| NAATCO returns Off-Broadway with the World Premiere of Isabel by reid tang, directed by Kedian Keohan, beginning June 14th at the Abrons Arts Center | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 07:09 pm EDT 05/08/24 | |
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| NAATCO Returns Off-Broadway With the World Premiere of ISABEL by reid tang Directed by Kedian Keohan Featuring Sagan Chen, Haruna Lee, and Ni-Ni Limited Engagement Begins June 14th at the Abrons Arts Center Co-Commissioned by NAATCO and Long Wharf Theatre, as Part of the NAATCO National Partnership Project NAATCO, the National Asian American Theatre Co., today announced details for the World Premiere of Isabel, by reid tang, co-commissioned by NAATCO and Long Wharf Theatre (Jacob G. Padrón, Artistic Director and Kit Ingui, Managing Director) as part of the NAATCO National Partnership Project (NNPP). Performances for this limited Off-Broadway engagement begin Friday June 14th, with Opening Night set for Thursday June 20th. Performances will be Monday through Saturday evenings at 7pm, with matinees Friday and Saturday at 3pm. Special Preview performances Sunday 6/16 at 3pm and 7pm. No performance Juneteenth, 6/19. This limited run will continue through Saturday July 6th only, at the Abrons Arts Center (466 Grand Street at Pitt Street) as part of the @Abrons Series. The performance runs 70 minutes. Tickets are $45 (all fees included) and are on sale NOW. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit NAATCO.ORG. Matt is fixing up a cheap old house in the middle of nowhere; then Harriet and Isabel show up unannounced, bringing news about mysterious abandoned staircases in the forest, a backpack named Loaves, and the uncannily human screams of mountain lions. Kedian Keohan directs a cast that features Sagan Chen (Off-Broadway credits include Work Hard Have Fun Make History - Clubbed Thumb; Exotic Deadly: or The MSG Play - Atlantic Theater; Happy Life - The Hearth Theater); Haruna Lee (for NAATCO: Leah's Train; Off-Broadway: The Nosebleed - Chocolate Factory/Japan Society; Suicide Forest - Obie Award, Bushwick Starr/Ma-Yi Theater; Pride Voices: New Plays from Taiwan - Taipei Cultural Center in New York; Futurity - Soho Rep; A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes - Women's Project Theater/New Georges; The Balcony - Red Bull Theater); and Ni-Ni (making his Off-Broadway debut). reid tang's credits include Work Hard Have Fun Make History (Clubbed Thumb Summerworks), Future Wife (Theatertreffen Stückemarkt), and Party In A Google Sheet (New Georges). tang was the recipient of the Obie Award-winning Breaking the Binary Theatre's first $10,000 commission to develop a new, original full-length work. They grew up in Singapore and presently live in Brooklyn and is making their Off-Broadway debut. Kedian Keohan (they/he) is a trans theater director and creator of live performances. Director: Minna Lee's Last Gold (Hunter College), Amando Houser's DeliaDelia! The Flat Chested Witch (Brick Aux), Ann Marie Dorr's squirrel friend dreams and other ideas from times of grief (?!: New Works), Erin Markey's First Lady (Bard Spiegeltent), reid tang's Work Hard Have Fun Make History (Breaking the Binary), K Hurley's Blush (Soho Rep W/D Lab). Associate Director: Ryan J. Haddad's Dark Disabled Stories (Public Theater/Bushwick Starr). Assistant Director: Orlando (Signature Theatre), minor theater's Pathetic (Abrons Art Center), Singlet (Bushwick Starr), and Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future (Ars Nova). Kedian performed the role of Major in NY Times' Critic Pick Marie It's Time (HERE Arts Center) by Julia Jarcho. Kedian is a former Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, Soho Rep Writer Director Lab alum, and a New Georges affiliated artist. The creative team includes dots - scenic design (two 2024 Tony Award nominations - An Enemy of the People, Appropriate; Henry Hewes Design Award, Drama Desk nomination - Public Obscenities; Lortel Award nomination - You Will Get Sick); Hahnji Jang - costume design (The Bengsons - LCT3); Barbara Samuels - lighting design (Obie Award - Public Obscenities, Wolf Play; Hewes Design Award - Public Obscenities; Lortel Award nomination, Drama Desk nomination - Rags Parkland Sings The Songs of the Future); Tei Blow - sound design (Henry Hewes Award, Bessie Award, Creative Capital Award winner) with Jeremy Kadetsky as associate sound designer; Addison Heeren - prop design (Broadway: Almost Famous, Freestyle Love Supreme, Flying Over Sunset, Pass Over). Nat Kelley DiMario will serve as Production Stage Manager with Assistant Stage Manager Mars Neri. Production Manager is Libby J'Vera; Casting by tbd casting co. "Isabel is another creation produced by the NNPP, a co-commission with our anchor partner, Long Wharf Theatre," said NAATCO co-founder and Actor-Manager Mia Katigbak. "Jacob Padrón, LWT's Artistic Director, and I were both intrigued by and curious about reid tang's work and the co-commission is a fulfillment of one of the requisites of the NNPP, which mandates a second production (Queen by Madhuri Shekar was the first) that centers Asian Americans." "reid tang's Isabel is a dark comedy that's somehow also spooky and tender. reid has a singular voice and the play centers a nuanced trans sibling relationship. We've assembled an extraordinary team of trans theater makers: Kedian Keohan and reid will be making their Off-Broadway debuts as director and playwright, respectively, and our cast consists of three superstar Asian American trans/non binary actors, one of whom will be making their professional debut after a nationwide casting search," said Peter Kim, NAATCO Creative Producer. Next up in 2025 will be the Off-Broadway Premiere of Andrea Thome's modern translation of one of Shakespeare's most complex plays, Cymbeline, directed by Stephen Brown-Fried, who directed NAATCO's highly acclaimed Henry VI: Shakespeare's Trilogy in Two Parts. Thome's update brings the play's language into the present, highlighting new resonances and providing a more accessible version of Shakespeare's play for today's audiences. One of Shakespeare's final plays, Cymbeline tells the story of the British king Cymbeline and his daughter, Imogen. It is a tale of deceit and jealousy, with accusations of infidelity that often draw comparisons to Othello and The Winter's Tale. Andrea Thome is a Chilean/Costa Rican-American playwright who grew up navigating the multiple landscapes and languages that inhabit her plays. Her play Pinkolandia received a rolling world premiere at INTAR Theater (NYC), Austin's Salvage Vanguard Theater, Two River Theater (NJ), and 16th Street Theater (Chicago). It was awarded the Lark/Mellon Foundation's Launching New Plays Fellowship, and was translated into Russian and presented at Moscow's Meyerhold Center. Other plays include Undone (Whitman Award; developed at Queens College, Victory Gardens, Lark), Worm Girl (Cherry Red Productions), various short plays and many collaborative projects. Her play translations (including Guillermo Calderón's Neva ) have been produced by the Public Theater, CTG, La Jolla Playhouse and more. Schedule, casting, and more information for Cymbeline will be announced at a later date. The NAATCO National Partnership Project (NNPP) is the ambitious initiative created by NAATCO to establish relationships with theaters around the country to develop and implement strategies for the intrinsic inclusion of Asian American theater artists, technicians, and administrators in their practices. On American stages today, there is a growing emphasis on inclusion and belonging. But Asian Americans continue to be largely excluded from this movement and continue to be portrayed in stereotypical and formulaic ways. Since its founding, NAATCO has been dedicated to changing this dynamic. Current partners include Long Wharf Theatre (CT), Soho Rep (NY), TheatreSquared (AK), People's Light (PA), and Portland Center Stage (OR). Previous productions to come out of the NNPP include Queen by playwright and screenwriter Madhuri Shekar (House of Joy, Evil Eye – Amazon, Three Body Problem - Netflix, and upcoming: "The Nevers" – HBO, Sister Act 3 - Disney/Whoopi Goldberg/Tyler Perry), directed by Aneesha Kudtarkar (produced with LWT); and Public Obscenities, the New York Times Critic's Pick, written & directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury, produced by Soho Rep as part of the NNPP, and subsequently presented at Woolly Mammoth in Washington DC and Theater For A New Audience in NYC. Chowdhury won the OBIE Award for Direction for Public Obscenities, as did Enver Chakartash (for costume design), Barbara Samuels (for lighting design), and dots for Sustained Achievement in Scenic Design. Public Obscenities was recently a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and was nominated for three Drama League Awards and four Drama Desk Awards; the cast won the Drama Desk Ensemble Award for embodying "the transnational world" of Misha's "bilingual play with memorable authenticity, remarkable specificity, and extraordinary warmth." NAATCO was founded in 1989 by Mia Katigbak and Richard Eng to assert the presence and significance of Asian American theater in the United States, demonstrating its vital contributions to the fabric of American culture. The company presents the following repertory: •European and American classics as written with all-Asian American casts; •Adaptations of these classics by Asian American playwrights; •New plays – preferably world premieres – written by non-Asian Americans, not for or about Asian Americans, but realized by an all Asian American cast; and •Development and production of new plays by Asian American playwrights that incorporate other performative arts and media. NAATCO puts into service its total commitment to Asian American theater artists to more accurately represent onstage the multi- and intercultural dynamics of our society. By doing so, they demonstrate a rich tapestry of cultural difference bound by the American experience. The enrichment accrues to each different culture as well as to America as a whole. NAATCO was the recipient of the OBIE's Ross Wetzsteon Award, the Lucille Lortel Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women for their work "highlighting the multi- and intercultural dynamics of our society," and the Rosetta LeNoire Award from Actors' Equity Association in recognition of its contribution toward increasing diversity and non-traditional casting in American theater. NAATCO was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play, as well as Outstanding Costume Design for a Play for their acclaimed production of Henry VI: Shakespeare's Trilogy in Two Parts. Additionally, NAATCO Actor-Manager and Co-Founder Mia Katigbak was honored in 2019 with a Special Drama Desk Award: "the backbone of the Off-Broadway scene, we acclaim her for her performances this season in Henry VI: Shakespeare's Trilogy in Two Parts, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, Peace for Mary Frances and Recent Alien Abductions. This award also recognizes her vital presence as the artistic director of NAATCO and her sustained excellence as a performer and mentor." Peter Kim is NAATCO's Creative Producer; Mona Moriya is Managing Producer; Todd London is the NNPP Counselor. For more information, please visit NAATCO.ORG. |
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