Will Dao News

In a time where the manifestation of prejudice and violence toward the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community has reached an extreme high, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will stream a benefit reading of Writing Fragments Home to raise funds to support and uplift the AAPI community.

The Kitchen Theatre Company will collaborate with Ma-Yi Theater, the nation’s premiere incubator of Asian-American new plays, on the first of two new play development workshops in its 2020-2021 season.

The three upcoming readings are: Alice Childress’s Trouble in Mind, directed by Awoye Timpo; George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man, directed by 2020 SAG Award nominee, Obie Award winner, and Tony Award nominee Colman Domingo; and Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, directed by Dawn Monique Williams.

Theater M­u presents the TwentyPho Hour PlayFest, its first ever play festival featuring thirty theater artists creating brand new plays in under 24 hours.

This week's list features the novelization of West Side Story, as well as a graphic novel version of The Phantom of the Opera, and the audiobook of Vietgone. Plus, new music from Sophia Anne Caruso!

Check out this week's list of new and upcoming book, music, and film releases, including a Hadestown lyric book, new music from Telly Leung, Melissa Errico, and more!

Next up for L.A. Theatre Works will be Qui Nguyen's VIETGONE, set to be recorded live at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus for four performances beginning January 24, 2020. East West Players' Producing Artistic Director Emeritus Tim Dang will direct this semi-fictional tale of how Qui's parents met in an Arkansas relocation camp. The talented cast includes Will Dao, Desirée Mee Jung, Greg Watanabe, Paul Yen and Jeena Yi. I grabbed the opportunity, after all these years of knowing him, to interview the creative force behind the early development of the East West Players - Tim Dang.

Vietgone a?" East West Players producing artistic director emeritus Tim Dang directs Will Dao, Desirée Mee Jung, Greg Watanabe, Paul Yen and Jeena Yi in Qui Nguyen's hilarious, a?oeprobably-mostly-truea?? version of how his parents met and built a life for themselves in a new land. Set in 1975 a?" just after the fall of Saigon a?" this epic, award-winning play repurposes pop culture from the last 40 years to tell the story of two Vietnamese refugees who meet in an Arkansas relocation camp before setting out on a rip-roaring road trip across America. Equal parts buddy story, all-American romance and motorcycle adventure, Vietgone sizzles to a smart, sassy and raucous hip-hop soundtrack by Shane Rettig.

Vietgone - East West Players producing artistic director emeritus Tim Dang directs Desirée Mee Jung, Will Dao, Greg Watanabe and Jeena Yi in Qui Nguyen's hilarious, 'probably-mostly-true' version of how his parents met and built a life for themselves in a new land. Set in 1975 - just after the fall of Saigon - this epic, award-winning play repurposes pop culture from the last 40 years to tell the story of two Vietnamese refugees who meet in an Arkansas relocation camp before setting out on a rip-roaring road trip across America. Equal parts buddy story, all-American romance and motorcycle adventure, Vietgone sizzles to a smart, sassy and raucous hip-hop soundtrack by Shane Rettig.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is entering its 85th year, today announced the casts for the 2020 season, featuring some of the most beloved performers from OSF's history alongside newcomers from around the country. OSF is one of the most prominent theatre companies across the nation that have joined the Jubilee, a yearlong nationwide commitment by theatres to feature work generated by those who have traditionally been excluded from or marginalized by the theatre industry. Five Shakespeare plays staged as four productions, alongside two new plays inspired by him, take the Festival's stages in 2020. Two more commissions from OSF's multi-decade commissioning program American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle will also premiere.

BWW Review: THE CHINESE LADY at Magic Theatre is a dramatization of the life of Afong Moy, the first Chinese Lady to set foot on American soil.

Magic Theatre kicks off its 2019-20 season with Lloyd Suh's intriguing a?oeThe Chinese Lady.a?? Suh's point of departure is one of those fascinating a?oetruth is stranger than fictiona?? tales that are so compelling it's hard to believe they aren't more widely known. His play tells the story of Afong Moy, the first Chinese female to set foot on American soil in 1834. Moy was brought to New York at the tender age of 14 by a pair of businessmen in their effort to sell affordable Chinese furniture to America's growing middle class. They created an exhibition wherein patrons could pay to view a real Chinese lady in her supposedly authentic surrounds. This exhibition proved so popular to the public it went on tour throughout the Eastern U.S., and Moy was taken to the White House to meet President Andrew Jackson. Unfortunately, we have no historical record in Moy's own words, and virtually all of the story of her latter life is lost to history. Thus, playwright Suh describes this work as a conjuring of who he imagines Moy might have been.

Magic Theatre presents the Bay Area Premiere of Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady, directed by Mina Morita. Opening night is Wednesday, October 16 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $15 - $75 and are on-sale now at MagicTheatre.org. 

Magic Theatre presents the Bay Area Premiere of Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady, directed by Mina Morita. Previews begin on Wednesday, October 9, 2019 at Magic Theatre's Fort Mason location (Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd., Building D, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123), with a press opening on Wednesday, October 16 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $15 - $75 and are on-sale now at MagicTheatre.org.

Magic Theatre announces the complete cast and creative team for the Company's first production of the 2019-2020 season, the Bay Area Premiere of Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady, directed by Mina Morita.

PlayGround concludes the 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with a special evening of environmental-inspired plays as part of the 5th annual PLANET EARTH ARTS NEW PLAY FESTIVAL on Monday, April 1, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The topic for the April 1 program (rescheduled from the previously announced March 18 date) is "BORDERS, ISLANDS & WALLS". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just five days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on April 1.

BWW Review: KING OF THE YEES at SF Playhouse: an epic ride across cultural, national and familial borders

San Francisco Playhouse is thrilled to announce a post-show discussion featuring an Asian American Leaders Panel following the performance of King of the Yees on Wednesday, February 6. The panel will feature Thi Bui, Vanessa Hua, Karen Mok, Angela Yip, and playwright Lauren Yee. Andrew Hsieh will moderate.

San Francisco Playhouse announced casting for Lauren Yee's King of the Yees, headlined by Obie and Lucille Lortel Award-winning actor and San Francisco native Francis Jue. The play, centered on San Francisco's Chinatown, was inspired by Yee's family and their deep connections within the community. Joshua Kahan Brody will direct the Playhouse production.

PlayGround continues its 25th season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with the first 2019 Monday readings on Monday, January 21, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theatre. The topic for January's round, announced last Friday, is "ADAPT A FAIRY TALE". Members of the 2018-19 PlayGround Writers Company have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on January 21. PlayGround writers in Los Angeles are working simultaneously on the same prompt and their finalists will be presented at Hollywood's Broadwater Mainstage (home of Sacred Fools Theatre Company) on January 14. Tickets are $15-$30 and 3-admission flex subscriptions are just $60 ($45 for 25-and-Unders). For tickets or more information, visit http://playground-sf.org/monday.