Full Cast & Creative Team Set for LAOWANG: A CHINATOWN KING LEAR at Primary Stages
Performances will begin on November 1.
PRIMARY STAGES will present Laowang: A Chinatown King Lear, a new play written by Alex Lin (Chinese Republicans) and directed by Joshua Kahan Brody (Where the Mountain Meets the Sea). Laowang will begin previews at 59E59’s Theater A on November 1, 2025, with an opening night set for November 16 for a limited run through December 14, 2025. Primary Stages is the Resident Off Broadway Theater Company at 59E59 Theaters.
The cast of Laowang will include Cindy Cheung (Bus Stop) as Amy Choy and others, Wai Ching Ho (Endlings) as A-Poh, Amy Keum (KPOP) as Lai-Fa Choy and others, Jon Norman Schneider (Eurydice) as Steven Choy and others, and Daisuke Tsuji (Life of Pi) as Wesley Chiu and others. Nikki Lint (Yes, I Can Say That!) is the Production Stage Manager and Sammy Landau (Water for Elephants) is the Assistant Stage Manager.
Laowang will feature scenic design by Wilson Chin (Cost of Living), costume design by Tina McCartney (Pru Payne), lighting design by Reza Behjat (English), original music and sound design by Nicholas Drashner (Every Brilliant Thing), and props supervision by Thomas Jenkeleit (SUMO). Casting is by The Telsey Office, Karyn Casl, CSA, and Charlie Hano, CSA.
Don't mess with a Chinese grandma. When a high-rise developer threatens to buy out A-Poh’s successful Chinatown restaurant, the martyr-complex matriarch gathers her three precious grandchildren from all corners of the country to plan their next mode of attack. There’s just one problem – A-Poh's memory is rapidly fading. What follows is a chaotic journey through reality, myth, and magic as A-Poh travels through now and the great beyond in a last-ditch effort to preserve what’s left of her family, legacy, and sanity. A caustic and imaginative spin on King Lear that explores the changing face of America's Chinatowns and the fight to preserve a fading cultural memory.
Laowang was originally developed by Two River Theater (Justin Waldman, Artistic Director; Nora DeVeau-Rosen, Managing Director), and received support from the New York Theatre Workshop annual summer residency at Dartmouth College/Adelphi University.
Videos
