (“Masters of Sex”) is currently in post-production.

Related articles
THE GET DOWN, Baz Luhrmann’s New Drama Series Set in 1970s NYC That Gave Birth to Hip-Hop, Punk and Disco, to Premiere on Netflix in 2016
Video: ATC Uncovered: Guards of the Stage — A Playwright’s Talk with Stephen Adly Guirgis and Rajiv Joseph
Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
2014-15 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations; Something Rotten!, On the Twentieth Century, An American in Paris garner most nods
BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Starring Stephen McKinley Henderson, Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Rispoli and Ron Cephas Jones; Opens February 11
Production Photos: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY at Second Stage Theatre
Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Extends through March 22
YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU Starring James Earl Jones, Kristine Nielsen, Richard Thomas, Anna Chlumsky, Annaleigh Ashford, Julie Halston and More; Ends Extended Run on February 22 
Ben Brantley’s Best Theater of 2014: Stephen Adly Guirgis’ BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Set for Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre Beginning January 16, 2015
Photos: Ellen Burstyn, Baz Luhrmann, John Leguizamo, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Stephen McKinley Henderson, John Patrick Shanley, David Henry Hwang, Liza Colón-Zayas, Kenneth Lonergan and More Celebrate Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Mimi Awards
Labyrinth Theater Company hosts Community Prayer and Candlelight Vigil to honor Philip Seymour Hoffman at Bank Street Theater

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Related Articles
Behind the Scenes of the Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Shootout with Lia Chang, Garth Kravits, Evan Daves and Alicia Manns in HIDE AND SEEK
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Photos and Video: BD Wong at premiere of JURASSIC WORLD at the Dolby Theatre
The King and I wins 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Kelli O’Hara (Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Ruthie Ann Miles (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design)
The King and I’s Ruthie Ann Miles Wins #TonyAwards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Photos: 2015 Tony Award Winners and Performances
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
Cultural Interplay between the East and West in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Anna May Wong as Fashion Muse in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Dr. Leroy Chiao honored with 2015 Blue Cloud Award at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala
Photos: Dr. Leroy Chiao, The Hon. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Shirley and Walter Wang Honored at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala 
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London, July 2 – October 18, 2015
Original Cast of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE including Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, to Reunite for 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert on July 6
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Bill Cobbs, Nate Jacobs, Erich McMillan-McCall, Katori Hall, Clinton Turner Davis, ESOSA, A. Peter Bailey, Maurice Hines, Robert Hooks, Grace Jones, Hattie Winston, Karamu House & More among 2015 National Black Theatre Festival Honorees; Gala on August 3
Crafting a Career

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

Morgan Jenness. Photo Credit: Alexandre M.S. Carvalho

Morgan Jenness, a recipient of the $80,000 Doris Duke Impact Award, is a freelance dramaturg who has worked at the Public Theater for over a decade as a manager, director, and associate producer; New York Theater Workshop as an Associate Artistic Director; and Los Angeles Theater Center. She has provided key dramaturgical support on projects including Stacy Klein’s The Grand Parade, currently touring nationally and internationally, Taylor Mac’s The Lily’s Revenge (2009), and SURRENDER (2007), her MAP Fund supported collaboration with the International WOW company. In 2003, she was presented with an OBIE Award Special Citation for Longtime Support of Playwrights. She has taught as a visiting artist and adjunct faculty at Bread Loaf, Brown University, Columbia University, Fordham University, University of Iowa, and New York University. Her current project is This Distracted Globe, a consulting entity intended to provide dramaturgical input and overall guidance to creative projects that meld the arts, sciences, and humanities.

Morgan Jenness. Photo by Lia Chang

Miss Jenness said, “My key goals for the award period are to more actively explore the idea of the creative agora, the intersections between professional, educational, and community worlds and audiences, and to further investigate the notion of “social sculpture” —how theater, as a potential container for all the arts, can serve as a central magnetic force for investigation, dialogue and inspiration for various diverse communities. I also want to find Creative Campus/Creative Community venues for the projects with which I have already started to engage, including POWER TO THE PEOPLE: The Solutions Grassroots Tour (dealing with impact of fossil fuel industry in our society, from climate change, to environmental damage to war); The Grand Parade (of the 20th Century) — encouraging inter-connectivity between history, arts and education programs, Transcripts — collecting and presenting personal narratives from transgender communities and Don’t Feed the Indians, a comedic interactive revue looking at Native representation within the larger culture. I also want to continue to find, help develop, and facilitate works that serve as ethical and aesthetic structures for multiple engagements and which can also cross the boundaries between arts and activism.”

Ms. Jenness is among the second group of 20 individuals to receive Doris Duke Impact Awards, announced by The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF). The award is part of the larger Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, launched in late 2011 as a special 10-year initiative of the foundation to empower, invest in and celebrate artists by offering flexible, multi-year funding in response to financial challenges that are specific to the performing arts. Each recipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award is receiving $80,000, totaling in $1.6 million to 20 new grantees. Since April 2014, the foundation has awarded a total of $3.2 million in Impact Awards to 40 artists in the fields of jazz, dance and theatre.

Ben Cameron, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, said, “The Doris Duke Impact Awards are based on nominations submitted by artists, identifying others (often less widely known) that will have enormous impact on the jazz, dance or theatre fields in the future. This year’s group is a thrilling one: we are honored to support them and look forward, not only to how they will use their funds, but to the ways they will shape and change the performing arts in the future.”

The 2015 recipients of Doris Duke Impact Awards are:

Becca Blackwell (Theatre)
Lear deBessonet (Theatre)
Kris Davis (Jazz)
Mark Dresser (Jazz)
Michelle Ellsworth (Dance)
Beth Gill (Dance)
Milford Graves (Jazz)
Ishmael Houston-Jones (Dance)
Morgan Jenness (Theatre)
Heather Kravas (Dance)
Dohee Lee (Theatre)
Dianne McIntyre (Dance)
Matt Mitchell (Jazz)
Carlos Murillo (Theatre)
Brooke O’Harra (Theatre)
Susan Rethorst (Dance)
Tyshawn Sorey (Jazz)
Henry Threadgill (Jazz)
Reggie Workman (Jazz)
Pamela Z (Theatre)

To learn more about the 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award recipients and to view samples of each artist’s work, visit www.ddpaa.org.

About the Doris Duke Impact Awards

The Doris Duke Impact Award is one of two awards in the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards program. The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is granting these awards as part of a larger $50 million, 10-year commitment beyond its already existing funding for the performing arts. By the end of the 10 years, the foundation will have offered a total of at least 200 artists greatly expanded freedom to create, through an initiative that makes available the largest allocation of unrestricted cash grants ever given to individuals in contemporary dance, jazz and theatre.

Each recipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award is awarded $80,000—including an unrestricted, multi-year cash grant of $60,000, plus as much as $10,000 more in targeted support for audience development and as much as $10,000 more for personal reserves or creative exploration during what are usually retirement years for most Americans. Artists will be able to access their awards over a period of two to three years under a schedule set by each recipient. Creative Capital, DDCF’s primary partner in the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, will also offer the awardees the opportunity to participate in professional development activities, financial and legal counseling, and regional gatherings—all designed to help them personalize and maximize the use of their grants. The Doris Duke Impact Awards uniquely incentivize retirement savings and offer multi-year support that allows grantees to determine their own schedule for receiving the funds rather than mandating a uniform annual amount.

“The flexibility of both the award funding and Creative Capital’s advisory services makes it possible for us to tailor a support structure to each artist that wins this award,” said Ruby Lerner, founding president and executive director at Creative Capital. “This is so important, because an artist can have impact on the field at any career stage, whether they are emerging or in a later career stage, so their needs can vary widely.”

The Doris Duke Impact Awards are intentionally designed to support artists who are not eligible for the Doris Duke Artist Award, the other award in the larger program, either because the artists lack the necessary number of qualifying national awards, grants and prizes to become eligible for the Doris Duke Artist Award or because their artistic voices are still coming into focus. Within those parameters, Doris Duke Artists have the opportunity to nominate artists who inspire them to be considered for a Doris Duke Impact Award. A separate, anonymous panel of peers then selects the recipients based on evidence of exceptional creativity, self-challenge and the potential to make significant contributions to the fields of jazz, contemporary dance and theatre in the future. These grants are not tied to any specific project but are made as investments in the artists’ personal and professional development and future work.

The Doris Duke Artist Awards and the Doris Duke Impact Awards will be announced between 2012 and 2016, and 2014 and 2018, respectively. More information about the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards is available at www.ddpaa.org.

About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties. The Arts Program of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation focuses its support on contemporary dance, jazz and theatre artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. For more information, please visit www.ddcf.org.

About Creative Capital
Creative Capital supports innovative and adventurous artists across the country through funding, counsel and career development services. Our pioneering approach—inspired by venture-capital principles—helps artists working in all creative disciplines realize their visions and build sustainable practices. Since 1999, Creative Capital has committed $30 million in financial and advisory support to 419 projects representing 529 artists, and our Professional Development Program has reached 7,000 artists in more than 300 communities. For more information, visit www.creative-capital.org.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Tony Award Winning Playwright David Henry Hwang Receives $275,000 Doris Duke Artist Award 
FILM LAB PRESENTS “Focus on the Philippines” featuring John Day’s Matud Nila, narrated by Raul Aranas
Behind the Scenes of the Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Shootout with Lia Chang, Garth Kravits, Evan Daves and Alicia Manns in HIDE AND SEEK
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Christopher Jackson, Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Anthony Ramos, Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff and more set for HAMILTON; Previews begin July 13
Photos and Video: BD Wong at premiere of JURASSIC WORLD at the Dolby Theatre
The King and I wins 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Kelli O’Hara (Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Ruthie Ann Miles (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design)
The King and I’s Ruthie Ann Miles Wins #TonyAwards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Photos: 2015 Tony Award Winners and Performances
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
Cultural Interplay between the East and West in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Anna May Wong as Fashion Muse in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Dr. Leroy Chiao honored with 2015 Blue Cloud Award at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala
Photos: Dr. Leroy Chiao, The Hon. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Shirley and Walter Wang Honored at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala 
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London, July 2 – October 18, 2015
Original Cast of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE including Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, to Reunite for 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert on July 6
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Bill Cobbs, Nate Jacobs, Erich McMillan-McCall, Katori Hall, Clinton Turner Davis, ESOSA, A. Peter Bailey, Maurice Hines, Robert Hooks, Grace Jones, Hattie Winston, Karamu House & More among 2015 National Black Theatre Festival Honorees; Gala on August 3
Crafting a Career

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

Quick Silver Theater Company members Rachel Leslie, Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, Joniece Abbott Pratt, Keith Randolph Smith, Mafeesa Monroe, Jody Reynard, Curtis Wiley, Lizan Mitchell and Pascale Armand. Photo by Lia Chang

On June 19th, Quick Silver Theater Company in association with Classics in Color: A Theatre Company, presented a QUICK SILVER THEATER CONVERSATION featuring a stellar panel of educators and artists that focused on the shortcomings of our present education system regarding girls/women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs, at The Lucid Body House in New York.

Adia N. Onyango, Remsen Welsh, Martine Louisma and Marcia Pendleton. Photo by Lia Chang

Walk Tall Girl Productions, Inc.’s Marcia Pendleton moderated the panel which included Adia N. Onyango, a Nationally Certified FIDE Chess Instructor and a United States Chess Federation Tournament Director; Remsen Welsh, age 14, a gifted student and an actress; and Martine Louisma, a math teacher. Check back for video.

Michelle Welsh, Remsen Welsh, Keith Randolph Smith, Malensky Welsh and Kaatje Welsh. Photo by Lia Chang

Rachel Leslie, Lizan Mitchell and Tyrone Mitchell Henderson. Photo by Lia Chang

Quick Silver Theater Company was founded by Tyrone Mitchell Henderson and Lizan Mitchell. QST is an ensemble company of theater artists based in the NYC Metro area which also includes Pascale Armand, Dion Graham, Inga Ballard, Rachel Leslie, Nafeesa Monroe, Flor De Liz Perez, Jody Reynard, Alejandro Rodriguez, Keith Randolph Smith, Curtis Wiley and Joniece Abbott Pratt.

From July 6-10, 2015, Quick Silver will offer a Theater Gym, with intensive classes centering on basic, but important, elements of acting. QST feels strongly about nurturing, respecting and uplifting young theater artists. Director Timothy Douglas will lead a 2-hour class on Monday, July 6th from 10 am to 12 pm. This class is FREE. Following Timothy’s class, CIC founder Nafeesa Monroe will teach a 2 hour Stage Combat class from 12-2 pm. Price is $48.

Registration will take place on that day for upcoming classes later on in the week. Monday’s free event will be limited to 20 participants. Later in the week paid classes with Timothy will be available at $60 per class. Class size for these days will be diminished to 12 participants. This will allow for a more one-on-one experience. Timothy’s classes will focus on breath, voice, physicality and text. Other classes offered during the week include Audition technique, Storytelling through Song, Dance/Movement for the Actor and Guided Meditation. For more information on Quick Silver Theater Company, click here.

Curtis Wiley, Marcia Pendleton, Lizan Mitchell and Devorah Hill. Photo by Lia Chang

About Quick Silver Theater Company
Quick Silver Theater’s mission is to produce theater that invigorates, educates and generates conversation.  We believe that an audience arrives at the theater to view a moment in time captured by a playwright. Universal story telling has long been a part of the human experience.  We will push the boundaries of universality, by casting our productions with actors that reflect the community at large.  In doing so the playwright’s work will in turn connect with a much larger audience base. The company’s productions will challenge the audience to view characters as people who “just happen to be” of color, disabled, or “other.” Quick Silver Theater will shatter that norm and consistently question the truth of what is being reflected. For more information on Quick Silver Theater Company, click here.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Sanjit De Silva, Mel Duane Gionson, Teresa Avia Lim, James Saito, Jon Norman Schneider, David Shih, Alok Tewari, and Henry Yuk in NAATCO’s AWAKE AND SING! at The Public Theater, July 6- August 1
Jennifer Phang’s ADVANTAGEOUS debuts on Netflix on Jun. 23; Screens at Cinema Village in NY and Roxie Theatre in SF, Jun 26- July 2
The Old Globe Presents World Premiere of Christopher Gattelli Helmed IN YOUR ARMS Featuring Vignettes written by David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, and Alfred Uhry, September 16 – October 25
Jose Llana and Hoon Lee to play King of Siam in Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s THE KING AND I
FILM LAB PRESENTS “Focus on the Philippines” featuring John Day’s Matud Nila, narrated by Raul Aranas
Behind the Scenes of the Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Shootout with Lia Chang, Garth Kravits, Evan Daves and Alicia Manns in HIDE AND SEEK
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
Cultural Interplay between the East and West in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Anna May Wong as Fashion Muse in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Photos and Video: Telly Leung, Yumi Kurosawa, Lei Pasifika, Soh Daiko perform at The Met’s Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Christopher Jackson, Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Anthony Ramos, Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff and more set for HAMILTON; Previews begin July 13
Photos and Video: BD Wong at premiere of JURASSIC WORLD at the Dolby Theatre
The King and I wins 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Kelli O’Hara (Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Ruthie Ann Miles (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design)
The King and I’s Ruthie Ann Miles Wins #TonyAwards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Photos: 2015 Tony Award Winners and Performances
Dr. Leroy Chiao honored with 2015 Blue Cloud Award at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala
Photos: Dr. Leroy Chiao, The Hon. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Shirley and Walter Wang Honored at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala 
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London, July 2 – October 18, 2015
Original Cast of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE including Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, to Reunite for 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert on July 6
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
Bill Cobbs, Nate Jacobs, Erich McMillan-McCall, Katori Hall, Clinton Turner Davis, ESOSA, A. Peter Bailey, Maurice Hines, Robert Hooks, Grace Jones, Hattie Winston, Karamu House & More among 2015 National Black Theatre Festival Honorees; Gala on August 3
Crafting a Career

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

THE KILROYS ©ELISABETH CAREN 2015 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Following a record-breaking year of success for female and trans* playwrights, LA-based playwright/producer collective THE KILROYS has released its second annual LIST of industry-recommended new plays.

2015’s THE LIST features the 53 most recommended works of over 755 nominated plays. The nominees represent an abundance of excellent new work by female and trans* playwrights, and reflect a wide ethnic, geographic, and aesthetic diversity.

2015’s THE LIST compiles the top un- and under-produced plays written by female and trans* writers, following a survey of over 300 professional artistic directors, literary managers, professors, producers, directors, and dramaturgs. The list is facilitated by The Kilroys: an independent, LA-based group of female playwrights and producers, dedicated to taking action in the face of gender disparity in American Theatre.

In 2014, The Kilroys began THE LIST as a response to systemic gender bias in theater programming. The vetted collection of industry-recommended works was designed to bring worthy plays by female and trans* playwrights to the forefront of American theater conversation: and it has. Following inclusion in the 46 plays on 2014’s THE LIST, more than 47 productions have been mounted or announced. Playwrights featured on THE LIST have cited a significant increase in interest and readership of their work. One theater agent noted that a LIST play received a level of inquiry usually reserved for “when a new play goes into production or we announce a premiere.” Public reading series’ devoted to LIST-nominated plays have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles; Summer 2015 festivals are planned in Baltimore and Portland.

Momentum for female theater makers is on the rise, as marked by composer/lyricists Jeanine Tessori & Lisa Kron’s historic TONY Awards win for Fun Home (the first female team to win for Best Score in the Awards’ 69-year history). As Kron stated at the Tonys, “It’s statistically 10% better [to be a woman playwright] than it used to be. It’s unacceptably low, but it seems that perhaps we’re making some progress.” THE LIST serves as a resource for producers and theaters in continuing this movement. The Kilroys have partnered with the New Play Exchange to provide interested parties fast & easy access to THE LIST plays.

THE LIST survey uses the following criteria:

Each industry respondent may recommend 3-5 plays, representing the best work they have encountered in the past 12 months.

A nominated play must be unproduced or have had only a single professional production.

A nominated play must be by an author who identifies as female or trans*.

Plays on 2014’s THE LIST are not eligible.

Theater professionals who have read or seen at least 40 plays in the previous year are invited to nominate themselves as respondents for next year’s LIST. Recommendations are submitted anonymously. Members of The Kilroys act as facilitators and do not recommend plays for THE LIST.

THE LIST from both years is available at www.thekilroys.org.

2015’s THE LIST

YOU GOT OLDER by Clare Barron

PEERLESS by Jiehae Park

SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS by Bess Wohl

THE GHOSTS OF LOTE BRAVO by Hilary Bettis

CARDBOARD PIANO by Hansol Jung

NO MORE SAD THINGS by Hansol Jung

KENTUCKY by Leah Nanako Winkler

THE ROOMMATE by Jen Silverman

I WILL BE GONE by Erin Courtney

SOJOURNERS by Mfoniso Udofia

BALLAST by Georgette Kelly

FEATHERS AND TEETH by Charise Castro Smith

FRUITING BODIES by Sam Chanse

GIRL SHAKES LOOSE HER SKIN by Zakiyyah Alexander and Imani Uzuri

KING LIZ by Fernanda Coppel

STILL NOW by Katie Bender

WOLF PLAY by Hansol Jung

KING OF THE YEES by Lauren Yee

MILLER, MS by Boo Killebrew

PETTY HARBOUR by Martyna Majok

SMART PEOPLE by Lydia R. Diamond

SOLDIER X by Rehana Lew Mirza

THE WOLVES by Sarah DeLappe

UGLY LIES THE BONE by Lindsey Ferrentino

UNSEEN by Mona Mansour

SAGITTARIUS PONDEROSA by MJ Kaufman

SWEAT by Lynn Nottage

AN ALMANAC FOR FARMERS AND LOVERS IN MEXICO by Kate Tarker

CAMDENSIDE by Sarah Burgess

COLONY COLLAPSE by Stefanie Zadravec

MANAHATTA by Mary Kathryn Nagle

NATIVE SON by Nambi E. Kelley

ROMEO & NAOMI RAMIREZ by Kathryn Walat

RESIDENCE by Laura Jacqmin

THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN PORNOGRAPHY by Hilary Bettis

NOLLYWOOD DREAMS by Jocelyn Bioh

MEN ON BOATS by Jaclyn Backhaus

SPILL by Leigh Fondakowski

BULLY by Amina Henry

COCKED by Sarah Gubbins

DIRTY CRUSTY by Clare Barron

FADE by Tanya Saracho

GIVE IT ALL BACK by Calamity West

THE LAST MATCH by Anna Ziegler

MADAME HO by Eugenie Chan

SUPERTRUE by Karen Hartman

THE ASHES UNDER GAIT CITY by Christina Anderson

THE INSURGENTS by Lucy Thurber

THE TIGER AMONG US by Lauren Yee

THE UNDENIABLE SOUND OF RIGHT NOW by Laura Eason

THE WOLFE TWINS by Rachel Bonds

TO THE BONE by Lisa Ramirez

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY by Susan Soon He Stanton

Click here for the 2015 Honorable Mentions: The Top 32%.

THE KILROYS is a gang of playwrights and producers in LA who are done talking about gender parity and are taking action. They mobilize others in their field and leverage their own power to support one another. They are Zakiyyah Alexander, Bekah Brunstetter, Sheila Callaghan, Carla Ching, Annah Feinberg, Sarah Gubbins, Laura Jacqmin, Joy Meads, Kelly Miller, Meg Miroshnik, Daria Polatin, Tanya Saracho, and Marisa Wegrzyn.

BIOS FOR THE KILROYS
ZAKIYYAH ALEXANDER is a playwright, television writer, and occasional actor. Her plays have been seen and/or developed around the country, received numerous awards and commissions. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama (MFA in playwriting); for four years she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Bard College where she taught undergraduate playwriting, as well as graduate television writing at Columbia University. Most recently, a writer on the television show “Grey’s Anatomy”. Currently, she is developing a musical with Imani Uzuri (featuring the poetry of Sonia Sanchez). Zakiyyah is a native New Yorker and was raised in Queens and Brooklyn.

BEKAH BRUNSTETTER‘s plays include Going to a Place Where you Already Are (SCR, Spring 2016), The Oregon Trail (O’Neill Playwright’s Conference; Upcoming, DC Women’s Playwright’s festival), Be A Good Little Widow (Ars Nova, The Old Globe) and Oohrah! (The Atlantic; Steppenwolf Garage.) She is currently an Executive Story Editor on ABC Family’s “Switched at Birth”. MFA, the New School for Drama.

SHEILA CALLAGHAN is a NY and LA based playwright, founding member of the Obie winning playwright’s organization 13P, and New Dramatists alum. Plays include Scab, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Dead City, That Pretty Pretty; Or, The Rape Play, Everything You Touch, Elevada, and Women Laughing Alone With Salad. She is published with Playscripts and Samuel French, and several of her collected works are published with Counterpoint Press. Sheila is currently a writer/producer on the Showtime comedy “Shameless”.

CARLA CHING started doing theater with NYC collective Peeling. Fast Company, TBA and The Sugar House at the Edge of the Wilderness have been produced by South Coast Rep, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, 2g and Porkfilled Productions. Alumna: Women’s Project Lab, Lark Playwrights Workshop, CTG Writers’ Workshop, Ma-Yi Writers Lab. Former Artistic Director of 2g and staff writer on “Graceland”. Proud member of New Dramatists. Upcoming: Nomad Motel at the 2015 O’Neill Playwrights Conference.

ANNAH FEINBERG‘s plays, which include The Beautiful Beautiful Sea Next Door, Numismatics, and The Ivories, have been developed and produced by Ars Nova, Naked Angels, EBE Ensemble, and Clubbed Thumb. She has served in artistic and literary capacities for The Civilians, LCT3, MTC, Steppenwolf, Northlight, ICM, TimeLine and 13P. She wrote and directed short film “Gretch and Tim” and recently assisted on A+E’s Damien and HBO’s Veep. MFA Dramaturgy: Columbia University.

SARAH GUBBINS hails from Chicago. Her plays include The Kid Thing (Jeff Award and Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award), fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life, Fair Use, The Drinking Problem, and Cocked. She’s has been a Carl J. Djerassi Fellow and Jerome Fellow. Currently she’s an Artistic Associate at About Face Theater and a Core Writer of the Playwrights’ Center. She holds a M.F.A. from Northwestern University in Writing for the Screen + Stage. She lives in Los Angeles with her dog Gil.

LAURA JACQMIN is a Chicago-based playwright, TV writer, and video game writer. Plays: A Third (Finborough Theatre), Look, We Are Breathing (Sundance Theatre Lab; Rivendell Theatre), January Joiner (Long Wharf Theatre), Ski Dubai (Steppenwolf Theatre), Dental Society Midwinter Meeting (Chicago Dramatists/At Play, remounted 16th Street Theater and Theater on the Lake; Williamstown Theatre Festival), and more. Awards: Wasserstein Prize, two NEA Art Works Grants, ATHE-Kennedy Center David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award, two MacDowell Fellowships. Television: “Grace and Frankie” (Netflix); “Lucky 7 “(ABC). Video games: Minecraft: Story Mode (Telltale Games). BA Yale University, MFA Ohio University.

JOY MEADS is Literary Manager/Artistic Engagement Strategist at Center Theatre Group. Recent dramaturgy credits include Forever by Dael Orlandersmith, Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison (2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist), The Royale by Marco Ramirez, & Radiate by Daniel Alexander Jones. Previously, Joy was Literary Manager at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Associate Artistic Director at California Shakespeare Theater. Joy has also developed plays with NYTW, Berkeley Rep, Denver Center, the O’Neill, Portland Center Stage, South Coast Rep, & Campo Santo, among others. @capnjoy

KELLY L. MILLER is the Director of Development for New Neighborhood. For the last six years, she served as South Coast Repertory’s Literary Director and the Co-Director of the Pacific Playwrights Festival. She dramaturged over 40 world premiere productions and readings at SCR and created the CrossRoads commissioning project. Miller has worked at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown, Long Wharf Theatre and consulted for the O’Neill, Berkeley Rep, the Kennedy Center, PlayPenn, the Public and many others. She continues to develop new work with her company Creative Destruction. @kellymiller03

MEG MIROSHNIK’s plays include The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Rep; Alliance), The Tall Girls (Alliance; O’Neill; La Jolla Playhouse DNA Series), The Droll (Pacific Playwrights Festival) and Lady Tattoo. Awards: Whiting Award, Susan Smith Blackburn finalist, Alliance/Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award. Publications: Samuel French. Commissions: South Coast Rep, Steppenwolf, and Yale Rep. MFA: Yale School of Drama under Paula Vogel. Affiliation: Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center. Meg hails from Minneapolis and currently lives in Los Angeles. @megmiroshnik

DARIA POLATIN is a playwright and TV writer, and recently worked on the upcoming Starz ballet drama “Flesh and Bone.” Her plays include In Tandem, The Luxor Express, Guidance, That First Fall, D.C., and A Fair Affair; her work has been produced at The Kennedy Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Naked Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Golden Thread Productions, in London, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Member of Center Theatre Group Writers’ Workshop, residency with London’s Royal Court Theatre, alumna of EST’s Youngblood. She has directed plays, and the short film “Till It Gets Weird.” BFA Boston University, MFA Columbia University. Kennedy Center/A.C.T.F. Best One-Act Play, Middle East America Playwriting Prize Honorable Mention. Plays published by Dramatists Play Service, Dramatic Publishing Company, and Vintage Books. dariapolatin.com @DariaPolatin

TANYA SARACHO (born in Sinaloa, México) is a playwright, actor and TV writer (HBO’s Looking & Girls, Devious Maids) who is currently writing for How To Get Away With Murder.  Produced at: Denver Theatre Center (upcoming), 2nd Stage (NYC), Steppenwolf Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Goodman Theater, Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, Fountain Theater, Clubbed Thumb, NEXT Theater and 16th Street Theater. Plays include: Fade; Hushabye; The Tenth Muse; Song for the Disappeared; Enfrascada; El Nogalar (inspired by The Cherry Orchard); an adaptation of The House on Mango Street for Steppenwolf; Our Lady of the Underpass; Kita y Fernanda and Quita Mitos. In Development with: HBO (adaptation of Mala Hierba), Two Rivers Theatre, Denver Theater Center, South Coast Rep., Goodman Theater, and Steppenwolf Theatre. Tanya’s a proud Union member of SAG/AFTRA & WGA. @TanyaSaracho

MARISA WEGRZYN Chicago playwright working in LA. Writer of Mud Blue Sky, The Butcher of Baraboo, Hickorydickory, Killing Women, Ten Cent Night, other stuff. Gigs at Steppenwolf, Second Stage NYC, Baltimore Centerstage, A Red Orchid Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven, Moxie Theatre, other places. Winner of the Wendy Wasserstein Playwriting Prize. Writer on TV shows Mind Games (ABC) and The Mentalist(CBS). Enjoys weather. @howdymarisa

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Photos: Quick Silver Theater Conversation: “Why are Women MIA in STEM?”
Sanjit De Silva, Mel Duane Gionson, Teresa Avia Lim, James Saito, Jon Norman Schneider, David Shih, Alok Tewari, and Henry Yuk in NAATCO’s AWAKE AND SING! at The Public Theater, July 6- August 1
Jennifer Phang’s ADVANTAGEOUS debuts on Netflix on Jun. 23; Screens at Cinema Village in NY and Roxie Theatre in SF, Jun 26- July 2
The Old Globe Presents World Premiere of Christopher Gattelli Helmed IN YOUR ARMS Featuring Vignettes written by David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, and Alfred Uhry, September 16 – October 25
Jose Llana and Hoon Lee to play King of Siam in Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s THE KING AND I
FILM LAB PRESENTS “Focus on the Philippines” featuring John Day’s Matud Nila, narrated by Raul Aranas
Behind the Scenes of the Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Shootout with Lia Chang, Garth Kravits, Evan Daves and Alicia Manns in HIDE AND SEEK
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
Cultural Interplay between the East and West in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Anna May Wong as Fashion Muse in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Photos and Video: Telly Leung, Yumi Kurosawa, Lei Pasifika, Soh Daiko perform at The Met’s Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Christopher Jackson, Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Anthony Ramos, Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff and more set for HAMILTON; Previews begin July 13
Photos and Video: BD Wong at premiere of JURASSIC WORLD at the Dolby Theatre
The King and I wins 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Kelli O’Hara (Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Ruthie Ann Miles (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design)
The King and I’s Ruthie Ann Miles Wins #TonyAwards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Photos: 2015 Tony Award Winners and Performances
Dr. Leroy Chiao honored with 2015 Blue Cloud Award at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala
Photos: Dr. Leroy Chiao, The Hon. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Shirley and Walter Wang Honored at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala 
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London, July 2 – October 18, 2015
Original Cast of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE including Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, to Reunite for 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert on July 6
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
Bill Cobbs, Nate Jacobs, Erich McMillan-McCall, Katori Hall, Clinton Turner Davis, ESOSA, A. Peter Bailey, Maurice Hines, Robert Hooks, Grace Jones, Hattie Winston, Karamu House & More among 2015 National Black Theatre Festival Honorees; Gala on August 3
Crafting a Career

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

Pictured (left to right): Chuck Cooper, Josh Young, and the ensemble of Amazing Grace. Photo: Joan Marcus

One of my favorite actors, Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper, is back on Broadway in the new musical Amazing Grace, following the sold-out world premiere in Chicago. Amazing Grace, currently in previews at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street), also stars Tony Award nominee Josh Young, Erin Mackey, Chris Hoch, Stanley Bahorek, Harriett D. Foy, Laiona Michelle, Rachael Ferrera, Elizabeth Ward Land and Tom Hewitt. Opening night is Thursday, July 16.

Pictured (left to right): Josh Young, Tom Hewitt, and the ensemble of Amazing Grace. Photo: Joan Marcus

The ensemble features Leslie Becker, Sara Brophy, Rheaume Crenshaw, Miquel Edson, Mike Evariste, Sean Ewing, Savannah Frazier, Christopher Gurr, Allen Kendall, Michael Dean Morgan,Vince Oddo, Oneika Phillips, Clifton Samuels, Gavriel Savit, Dan Sharkey, Bret Shuford, Evan Alexander Smith, Uyoata Udi, Charles E. Wallace, Toni Elizabeth White, Hollie E. Wright.

Pictured (center): Harriett D. Foy, Josh Young, and the ensemble of ‘Amazing Grace’. Photo: Joan Marcus

The new musical features music and lyrics by Christopher Smith and a book by Christopher Smith and Arthur Giron, directed by Gabriel Barre (Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party) and choreographed by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli (Newsies).

Amazing Grace is a new original musical based on the awe-inspiring true story behind the world’s most beloved song. A captivating tale of romance, rebellion and redemption, this radiant production follows one man whose incredible journey ignited a historic wave of change.

Pictured (left to right): Josh Young and Erin Mackey. Photo: Joan Marcus

John Newton (Tony Award® nominee Josh Young), a willful and musically talented young Englishman, faces a future as uncertain as the turning tide. Coming of age as Britain sits atop an international empire of slavery, he finds himself torn between following in the footsteps of his father – a slave trader – or embracing the more compassionate views of his childhood sweetheart (Erin Mackey). Accompanied by his slave, Thomas (Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper), John embarks on a perilous voyage on the high seas. When that journey finds John in his darkest hour, a transformative moment of self-reckoning inspires a blazing anthem of hope that will finally guide him home.

Brimming with emotion and adventure, Amazing Grace is an unforgettable musical saga that captures the spirit of history’s sweetest and most powerful sound: freedom.

Pictured (center): Chris Hoch, Erin Mackey, and the ensemble of Amazing Grace. Photo: Joan Marcus

The creative team includes Eugene Lee and Edward Pierce (scenic design), Toni-Leslie James (costume design), Ken Billington and Paul Miller (lighting design), Jon Weston (sound design), Robert -Charles Vallance (hair design), David Leong (fight and military movement), Gillian Lane-Plescia (dialect coach), Kenny Seymour(orchestrations), Michael Keller (music coordinator), and Joseph Church (music director, arranger, incidental music).

Pictured (left to right): Laiona Michelle and Erin Mackey. Photo: Joan Marcus

Amazing Grace is produced by Carolyn Rossi Copeland and Alexander Rankin.

The production premiered last October in Chicago and was embraced by theatre critics and played to sold out houses.

Tickets for Amazing Grace are on sale now via Ticketmaster.com or by calling 877-250-2929. Tickets available in person at the Nederlander Theatre box office, (208 W 41st St). Ticket prices range from $65-$139 (all prices include a $2.00 facility fee).

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Related articles:
Signature’s Revival of The Piano Lesson Sweeps AUDELCO’s with 8 Wins including Best Revival, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Roslyn Ruff, Chuck Cooper and Brandon J. Dirden; Also Among 2013 “VIV” Winners – Wild with Happy’s Colman Domingo and Sharon Washington, and Storyville’s Mercedes Ellington
Ebony Jo-Ann Celebrates PLEASE SAVE YOUR LOVE FOR ME CD Release, with a concert at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar on July 15
Bill Cobbs, Nate Jacobs, Erich McMillan-McCall, Katori Hall, Clinton Turner Davis, ESOSA, A. Peter Bailey, Maurice Hines, Robert Hooks, Grace Jones, Hattie Winston, Karamu House & More among 2015 National Black Theatre Festival Honorees; Gala on August 3
Two River Theater 2015/16 Season Lineup includes Brandon J. Dirden helmed Seven Guitars, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Pericles, I Remember Mama, Lives of Reason and Ropes
ALL MY CHILDREN ALUM Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams to Co-Chair the 2015 National Black Theatre Festival, August 3-8
Photos: National Black Theatre Festival 2013; NBTF runs August 3-8, 2015 and will include Act III – A Celebration of Life Reception saluting the late theatre icon Garland Lee Thompson, Sr.
Cheryl L. Davis’ Maid’s Door Sweeps AUDELCOs with 7 Wins; Complete List of 2014 AUDELCO Recipients

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Two-Time Tony nominee André De Shields, Tony Winner Lillias White, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’s Lori Tan Chinn, Stephanie Powers, Georgia Engel & More Will Lead Broadway-Bound Musical GOTTA DANCE in Chicago
Behind the Scenes of the Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Shootout with Lia Chang, Garth Kravits, Evan Daves and Alicia Manns in HIDE AND SEEK
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
Photos: Garth Kravits, Michael Keyloun, Klea Blackhurst, Eloise Kropp, Maxine Linehan, and Aaron Ramey in GROUNDED FOR LIFE at The York
Photos: Jennifer Phang, Jeanne Sakata, Freya Adams and More at Advantageous in NY
Jose Llana and Hoon Lee to play King of Siam in Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I
FILM LAB PRESENTS “Focus on the Philippines” featuring John Day’s Matud Nila, narrated by Raul Aranas
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Christopher Jackson, Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Anthony Ramos, Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff and more set for HAMILTON; Previews begin July 13
The King and I wins 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Kelli O’Hara (Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Ruthie Ann Miles (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design)
The King and I’s Ruthie Ann Miles Wins #TonyAwards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Photos: 2015 Tony Award Winners and Performances
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
Cultural Interplay between the East and West in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Anna May Wong as Fashion Muse in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Dr. Leroy Chiao honored with 2015 Blue Cloud Award at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala
Photos: Dr. Leroy Chiao, The Hon. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Shirley and Walter Wang Honored at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala 
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London, July 2 – October 18, 2015
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Geoffrey Holder, Artist, Actor, Dancer, Choreographer, Two-Time Tony Award-winning Director and Costume Designer for The Wiz, Dies at 84; Son Pens Intimate Account of Last Days
Celebrating my Mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Golden Globe Winner James Shigeta, Veteran of Film and TV, Dies at 85; Excerpts of 2007 A/P/A Institute Q & A with Sukhdev Sandhu 
Remembering Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama, 1921-2014
Ruby Dee, Actress and Activist, 1922 – 2014
Fred Korematsu, American Hero and Civil Rights Activist Dies at 86
Crafting a Career
Click here  for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.
All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2015 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com

Stella Abrera in Giselle.
Photo:MIRA.

Fil-Am Stella Abrera and Misty Copeland have been promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre, effective August 1, 2015.  They are a pair of firsts with Abrera as the 1st Filipino American female principal dancer, and Copeland as the 1st African American female principal dancer in the company’s 75-year history.

Stella Abrera of South Pasadena, California, began her studies with Philip and Charles Fuller and Cynthia Young at Le Studio in Pasadena and with Lorna Diamond and Patricia Hoffman at the West Coast Ballet Theatre in San Diego. She also studied the Royal Academy of Dancing method at the Halliday Dance Centre in Sydney, Australia.  Abrera joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in 1996 and was appointed a Soloist in 2001. Her repertoire with ABT includes Calliope in Apollo, Gamzatti in La Bayadère, the Ballerina in The Bright Stream, the Fairy Godmother in Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, Gulnare in Le Corsaire, Mercedes and the Driad Queen in Don Quixote, Helena in The Dream, Giselle, Myrta and the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, Manon in Lady of the Camellias, Lescaut’s Mistress in Manon, His Friend’s Wife in The Moor’s Pavane, Clara, the Princess in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, Emilia in Othello, the Older Sister in Pillar of Fire, Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, the Lilac Fairy and Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, the pas de trois in Swan Lake, leading roles in Airs, Bach Partita, Baker’s Dozen, Ballet Imperial, Birthday Offering, The Brahms-Haydn Variations, C. to C. (Close to Chuck), Fancy Free, In the Upper Room, The Leaves Are Fading, Petite Mort, Sinfonietta, Les Sylphides, Symphonic Variations, Symphonie Concertante, Symphony #9, Symphony in C, Thirteen Diversions, Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison, Without Words. Abrera created the Spanish Dance in Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, the Fairy Violente (Temperament) in Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty and leading roles in Pretty Good Year and Seven Sonatas.  Abrera received the Gold Medal at the Royal Academy of Dancing’s Adeline Genée Awards in London in 1995.  She has performed as a guest artist across the United States and Europe, as well as with The Australian Ballet, The Royal New Zealand Ballet and Ballet Philippines.

Misty Copeland in Swan Lake. Photo: Queensland Performing Arts Centre/Darren Thomas.

Misty Copeland was born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in San Pedro, California.  She began her ballet studies at the age of 13 at the San Pedro City Ballet and won first place in the Music Center Spotlight Awards.  She continued her studies at the Lauridsen Ballet Center.  Copeland studied at the San Francisco Ballet School and American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive on full scholarship and was declared ABT’s National Coca-Cola Scholar in 2000.  Copeland joined ABT’s Studio Company in September 2000 and joined the main Company as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2001.  She was appointed a Soloist in August 2007.  Her roles with the Company include Gamzatti in La Bayadère, Milkmaid in The Bright Stream, the Fairy Autumn in Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, Swanilda in Coppélia, Gulnare in Le Corsaire, Mercedes and the Driad Queen in Don Quixote, Duo Concertant, the title role in Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird, Flower Girl in Gaîté Parisienne, Zulma and the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, Lescaut’s Mistress in Manon, Clara, the Princess in Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, Bianca in Othello, the Cowgirl in Rodeo, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, Sinatra Suite, Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, leading roles in Bach Partita, Birthday Offering andThirteen Diversions and roles in Airs, Baker’s Dozen, Ballo della Regina, Black Tuesday, The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Brief Fling, Company B, Gong, In the Upper Room, Les Sylphides,Raymonda Divertissements, Sechs Tänze, Sinfonietta and workwithinwork. Copeland created the Spanish Dance in Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, the Fairy Fleur de farine in Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty and leading roles in C. to C. (Close to Chuck), Dumbarton, Glow – Stop, One of Three and With a Chance of Rain.  Copeland received the 2008 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts and was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in 2013.  In 2014, President Obama appointed Copeland to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.  She is the recipient of a 2014 Dance Magazine Award and appeared on the cover of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2015.  She is the author of the best-selling memoir, Life in Motion and the children’s book Firebird.

Skylar Brandt, Thomas Forster, Arron Scott and Cassandra Trenary have been promoted to Soloist. In addition, Maria Kochetkova, a principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet and Alban Lendorf, a principal dancer with Royal Danish Ballet will join the Company as Principal Dancers and Jeffrey Cirio, a principal dancer with Boston Ballet, will join ABT as a Soloist, it was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

Skylar Brandt was born in Purchase, New York and began her training at the age of six at Scarsdale Ballet Studio. She also studied with Valentina Kozlova, Fabrice Herrault and Susan Jaffe and attended the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre from 2005-2009. Brandt spent five summers at ABT’s New York Summer Intensive, was a National Training Scholar from 2006-2009. Brandt joined the ABT Studio Company in 2009, became an apprentice with the main Company in November 2010 and joined the corps de ballet in June 2011. Her roles with ABT include a Shade in La Bayadère, the Fairy Spring in Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, an Odalisque in Le Corsaire, a Flower Girl in Don Quixote, the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, the Chinese Dance and one of the Nutcracker’s Sisters in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, the Younger Sister in Pillar of Fire, the Diamond Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, the pas de trois in Swan Lake and roles in Bach Partita, Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Gong, In the Upper Room, Piano Concerto #1, Raymonda Divertissements and Sinfonietta.  She created the Fairy Canri qui chante (Canary) in Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty.  Brandt was a silver medalist at Youth America Grand Prix in 2004 and 2008.  She was awarded a 2013 Princess Grace Foundation-USA Dance Fellowship.

Thomas Forster was born in London, England and began his ballet training at the age of 8 with the Royal Ballet School Associate Programme. He continued his training with Elmhurst School of Dance and joined the Upper School of the Royal Ballet School in 2002. He has performed with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet. Forster joined ABT’s Studio Company in May 2006, became an apprentice with the main Company in January 2007 and joined the corps de ballet in December 2007. His repertory with the Company includes the High Brahmin in La Bayadère, a Step-Sister in Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, Lorenzo in Don Quixote, the Duke in Gaîté Parisienne, Hilarion in Giselle, Her Lover in Jardin aux Lilas, the Jailer in Manon, His Friend in The Moor’s Pavane, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Fairy Cavalier and Prince Fortune in The Sleeping Beauty, von Rothbart (Ballroom and Lakeside) in Swan Lake and The Poet in Les Sylphides and roles in Bach Partita, Baker’s Dozen, Company B, Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Duets, Gong, One of Three, Private Light, Raymonda Divertissements, Sinfonietta, Symphony in C and With a Chance of Rain.  He created the Mouse King in Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, the English Prince in Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty, as well as roles in Aftereffect,Dumbarton, Everything Doesn’t Happen at Once, From Here On Out, Thirteen Diversions and Troika.

Luciana Paris was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and began her ballet training at the age of seven with Elena Perez.  From 1991 through 1996, she studied at the Colón Theater Superior de Art Institute, where she was a recipient of a Colón Theater Foundation Scholarship.  In 1996, she toured with Ballet Cámara in Argentina and joined the Teatro Colón Ballet as a soloist.  In December 1996, she joined Julio Bocca’s Ballet Argentino as a principal dancer performing classical, neoclassical and modern repertoire.  Paris joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in October 2001.  Her repertoire with the Company includes a flower girl and the lead gypsy in Don Quixote, the first Shade variation in La Bayadère, an Odalisque and Lead Pirate Woman in Le Corsaire, the pas de trois in Swan Lake, the Flower Girl in Gaîté Parisienne, Bathilde and the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, Prudence in Lady of the Camellias, Her Other Stepsister and Moss in James Kudelka’s Cinderella, Prayer and Lead Mazurka in Coppélia, Columbine and one of the Nutcracker’s Sisters in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, the Fairy Autumn in Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, a Carnival Dancer in Othello, a Harlot and Rosaline inRomeo and Juliet, the Fairy Fleur de farine and the Silver Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, Persephone in Sylvia, the Cowgirl in Rodeo, and leading roles in Fancy Free, The Leaves Are Fading, Pillar of Fire, Jardin aux Lilas, Dark Elegies, Sinatra Suite, In the Upper Room, Brief Fling, The Brahms-Hayden Variations, Rabbit and Rogue, Baker’s Dozen, Bach Partita, Symphony #9, Dumbarton, Firebird, The Bright Stream, Seven Sonatas, Company B, Airs, Black Tuesday,  Duets, Allegro Brillante, Theme and Variations, Symphonie Concertante, Symphony in C, Ballet Imperial, Ballo della Regina, Études, Glow – Stop, Gong, Raymonda Divertissements and With a Chance of Rain.  She created a leading role in Robert Hill’s Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra.  Paris danced Twyla Tharp’s Sinatra Suite with Marcelo Gomes at the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors and at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts Gala opening in Las Vegas in 2012.  She is a Certified Teacher of ABT’s National Training Curriculum.

Arron Scott was raised in State College, Pennsylvania and started his training at the Ballet Theatre of Central Pennsylvania.  He has danced on full scholarships at American Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the School of American Ballet summer programs as well as being a 2002-2003 ABT National Training Scholar. He trained for two years at the School of American Ballet where he was awarded the Rudolf Nureyev Scholarship.  Scott joined the ABT Studio Company in September 2003 and the main Company as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2004.  His roles with the Company include Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, the Bronze Idol and the Head Fakir in La Bayadère, the Jester and Napoleon in Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, Birbanto in Le Corsaire, Lead Gypsy in Don Quixote, the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, the Beggar Chief in Manon, Kolia in A Month in the Country, a Carnival Dancer in Othello, the Wolf in The Sleeping Beauty, the Neapolitan Dance in Swan Lake, Eros in Sylvia and leading roles in Airs, Bach Partita, Brief Fling, Company B, Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Duets, Dumbarton, Everything Doesn’t Happen at Once, Gong, In the Upper Room, The Leaves Are Fading, Mozartiana, Seven Sonatas, Sinfonietta and Symphony #9.  He created a Fairy Cavalier in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty.

Cassandra Trenary, a native of Georgia, began training at age three at Lawrenceville School of Ballet. In 2006, she joined the school’s company, Southern Ballet Theatre under the direction of Phyllis Allen.  Trenary received additional training at Southeast Regional Ballet Association conventions.  In 2009, Trenary received a SERBA Star Student award. From 2006-2010, she was an American Ballet Theatre National Training Scholar and attended the Summer Intensive in New York City from 2007 through 2010. She was a 2011 National YoungArts Foundation Winner and a 2011 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts nominee.  Trenary studied at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre and performed with the ABT Studio Company on their 2011 European tour.  She joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in April 2011 and became a member of the corps de ballet in November 2011.  Her repertory includes a Shade in La Bayadère, Columbine, the Chinese Dance and one of the Nutcracker’s Sisters in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, the Younger Sister in Pillar of Fire, a Harlot in Romeo and Juliet, the Diamond Fairy and the Fairy Canri qui chante (Canary) in The Sleeping Beauty, the pas de trois and a little swan in Swan Lake and roles in Bach Partita, Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Private Light, Raymonda Divertissements and Sinfonietta.  She created Princess Florine in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty.

Born in Moscow, Maria Kochetkova trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School prior to dancing with The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet in London. She joined San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer in 2007 where her repertoire includes the title role in Giselle, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Kitri in Don Quixote, Juliet in Romeo & Juliet, Odette-Odile in Swan Lake and Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker.  She has performed in George Balanchine’s Coppélia (Swanilda), Divertimento No. 15, Jewels, Serenade, Theme and Variations, Symphony in C andScotch Symphony, William Forsythe’s in the middle, somewhat elevated, Kenneth MacMillan’s Winter Dreams, Frederick Ashton’s Symphonic Variations and Voices of Spring and Wayne McGregor’s Chroma.  Kochetkova has created principal roles in Helgi Tomasson’s On a Theme of Paganini and Trio, Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella, Alexei Ratmansky’s From Foreign Lands, Jorma Elo’s One Overture, Mauro Bigonzetti’s Cinque and Wayne McGregor’sBorderlands.  Kochetkova’s prizes and awards include the Isadora Duncan Award for the role of Giselle and medals at International Ballet Competitions in Seoul, Italy, Luxembourg, Varna and Moscow.  She is also a winner of the Prix de Lausanne (2002).  She was nominated for a Critics’ Circle National Dance Award (U.K.) for Best Female Dancer in 2014 and for a Benois de la Danse Award in 2013 for her performance as Tatiana in Cranko’s Onegin.  In 2013, Kochetkova debuted as a Guest Artist with American Ballet Theatre and returned for the 2014 and 2015 Spring seasons.  Her repertoire with ABT includes Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Kitri in Don Quixote and Nikiya in La Bayadère.

Kochetkova remains a principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet and will perform with both companies during the 2015-16 season.

Alban Lendorf was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and received his training at the Royal Danish Ballet School.  In 2006, he joined the Royal Danish Ballet as an apprentice and a member of its corps de ballet in 2008.  He was promoted to Soloist in 2010 and to Principal Dancer in 2011.  His repertoire with the Royal Danish Ballet includes Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Prince Désiré in Christopher Wheeldon’s The Sleeping Beauty, Gennaro in Napoli, James in La Sylphide, Armand in Lady of the Camellias, the title role in Apollo, Des Grieux in Manon, The Prince in The Nutcracker, Basilio in Don Quixote, Solor in La Bayadère, Franz in Coppélia, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and principal roles in Études, Other Dances, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Dances at a Gathering, Flower Festival in Genzano, Donizetti Variations, Agon, La Sonnambula, Symphony in C, Bournonville Variations, Les Gentilhommes, Chroma and Le Corsaire pas de deux.  He originated roles in Louis Midjord’s Othello, Kim Brandstup’s Eidolon, Iain Rowe’s An Elegy for Us, Alexei Ratmansky’s The Golden Cockerel and Stephen DeLattre’s Unraveling.  In 2009, Lendorf won the Golden Ballet award and a D.A.N.C.E. Grant.  In 2013, he was awarded “Best Male Dancer” at Prix Benois de la Danse. In 2013, Lendorf debuted as an Exchange Artist with American Ballet Theatre dancing the role of Prince Désiré inThe Sleeping Beauty.  He returned as a Guest Artist dancing Basilio in Don Quixote in 2014.

Lendorf will remain a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet for the 2015-16 season.

Jeffrey Cirio began his ballet training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, under the direction of Marcia Dale Weary. He became a trainee with Boston Ballet School and joined Boston Ballet II for the 2007-2008 season. He continued his training at Orlando Ballet School and returned to Boston Ballet in 2009 as a member of the corps de ballet.  He was promoted to second soloist in 2010, to soloist in 2011 and was appointed principal dancer with Boston Ballet in 2012.  Cirio’s repertory with Boston Ballet includes Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, The Prince in Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, the Bronze Idol and Solor in La Bayadère, Oberon and Puck in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cavalier, Snow King and Russian Lead in The Nutcracker, Mercutio and Benvolio in John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, a Sailor in Fancy Free and the pas de deux from August Bournonville’s William Tell and Flower Festival at Genzano. His repertory also includes roles in George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Harlequinade, Ballo della Regina, Symphony in Three Movements, The Four Temperaments, Symphony in C, Tarantella and Diamonds and Rubies pas de deux in Jewels, Wayne McGregor’s Chroma and Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia.  Cirio originated the principal roles in Jorma Elo’s Awake Only and Elo Experience.  For Boston Ballet, Cirio choreographed Trial in 2014 and fremd in 2015.  Cirio won a Gold Medal at Youth America Grand Prix in 2005, a Princess Grace Fellowship and a Gold Medal at the Helskini International Ballet Competition in 2009.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2015 Spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House continues through July 4.  For more information, visit www.abt.org.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ starring Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed at Atlantic Theater Company, extends through July 12
Photos:Lunch with Tony Winner Lea Salonga and George Takei, Stars of ALLEGIANCE
Award-winning Filmmaker Jennifer Phang’s Sci-Fi film ADVANTAGEOUS starring Jacqueline Kim, Ken Jeong and Samantha Kim, available on Netflix and iTunes
Photos: Garth Kravits, Michael Keyloun, Klea Blackhurst, Eloise Kropp, Maxine Linehan, and Aaron Ramey in GROUNDED FOR LIFE at The York
WORLD PREMIERE of THE TOP TEN 72 Hour Shootout films of 2015 at Village Cinema East on July 25
China: Through the Looking Glass Exhibition Extended through September 7 at Metropolitan Museum
Photos & Video: Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper, Josh Young, Erin Mackey, Harriett D. Foy, Laiona Michelle and Tom Hewitt in AMAZING GRACE
Ebony Jo-Ann Celebrates PLEASE SAVE YOUR LOVE FOR ME CD Release, with a concert at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar on July 15
Two-Time Tony nominee André De Shields, Tony Winner Lillias White, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’s Lori Tan Chinn, Stephanie Powers, Georgia Engel & More Will Lead Broadway-Bound Musical GOTTA DANCE in Chicago
Behind the Scenes of the Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Shootout with Lia Chang, Garth Kravits, Evan Daves and Alicia Manns in HIDE AND SEEK
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
The King and I wins 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Kelli O’Hara (Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Ruthie Ann Miles (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design)
The King and I’s Ruthie Ann Miles Wins #TonyAwards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Photos: 2015 Tony Award Winners and Performances
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced!
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy Garners 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama 
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Crafting a Career

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

The George Gee Swing Orchestra, one of New York’s premiere swing big bands, returns to the world famous Maxwell DeMille’s Cicada Club at the Oviatt Building in downtown Los Angeles for an evening of swing music and dance honoring the great Chick Webb / Savoy Ballroom music man, Grammy honoree Van Alexander (composer of the Ella Fitzgerald hit song “A Tisket A Tasket”) in celebration of his 100th birthday at an exclusive once-in-a-lifetime centennial swing dance party Sunday, July 12th.

In the more than three decades since its inception, the George Gee Swing Orchestra has spread the “Gospel of Swing” to the far corners of the globe, doing its part to keep fingers snappin’ and toes tappin’ with its happy music for happy people. The popular ensemble sets new standards for modern big band performance, elegantly balancing genuine traditions with exhilarating modernism. The versatile swingin’ ensemble can deliver everything from a sweet foxtrot ballad to rollicking roadhouse boogie, all to the delight of the many hoofers who swarm the dance floor for its invigorating performances.

George Gee. Photo by Lia Chang

The orchestra will no doubt deliver a particularly exciting performance, inspired by the classic art deco surroundings of the Cicada Club that recall the grandeur of Hollywood’s glamorous golden age of nightclubs, as well as the presence of one of Gee’s heroes, the great Chick Webb / Savoy Ballroom music man, Van Alexander, the composer of the Webb/Ella Fitzgerald classic “A Tisket A Tasket”, and countless other swing era staples performed by the likes of Benny Goodman, Dean Martin, Kay Starr, Dinah Shore, Doris Day, and Peggy Lee.

George Gee 17-Piece Swing Orchestra at The Edison Ballroom in New York for Frankie’s Centennial Savoy Ball on May 23, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Gee proclaims, “Van Alexander’s legacy with the Chick Webb Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald and the Savoy Ballroom is so important. Van is a true bridge to the classic Savoy style big band of Harlem from the 30s and 40s. It is my honor to have him as a fan of the George Gee Swing Orchestra. He came to our “Battle of the Big Bands” in Culver City (CA) last summer and was thrilled and awed by the modern day community of lindy hop and big band enthusiasts. He turned 100 on May 2^nd and he plans on attending this show as our special VIP honoree. He is celebrating his centennial and is ready to swing, so it’s very important to us that we trumpet his many achievements. I just want to make sure that there’s more awareness of his importance, especially among the swing dance world. He is definitely a Vintage Master of Swing!”

“The George Gee Swing Orchestra’s music director, trombonist David Gibson is transcribing a few of Webb’s big hits, in particular Webb’s theme song “Let’s Get Together” and Van’s biggest hit “A Tisket A Tasket”. Popular L.A. vocalist Barbara Morrison is scheduled to come and sing the Ella Fitzgerald parts on that Hit Parade classic for this special show, joining our regular singer John Dokes. We will be doing a lot of selections from the classic Chick Webb era repertoire; a lot of the music associated with the Savoy Ballroom, plus selections from our latest CD Swing Makes You Happy! (Rondette Jazz),” which includes Webb’s “Lindy Hopper’s Delight,” “Blue Minor,” and “Midnight in a Madhouse.” Joining the band, lighting up the dance floor, will be the amazing lindy hop antics of The Hollywood Hotshots and tap dancing sensation Chester Whitmore, making the Cicada Club jump with the spirit of the Savoy, “Harlem’s Home of Happy Feet”.

The world-famous, elegant art deco Maxwell DeMille’s Cicada Club at the Oviatt Building in downtown Los Angeles is located at 617 S Olive St, Los Angeles, CA 90014. Tickets for this exclusive and once-in-a-lifetime Centennial Celebration Swing Dance Party are $20 in advance or $25 day of the show.  A special delicious 3-course dinner package is offered for $69 per person.  Doors open at 6:00 PM. Showtime at 8:30 PM. For reservations and further information call 213 488-9488 or visit www.cicadaclub.com andwww.GeorgeGee.com

George Gee Swing Orchestra’s new CD SWING MAKES YOU HAPPY on Rondette Jazz.
“Relentlessly energetic,……. finding inventive ways to move the music into new territory while staying  true to its roots.”

Sutton Foster. Photo by Lia Chang

Brandon Victor Dixon and Steven Pasquale will join the previously announced Sutton Foster in Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, running July 15 – 18, 2015 at New York City Center. The production will be directed by Leigh Silverman, with choreography by Sonya Tayeh. Jeanine Tesori is the Artistic Director of Encores! Off-Center and Chris Fenwick is Music Director.

The complete cast for The Wild Party is as follows: John Ellison Conlee, Brandon Victor Dixon, Sutton Foster, Steven Pasquale, Joaquina Kalukango and Miriam Shor, with Renée Albulario, Penelope Armstead- Williams, James Brown III, Rachel DeBenedet, Raymond J. Lee, Kenita Miller, Talene Monahon, Sydney Morton, Clifton Oliver, Charlie Pollock, Britton Smith, Ryan Steele, and Samantha Sturm.

Kenita Miller and Brandon Victor Dixon. Photo by Lia Chang

Raymond J. Lee. Photo by Lia Chang

Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, adapted from the Jazz Age narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March, is the story of one tragic, decadent night in a Manhattan apartment shared by Queenie (Sutton Foster) and her menacing lover Burrs (Steven Pasquale). The couple decides to throw the party to end all parties, where Queenie meets a handsome stranger (Brandon Victor Dixon) who wants to lure her away. The show opened at Manhattan Theatre Club on February 24, 2000 and played 54 performances.  Pasquale made his New York stage debut and understudied the role of Burrs in the MTC production of The Wild Party.

Renee Albulario

The Wild Party is the final production of New York City Center’s acclaimed Encores! Off-Center series, which is returning for a third season of landmark Off-Broadway musicals.

The Wild Party will play five performances from July 15-18, 2015 according to the following schedule: Wednesday, July 15 and Thursday, July 16 at 7:30 pm; Friday, July 17 at 8 pm; and Saturday, July 18 at 2 and 8 pm. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased at the New York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix® at 212-581-1212, or online at www.NYCityCenter.org.

 THE CAST

John Ellison Conlee (Eddie)’s theater credits include The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Obie Award), Murder Ballad, The Full Monty (Tony Award nomination), The Constant Wife, 1776, The Madrid, Pig Farm, Luther, The Butter and Egg Man, Once in a Lifetime, and many others. His recent film and TV work includes When I Live My Life Over Again; Hal Hartley’s My America and Ned Rifle; “Nurse Jackie”; “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”; and “Boardwalk Empire” (SAG Award nomination). John has also had recurring roles on “Parks and Recreation” and “Brotherhood.”

Brandon Victor Dixon (Black) originated the role of Berry Gordy in Broadway’s Motown: The Musical (Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album, Drama League Award nomination). A graduate of Columbia University, Brandon starred in the Encores! productions of House of Flowers and Cotton Club Parade and originated the role of Adult Simba in the Cheetah Company of The Lion King. Brandon then starred as Harpo in The Color Purple on Broadway, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. Off- Broadway credits include The Scottsboro Boys (Olivier, Lucille Lortel, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations) and Ray Charles Live! (Ovation Award nomination). His television credits include “The Good Wife,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” and “One Life to Live.”

Sutton Foster (Queenie) currently stars in Darren Star’s TV Land series “Younger.” She starred on Broadway as the title character in Violet (Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critic Circle award nominations), a role she originated in the Encores! Off-Center production. Other Broadway credits include Anything Goes (Tony Award), Shrek, Young Frankenstein, The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award), Les Misérables, Annie, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Grease. Off- Broadway: Trust (Second Stage) and Anyone Can Whistle (City Center Encores!). She has traveled all over the United States and internationally with music director Michael Rafter, performing songs from her two albums: Wish and An Evening with Sutton Foster: Live at the Café Carlyle. On television she starred in Amy Sherman Palladino’s “Bunheads” (Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination), and made appearances on “Psych,” “Royal Pains,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Flight of the Conchords,” and “Sesame Street.” She holds an honorary doctorate from Ball State University, where she also teaches.

Steven Pasquale (Burrs) made his NY Stage debut in the original MTC production of The Wild Party. He most recently starred in Carousel at Chicago Lyric Opera and on Broadway in The Bridges of Madison County (Drama Desk, Drama League nominations). Other New York credits include Far From Heaven, The Intelligent Homosexual…, A Soldier’s Play, A Man of No Importance, Beautiful Child, Spinning Into Butter and The Spitfire Grill. He originated the role of Fabrizio in The Light in the Piazza (Seattle’s Intiman Theatre). Television credits include “Rescue Me,” “Do No Harm,” Sofia Coppola’s “Platinum,” and “The Good Wife.” He is the executive producer, director and star of the DirecTV comedy “Almost There” and is currently filming the highly anticipated F/X show “American Crime Story.” His solo album, Somethin’ Like Love, was released in 2009.

Miriam Shor (Madelaine True) began her career with several acclaimed Off-Broadway productions, including Hedwig and the Angry Inch by John Cameron Mitchell. She reprised her role of Yitzhak in the critically-lauded 2001 film adaptation. Miriam has appeared on television in “The West Wing,” “Damages,” “Mildred Pierce,” and “The Good Wife.” She can currently be seen as Diana Trout on TV Land’s “Younger” (created by Darren Star) and she’ll next appear in the film Puerto Ricans in Paris opposite Luiz Guzman when it makes its world premiere at the LA Film Festival.

THE CREATIVE TEAM
Andrew Lippa (Music, Lyrics, and Book) wrote the theatrical oratorio I Am Harvey Milk, which received its New York premiere in October at Lincoln Center with Kristin Chenoweth and Mr. Lippa as Harvey Milk. Life of the Party, an evening celebrating 20 years of his work, premiered at London’s award- winning Menier Chocolate Factory in June 2014. He also wrote the Drama Desk-nominated music and lyrics for the Broadway musical Big Fish as well as the music for Aaron Sorkin’s Broadway play The Farnsworth Invention. Other musicals include The Addams Family (music and lyrics), A Little Princess (music), john & jen (music/book), Asphalt Beach (music and lyrics) and You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (additional music/lyrics and arrangements). He is currently working on a musical adaptation of Jules Feiffer’s book The Man in the Ceiling with Mr. Feiffer. Accolades include a Tony and Grammy nomination, the Gilman/Gonzalez-Falla Theater Foundation Award, ASCAP’s Richard Rodgers/New Horizons Award, The Drama Desk and The Outer Critics Circle Award.

Leigh Silverman © Lia Chang

Leigh Silverman (Director), a two-time Obie winner, directed the Encores! Off-Center and Broadway productions of Jeanine Tesori’s Violet (Tony Award nomination). Her other Broadway credits include Chinglish and Well. Recent Off-Broadway credits include Kung Fu and Golden Child (Signature Theater); In The Wake, No Place To Go; Yellow Face (Pulitzer finalist) and Well (The Public Theater); the (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Pulitzer finalist), The Call, Go Back To Where You Are; and Blue Door  Playwrights Horizons); From Up Here and The Madrid (MTC) and Coraline (MCC).

Kung Fu choreographer Sonya Tayeh. Photo by Lia Chang

Sonya Tayeh (Choreographer)’s theater credits include Head Over Heels (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Kung Fu (Signature Theatre), The Last Goodbye (Old Globe, Williamstown), Spring Awakening (San Jose Repertory Theatre) and Walk For Water (Cirque du Soleil). An Emmy Award nominee for “So You Think You Can Dance,” Sonya has also worked with Madonna, Florence and the Machine, Kylie Minogue and Miley Cyrus. Her concert dance credits include Lamentation Variation (Martha Graham Dance Company); Wave, Next Wave and Quartet (Los Angeles Ballet); and The Root of Me, Endurance to Move, and Battles (Tayeh Dance Company). She has won many accolades for her choreography, including the Lucille Lortel and Obie awards for her work on David Henry Hwang’s Kung Fu.

Chris Fenwick (Encores! Off-Center Music Director) is currently the music director of Fun Home on Broadway. He music directed the original productions of Michael John LaChiusa’s Giant, Los Otros, Queen of the Mist, and See What I Wanna See. Broadway credits include Rocky, Grease, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Pajama Game, Wonderful Town, and Elaine Stritch at Liberty. Other credits include the Off-Broadway productions of Hello Again, Here Lies Jenny, Road Show, Happiness, and Mother Courage, and concerts with Patti LuPone at Carnegie Hall, Ravinia Festival, and many more. Chris was music director of the Encores! Off-Center productions of Pump Boys and Dinettes; Faust; tick, tick…BOOM!; I’m Getting My Act Together…; and The Cradle Will Rock.

Jeanine Tesori (Encores! Off-Center Artistic Director) won the Tony Award for Best Original Score for Fun Home, a nominee for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the winner of the 2015 Tony Award for Best Musical. She composed the scores to the Broadway productions of Violet; Caroline, or Change (2004 Tony nomination for Best Original Score); Shrek the Musical (Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for her music); and Thoroughly Modern Millie. Her Off-Broadway musical Violet (Obie Award, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical and Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical) was presented as a one-night only event during the Encores! Off-Center inaugural season, and moved to Broadway last season. Jeanine has written music for several plays, including Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center (Tony nomination for best score), John Guare’s A Free Man of Color and Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, which was part of the 2006 Shakespeare in the Park season and starred Meryl Streep. Her film scores include Nights in Rodanthe, Every Day and You’re Not You. Her opera, A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (libretto by Tony Kushner) premiered at Glimmerglass Festival in 2011 and her newest opera, The Lion, the Unicorn and Me, had its world premiere run at D.C.’s Washington National Opera in December 2013. She is a lecturer in music at Yale University.

New York City Center’s Encores! Off-Center series has been called “a summer theater highlight” by Charles Isherwood of The New York Times and “my favorite new arts institution” by Linda Winer of Newsday. The series presents Off-Broadway musicals that pushed creative boundaries when they were first produced. Filtered through the lens of today’s artists, these shows are presented not as historical documents but as living, vital works that continue to resonate with audiences. The series also features The Lobby Project, a series of free performances, conversations and readings by groundbreaking artists, poets, authors, and performers that takes place in City Center’s grand tier lobby one hour before the mainstage performance. The Lobby Project events place each musical in the context of its legacy and provide insights into the work the audience is about to experience. (NOTE: see the list of The Wild Party Lobby Project events below.)

New York City Center gratefully acknowledges the Encores! Off-Center Founding Sponsors, Stacey and Eric Mindich and Stacy Bash-Polley; Series Sponsor, American Express; Major Supporters, Nathalie and Pablo Salame; with additional support provided by The Frederick Loewe Foundation; Paula and Ira Resnick; Alec Stais and Elissa Burke; and the Stephanie and Fred Shuman Fund for Encores!

The Lobby Project is sponsored by The Frederick Loewe Foundation.

New York City Center (Arlene Shuler, President & CEO) has played a defining role in the cultural life of the city since 1943. It was Manhattan’s first performing arts center, dedicated by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia with a mission to make the best in music, theater, and dance accessible to all audiences. Today, City Center is home to many distinguished companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, City Center’s Principal Dance Company, as well as Manhattan Theatre Club; a roster of renowned national and international visiting artists; and its own critically acclaimed and popular programs. The Tony-honored Encores! musical theater series has been hailed as “one of the very best reasons to be alive in New York.” In summer 2013, City Center launched Encores! Off-Center, a series that features landmark Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today’s most innovative artists. Dance has been integral to the theater’s mission from the start — and dance programs, including the annual Fall for Dance Festival, remain central to City Center’s identity. Vital partnerships with arts organizations including Jazz at Lincoln Center and London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre enhance City Center’s programmatic offerings. City Center is dedicated to providing educational opportunities to New York City students and teachers through programs such as Encores! In Schools and the Young People’s Dance Series. Special workshops cater to families, seniors, and other groups, while events such as the Fall for Dance DanceTalk series offer learning opportunities to the general public. In October 2011, City Center completed an extensive renovation project to revitalize and modernize its historic theater.

LOBBY PROJECT CALENDAR OF EVENTS
The Wild Party
These pre-show lessons, conversations, and performances will take place in City Center’s beautiful Grand Tier lobby one hour before curtain and are free for that evening’s ticket holders. Each Lobby Project event will be 45 minutes long.

On Decadence
When: Weds July 15 at 6:30pm
Dec·∙a·∙dence (dekədəns): from French décadence, from medieval Latin decadentia; luxurious self- indulgence, related to decay. The experimental performing arts masterminds at theatreMAMA (whose clients include Pippin, Chicago, and Blue Man Group) will create an evening of decadent indulgence— from sinfully rich Myzel’s chocolate to exotic tear-away costumes to a special celebrity guest appearance. Come ready to be surprised, and leave your good manners at the door.

Dance with Sonya Tayeh
When: Thurs July 16 at 6:30pm
“So You Think You Can Dance” staple Sonya Tayeh’s method of teaching is as searingly powerful as her choreography. This Lobby Project event will offer a rare glimpse into Tayeh’s creative process; she’ll discuss how she developed the choreography for The Wild Party and lead audience members through some of the steps. Don’t wear your strappy heels to this one!

1920s Mixtape
When: Fri July 17 at 7pm
Songwriter, performer, and Off-Center alum Lorenzo Wolff will lead a group of top-tier jazz musicians as they take on classic songs ranging from grunge to classical to bubblegum pop and reimagine them through the musical lens of the 1920s.

The Evolution of Social Dance When: Sat July 18 at 1pm
The 1920s and 1930s marked a cataclysmic shift in how Americans socialized through dance. With the growing popularity of jazz music came a style of dance that burst away from the formalized waltzes and foxtrots of the day—and with jazz came social spaces where people of different races and social classes interacted freely. In this dance lecture/lesson, choreographers Torya Beard and Ayodele Casel will use movement to lead audience members through the evolution of the dance form.

Andrew Lippa: Stories and Lost Songs When: Sat July 18 at 7pm
Andrew Lippa—the triple-threat bookwriter, composer, and lyricist of The Wild Party—will appear in conversation with Encores! Off-Center Artistic Director Jeanine Tesori to talk about how he came to write the musical. Lippa will also perform selected material written for The Wild Party that didn’t make it into the final production.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Photos: #EmptyMet Tour with Chief Digital Officer Sree Sreenivasan
China: Through the Looking Glass Exhibition Extended through September 7 at Metropolitan Museum
Photos:Lunch with Tony Winner Lea Salonga and George Takei, Stars of ALLEGIANCE
Award-winning Filmmaker Jennifer Phang’s Sci-Fi film ADVANTAGEOUS starring Jacqueline Kim, Ken Jeong and Samantha Kim, available on Netflix and iTunes
Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ starring Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed at Atlantic Theater Company, extends through July 12
Photos: Garth Kravits, Michael Keyloun, Klea Blackhurst, Eloise Kropp, Maxine Linehan, and Aaron Ramey in GROUNDED FOR LIFE at The York
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Jose Llana and Hoon Lee to play King of Siam in Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s THE KING AND I
Victory Gardens Theater’s IGNITION Festival of New Plays features new works by Two-time Tony nominee André De Shields, Julia Cho, Minita Gandhi, Basil Kreimendahl, José Rivera, Madhuri Shekar and A. Zell Williams, July 16-19
Two-Time Tony nominee André De Shields, Tony Winner Lillias White, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’s Lori Tan Chinn, Stephanie Powers, Georgia Engel & More Will Lead Broadway-Bound Musical GOTTA DANCE in Chicago
July 25-26: #AAIFF2015 Spotlight on Arthur Dong- Screenings of THE KILLING FIELDS OF HAING S. NGOR and FORBIDDEN CITY, U.S.A, plus an on-stage conversation
2015 Asian American International Film Festival Lineup, July 23-Aug. 1
WORLD PREMIERE of THE TOP TEN 72 Hour Shootout films of 2015 at Village Cinema East on July 25
Photos & Video: Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper, Josh Young, Erin Mackey, Harriett D. Foy, Laiona Michelle and Tom Hewitt in AMAZING GRACE
Ebony Jo-Ann Celebrates PLEASE SAVE YOUR LOVE FOR ME CD Release, with a concert at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar on July 15
Behind the Scenes of the Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Shootout with Lia Chang, Garth Kravits, Evan Daves and Alicia Manns in HIDE AND SEEK
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced!
Crafting a Career

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

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

Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun profiled in Drumhead Magazine. Photo by Lia Chang

WILL CALHOUN
INTERVIEW: MOVER
PHOTOS: LIA CHANG & MORE
IF THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY
Drumhead Magazine July/August 2015
“How many drummer have the ability to ‘knock it out of the park’ on their first time stepping up to the plate? I’ll tell you: Very few, and Will Calhoun is one of them.”

Will Calhoun Website

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Sutton Foster,Steven Pasquale, Brandon Victor Dixon, Miriam Shor, Renée Albulario, Raymond J. Lee, Kenita Miller and More in Encores! Off-Center’s THE WILD PARTY, July 15 – 18 at New York City Center
Photos: #EmptyMet Tour with Chief Digital Officer Sree Sreenivasan
China: Through the Looking Glass Exhibition Extended through September 7 at Metropolitan Museum
Photos:Lunch with Tony Winner Lea Salonga and George Takei, Stars of ALLEGIANCE
Award-winning Filmmaker Jennifer Phang’s Sci-Fi film ADVANTAGEOUS starring Jacqueline Kim, Ken Jeong and Samantha Kim, available on Netflix and iTunes
Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ starring Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed at Atlantic Theater Company, extends through July 12
Photos: Garth Kravits, Michael Keyloun, Klea Blackhurst, Eloise Kropp, Maxine Linehan, and Aaron Ramey in GROUNDED FOR LIFE at The York
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Jose Llana and Hoon Lee to play King of Siam in Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s THE KING AND I
Victory Gardens Theater’s IGNITION Festival of New Plays features new works by Two-time Tony nominee André De Shields, Julia Cho, Minita Gandhi, Basil Kreimendahl, José Rivera, Madhuri Shekar and A. Zell Williams, July 16-19
Two-Time Tony nominee André De Shields, Tony Winner Lillias White, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’s Lori Tan Chinn, Stephanie Powers, Georgia Engel & More Will Lead Broadway-Bound Musical GOTTA DANCE in Chicago
July 25-26: #AAIFF2015 Spotlight on Arthur Dong- Screenings of THE KILLING FIELDS OF HAING S. NGOR and FORBIDDEN CITY, U.S.A, plus an on-stage conversation
2015 Asian American International Film Festival Lineup, July 23-Aug. 1
WORLD PREMIERE of THE TOP TEN 72 Hour Shootout films of 2015 at Village Cinema East on July 25
Photos & Video: Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper, Josh Young, Erin Mackey, Harriett D. Foy, Laiona Michelle and Tom Hewitt in AMAZING GRACE
Ebony Jo-Ann Celebrates PLEASE SAVE YOUR LOVE FOR ME CD Release, with a concert at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar on July 15
Behind the Scenes of the Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Shootout with Lia Chang, Garth Kravits, Evan Daves and Alicia Manns in HIDE AND SEEK
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced!
Crafting a Career
Click here  for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Related Articles
The Will Calhoun Trio Celebrates “Life in This World” CD Release at Blue Note, May 17-19, 2013
Living Colour Vivid 25th Anniversary US Tour in New York, Chicago, Toronto, Washington D.C. and More
Living Colour Vivid 25th Anniversary US Tour – Spring 2013
Living Colour NYC Concert Photos
2013 NYC Winter Jazz Fest: Will Calhoun Performs at Zinc Bar on 1/10, The Bitter End on 1/12
Catch Grammy-winning Drummer Will Calhoun in August at The Iridium, Jazzmobile Summerfest 2012, The Blue Note, Hudson Valley Jazz Festival, and Wimbash
New York Winter Jazz Fest: The Will Calhoun Quartet with Donald Harrison at Zinc Bar on January 7, 2012
Will Calhoun Trio to Perform at International Percussion Festival, 10/22-24/11 in Opole, Poland
Will Calhoun Trio in Free Jazzmobile Concert at Morningside Park in New York on August 18
Will Calhoun to Interview Bernie Worrell at ASCAP’s “I Create Music” Expo on April 30 in L.A.
Will Calhoun’s Native Lands Experience featuring Ronnie Laws on sax at Anthology in San Diego on April 1
Will Calhoun Concert Photos at Chelsea Art Museum
Will Calhoun in New York tonight at Chelsea Art Museum and the Highline Ballroom on Friday
Living Colour performs at the Highline Ballroom on 10/30
Multimedia: Oumou Sangare, Will Calhoun at Central Park Summerstage
Oumou Sangare on North American Tour
Charnette Moffett Trio in Dobbs Ferry Music Series
Charnett Moffett Trio The Art of Improvisation CD Release Party at Iridium
Will Calhoun’s Native Lands Experience Live at the Blue Note in NYC
Will Calhoun Tours with Unified Presence and Living Colour in Europe
Francis Mbappe and Will Calhoun Duo at Zinc Bar

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

Edward James Hyland accepts the 2014-2015 Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for Hartford Stage’s Hamlet at the Yale’s Iseman Theater in New Haven on June 22, 2015. Credit: Mara Lavitt Photography

Hartford Stage’s production of the Darko Tresnjak helmed Hamlet was the big winner at the 2014-2015 Connecticut Critics Circle Awards at the Yale’s Iseman Theater in New Haven on June 22, winning in five of the nine categories it was nominated for including Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Actor in a Play (Zach Appelman), Outstanding Director of a Play (Darko Tresnjak), Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Edward James Hyland), and Outstanding Sound Design (Jane Shaw).

Carmen de Lavallade received the Killen Award for outstanding contribution to Connecticut theater at the Yale’s Iseman Theater in New Haven on June 22, 2015. Credit: Mara Lavitt Photography

Special Awards recipients included Carmen de Lavallade, who received the Killen Award for outstanding contribution to Connecticut theater, the Summer Theatre of New Canaan for its DramaRamas program, the Split Knuckle Theatre Company for its production of “Endurance,” and Shawn Boyle, for his work on Yale Repertory’s production of “Elevada.”

Congratulations to all of the winners.

Connecticut Critics Circle Awards: 2014-2015

Outstanding Production of a Play

Hamlet, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Production of a Musical

Holiday Inn, Goodspeed

Outstanding Actress in a Play

Keilly McQuail
Bad Jews, Long Wharf

Outstanding Actor in a Play

Zach Appelman
Hamlet, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Actress in a Musical

Danielle Bowen
All Shook Up, Ivoryton

Outstanding Actor in a Musical

Adam Heller
Fiddler on the Roof, Goodspeed

Outstanding Director of a Play

Darko Tresnjak
Hamlet, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Director of a Musical

Rob Ruggiero
Fiddler on the Roof, Goodpseed

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play

Edward James Hyland
Hamlet, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play

Rebekah Brockman
Arcadia, Yale Rep

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical

Megan Sikora
Kiss Me, Kate, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

Stephen DeRosa
Sing For Your Shakespeare, Westport Country Playhouse

Outstanding Choreographer

Peggy Hickey
Kiss Me, Kate, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Set Design

Alexander Dodge
Private Lives, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Lighting Design

Tyler Micoleau
Elevada, Yale Rep

Outstanding Costume Design

Alejo Vietti
Holiday Inn, Goodspeed

Outstanding Sound Design

Jane Shaw
Hamlet, Hartford Stage

Outstanding Ensemble

Tie
Cast of Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Long Wharf
Penny Balfour
Grayson DeJesus
Tom Riis Farrell
Ronald Guttman
David Margulies
Dina Shihabi
Jake Silberman
Jonathan Spivey
Robbie Tann

Cast of  The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Playhouse on Park
Kevin Barlowski
Hillary Ekwall
Emily Kron
Steven Mooney
Maya Naff
Joel Newsome
Norman Payne
Natalie Sannes
Scott Scaffidi

Outstanding Debut

Carl Lundstedt
Reverberation, Hartford Stage

Special Awards

DramaRamas Program of the Summer Theatre of New Canaan
Shawn Boyle (projection designer) Elevada, Yale Repertory Theatre
Split Knuckle Theatre Company — production of Endurance

Tom Killen Award

Carmen de Lavallade

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Teagle F. Bougere, Jeremy Kushnier, Amanda Leigh Cobb, Edward James Hyland and More set for Pittsburgh Public Theater’s OTHELLO through May 17
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon on view at the National Portrait Gallery in London, July 2 – October 18, 2015
Photos: Anna May Wong as Fashion Muse in “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met
Photos: Inside “China: Through the Looking Glass” at The Met with Wong Kar-Wai, Vivienne Tam, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Wintour and More
Photos and Video: BD Wong at premiere of JURASSIC WORLD at the Dolby Theatre
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
AAFLTV “Focus on the Philippines” Monday nights in June, hosted by Jennifer Betit Yen, Erin Quill and Lia Chang
The King and I wins 4 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, Kelli O’Hara (Best Leading Actress in a Musical), Ruthie Ann Miles (Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design)
The King and I’s Ruthie Ann Miles Wins #TonyAwards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Photos: 2015 Tony Award Winners and Performances
Tony Award winning playwright David Henry Hwang’s Commencement Speech at SUNY Purchase
Dr. Leroy Chiao honored with 2015 Blue Cloud Award at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala
Photos: Dr. Leroy Chiao, The Hon. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., Shirley and Walter Wang Honored at China Institute’s Blue Cloud Gala 
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Photos: Garth Kravits as a Statue of Liberty Street Performer on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie
Photos: Edie Falco, Bryce Pinkham, Stephanie McKay, Lena Hall, Nick Blaemire, Jacob Ming-Trent, Matthew Saldívar at The 52nd Street Project’s Gala FANCY THAT
Original Cast of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE including Jose Llana, Derrick Baskin, Deborah S. Craig, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Dan Fogler, Lisa Howard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg, to Reunite for 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert on July 6
ABC Renews “Fresh Off the Boat” and Picks up Ken Jeong’s “Dr. Ken”
An Intimate Evening with Author Amy Tan at the New-York Historical Society 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced
Crafting a Career

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

Sandra Oh

Victory Gardens Theater has just announced the cast of its 2015 IGNITION Festival of New Plays, including GREY’S ANATOMY star Sandra Oh and Two-time Tony nominee André De Shields.

Also in the company are Anjali Bhimani, Ramon Camin, McKenzie Chinn, Chris Chmelik, Jen Coombs, Tiffany Cox, Shanesia Davis, Amanda Drinkall, Minita Gandhi, Ricardo Gutierrez, Derek Hasenstab, Shane Kenyon, Kimberly Lawson, Eric Lynch, Donica Lynn, Tony Mhoon, Doug Peck, Adam Poss, Marvin Quijada, Robert Reddrick, Alec Silver, Alfred Wilson, Jacqueline Williams, and Mary Williamson.

“While the playwrights are at the forefront of our IGNITION Festival of New Plays, it is with great excitement that we welcome back long-time collaborator and friend Sandra Oh to join some of Chicago’s finest actors on our stage this summer,” notes Victory Gardens Artistic Director Chay Yew.

IGNITION’s seven selected plays will be presented in a festival of readings scheduled for July 16-19, 2015 and will be directed by leading artists from Chicago. Following the readings, two of the plays may be selected for intensive workshops during Victory Gardens’ 2015-16 season, and Victory Gardens may produce one of these final scripts in an upcoming season.

COMPLETE FESTIVAL LINEUP:

André De Shields. Photo by Lia Chang

Confessions of a P.I.M.P.

Written and Performed by André De Shields

Directed by Samuel G. Roberson

Musical Direction by Doug Peck

Featuring Kimberly Lawson, Donica Lynn, Tony Mhoon, Doug Peck, Robert Reddrick

Thursday, July 16, 2015 | 7:30 p.m.

IGNITION Opening Night Party following the performance

From the heat of urban insurrection in Baltimore, Maryland to the incandescent glare of New York’s Great White Way, “Jelly Belly” has many stories to tell. Through song, dance, and spoken word, join Victory Gardens Theater’s Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellow André De Shields in this riveting solo-performance as we follow this adventure from inner city impoverishment to self-actualization.

In a career spanning forty-six years, André De Shields has distinguished himself as an unparalleled actor, director, choreographer and educator.  He is the recipient of three Jeff Awards, one as Director for Victory Gardens’ 1987 production of The Colored Museum, and two as Featured Performer in a Musical for the Goodman Theatre productions of Play On! (1998) and Mary Zimmerman’s The Jungle Book (2013).  In fact André’s professional career began at Chicago’s Shubert Theatre in the 1969 production of Hair.  From there he moved on to The Me Nobody Knows at the Civic Opera House, and ultimately became a member of The Organic Theatre Company, where he created the role of Xander the Unconquerable, Ruler of the Sixth Dimension in the cult sensationWarp. A multiple Tony Award nominee, he is best known for his show-stopping performances in four legendary Broadway musicals: The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Play On! and The Full Monty. His numerous accolades include an Emmy Award for the NBC Special based on Ain’t Misbehavin’, the National Black Theatre Festival’s Living Legend Award, the Village Voice OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance and two Doctor of Fine Arts degrees honoris causa one each from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the State University of New York-College at Buffalo. A triple Capricorn, Mr. De Shields is the ninth of eleven children born and reared in Baltimore, Maryland. www.andredeshields.com.

Queen

by Madhuri Shekar

Directed by Associate Artistic Producer Joanie Schultz

Featuring Anjali Bhimani, Amanda Drinkall, Derek Hasenstab, Adam Poss

Friday, July 17, 2015 | 7:30 p.m.

Artistic Meet and Greet & Ice Cream Social following the performance

Sanam Shah, a mathematician, and Ariel Spiegel, a biologist, are PhD candidates and best friends working together to discover the cause of the urgent crisis where bees are disappearing around the world. Just as they are about to publish a career-defining new paper on the subject, Sanam realizes the numbers don’t add up. Should she look the other way, or should she stand by her principles? What will she lose?

Madhuri Shekar

Madhuri Shekar is a playwright based in Los Angeles. Her plays include IN LOVE AND WARCRAFT (2013/14 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award) and A NICE INDIAN BOY. Her plays have been produced or developed at the Alliance Theatre, East West Players, the Center Theatre Group, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights Horizons, the Kennedy Center, Victory Gardens, Signature Theatre, and the Old Globe. She is a writer and producer of the web series “Titus and Dronicus,” which is set to launch in July 2015. She is a member of Playwrights Union and the Dramatists Guild. MFA: USC.

Slay & Eat

By A. Zell Williams

Directed by Henry Wishcamper

Featuring Jen Coombs, Tiffany Cox, Shanesia Davis, Eric Lynch, Jacqueline Williams, Alfred Wilson

Saturday, July 18, 2015 | 3:00 p.m.

A powerful black politician on Chicago’s South Side struggles to pull her family together amidst her husband’s failing business, her daughter’s drug use, and her brother’s relationship with a white dominatrix. Will she survive a scandal or go down in history as an ex-girlfriend of President Obama?

A. Zell Williams

A. Zell Williams is a Resident Playwright with New Dramatists, a Featured Writer with the Lark Play Development Center, and a writer for NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He has served as a National New Play Network Playwright-in-Residence at Philadelphia’s InterAct Theatre Company, the Tow Foundation’s Emerging Playwright-in-Residence at the Public Theater, as a member of The Civilians’ R&D Group, and Ars Nova’s Play Group. Productions: In A Daughter’s Eyes & Down Past Passyunk (InterAct Theatre, Philadelphia.) Awards: Marin Theatre Company Emerging American Playwright Prize, The Terrence McNally New Play Award, NYU’s Goldberg Playwriting Award, National New Play Network’s Smith Prize. Nominations: The Williamstown Theatre Festival’s L. Arnold Weissberger Award, The Playwright of New York (PoNY) Fellowship. Finalist: Yale Drama Series for Emerging Playwrights and Kitchen Dog Theatre’s New Works Festival. His plays include The Biggest Valley, Carroll Gardens, and The Urban Retreat.

The Last Book of Homer

By José Rivera

Directed by Jonathan Berry

Featuring Ramon Camin, Ricardo Gutierrez, Marvin Quijada

Saturday, July 18, 2015 | 7:30 p.m.

Cocktail Hour & Hang Out following the performance

Numb Nuts is a screenwriter who gets kidnapped by a drug cartel while shooting a movie in Mexico about the Trojan War. Battling their bad knees, beer bellies, cataracts, bad hearing, and bitter divisions of the past, his four brothers – ex-military guys nicknamed God, Buddha, Weasel, and Joseph Smith – come to Mexico for the rescue.

José Rivera

José Rivera is a recipient of two Obie Awards for playwriting for Marisol andReferences to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, which were both produced by The Public Theatre, New York.  His playsCloud Tectonics (Playwrights Horizons),Boleros for the Disenchanted (Yale Rep),Sueño (Manhattan Class Company),Sonnets for an Old Century (The Barrow Group), School of the Americas (Public Theatre), Massacre (Sing to Your Children) (Rattlestick), Brainpeople (ACT, San Francisco), Adoration of the Old Woman (INTAR), and The House of Ramon Iglesia (Ensemble Studio Theatre), have been produced across the country and around the world.  Another Word for Beauty, with music by Hector Buitrago, will premiere in 2016 at the Goodman Theatre in a co-production with the Civilians. In the works are The Last Book of Homer,Scream for the Lost Romantics, and The Gamma Forest.  Rivera’s screenplay “The Motorcycle Diaries” was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in 2005.   His screenplay based on Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and was distributed nationally in the winter of 2013.  His film “Trade” was the first film to premiere at the United Nations. In the works is an untitled HBO pilot, co-written and produced by Tom Hanks, as well as a 10-hour limited series for HBO tentatively known as “Latino Roots.” “Celestina,” based on his play Cloud Tectonics, will mark his debut as a feature film director. He has recently completed his first novel, Love Makes the City Crumble.

Muthaland

Written and Performed by Minita Gandhi

Directed by Heidi Stillman

Sunday, July 19, 2015 | 12:30 p.m.

The life of a young Indian-American woman is forever changed when, on a retreat to her homeland, she unearths family secrets, encounters a prophet, and ultimately discovers her own voice. The Familiar and the Foreign swap roles in this dark comedy about culture, identity, spirituality, and sexuality.

Minita Gandhi

Minita Gandhi was born in Mumbai, India. Raised primarily in San Francisco, she is proud to have called Chicago her artistic home for over 8 years. She is a writer, actor, storyteller, and lover of life. She can be seen in the recurring role of Dr. Prospere on NBC’s Chicago Fire, and has appeared on Fox’s hit show Empire, NBC’s Crisis, ABC’sBetrayal, Fox’s The Chicago Code, and was The Onion News Network’s anchor, Nina Shankar. She is a proud pledge host with PBS for their WTTW Chicago affiliate station. Minita has worked at a number of regional theaters across the country including Berkeley Repertory Theater, The Arena Stage, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and Lookingglass Theater. She been directed by the Tony award winning adaptor and director Mary Zimmermann, and originated the role of Priya, in Silk Road Rising’s World Premiere production of Rajiv Joseph’s,The Lake Effect. She travels with the corporate comedy improv troupe, Wavelength, and is a Master Trainer for Pinnacle Performance training executives in communication all over the world. Minita writes and performs with the storytellers at Second Story based in Chicago. Muthaland is her first full-length play. It was first workshopped at Silk Road Rising where it had four sold-out performances in their Solo Festival in April 2015. Minita is represented by Gray Talent Group.

Office Hour

By Julia Cho

Directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew

Featuring McKenzie Chinn, Shane Kenyon, Sandra Oh, Alec Silver

Sunday, July 19, 2015 | 3:00 p.m.

Gina, an adjunct writing professor, meets with a troubled student whose violent writings have disrupted her class. Other professors worry he’s a ticking time bomb — “a classic shooter.” Gina isn’t so sure. But where is the line drawn between troubled and dangerous?

Julia Cho

Julia Cho’s plays include The Language Archive (Susan Smith Blackburn Award),The Piano Teacher, Durango, The Winchester House, BFE, The Architecture of Loss and 99 Histories. Honors include the NTC’s Barrie Stavis Award, the Claire Tow Award for Emerging Artists, and the Weissberger Award for Playwriting. She has been the recipient of a New York Foundation for The Arts grant and a Van Lier Fellowship from New York Theatre Workshop. She was also a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at The Juilliard School and a resident at New Dramatists. Her play, Aubergine, will premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in February 2016.

Sadie River’s Drag Ball on the Lawn

By Basil Kreimendahl

Directed by Bonnie Metzgar

Featuring Mary Williamson, Chris Chmelik, full cast to be announced

Sunday, July 19, 2015 | 7:30 p.m.

IGNITION Closing Night Celebration following the performance

Sadie River, Mother to The House of River, teaches her unconventional drag family a new performance that she believes will change their lives. Rather than schooling them on gender performance, she attempts to educate her working-poor family in the art of passing as upper-class.

Basil Kreimendahl

Basil Kreimendahl is a resident playwright at New Dramatists New York, a current McKnight Fellow at The Minneapolis Playwright’s Center and was the Provost’s Visiting Writer at the University of Iowa. Basil’s play Sidewinders won the Rella Lossy Playwright’s Award from the San Francisco Foundation. The Cost of a Goat won a National Science Award at The Kennedy Center. Basil was commissioned by Actors Theatre of Louisville for Remix 38 in the 2014 Humana Festival of New Plays. Basil’s plays have also been developed or produced by The O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference, La Jolla, Cutting Ball, New York Theatre Workshop, About Face Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Inkwell, Rattlestick Theater, Wordbirdge, Labrynth Theater, The LARK, and The Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Basil has had a Jerome Fellowship and a Core Apprenticeship from the Minneapolis Playwright’s Center, and an Arts Meets Activism grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Basil’s work has been published by Howlround, Dramatic Publishing and Playscripts, Inc. MFA University of Iowa, 2013.

The IGNITION Festival of New Plays is an annual festival devoted to fostering a community of support for the development of outstanding new plays and nurturing relationships with emerging playwrights. Launched in 2008 with support from the Ford Foundation, IGNITION was designtaylored at that time to be a biennial festival focused on identifying emerging playwrights of color. Over the course of the festival, it has grown to become an annual festival that focuses on identifying exceptional emerging playwrights of any background who speak to contemporary ethnic, social, religious, generational and economic diversity. Since 2008, several plays were first discovered at Ignition and subsequently produced on the mainstage during a Victory Gardens season (…Chad Diety, Year Zero, We Are Proud to Present…, Appropriate, Samsara, Cocked, and Hillary and Clinton.)

All readings will be free and open to the public, and each play’s dramaturg will facilitate a post-show discussion to gauge audience responses to the work with a facilitator.

The IGNITION Festival of New Plays receives major support from The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The William and Orli Staley Foundation, and Southwest Airlines, Victory Gardens’ official travel sponsor.

Performances are at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, in the heart of Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Admission to all festival readings and events is free, though an RSVP is required. For more information or to RSVP, visit www.victorygardens.org/ignition/ or call the Victory Gardens Box Office at 773.871.3000.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Chay Yew and Managing Director Christopher Mannelli, Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. With Victory Gardens’ first new Artistic Director in 34 years, the company remains committed to the development, production and support of new plays that has been the mission of the theater since its founding, continuing the vision set forth by Dennis Zacek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater.

Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens’ core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city’s and nation’s culture through engaging diverse communities, and in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city’s active student population.

Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Zacek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage, and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.

In 2012, Victory Gardens Victory Gardens appointed new Ensemble Playwrights Philip Dawkins,Marcus Gardley, Samuel D. Hunter and Tanya Saracho, for seven-year residencies. The Playwrights Ensemble Alumni includes Claudia Allen, Lonnie Carter, Steve Carter, Gloria Bond Clunie, Dean Corrin, Nilo Cruz, Joel Drake Johnson, John Logan, Nicholas Patricca, Douglas Post, James Sherman, Charles Smith, Jeffrey Sweet and Kristine Thatcher.

For more information about Victory Gardens, www.victorygardens.org. Follow up on Facebook atFacebook.com/victorygardens and Twitter @VictoryGardens.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon and Taxman. She has guest starred on “One Life to Live,” “As the World Turns,” and “New York Undercover.” She is profiled in Jade Magazine.

Other articles by Lia Chang
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang 
World Premiere Musical HAMILTON Transfers to Broadway; Previews begin July 13
Jose Llana and Hoon Lee to play King of Siam in Tony Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s THE KING AND I
Rajiv Joseph’s GUARDS AT THE TAJ starring Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed at Atlantic Theater Company, extends through July 12
Ebony Jo-Ann Celebrates PLEASE SAVE YOUR LOVE FOR ME CD Release, with a concert at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar on July 15
Sutton Foster,Steven Pasquale, Brandon Victor Dixon, Miriam Shor, Renée Albulario, Raymond J. Lee, Kenita Miller and More in Encores! Off-Center’s THE WILD PARTY, July 15 – 18 at New York City Center
Ryun Yu stars as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths at ACT, July 17 – August 16
Photos: #EmptyMet Tour with Chief Digital Officer Sree Sreenivasan
China: Through the Looking Glass Exhibition Extended through September 7 at Metropolitan Museum
Photos:Lunch with Tony Winner Lea Salonga and George Takei, Stars of ALLEGIANCE
Award-winning Filmmaker Jennifer Phang’s Sci-Fi film ADVANTAGEOUS starring Jacqueline Kim, Ken Jeong and Samantha Kim, available on Netflix and iTunes
Photos: Garth Kravits, Michael Keyloun, Klea Blackhurst, Eloise Kropp, Maxine Linehan, and Aaron Ramey in GROUNDED FOR LIFE at The York
July 25-26: #AAIFF2015 Spotlight on Arthur Dong- Screenings of THE KILLING FIELDS OF HAING S. NGOR and FORBIDDEN CITY, U.S.A, plus an on-stage conversation
2015 Asian American International Film Festival Lineup, July 23-Aug. 1
WORLD PREMIERE of THE TOP TEN 72 Hour Shootout films of 2015 at Village Cinema East on July 25
Photos & Video: Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper, Josh Young, Erin Mackey, Harriett D. Foy, Laiona Michelle and Tom Hewitt in AMAZING GRACE
Ebony Jo-Ann Celebrates PLEASE SAVE YOUR LOVE FOR ME CD Release, with a concert at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar on July 15
Behind the Scenes of the Asian American Film Lab’s 72 Hour Shootout with Lia Chang, Garth Kravits, Evan Daves and Alicia Manns in HIDE AND SEEK
Photos: The 11th Annual 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Launch Party at The Korea Society; TWO FACES is this year’s theme 
Photos: Traveling through the mouth of the Dragon with BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA’s James Hong, Peter Kwong, Lia Chang, Gerald Okamura, George Cheung, Al Leong, Jeff Imada, James Lew, Gary Goldman, Eric Lee
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Michael K. Lee, Christopheren Nomura, Greg Watanabe and More Join George Takei, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung in Broadway’s ALLEGIANCE; Full Cast Announced!
Crafting a Career

Other articles about André De Shields:
Victory Gardens Theater’s IGNITION Festival of New Plays features new works by Two-time Tony nominee André De Shields, Julia Cho, Minita Gandhi, Basil Kreimendahl, José Rivera, Madhuri Shekar and A. Zell Williams, July 16-19 http://wp.me/pla1d-dyP
Two-Time Tony nominee André De Shields, Tony Winner Lillias White, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’s Lori Tan Chinn, Stephanie Powers, Georgia Engel & More Will Lead Broadway-Bound Musical GOTTA DANCE in Chicago
Photos: Inside THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE CD Release Concert with André De Shields, Kevin Mambo, Adam Chanler-Berat, Michael Friedman and More
Actor André De Shields on His Self-Made Journey 
Production Photos: André De Shields, Bowman Wright, E. Faye Butler, KenYatta Rogers, Jessica Frances Dukes and Michael Anthony Williams in Arena Stage’s King Hedley II through March 8
tcgcircle.org THE GRAND ILLUSION by ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS in FOX FELLOWSHIPS
wtop.com: André Robin De Shields , Original ‘Wiz’ hits Arena Stage for August Wilson play ‘King Hedley II’
BWW Interviews: One Legend Tackles Another in Arena Stage’s King Hedley II
THE WIZ Turns 40- Photos from Original Broadway Production and BC/EFA Gypsy of The Year Celebration Featuring André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Christina Sajous, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White and More
Photos: André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ken Page, Charl Brown, Carly Hughes, Alton Fitzgerald White, Lillias White in 40th Anniversary of The WIZ Tribute at BC/EFA’s GYPSY OF THE YEAR; Competition Breaks Records With Over $5 Million as Hugh Jackman’s THE RIVER Brings in Top Donation
The Fortress of Solitude, starring Adam Chanler-Berat, André De Shields, Kyle Beltran, Kevin Mambo, Rebecca Naomi Jones ends extended run 11/16; Ghostlight to Record Cast Album 
Nov. 17: Chapman Roberts, Loretta Abbott, André De Shields, David Greer, Norm Lewis, Cherine Anderson, Lawrence Evans, Colby Christina & Nicholas A. Jenkins to Receive Special AUDELCO Awards
Photos: André De Shields, Adam Chanler-Berat, Jose Llana, Kevin Mambo, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Kyle Beltran, Kim Brockington and More at The Fortress of Solitude 
Two-time Tony Nominee and Emmy Winner André De Shields Performs FREDERICK DOUGLASS: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory and Speaks on The Wisdome of The Ancient Art of Storytelling at AFP 2014: Change Through Stories, Sept. 8-9, 2014
Photos & Video: The Wiz’s André De Shields Sang “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard” in The Black Stars of The Great White Way Broadway Reunion: Live The Dream at Carnegie Hall
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
Click here for more articles on André De Shields.

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