AA Arts Incubator Program Of Asian Improv Arts Midwest (AIRMW) Announces First Reading In OUR PERSPECTIVE: ASIAN AMERICAN PLAY READINGS

The AA Arts Incubator Program of Asian Improv Arts Midwest (AIRMW) is proud to announce that its historic series, "Our Perspective: Asian American Play Readings," begins its second year Monday, Jan. 28, 2019 at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, 2433 N Lincoln Ave. from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for general admission seating and may be reserved online at OurPerspective.eventbrite.com. Seating is limited. For any additional information about the event, go to Our-Perspective.com or call 773.972.6745.

Launched in February 2018, at Goodman Theatre in Chicago to a standing room only crowd, this is AIRMW's first-ever play reading series of short and full-length plays written by Midwest Asian Americans. "Our Perspective: Asian American Play Readings" is a three part series with Mia Park serving as the project's guest curator and executive producer. In addition to Park, the Our Perspective team also includes include co-producers Stephen George, Sydney Mercado and Friday Savathphoune. Karissa Murrell Myers is casting director.

The first reading includes four short plays:

Games by Susan H. Pak, Directed by Kaiser Ahmed

A highly ambitious, Korean American teen will stop at nothing to get into his dream university. He's conquered his classes and mastered his prep tests, but can he triumph over Improv?

Yankee Princess by Preston Choi, Directed by Mia Park

The arrival of half Korean high schooler Nancy Wilson disrupts the calm of a quaint 1960s American town. Though she and her "unconventional" family try to settle into the neighborhood, her identity, family history, and patriotism fall under scrutiny. Yankee Princess is a political coming of age story in the fallout of the Korean War.

Following by Alvin Dantes, Directed by Giau Troung

Sam's girlfriend Jessie is having the time of her life at her friend Alex's birthday party. But Sam's paranoia gets the better of him and he starts stalking her on social media to find out what's really going on.

Black Box by Zhen E. Rammelsberg, Directed by Marie Tredway

Three women of color share their adoption stories from birth to coming of age. Guided by a chorus of women as well as the mysterious Black Box, they use humor, tears, and forgiveness to understand who they are in white America.

"Representation really does matter, because understanding one person's story is understanding every person's story. For too long, Asian American stories and plays have been absent from Chicago's theatres," said Mia Park, founder and curator of "Our Perspectives," ""Our Perspective: Asian American Play Readings" intends to continue promoting plays written and directed by Midwestern Asian American theatre artists in order to share our stories. With the success of the film "Crazy Rich Asians", our visibility in visual story telling will hopefully become more normalized on screen and on Chicago's stages."

ABOUT "OUR PERSPECTIVE: ASIAN AMERICAN PLAY READINGS"

The Asian Pacific American (APA) population is seriously under represented on stage. "Our Perspective: Asian American Play Readings" is a staged play reading series intended to provide inspiration, space, and audiences for Midwest APA playwrights, directors, and actors. These are script-in-hand concert readings where actors read plays written and directed by Asian Americans. Presented by Asian Improv Arts Midwest's AA Arts Incubator, "Our Perspective" is the first ever Asian American play reading series in the Midwest. These history making events are long overdue.

ADDITIONAL READINGS ARE:

Reading Two

Monday, May 20, 2019

1700 Theatre at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1600 N. Halsted

Reading Three

September, 2019

Location: TBA.

For more information on the readings, visit Our-Perspective.com and follow #OurPerspectiveReadings on Facebook and Twitter.

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