TEA-Theatre Esprit Asia, based in Aurora Colorado, is proud to announce that its original production of Coming to America, written and performed by Maria Cheng and Peter Trinh, and directed by Maria Cheng, has won the honor of performing at and opening the AACTFest 2017, the American Association of Community Theatre’s National Festival 2017, to be held in the Mayo Civic Center Theatre in Rochester, MN, June 26-July 1, 2017.
Premiered in November 2016 at TEA’s Aurora Cultural Arts District Gallery Theatre, Trinh recounts in Boat Person his parents’ harrowing escape from the fall of Saigon and weathering the perils of the high seas, while Cheng in Antecedents tells of her family’s survival of Japanese atrocities in WWII and, upon immigration to America, coping with some of the skewed values of the American Dream.
The journey to the National Festival began in June 2016 when Coming to America won top honors at the 2016 Colorado Theatre Festival. It was awarded with Peoples’ Choice, Best Production, Best Actress Maria Cheng, Best Lighting Brian Miller and Excellence in Set Design Maria Cheng. It was then selected to represent Region VII [Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming] at the National Festival. This is TEA’s debut at the National AACTFest and it is
the first ethnic theatre to be so honored in the Festival’s 49 year history!
Reply