Ma-Yi Theatre Company Announces 2011-2012 Season

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Ma-Yi Theater Company - one of the country's leading Asian-American theater companies - will present the World Premiere of Carla Ching's THE SUGAR HOUSE AT The Edge OF THE WILDERNESS and the Off-Broadway premiere of Qui Nguyen's critically acclaimed play THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G during its 2011-2012 theatre season, it has been announced by Ma-Yi Artistic Director Ralph B. Pena.

Both Ms. Ching and Mr. Nguyen are current members of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, which was founded in 2004 by playwrightSung Rno and boasts the largest resident company of Asian American Playwrights ever assembled.

November 2011

The World Premiere of Carla Ching's play THE SUGAR HOUSE AT The Edge OF THE WILDERNESS will begin previews on November 8th prior to an official press opening of November 15th at The Connelly Theatre (220 East 4th Street).

THE SUGAR HOUSE AT The Edge OF THE WILDERNESS is Ms. Ching's fractured adaptation of The Brothers Grimm's classic fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" about today's constantly shifting notions of family, home, parenthood and children.

Directed by Daniella Topol, the cast of THE SUGAR HOUSE AT The Edge OF THE WILDERNESS includes Ali Ahn, Cindy Cheung (Will Eno's MIDDLETOWN), William Jackson Harper (RUINED, Ma-Yi's MICROCRISIS), Christopher Larkin (BACK FROM THE FRONT), April Matthis (Young Jean Lee's LEAR at Soho Rep) and David Spangler. The design team include: Clint Ramos (Set Design), Japhy Weideman (Lighting Design), Shane Rettig (Sound Design), Theresa Squire (Costume Design), and Aaron Rhyne (Projection Design).

Carla Ching is a playwright, teaching artist and artistic director of 2g, she wrote and performed with the Pan Asian Performance group "Peeling" at venues like Second Stage Theater, The Asian American Writers Workshop, NYU, Cornell and The Puffin Room. Her plays have been produced or developed by 2g, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Desipina, Vampire Cowboys and IRT. She received a 2008 Urban Artists Initiative Fellowship, a 2009-1010 Teachers & Writers Collaborative Fellowship and a 2010 commission from EST/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to write a game theory play. She is a member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, a member of the Women's Project Lab 2008-2010. MFA, Actors Studio Drama School, BA, Vassar College.

Daniella Topol is a New-York based freelance theater director primarily focused on working with writers to develop and direct relevant, theatrical and adventuresome new plays and musicals. Some recent productions include: Rajiv Joseph's MONSTER AT THE DOOR (Alley Theatre), Anna Ziegler's PHOTOGRAPH 51 (Theatre J, Washington D.C.), Willy Holtzman's THE MORINI STRAD (City Theatre, PA), Chiori Miyagawa's FIREDANCE (Bard College), Jeff Hughes and Scott Ethier's RED CLAY (NAMT Festival of New Musicals, Richard Rodgers Development Award at Queens Theatre in the Park/Playwrights Horizons under previous title ROSA PARKS), Janet Allard and Niko Tsakalakos' POOL BOY (Barrington Stage), Sheila Callaghan's LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING (Women's Project/Cherry Lane), and many others.

Scheduled to run through December 4, performances of THE SUGAR HOUSE AT The Edge OF THE WILDERNESS will run Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30pm; Saturdays at 3:00pm and 7:30pm; and Sundays at 3:00pm at The Connelly Theatre (220 East 4th Street). Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling TheaterMania at 212-352-3101 or online at www.TheaterMania.com.

February 2012

The Off-Broadway premiere of Qui Nguyen's critically acclaimed play THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G, in association with Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company, will begin previews on February 7 prior to officially opening Off-Broadway on February 14 at Theatre Row's Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street).

It's been 10 years since Agent G has last been in Vietnam where his family and friends were all viciously slain. He's now come back looking for answers and a good bit of revenge, however mysterious forces are at hand trying to stop him as well as the playwright from finishing this brutal task.

Directed by Robert Ross Parker, the original cast of THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G - including William Jackson Harper, Jon Hoche (SOUL SAMURAI, PULLMAN CAR HIAWATHA), Bonnie Sherman (SOUL SAMURAI), and Amy Kim Waschke (ALICE IN SLASHERLAND) will make the Off-Broadway transfer. AGENT G will have scenic and lighting design by Nick Francone, costume design by Jessica Shay, original music composed and sound design by Shane Rettig, multimedia design by Matthew Tennie and puppet design by David Valentine.

Qui Nguyen is a playwright, screenwriter, and Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys. His scripts include the critically acclaimed Vampire Cowboys productions of Alice in Slasherland; Fight Girl Battle World; Men of Steel; Living Dead in Denmark; StaiNed Glass Ugly; A Beginner's Guide to Deicide; and Vampire Cowboy Trilogy. Other scripts include Bike Wreck (Youngblood; Metropolitan Playhouse); Aliens Versus Cheerleaders (Keen Teens); the Off-Broadway productions of Soul Samurai (Ma-Yi Theater) and Trial By Water (Ma-Yi Theater/Queens Theatre in the Park); and the hip-hop musical Krunk Fu Battle Battle (East West Players).

Robert Ross Parker is a Brooklyn-based director, writer, and actor. His directorial work includes: Alice in Slasherland, Soul Samurai, Fight Girl Battle World (nominated for Best Direction by the 2008 NY Innovative Theatre Awards), Men of Steel, Living Dead in Denmark, Vampire Cowboy Trilogy, A Beginner's Guide to Deicide, and StaiNed Glass Ugly, Goodbye Cruel World (Roundtable Ensemble) which he also penned, Hamlet (solo) starring Raoul Bhaneja (Hope and Hell), A Political Party!, the national tour of Children's Letters to God (Lamb's Theatre/Broadway Overseas Management), the Off-Broadway premiere of My Fake ID's (Lamb's Theatre), Lady Convoy (FringeNYC), Justin Reinsilber's F*cking Love (WEJ Productions), and numerous readings for Ensemble Studio Theatre where he was a young director-in-residence.

Scheduled to run through March 4, performances of THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G will run Tuesdays through Fridays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm and 8:00pm, and Sundays at 3:00pm at Theatre Row's Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street). Tickets are $30 and can be purchased through Telecharge, by calling 212-239-6200 or online at www.Telecharge.com.

Founded in 1989, Ma-Yi Theater Company is a Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning, Off-Broadway not-for-profit organization whose primary mission is to develop new plays and performance works that depict Asian American experiences. Its numerous acclaimed productions include last season's acclaimed production of Michael Lew's MICROCRISIS and the revival of Ralph B. Pena's FLIPZOIDS. Other productions include: RESCUE ME by Michi Barall, Lloyd Suh's AMERICAN HWANGAP, SOUL SAMURAI, THE ROMANCE OF MAGNO RUBIO, THE CHILDREN OF VONDERLY and wAve. Through successful programs such as the Writers Lab, Ma-Yi emboldens a new generation of Asian American artists to voice their experiences, while developing a steady stream of quality new works by Asian American Playwrights for its own performing repertory. Ma-Yi Theater Company productions have earned nine Obie Awards, numerous Henry Hewes Award nominations, a Drama Desk nomination and the Special Drama Desk Award for more than two decades of excellence and for nurturing Asian-American voices in stylistically varied and engaging theater.

For more info, visit http://www.ma-yitheatre.org/