Stir-Friday Night! (Chicago, IL)
Takeout to the Ballgame
The Best of Stir-Friday Night!
August 13 to September 19, 2004
at the Studio Theatre in the Chicago Cultural Center located at 77 E. Randolph Street.
Running from August 13th to September 19th every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Takeout to the Ballgame is a sketch comedy show comprised of short scenes and musical numbers designed to be both thought provoking and entertaining. Shows will start at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays. There will not be a show on September 12th.
Tickets are $15 for individuals and $12 for students and seniors. Group rates are available for groups of 10 or more for $10 per person. Reservations can be made by calling (847) 663-9257 or at www.ticketweb.com.
Takeout to the Ballgame is directed by Ranjit Souri. The cast includes Melissa Canciller, Andy Lee, Denice Lee, Jennifer Liu, Foo Nguyen, Harrison Pak, Danny Pudi, Sonal Shah, and Aimee Shyn. The technical director is Michael Stevenson. Stir-Friday Night! was co-founded by Quincy Wong and Keith Uchima.
For more info, please go to www.stirfridaynight.org.
The Theatre at Boston Court (Pasadena, CA)
A Winter People
Written and Directed by Chay Yew
August 14 to September 19, 2004
An adaption of Chekhov's Cherry Orchard
Scenic Design by Yevgenia Nayberg
Costume Design by Dori Quan
Lighting Design by Jose Lopez
Sound Design by John Zalewski
Original Music Composition by Nathan Wang
Featuring
Melody Butiu, Teddy Chen Culver, Dennis Dun, Emily Kuroda, Lydia Look, Ken Narasaki, Elizabeth Pan, Jeanne Sakata, Greg Watanabe and Ryun Yu
Previews August 5-13
Previews $15
Regular Performances $30
Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm
The Theatre at Boston Court
70 North Mentor Avenue at Boston Court in Pasadena
(one block east of N. Lake Ave and one block north of E. Colorado Blvd)
Chay Yew’s A Winter People features an Asian cast and is directed by the author, an internationally renowned playwright at the forefront of American Theatre. A Winter People, the third play in The Theatre@Boston Court’s 2004 season, begins previews Aug. 5 and opens Aug. 14 in the state-of-the-art, 99-seat main stage.
A Winter People, a new adaptation of The Cherry Orchard, is sexy, lyrical, and longing, and cleverly folds in pieces of Anton Chekhov's other masterworks to tell this ever-timely story. A middle-aged chanteuse, Madam Xia, returns from San Francisco in the spring of 1935 to her family estate in the heartland of China during the last days of the Nationalist Government. A portrait of the challenges of a family in transition, A Winter People is a poetic, haunting play.
The cast includes: Emily Kuroda, a regular on the WB’s The Gilmore Girls and frequently seen in Yew’s plays, including the recently staged M Butterfly at East West Players; Melody Butiu, who was recently nominated for her role in The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at South Coast Rep; Teddy Chen Culver and Dennis Dun, both acclaimed in East West’s Masha No Home; Lydia Look, who won acclaim for her role in Yew’s Red; Ken Narasaki, who starred in a German TV show and appears in the upcoming feature, Only the Brave; Elizabeth Pan, who toured the country for the past year in her one-woman show, Faces of America; Jeanne Sakata, recently on stage in The Theatre@ Boston Court’s Summertime; Greg Watanabe, a regular cast member of UPN’s Off Limits; and Ryan Yu, who will appear in the fall production of Take Me Out at the Geffen Playhouse.
The play is produced by Eileen T’Kaye, producing director for The Theatre@Boston Court, and Michael Seel, managing director. Paula Mitchell Manning is associate producer. Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti are the co-artistic directors.
A Winter People, which was given a critically acclaimed Singapore premiere in 2002 under the title of “The Morning People,” has since been retitled and reworked for this American premiere. A Winter Peoplehas been lauded by the European Cultural Review as “an exquisite example of how the classics can be radically adapted and yet sound as if written by the original author, Chekhov.” This year marks the 100th anniversary of The Cherry Orchard and Chekhov’s death.
A Winter People runs for six weeks of performances, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. through September 19. Tickets are available for $30 ($25 senior and student) and can be purchased online at http://www.bostoncourt.com or by calling (626) 683-6883.
"Superbly written... The text of A Winter People is an exquisite example of how the classics can be radically adapted and yet sound as if written by the original author, when the bottom-line approach of the adapter is not deconstruction but reverence (coupled, of course with first-rate talent). The credit here goes to LA-based Chay Yew who has managed to step into the shoes of Chekhov while taking his Cherry Orchard as a basis, intertwining in it texts, plots, characters or just nuances from Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, and The Seagull, and finally coming up with a very Chekhovian story which takes place circa 1934 in Qing Dynasty Manchuria, just before communism steps onto the stage."
- Kalina Stefanova, European Cultural Review
"Playwright Chay Yew follows the events and characters of Chekhov’s script closely, but he consistently makes such adjustments as needed to suit the tale to northern China and the Thirties. Chay adeptly grafts verbatim a number of Chekhov’s saddest or funniest lines (in some cases, these are one and the same), while his own text is a potent brew - by turns poetic, stark, robust, straight-forward, and veiled, fleshing out the themes from Chekhov or the pre-revolutionary Chinese setting."
Kumu Kahua Theatre (Hawaii)
Dare Devils Blues
by Eric Yokomori
September 8, 15, 2004
See News story.
SF Fringe Festival (San Francisco, CA)
OPM
Asian for Dummies
September 8 to 19, 2004
Asian for Dummies at SF Fringe Festival
Catch OPM Comedy in their new show, Asian for Dummies at the SF Fringe Festival.
EXIT Theatre
156 Eddy St.
between Mason and Taylor in Downtown San Francisco.
Performances are:
Wednesday 9/8 7:00 PM
Saturday 9/11 10:00 PM
Sunday 9/12 4:00 PM
Friday 9/17 7:00 PM
Saturday 9/18 5:30 PM
Sunday 9/19 1:00 PM
Single File Chicago Festival (Chicago, IL)
Free?
by Kristina Sheryl Wong
September 18 and 19, 2004
Free? in Chicago...
Where: Single File Chicago Festival, Athenauem Studio #3 2936 N. Southport Avenue Chicago, IL 60657
When:
Saturday, September 18
9:30 pm
Cristina Frias From CHICAN-INKA: From East LA to Machu Picchu
Kristina Wong Free?
Sunday, September 19
7:30 pm
Andre Washington
Kristina Wong Free?
Ticket information: TicketMaster: 312/902-1500 or www.ticketmaster.com after September 4, OR at the theatre box office day of show. ALL TICKETS $15.00
Festival website: http://www.singlefilechicago.com
Show Description: "Brutal but hilarious...a woman who takes life's absurdities very seriously."-- East Bay Express...
Renegade solo artist, Kristina Wong subverts your typical notions of pretentious performance art with a dash of arty, farty and downright smartass-- giving a fresh perspective on identity politics, culture, war, memory, family and guilt in Free?
SALAAM (NYC, NY)
The Mating Game Show
by Manjula Padmanabhan
September 20, 2004
Six contestants, three women, three men, prepare to face the final round of a TV game-show designed to help themselves win a mate and a dowry - if they're lucky. If they're unlucky, they face forfeits including torture and death, live in front of an audience of millions. The subtext of the play is the practice known euphemistically in the Indian press as "Dowry Death" in which young brides who have brought insufficient dowries are murdered by their husbands and in-laws, frequently by being burned alive, so that the man can marry again and gain a fresh dowry.
Lark Theatre (NYC, NY)
Merchant on Venice
By Shishir Kurup
September 17 to 28, 2004
With
Amir Arison*, Purva Bedi*, Vedant Gokhale, Sanjiv Jahveri*, Tony Javed, Rizwan Manji, Alfredo Narciso*, Sunita Param*, Ami Shukla*, Bernard White*, Sam Younis*
Stage Manager - Marci Skolnick*
Assistant Director- Gita Reddy
In this witty, sharp and ambitious work a young Hindu actor looking for stardom inadvertently ignites a battle between Hindus and Muslims in Culver City, CA. Using music, verse and present-day South-Asian/American pop-lingo, MERCHANT ON VENICE is an explosive take on Shakespeare's MERCHANT OF VENICE.
Kumu Kahua Theatre (Hawaii)
Woyzeck
by Georg Buchner
September 20, 26, 27, 2004
See News story
Asian Improv aRts
Eth-Noh-Tec (San Francisco, CA)
In Need of Goddesses
a new play by Nancy Wang
with music by Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo
Magic Theatre
September 24, 25 and 26, 2004.
The Magic Theatre is located in Bldg. D, Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. The shows will be at 8p on Friday-Saturday September 24-25 and 2p on Sunday, September 26. In Need of Goddesses is “an empowering alchemy of ancient mythology… and a contemporary heroine’s journey for gender balance and global peace.” In so doing it merges a deep appreciation of our ancient past as Asian Americans with an urgent and compassionate vision for today’s world.
Four women on a peace pilgrimage find themselves traumatized by a belligerent Hut Master at the top of mountain hut. They call upon the spirit of Amaterasu as they attempt to engage their inner power while battling the misogynistic Hut Master and their own self-doubt. Nancy Wang's new play In Need of Goddesses, is based on an actual event that took place atop Mt. Fuji, woven with the Japanese myth of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess and her battle with Susano-Wo, the Storm God.
Goddesses is an empowering alchemy of ancient mythology and a contemporary heroine's journey for gender balance and global peace, this work poses questions for all of us about our personal role in the direction of humanity.
In Need of Goddesses Premiere!
Purchase tickets at: http://www.manja.org at the Magic Theater, Fort Mason Theater, San Francisco Fri Sept 24, 2004 8pm followed by Community Dialogue w/ Guests Panelists: Howard Pinderhughes (sociologist), Raquel Pinderhughes (urban studies), Art Chen (community health advocate) and Jean Ishibashi (ethnic studies) Fri Sept 25, 2004 8pm followed by Community Dialogue w/ Guests Panelists: Jean Shinoda Bolen (author, Goddesses in Everywoman), Rhodessa Jones (performance artist), Janice Mirikitani (poet/activist), Donna Ozawa (artist), Shannyn Solitt (Santa Fe-based peace activist), and Dorothy Wong (Seattle-based community organizer) Fri Sept 26, 2004 2pm followed by Post performance peace ceremony and interactive art with Eth-Noh-Tec and Community Partners including Asian Women's Shelter, API Legal Outreach, JCCCNC, Konko Church of SF, NJAHS, Silkworm Peace Institute, United Religions Initiative and others. to purchase Group (8 or more) or Community Partner Rates please call: Julie Hatta 415-370-1477.
PLAYWRIGHTS' ARENA (LA, CA)
presents a rehearsed reading of
the Pacific Rim Award winning new play
Orpheus Afloat
written by Rodney Hom
directed by Bryan Jackson
September 27, 2004
The relationship of two young men is tested when they open a mystical box of love letters from a neighbor previously unknown to them.
Monday, September 27, 2004
7:30 p.m.
@ Moving Arts Theatre (Hyperion space)
1822 Hyperion Ave., Silverlake
All welcome. Admission free.
PLAYWRIGHTS' ARENA
[original works for adventurous minds]
514 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013
www.playwrightsarena.org
