Photo Flash: Mayor David Dinkins Visits Pan Asian Rep's CHING CHONG CHINAMAN

Tisa Chang, Artistic Producing Director of Pan Asian Repertory Theatre continues its 33rd season with CHING CHONG CHINAMAN, a satirical new comedy by Lauren Yee directed by May Adrales. The limited engagement runs April 11, 2010 at the West End Theatre. Recently, Mayor David Dinkins and his wife Joyce took in a production, and visited the cast backstage.

CHING CHONG CHINAMAN tells the story of the Wong family. The Wongs are as Chinese-American as apple pie, but once their teenage son imports "Ching Chong," a stranger from China, their lives will never be the same.

The cast of six includes veteran film and television actress Fay Ann Lee (the new film Falling For Grace, Private Lives at Pan Asian Rep), James Chen (Postcards From Earth at The Guthrie), Jennifer Lim (Cinderella at Yale Rep), Angela Lin (Top Girls, Coram Boy), Ron Nakahara (Song For A Nisei Fisherman at Pan Asian Rep), and Jon Norman Schneider (Durango at The Public Theatre). The scenic design is by Gian Marco Lo Forte; costumes by Kate Mincer; lighting design by Ji-Youn Chang; and sound by Robert Murphy.

"CHING CHONG CHINAMAN takes its controversial title from the late 19th century pejorative jingle and uses satire as a means to reverse prejudicial attitudes towards Asian Americans and other outsiders," says Pan Asian Rep's Producing Artistic director, Tisa Chang. "This is a funny and surprising new perspective from a young writer tackling issues of ignorance and that stereotypic assumptions are not relegated to any one race and can be evidenced within our own."

Founded in 1977, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre is the East Coast's largest producer of Asian American theatre. For 33 years, Pan Asian Rep has celebrated the artistic expressiveness of Asian and American theatre artists under the highest standards of professional excellence creating Asian classics and Newworks. Under the direction of Tisa Chang, the company's renown Masterpieces from China, Japan, India, Korea, Cambodia, Tibet, and Asian America, bring under-represented themes to American audiences while deepening their understanding of Asian American cultural heritage.

Pan Asian Rep's CHING CHONG CHINAMAN runs at the West End Theatre (263 W. 86th Street between Broadway & West End Avenue in the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew, 2nd floor) March 19 - April 11. For tickets, which are $45 with discounts available for seniors and students, call OvationTix at 212-352-3101 or visit www.PanAsianRep.org.