Queens Theater In The Park And Rising Circle Theater Collective Join For Q UP

Queens Theatre in the Park (QTP) and Rising Circle Theater Collective announce the launch of Q Up, a free, out-of-school performing arts program beginning February 17, 2010 for high school girls of South/Southeast Asian and Asian American backgrounds. For four days, fifteen participants will meet with Asian female performing artists to watch them perform their work and then engage with the artists in performance skill building sessions while creating their own stories for the stage. The girls have been selected from high schools in Queens including International High School at LaGuardia Community College, Townsend Harris High School, and Queens High School of Teaching, Liberal Arts and the Sciences.

Rising Circle member and lead artist for this project, Nancy Kim, launches Q Up, with a full production of her solo show How to Find My Inner Asian, directed by Catherine Jhung, on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 7pm. Lead teaching artists, Catherine Jhung and Deepa Purohit will facilitate the workshop sessions with the participants alongside guest artists: stand-up comedian Ali Wong, spoken word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, and actor/writer Deepti Gupta. Q Up culminates with performances on Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 7pm. Q Up is a 2009 Recipient of the Asian Women's Giving Circle grant, a giving circle fund of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council and by the Open Meadows Foundation.

Founded in 2000, Rising Circle Theater Collective is dedicated to broadening the scope of storytelling on the American stage. Providing an artistic home for artists of color, they are empowered to seek out unheard stories of people of color and inspire the creation of theater that challenges cultural misperceptions in an effort to bridge social divides. Rising Circle artists have led the charge in seeking out the real, and often times, marginalized voices of diverse Americans and putting them on stage. Between 2004 and 2007, Rising Circle collectively created and produced two full-scale, original productions-Pulling the Lever and Bloodlines (American Family Project). Rising Circle Theater Collective was the recipient of the 2005 New York Innovative Theatre Awards' prize for Outstanding Ensemble for its production of Pulling the Lever and received five additional nominations that same year. The play was also published in New York Theatre Experience's "Plays and Playwrights 2006" anthology. In March 2008, Rising Circle was invited to remount American Family Project for over 200 mental health service providers, by the Nassau County Multicultural Advisory Committee and the Nassau County Department of Mental Health Chemical Dependency and Developmental Disabilities Services to launch their Fifth Annual Cultural Competence Conference at Adelphi University.

Queens Theatre in the Park is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Flushing, NY.
By Subway:Take the 7 train to Mets-Willets Point stop. Exit and turn left after passing through turnstile, walk downstairs on the parking lot side and follow the theatre shuttle signs. Take free trolley to the Theatre. Trolley runs for one hour before and after all performances.
By Car:Take the Grand Central Parkway to exit 9E (from Manhattan) or 9P (from Long Island) and follow the signs for the Theatre. Free parking in adjacent lot.

About Queens Theatre in the Park
Queens Theatre in the Park is committed to presenting performing arts that provide audiences with the highest quality work. QTP also produces new plays, with a concentration on up-and-coming directors and playwrights. QTP has broadened the experience of its core audience to include works by under-recognized artists from around the world and works that tap into the diverse communities of Queens.

Queens Theatre in the Park is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the New York State Pavilion designed for the 1964 World's Fair by Philip Johnson. The Pavilion was converted to a theatre in 1972 and was operated by various organizations until 1985. QTP was officially established in 1989 with the full support of the community and the Queens Borough President. After a $4 million renovation that brought full ADA compliance, the Theatre officially opened to the public in 1993 in a facility that allows it to stage productions equal to those of any Off-Broadway house in Manhattan in its 464-seat main stage theatre and its 99-seat Studio Theatre. What was then a small cabaret-style theater with an operating budget of under $500,000 has transformed itself into a major performing arts center with exhibition galleries with a projected operating budget of $3.5 million for FY10.

QTP became an independent nonprofit in 1997. It is a member of the Cultural Institutions Group receiving support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. The Theatre presents and produces 300 performances annually. QTP serves 100,000 people annually who reflect the rich demographics of its community population. Currently 75% of the Theatre's constituency is from Queens. In addition to its own season, QTP frequently provides its space for use by community arts organizations and local promoters.

QTP has recently completed a $ 23 million physical transformation of the Theatre. This major capital investment has added a 75-seat cabaret performance space with a full service cafe and kitchen facility; created a dramatic new 3,000 square foot lobby/reception area; provided new visitor amenities and improved the facility's accessibility. These improvements have transformed Queens Theatre in the Park into a destination for the residents of the borough and beyond.

Queens Theatre in the Park events are made possible with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Partial funding for this program has been provided by the Greenwall Foundation and the Jerome Foundation.

For more information, visit www.queenstheatre.org.

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