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Mirage Theatre Company has commissioned New Dramatists playwright Melisa Tien to create "Broken Dolls," an original theater work about the trafficking of women. As part of its New Blood readings series, Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., will present a staged reading of the play, adapted and directed by June Prager, Mirage Theatre Company's Artistic Director, on October 21, 2019 at 7:00 PM.
"Broken Dolls" looks at the backgrounds and trajectories of women who have been trafficked for sex work, domestic labor, hotel work, and farm work. Mirage Theatre Company's goal is to tell their stories and heighten awareness about modern-day slavery. Set in a waiting room at a social service facility, the play revolves around survivors of human trafficking who cross paths and share with each other their unique circumstances and perspectives in a bid to reclaim their lives.
The cast of the reading includes Yanzi Ding, Ashley Taylor Greaves, and Vilma Hodo. Its approximate running time is 60 minutes. Admission is free but suggested donation is $5. For reservations, call Mirage Theatre at 347-668-7666 or email reservations.miragetheatre@gmail.com.Mirage Theatre Company creates, produces, and tours an international repertoire of premieres and revivals to celebrate cultural differences, affect social change, and uplift the spirit. The company's perspective is artistic, communal, and global with belief in "creative change" - in the power to deepen understanding of "the Other" and theater's ability to reach across borders.
Melisa Tien is a playwright, lyricist, and screenwriter. She is the author of the plays "Yellow Card Red Card," "Back of the House," "Fantastic Heliotherapy" and "Familium Vulgare." She is a co-author of the collaboratively written plays "We Play for the Gods" and "Jackson Heights 3AM." She is a member of New Dramatists (class of 2022), a 2016 Fellow in Playwriting/Screenwriting from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a recipient of the 2016 Theater Masters Visionary Playwright award/commission, and a 2016 Fellow at the MacDowell Colony. From 2010-2012 she was a member of the Women's Project Lab. She holds a BA from UCLA and an MFA from Columbia University. She has presented work at the Great Plains Theatre Conference, Women Playwrights International Conference, and the National Asian American Theatre Conference and Festival.
June Prager (Director) is Artistic Director of Mirage Theatre Company. She has directed numerous Off Broadway and other New York productions for the Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Mirage Theatre Company. Some of her stage credits include "Image and Likeness" with Sam Waterston, "Winter Visitor" with Beatrice Straight and Lee Richardson, "The Tender Branch" with Nancy Franklin and Larry Keith, "The Hold Out" with John Seitz, and "Christopher Blake" with Maria Tucci. In Philadelphia, as Producing Artistic Director of Theatre International Exchange, Ms. Prager directed an international repertory of plays, as well as productions at Temple University Theatre, the Walnut Street Theatre, and the Hedgerow Theatre. Most recently for Mirage Theatre, she has directed productions of "Cedars" at La Mama and "Distant Survivors" at Zeiders American Dream Theater in VA, preceded by a tour in the Hudson Valley, NY.
Funding support for this project includes Anchor of Hope, Awesome Foundation, The Yip Harburg Lyrics Foundation, Kaslow Family Charitable Trust, Puffin Foundation and The Underground at Vassar College.
