Changchien, Kim, Lee Cast In YEAR ZERO At Second Stage Theatre 5/18-6/13

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) kicks off this summer's Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series with the New York premiere of Year Zero, written by Michael Golamco (Cowboy versus Samurai). Directed by Will Frears, Year Zero will feature Louis Ozawa Changchien, Peter Kim, Mason Lee and Maureen Sebastian. Previews begin on May 18 and opening night is Wednesday, May 26 at 7:00pm.

Year Zero is presented at Second Stage Theatre's uptown home, the McGinn/Cazale Theatre On Broadway at 76th Street. Ticket are $50 and can be purchased by calling the Second Stage Theatre Box Office at 212-246-4422 or online at www.2ST.com.

Vuthy Vichea (Mason Lee) is a 16-year-old Cambodian American who wears thick glasses, loves hip hop, and plays Dungeons and Dragons. After his mother's death, Vuthy and his sister Ra (Maureen Sebastian) struggle to reinvent themselves in Long Beach, California where being different can be deadly. Year Zero is a moving comedic drama about a young generation paving a new future by remembering its past.

Created as a program to help develop and provide exposure for the voices of a new generation of theatre artists, the Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series seeks to develop the skills of emerging playwrights, to provide early-career artists with the support of a major artistic institution, and to create new plays for the American Theatre. Each show has a limited rehearsal period, as well as a streamlined budget. The series has helped launch and advance the careers of several up-and-coming playwrights, including Rajiv Joseph (Pulitzer Prize finalist Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Animals Out of Paper), Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Good Boys and True, HBO's "Big Love"), Adam Bock (The Receptionist, The Drunken City), and Brooke Berman (Hunting and Gathering).

The Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series will also present the world premiere of Leslye Headland's Bachelorette, directed by Trip Cullman, later this summer. Bachelorette will be performed July 12 - August 7, with an official opening scheduled for July 21.

ABOUT THE COMPANY
Michael Golamco is a Los Angeles-based playwright and screenwriter. His play, Cowboy versus Samurai, has had several productions since its premiere in NYC, including in Canada and Hong Kong. Michael is the recipient of the 2009 Helen Merrill Award and is a member of New Dramatists. He is currently working on a new play commission for South Coast Repertory. As a screenwriter, Michael's film, Please Stand By, was presented at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival's On Track film development program. His short film, Dragon of Love, was awarded Best Short Film at the Hawaii International Film Festival and ran in regular rotation on the Sundance Channel. Year Zero premiered at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago and was the Grand Prize Winner of Chicago Dramatists' Many Voices Project.

Will Frears returns to Second Stage Theatre where he directed the mainstage production of Theresa Rebeck's The Water's Edge. Other Off Broadway directing credits include Still Life (MCC); Rainbow Kiss (The Play Company); Pen (Playwrights Horizons); Terrorism (The New Group/The Play Company); Omnium Gatherum (Variety Arts); Where We're Born and God Hates the Irish (both at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre); Get What You Need (Atlantic 453); and Kid-Simple (Summer Play Festival). Regional: Romeo & Juliet, Bus Stop, The Water's Edge and A Servant of Two Masters at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; The Pillowman at George Street Playhouse; Hay Fever and The Price at Baltimore CenterStage; Sleuth at the Bay Street Theatre; Our Lady of 121st Street (Steppenwolf Theatre); Omnium Gatherum (Actor's Theatre Of Louisville). He has also directed the films Coach and All Saints Day (Winner, Best Narrative Short, Savannah Film Festival). Artistic Director, Yale Cabaret, 1999-2000 season. Recipient of Boris Sagal and Bill Foeller directing fellowships. MFA in directing, Yale School of Drama.

ABOUT THE CAST

Louis Ozawa Changchien (Han). TV credits: "Law & Order," "Heroes and Villains," "3 lbs," "Lights Out." Film credits: Fair Game, Gigantic, Pretty to Think So, Tomorrow Arigato, Robot Stories, On the Q.T. Upcoming film: Indelible, Predators.

Peter Kim (Glenn). Broadway: Thoroughly Modern Millie. Many off-Broadway and regional credits. TV/Film: Hackers, Useless, Women Who Eat Meat, B.S.I, Sex and the City, "Mercy," "Ugly Betty," "The Return of Jezebel James," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

Mason Lee (Vuthy Vichea ). Stage credits include Zanna Don't, Hair, and Guys and Dolls at the at the Play Group Theatre; A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet (Semi-Royal Shakespeare Company). Film: Ang Lee's The Hire: Chosen (Little Buddha). Mason is currently studying at NYU's Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

Maureen Sebastian (Ra) appeared in Bonnie J. Monte's world premiere adaptation and direction of Jules Verne's novel, Around the World in Eighty Days, at the Shakespeare Theatre Of New Jersey in Madison, New Jersey. She has also appeared on "Gossip Girl" and in the short film Fragments.

ABOUT Second Stage Theatre UPTOWN

The series premiered in 2002 with three new American plays: ...in the absence of spring..., written and directed by Joe Calarco; The Notebook, written by Wendy Kesselman and directed by Evan Yionoulis; and Hunt Holman's Spanish Girl, directed by Erica Schmidt. Second Stage Theatre Uptown was on hiatus in 2003 due to theatre repairs. The 2004 season saw the New York premiere of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's The Mystery Plays, as well as Brooke Berman's The Triple Happiness, starring Ally Sheedy. In 2005, the series presented the New York premiere of the critically acclaimed comedy Swimming in the Shallows, written by Adam Bock and starring Logan Marshall-Green, as well as the world premiere of Dan O'Brien's The Dear Boy. The 2006 series featured two world premiere comedies: Getting Home, written by Anton Dudley and directed by David Schweizer, and Rajiv Joseph's All This Intimacy, directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The 2007 series featured Marisa Wegrzyn's The Butcher of Baraboo, directed by Judith Ivey, and Joshua Tobiessen's Election Day, directed by Jeremy Dobrish. The 2008 series featured Carly Mensch's Len, Asleep in Vinyl, directed by Jackson Gay, and Rajiv Joseph's Animals Out of Paper, directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

Last season's Uptown Series featured two world premiere plays: Zakiyyah Alexander's 10 Things To Do Before I Die, directed by Jackson Gay, and Lila Rose Kaplan's Wildflower, directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION

Year Zero will be performed at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre (Broadway & 76th Street, 3rd floor) from Tuesday, May 18 - Sunday, June 13 on the following schedule: Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00pm, and Sunday at 3:00pm. There will be no matinee performance on May 19th and May 26th.

Tickets for performances of Year Zero can be purchased at the Second Stage Theatre Box Office (305 West 43rd Street) or by calling (212) 246-4422. Advance tickets are not available at the McGinn/Cazale Theater. Single tickets are $50; advance youth tickets (age 30 and under) are $20; and student RUSH tickets are $10 (available 30 minutes prior to curtain). A 2-play subscription including Bachelorette is available for $60.

For more information, please visit www.2ST.com

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