Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia, PA)
Kristina Wong
Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia
Friday & Saturday, March 23 & 24, 2007

8 p.m.
$20 admission, $10 for members

Incisive writer and performer Kristina Wong mixes sharp humor and psychology in Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a semi-autobiographical, serio-comic portrayal of anxiety, depression and incidence of mental illness among Asian American women. The show asks the evolutionary questions: Which came first? The chicken or the egg? The suicides of Asian American women or the maddening world? Wong's irreverent and provocative work has given her a national cult following for "politically charged art with unapologetic humor." Knitters—cuckoo and not—are invited to knit in the audience during the shows.

Wong Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is a National Performance Network Creation Fund Project commissioned by Asian Arts Initiative and La Peña Cultural Center. Funding for Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Ford Foundation, and La Peña’s New Works Fund supported by The James Irvine Foundation. Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is also a Project of Creative Capital.

School Matinee Performance
Thursday, March 22
11 a.m.
Call the Painted Bride for reservations: 215-925-9914
*****

Kristina Wong, Finding Your Language Workshop
March 24, 2007, 10-1 p.m.
Cost: $30, ($15 for Bride and AAI members)
Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia

Finding Your Language: Playing with Different Performance Tongues

You don’t have to be the best actor, singer, or dancer to tell an amazing story. Finding the honest place and dabbling between different disciplines might be where you find your strongest voice. Sometimes your award-worthy performance may work best offstage for an unsuspecting audience. This workshop is focused on process rather than product. We start with some warm-ups, movement and theater games-- the rest is playing!

Be dressed to move! In a non-judgmental space, participants will play with movement, text, visuals and working in site-specific contexts to forge a new performance language all their own.

For more info visit www.paintedbride.org.

A-Squared Theater Workshop (Chicago, IL)
Mothers and Tigers: True Stories of Korean Women
by Will Kern
March 25, 2007

will take place on sunday, 3/25 @7:00 PM at "the galaxie": http://www.galaxiechicago.com/
$2 donation that will go towards the galaxie.

Pacific Resident Theatre Company Reading Series Presents
Anthony Trollope’s
Rachel Ray
Adapted by Henry Ong
Directed by Brendon Fox
March 26, 2007

With original music
composed by cellist Longo Chu

Ensemble: Rachel Avery, Tom Beyer, Sarah Brooke, Andi Carnick, Channing Chase, Rebecca Crandell, Tania Getty, Jaxon Duff Gwillim, Amy Huntington, Dennis Madden, Mary Van Arsdale
Guest Artist: Blythe Niles

Monday, MARCH 26 at 7 pm
Pacific Resident Theatre
703 Venice Blvd in Venice

$10 Donation requested at door
Light refreshments will be served
RESERVATIONS: (310) 822-8392

Set in the idyllic English countryside of Devonshire, Rachel Ray tells the story of the eponymous heroine pursued by the dashing, ambitious and persistent Luke Rowan who is at the same time battling to gain control of the local brewery. Populated by a host of unforgettable Trollopian characters, Rachel Ray could be the liveliest and most compact of dramas from the pen of that greatest of Victorian storytellers, Anthony Trollope.

Adaptated by playwright Henry Ong, this may be the very first attempt at bringing the 19th century novel to the stage. Henry Ong is an internationally produced playwright whose works defy easy classification. Among his plays are: Madame Mao's Memories, a one person play about the life of the infamous widow of China's Mao Zedong; People Like Me, based on actual stories of gay and lesbian teenagers in Los Angeles; Sweet Karma, a docudrama about the life of the Oscar-winning actor of "The Killing Fields," Haing Ngor; and The Old Lady Who Popped Out of the Sidewalk and Became a Christmas Tree, a tale of greed and redemption.

Diverse Theatre Co. (NYC, NY)
3 by Tennessee
three plays by Tennessee Williams
March 26 to 28, 2007

Diverse City Theater Company ("DCT") announces The Tuesday Ensemble, the company's resident actors' lab, in an evening of one-acts celebrating Tennessee Williams's 91st birthday beginning the week of March 26, 2007 at Ensemble Studio Theatre ("EST"), 549 West 52nd Street, 6th Floor, New York City.

Produced by Linda Faigao-Hall, DCT's Associate Artistic Director and EST Playwright Member, the evening will present three of Williams's one-act plays:

• THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED, directed by JV Mercanti. About a young waif wandering the railroad tracks.
• 27 WAGONS FULL OF COTTON, directed by JV Mercanti. About Jake, a shady businessman, who burns down the mill of Silva Vaccaro, his rival in the cotton business. Vaccaro seeks revenge by seducing Jake's young, frail, delicate wife, Flora.
• I CAN'T IMAGINE TOMORROW, directed by Gregory Simmons, involves a man and a woman confronting their demons in a relationship that is both warm and desperate.

The Tuesday Ensemble is DCT's acting lab in which resident actors initiate and produce work. 3 by Tennessee" features Michael Busillo*, Katya Campbell*, Randy Falcon, Sal Inzerillo*, Victor Lirio*, Larisa Polonsky and Tovah Rose.

Tennessee Williams, born on March 26, 1911, was one of the leading American dramatists of the 20th century famous for his works such as "The Glass Menagerie," "A Streetcar Named Desire," and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." In "3 by Tennessee," the Tuesday Ensemble explores Williams's one-acts written circa 1940s and early 1970.

"3 by Tennessee" will run for 5 performances only: March 28th — March 31st at 8PM, March 31st at 2PM. To RSVP, call 212-916-0727 or email rsvp@diversecitytheater.org. Tickets $15.

* Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association

Rasik Arts (Toronto, Canada)
Begum Sumroo
by Partap Sharma
March 27, 2007

This month's Roundtable will be on Tuesday, March 27, at 7pm in the back room of the 5th (1033 Bay St., on the East side of Bay, 4 streets South of Bloor). We will read Begum Sumroo by Partap Sharma. Yes, the same author as last month, but about an entirely different milieu and time period . . .

Begum Sumroo is set in the late eighteenth century during the power struggles that marked the decline of the Mogul empire. The play first focuses on a military brigade led by a Swiss German mercenary, Colonel Sombre, who came to be known as Sumroo‚ through a mispronunciation of his name. His brigade was one of the best trained, made up of 273 deserters from the British and other European armies, along with 2,700 Indian soldiers. The play's title character is a dancing girl who took over the brigade from her lover, Sombre, and made it the most efficient in India, never losing a battle. She rescued an Emperor, was wooed by the English and French, had lovers of many nationalities and, eventually, had even the Pope as one of her admirers. She built churches and palaces that are still in India today. Forgotten by historians, Begum Sumroo was an amazing Indian woman who was ahead of her and our time, and is the subject of one of Sharma's most popular plays.

PARTAP SHARMA of India is a playwright, novelist and author of four books for children. His books have been published in India, England, USA, France, Denmark, Holland and Canada. As an actor, he has played the lead in five Hindi feature films and won the National Award in 1971 for his performance in Phir Bhi. He has directed a number of documentary films, and his voice is well-known to cinema, TV and radio audiences. His play Sammy was just recently produced in England.

Humana Festival (Louisville, KY)
Strike-Slip
by Naomi Iizuki
March 8 to 31, 2007

In the urban sprawl of Los Angeles, three diverse families each carry a dream, but a recent shooting creates an unexpected seismic shift that rocks each family's foundation. Faults that were once inactive or dormant suddenly appear and abruptly change the way they think about themselves, their community and their dream.

Bindlestiff Studios (Bay Area, CA)
The Fountain of Youth is a 16 ounce Jar of Vaseline
2007 Women's Show
March 17 to 28, 2007

Bindlestiff Studio celebrates International Women's History Month with a brand new show, The Fountain of Youth is a 16 ounce Jar of Vaseline.

March 15-17, 22-24, 28 (at SF Public Library, Main Branch, 6 pm), 29-31 $10-$15 sliding scale. Tickets also available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/10567

In solidarity with women around the world, The Fountain of Youth is a 16 Ounce Jar of Vaseline pokes fun at the value of youth, monogamy, and hormonal imbalances. Getting older and wiser, this year's women‚s show also takes on women's friendships, penis envy, and abusive relationshops. Filled with music, vignettes and wacky dance moves, Bindlestiff's The Fountain of Youth is a 16 Ounce Jar of Vaseline, will make even cranky women happy, busy women relaxed, bored women entertained and younger and older women relieved.

Performances by Aureen Almario, Andrea Almario, Kat Evasco, Maggie Suarez, Nicole Villanueva, Jamie Nallas, Ann Borja, Tonilyn Sideco, and Ava Tong. Stories written by Lorna Velasco, Samantha Chanse, Rhoda Gravador, Maggie Suarez, Kat Evasco, Aureen Almario and Gayle Romasanta.

Jukebox Stories
written and performed by
Prince Gomolvilas and Brandon Patton

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007
THE TANK @ COLLECTIVE: UNCONSCIOUS (New York)
8:00PM
279 Church Street
New York NY 10013
USA
212.563.6269
Price: TBA