WASHINGTON, DC -- An Asian-American actor as the lead for every production? Why not? The newly formed theatre company Tsunami Theatre is creating opportunities for Asian-Americans by producing plays in which Asian-American actors are the principal characters. Tsunami Theatre is currently producing the one-act plays The Sound of a Voice, directed by Flordelino Lagundino, and The House of Sleeping Beauties, directed by Lisa Harger, by the Tony Award-Winning Asian- American playwright David Henry Hwang on March 5-20 at the District of Columbia Arts Center, 2438 18th Street N.W., Washington, DC.

"Tsunami Theatre is striving to fill a void in the Washington, DC theatre community," says Flordelino Lagundino, Tsunami Theatre's artistic director. According to Lagundino and partner, Joan Rebecca Taylor, Tsunami's mission is to produce works for and by Asian-Americans, to promote the development of Asian-American theatre artists, and to promote a greater understanding and awareness of the Asian-American experience within the Washington community at large.

In keeping with this mission, Tsunami's March 1999 production features the work of the prominent Asian-American playwright David Henry Hwang and employs three Asian-American actors.

Hwang says he wrote these plays after completing a trilogy about his Chinese-American roots (FOB, The Dance and the Railroad, and Family Devotions). Hwang wanted to explore different areas while still working within the Asian community. So, reflecting his strong attraction to Japanese literature and film, he wrote The Sound of a Voice and The House of Sleeping Beauties.

Hwang modeled The Sound of a Voice on movies of Japanese ghost stories. It is a tragic love story about male-female relationships and how the loneliness in individuals may be more comforting than reaching out to another person. The House of Sleeping Beauties is based on the novella of the same name by Yasunari Kawabata. Hwang places the Nobel-prize winning author in this fantasy of how the novella may have been inspired. Kawabata visits a brothel where the madame helps him confront his fears of growing old, death, and being alone.

Lagundino is a professional actor who has performed at several local theatres, including The National Theatre, Source Theatre Company, African Continuum Theatre Company, Interact Theatre Company at the Folger Shakespeare Library's Elizabethan Theatre, Washington Shakespeare Company, and Bethesda Academy of Performing Arts. He has also worked at Source Theatre Company as the Assistant to the Director for A Cheever Evening under Joe Banno.

Lisa Harger has worked as a director and dramaturg for several theatres in the Washington, D.C. area. Her directing credits include Josie & Marilyn and How to be an Insomniac Without Really Trying for the Source Theatre Festival. She has also worked as the assistant director for SCENA Theatre's productions of Women of Troy and Jungle of the Cities. Harger is currently the literary manager for MetroStage.

THE SOUND OF A VOICE, THE HOUSE OF SLEEPING BEAUTIES
INFORMATION


The Sound of a Voice, and The House of Sleeping Beauties
by David Henry Hwang

Where: District of Columbia Arts Center

Directors: Flordelino Lagundino - The Sound of a Voice, Lisa Harger - The
House of Sleeping Beauties

Dates and times: March 5, 6 10 pm
7 3 pm and 7:30 pm
12 10 pm
14 3 pm and 7:30 pm
19, 20 10 pm

Press: March 14, 7:30 pm
Ticket Prices: March 5, 6 Pay What You Can
March 7 (3 pm) 2 Tickets for the price of 1
March 7-20 $12.00

Discounts: $4.00 full-time student, senior citizen (62+), military, and
government discounts (Must present ID).

Groups: Discount rates available for parties of 5 or more.

DCAC Location: 2438 18th St., NW, Washington, DC (Adams Morgan)

Information: Tickets: 202-462-7833. Administration: 703-660-9247. Email:
tsunamitheatre@yahoo.com