Pan Asian Repertory Theatre Announces 46th Season Featuring the World Premiere of MEMORIAL & More

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre has announced the lineup of its 46 th Milestone Season beginning in the new year with the world premiere of the new play Memorial by Livian Yeh, followed by celebrating Asian Heritage Month in May and closing the season with the return of the annual play festival NuWorks 2023. In the spring, the company will celebrate and honor the memory of co-founding artistic director and celebrated actor, Ernest Abuba.

The season of live entertainment begins the new year with the world premiere of the new play Memorial written by Livian Yeh and directed by Jeff Liu. The play surrounds Maya Lin, the 21-year-old architect who is forced to defend herself to veterans and the United States Congress when her "untraditional" memorial design was selected to commemorate Vietnam veterans on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Is democracy about compromise and working together, no matter how painful?

The world premiere engagement is set to begin performances on Thursday, January 19, 2023 and will continue through Sunday afternoon, February 19, 2023 at Mezzanine Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 West 53rd Street). Lunar New Year Opening set for Sunday afternoon, January 22, 2023 at 2:30PM.

"At its heart, Memorial is a play about stories. What is considered an American story, and who gets to tell it?," stated playwright Livian Yeh.

Director Jeff Liu added, "Most importantly, the play captures democracy in action, dramatizing the often painful nature of negotiation and compromise, which in this case resulted in one of the great works of American art."

The season will also include the return of a Pan Asian classic for a limited benefit engagement to commemorate Asian Heritage Month (May 2023). Dates and location will be announced shortly.

The milestone 46th Milestone Season culminates with the expanded annual 2-week play festival NuWorks 2023, an experimental series of self-created work from innovative artists exploring an eclectic range of genres and techniques using poetry, text, dance and music. The series begins Friday, June 2, 2023 and will conclude Sunday afternoon, June 18, 2023 at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street).

In the spring the company will gather friends and colleagues to celebrate and honor the memory of co-founding artistic director and award-winning actor Ernest Abuba. Date and location to be announced shortly.

For additional information, or to purchase tickets please visit the Pan Asia Repertory Theatre website at www.panasianrep.org, or via email at info@panasianrep.org.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Livian Yeh

(Playwright, Memorial) is a writer based in San Francisco, CA. She's written for Reader's Digest, HowlRound, The Bold Italic, Hunker, and StarTrek.com, among other publications. Her plays have been developed at Pan Asian Rep, Company One, Fresh Ink, and Boston Playwrights' Theatre. She is an alumna of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and Rooted and Written at The Writers Grotto.

Jeff Liu

(Director, Memorial) is a writer and director for theater, film and web, currently a Resident Dramaturge for the Ojai Playwrights Conference. He was the former Literary Manager for East West Players and was a member of the O'Neill National Directing Fellowship cohort of 2016. His productions include the LA premiere of Chinglish by David Henry Hwang, as well as the world premieres of The Brothers Paranormal by Prince Gomolvilas, Two Mile Hollow by Leah Nanako Winkler, The Chinese Massacre (Annotated) by Tom Jacobson, The Golden Hour by Philip W. Chung, Terminus Americana by Matt Pelfrey, and Texas by Judy Soo Hoo. He also adapted the Pulitzer nominated Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang for the YOMYOMF Network on YouTube. During the pandemic, he filmed Paletas de Coco by Franky D. Gonzalez for Ars Nova ANTFest and Latino Theater Company's Re:Encuentro 2021. His short film of David Henry Hwang's Trying To Find Chinatown played on Signature Theatre's SigSpace platform in May 2022.

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, celebrating its 46th Milestone Season, is the most veteran Asian American theatre company on the East Coast. Tisa Chang founded Pan Asian Rep in 1977 at Ellen Stewart's La Mama ETC with the vision to promote equity and access that Asian Americans artists can equally follow, focusing on stories of probing social justice issues with distinctive Off-Broadway Productions, Tours, National Outreach, and Community Service. Mel Gussow of The New York Times described it as "A Stage for All the World of Asian -Americans" and wrote that "Before Pan Asian Rep, Asian Americans had severely limited opportunities in the theater...." The company has nurtured thousands of artists and is a "who-is-who" of Asian American theatre history, with notable alumni/ae: Ako, Ernest Abuba, Tina Chen, Philip Gotanda, Wai Ching Ho, David Henry Hwang, Daniel Dae Kim, Lucy Liu, Ron Nakahara, R.A. Shiomi, Lauren Yee, and Henry Yuk.