Meiyin Wang, Former Co-Director of The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival and Director of La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls Festival, Will Collaborate with Artistic Director Bill Rauch on Artistic Programming
NIGHT RENDER FROM SOUTHEAST (HUB)
(New York, NY—May 27, 2020)—The Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center today announced the appointment of Meiyin Wang as Producing Director, starting this June. Under the executive leadership of Artistic Director Bill Rauch and President Leslie Koch, Wang will manage all artistic programming for the new performing arts organization.
Wang served as the Co-Director of the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival (UTR), which has presented over 200 companies from 37 countries and is a catalyst in discovering the most cutting-edge new performance in the United States and around the world.
For the festival, she collaborated with New York institutions, including Japan Society, Harlem Stage, La MaMa, New York Live Arts, Performance Space 122, The Kitchen, and presented work by Belarus Free Theatre, Tanya Tagaq, Reggie Watts, Amir Koohestani, Toshiki Okada, Guillermo Calderon, Taylor Mac, Elevator Repair Service and more.
She was also Director of La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls Festival (WOW), one of the largest festivals in the United States that specializes in large scale out-door installations, experiential, and site specific theater performance. For the festival, Wang commissioned work from MacArthur “Genius” Fellows Mimi Lien and Basil Twist.
“Meiyin has a long and impressive track record of working with cutting edge artists across multiple cultures and artistic disciplines,” said Artistic Director Bill Rauch. “At The Perelman, we aspire to produce and present work that pushes the boundaries of form and celebrates storytelling to create access for a broad range of audiences. I look forward to working closely with Meiyin to build exciting and compelling thematic programming that will do just that.”
“I also want to acknowledge the extraordinary contributions of Jenny Gersten, who has been The Perelman’s Consulting Producer for the past five years,” added Rauch. “As Meiyin transitions into this new full-time position, we are forever indebted to Jenny for her visionary work in laying the artistic foundations of The Perelman.”
In her new role, Wang will be responsible for commissioning, developing, and producing original theater, dance, music, and chamber opera projects, as well as curating presented work, while engaging and building relationships with The Perelman’s audiences. She will also work with Rauch to continue building the team of Perelman artistic advisors that currently includes such artistic luminaries as director Ivo van Hove, composer Nico Muhly, choreographer Sonya Tayeh, and playwright Lynn Nottage. The full list of The Perelman’s artistic advisors is available here.
“I am thrilled to join Bill, Leslie, and the rest of the team to be part of building the future of The Perelman and supporting boundary-defying artists whose work speaks to our present moment,” said Meiyin Wang.
“I am humbled and inspired by The Perelman’s founding impulse—and at this unprecedented time where the power of gathering, witnessing, communing, and collective imagining has never been more vital, I cannot think of a better place to be. New York shaped who I am: it is where I spent the first fifteen years of my career and where I built my deepest relationships. I’m excited to come home.”
Born and raised in Singapore, Meiyin Wang has been recognized internationally for her producing work, and was a recipient of the Josephine Abady Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women.
She has produced and toured cross-disciplinary, contemporary performances across four continents at numerous venues, including the Holland Festival, The Arts Center NYU Abu Dhabi, and Singapore International Festival of the Arts. Collaborations include Tina Satter/ Half Straddle (Is This A Room); Toshi Reagon (Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower); and Pig Iron Theatre Company.
In addition to her positions at La Jolla Playhouse and The Public Theater, Wang was also curator of the Park Avenue Armory’s Artist In Residence series and served on the board of Theatre Communications Group (TCG) from 2014-2016.
Wang comes to The Perelman from the Bay Area where she was based as an independent producer from 2016-2020, and recently completed a three-year residency at the University of Washington as an Andrew W. Mellon Creative Fellow, investigating the relationship between emerging technologies and performance.
Currently under construction, The Perelman’s flexible midsize performance spaces, will have a unique design, with movable interior walls that can be reconfigured into dozens of different stage environments, to accommodate creative vision and collaboration across artistic disciplines.
The building was designed by REX, its performance spaces were created by theater consultant Charcoalblue in collaboration with REX, and the project’s Executive Architect is Davis Brody Bond. Once complete, The Perelman will be an iconic 138-ft-tall cube with a glowing marble facade located adjacent to the 9-11 Memorial north reflecting pool.
Conceived as the cultural keystone in Daniel Libeskind’s 2003 master plan for the rebuilt 16-acre World Trade Center site, The Perelman will be a state-of-the-art venue and global hub for creation, celebration and rebirth.
For additional information about The Perelman, visit theperelman.org. ###
Reply