Longacre Theatre (New York, NY)
Chinglish
by David Henry Hwang
October 11, 2011 to January 29, 2012

David Henry Hwang's will have its New York premiere on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre, beginning previews October 11. As previously announced, Leigh Silverman, who helmed the play at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, will once again direct. An opening date and casting will be announced shortly.

The work concerns an American businessman who travels to China hoping to make an important deal and finds himself enmeshed in a system more complex than he ever imagined.

The design team will include David Korins (set), Anita Yavich (costumes) and Brian MacDevitt (lighting).

Hwang's many other plays include M. Butterfly, Golden Child, Yellow Face, and FOB.

Official blog. David also blogs here. Interview with CNN talking head Erin Burnett. Visit if you know what's good for you.

Reviews from
New York Magazine:
NY Time Out
Village Voice
The Economist
Huffington Post
Stagezine
Stage Rush
China Daily feature.

Young Centre for the Performing Arts (Toronto, Canada)
Kim's Convenience
by Ins Choi
January 12 to February 11, 2012

Stage Left Studio (New York, NY)
Speak Up Connie
a one woman show by Cindy CHeung
January 17 to 25, 2012
extended to February 15

In SPEAK UP CONNIE, the versatile Cheung writes, performs, provides original music and lyrics, under the direction of BD Wong. Performances are Tuesday, January 17, Wednesday, January 18, Sunday, January 22, Tuesday, January 24, and Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $20. ($2 ticketing surcharge will be added).

Due to popular demand, new show dates have been added – Sunday, February 5th, Tuesday, February 7th, Wednesday, February 8th, Sunday, February 12th, and Wednesday, February 15th at 7:30pm.
* limited number of $9 tickets available through TDF

Cindy Cheung's theater credits include Middletown (The Vineyard), The Seagull, (NAATCO), Goodbye Cruel World (Roundtable), Sides: The Fear Is Real… (Ma-Yi/Miyagi),Antigone (NAATCO), Masha No Home (E.S.T.), W;t (Florida Studio Theater), The First Picture Show (A.C.T.), A Christmas Carol (South Coast Rep), Sweeney Todd and Into The Woods (East West Players). Film and TV credits include: Children of Invention (Sundance 2009), Lady In The Water, Robot Stories, "Bored To Death," "White Collar," "Fringe," "Law and Order," "L&O:SVU," "L&O: Criminal Intent," "One Life To Live" and "Sex and the City". She holds an MFA from A.C.T.

NC Stage (Asheville, NC)
Fight Girl Battle World
by Qui Nguyen
January 19 to February 4, 2012

NC Stage Catalyst Series Production
This production IS included in Super FlexPass subscriptions! North Carolina Stage Company's Catalyst Series kicks off the new year with the award-winning sci-fi play Fight Girl Battle World, opening Thursday, January 19th and running through February 4th.

Set in a futuristic universe where the human race is on the brink of extinction, Fight Girl… is the story of E-V, the last human female in all the known galaxies, and her quest to stay alive in the face of an intergalactic government conspiracy. Accompanying her is a rag-tag team composed of an ex-military General, an alien spaceship pilot, and an overly sarcastic robot sidekick as they face the President of the United Galactic Alliance and his compatriots.

Fight Girl Battle World is directed by Charlie Flynn-McIver, Artistic Director and co-founder of NC Stage, and it stars many local actors seen on stage everywhere from UNCA and Warren Wilson College to Montford Park and NC Stage. Cast includes Rebecca Morris (last seen at NC Stage as Harper Pitt in Angels in America), Jake Bowden, Lauren Kriel, Bobby Abrahamson, Jessica Lewis, Alison Young, Bradshaw Call, Travis Kelley, and Jason Williams.

Written by Qui Nguyen, an artistic director of the Obie Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theater Company in New York City, the play was nominated for and won numerous awards at the 2008 New York Innovative Theater Awards.

Kumu Kahua Theatre (Honolulu, HI)
Saturday Night at the P'hala Theatre
A World Premiere by Lois-Ann Yamanaka
Adapted by John H.Y. Wat and Harry Wong, III
January 26 to February 26, 2012

John H.Y. Wat and Harry Wong adapt for the stage Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s collection of four novellas, told in verse by four teenage working-class narrators. Meet Tita, Girlie, Lucy, Kala, and other young women on the brink of adulthood, as they explore sexual awakening, family abuse, peer pressure, and identity. With humor, pain, and raw honesty, their voices come to life on Kumu Kahua’s intimate stage. This is sure to become another Kumu Kahua signature production.The winner of the Pushcart Prize, Saturday Night at the P?hala Theatre was Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s first major work and introduced the world to one of Hawai‘i’s bravest writers. This play contains strong language.

Kumu Kahua Theatre (Honolulu, HI)
Wilcox’s Shot
A World Premiere
By Sean T.C. O’Malley
January 26 to February 26, 2011

Robert Kalanihiapo Wilcox, the revolutionary-turned-politician, arrives in Washington as Hawai‘i’s first delegate to Congress in 1901. A man of action in a powerless position, Wilcox confronts some of the most famous names of the era as he grapples with his own role in shaping Hawai‘i’s future.
Wilcox’s Shot dramatizes the life of one of Hawai‘i’s most fascinating historical figures, at the dawn of the 20th century.

Yangtze Repertory Theatre (New York, NY)
Staged Play Reading Series #1
February 4, 2012

At Richmond Shepard Theatre
309 East 26th St. and 2nd Ave.

Presented by the San Diego Chinese Center
& Chinese Pirate Productions (San Diego, CA)
Golden Child
by David Henry Hwang
February 4 to 25, 2012

TICKETS ON SALE - http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/217810

Produced and Directed by Andy Lowe

SYNOPSIS
China, 1918. Eng Tieng-Bin is a wealthy merchant who's been away in the Philippines on business. His first wife Siu-Yong runs the household, clinging to the structure that tradition has brought them. Luan, the second wive craves the power that Siu-Yong holds. Eling, the lowly third wife, is young, sweet and truly in love with her husband.

When Eng returns to his village, he brings with him the influence of the West. He ushers in progress, first with household gadgets, then with new ideas and beliefs. He wants change – to have only one wife (a wife he's chosen for love) and an end to the Chinese traditions of foot binding. His most radical idea is to trade his culture's ancestor worship for Christianity, in so doing, he will be allowed to re marry his true love, his "third wife" as his ONLY wife.

Eng brings an English pastor into his home to instruct him and his family. Each wife has her own reaction to the proposed changes; all fear the impact of Eng's new beliefs. It takes tragedy for all in this family to learn that growth comes with a price. It is only his young daughter Ahn who is able to truly accept progress and move on. She is the "golden child" who can balance the loss and the gain.

WHY?
GOLDEN CHILD is a play that examines the politics of household power under the Confucian order. It is a story of cultures colliding as wants and needs fuel attachments to faith.

At the heart of the play are four very strong female characters that deconstruct and subvert the archetype of weak and submissive Chinese women within a polygamous household. These women are anything but subservient, kowtowing mistresses. The women of GOLDEN CHILD are smart, powerful, flawed, and human.

Additionally, the play takes the commonly examined cultural clash of "East meets West" and turns it on its head. Instead of seeing how an Asian cultural sensibility is contained, expressed and adapted within a western setting, we instead see how western values impact a family completely immersed within a classical Chinese household in the early 1900's.
With each character representing a different virtue, be it tradition, power, passion, idealism or hope, GOLDEN CHILD examines the politics of conversion.

Vancouver Asian Candian Theatre (Vancouver, BC)
V ACT's FUN FUNDS FUNDRAISER Karaoke Party
February 6, 2012

What better way to celebrate Lunar New Year with great eats and karaoke at VACT's FUN FUNDS FUNDRAISER Karaoke Party on Monday, February 6, 2012 at Toko's Restaurant!

Join us for an intimate dinner and party and help financially support VACT's exciting 2012 season: Theatre Lab Project, Comedy Night, Theatre Lab Stage Readings & more!

Battles, door prizes, karaoke king or queen! Cheap drinks! Set menu! Snack menu! So much fun for one night, we want you to join us! All for $25 or just come to karaoke for $15!

WHAT: VACT's FUN FUNDS FUNDRAISER Karaoke Party
WHEN: Monday, February 6, 2012
- Dinner is served between 5pm
- 6:30pm. Karaoke party 7:00pm - 11:00pm
WHERE: Toko's Restaurant - 223 West 7th Avenue, Vancouver (at Cambie/Main St)
PRICE: $25 + $1.50 s/c for dinner + karaoke; $15 + $1.50 s/c for just karaoke - did we say cheap drinks and great food?!
WHY: Because you want to show off your singing skills or cheer on your friends! Plus all proceeds go to VACT to help fund its 2012 season!

TICKETS: Can be purchased now online

Mu Performing Arts (Minneapolis, MN)
Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert
with guest artists Hanayui, Tiffany Tamaribuchi, and Megan Chao Smith
February 9 to 12, 2012
McKnight Theatre, The Ordway

Ma-Yi Theatre
Vampire Cowboys Theatre (New York, NY)
The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G
by Qui Nguyen
February 7 to March 4, 2012

East West Players (Los Angeles, CA)
Three Year Swim Club
by Lee Tunouchi
February 9 to March 11, 2012

Inspired by the true life story of Soichi Sakamoto, who trained the youth of Maui to swim in the plantation irrigation ditches on their path to becoming Olympic champions. Set on the island of Maui in the 1930's, this heartwarming play becomes transcendent as the art of hula becomes the metaphor for competitive swimming.

See News story.

Mu Performing Arts (Minneapolis, MN)
Mu Daiko Announces 15th Anniversary Concert and Minnesota Tour
February 9 to 19, 2012

Feb. 8 Preview ($18)
Feb. 9-12 (Mu Daiko)
Feb. 16-19 (Mu Daiko with guest artists)
Ordway Center's McKnight Theatre
Feb. 11 Family Matinee*

Mu Performing Arts presents Mu Daiko, Minnesota's foremost taiko drumming ensemble, as it returns to the Ordway Center to present its 15th anniversary concert. Starring Hanayui from KODO, including legendary Odaiko soloist, Yoshikazu Fujimoto. Also starring North American guest artists, Tiffany Tamaribuchi and Megan Chao Smith.

The first weekend of performances (Feb. 9-12) will feature Mu Daiko in concert. The second weekend (Feb. 16-19) will feature Mu Daiko along with special guest appearances including:

Hanayui from KODO: The top founders and artists from legendary group, KODO, come together to bring the best of Japanese taiko to the Minnesota stage. Long recognized as visionaries of the artform world-wide, Hanayui features three top female artists in traditional and fresh new performances of dance, drumming and song. Also featured is Yoshikazu Fujimoto, long-considered the best Odaiko performer in the world.

Tiffany Tamaribuchi: Grand Champion, 2002 All Japan Odaiko Contest. With her two signature strengths of power and form, Tamaribuchi was proclaimed by contest judges to have "a perfect hit." She brings 22 years experience touring and training professionally with several top companies and folk artists throughout Japan.

Megan Chao Smith: One of a handful of Americans to perform taiko professionally in Japan, Megan Chao Smith was the first foreigner ever to dance in the sacred Hana Matsuri festival in Aichi prefecture.

Families are invited to come to our special Family Concert on February 11, 2012 at 2:00pm. This program is specially priced and shorter in length. Plus kids get a chance to come on stage afterwards to try the drums!

Regular performance adult tickets range from $25-$35 (Children/students: $10) and can be purchased by calling the Ordway Center box office at 651-224-4222 or by visiting www.muperformingarts.org

MU DAIKO 15TH ANNIVERSARY MINNESOTA CONCERT TOUR
After the Ordway concert Mu Daiko and special guests will embark on a state-wide tour:
February 23, 2012 at A Center for the Arts in Fergus Falls, MN
February 25, 2012 at Sheldon Theatre in Red Wing, MN
March 1, 2012 at Grand Marais Playhouse in Arrowhead Center for the Arts, Grand Marais, MN
March 3, 2012 at The Reif Center in Grand Rapids, MN

Teada Productions (Los Angeles, CA)
Global Taxi Driver - staged reading
by Leilani Chan
February 11, 2012 @ 1pm

Place TBA

Pork Filled Players (Seattle, WA)
Spam*O*Rama
February 15, 2012

Seattle’s longest running sketch comedy group, the Pork Filled Players, enter the Year of the Dragon with a brand new Spam*O*Rama, Wednesday, February 16, 7:30 pm, at the Theatre Off Jackson (407 7th Avenue S., Seattle, WA).

Returning as PFP’s musical guest is chanteuse Jennifer O’Brien. Debuting as comedic partners in crime is the improv/sketch group of Drop the Root Beer and Run. Together, the trio are cooking up new baches of sketch comedy and cabaret, ranging from the curious case of the ghostly meows and the existential despair of three men in a tub.

Tickets are $10, and are online at http://brownpapertickets.com/event/221651.

Highways Performance (Southern CA)
Archipelago
by Denise Uyehara
February 17 and 18, 2012

ARCHIPELAGO is a new multidisciplinary work by critically-acclaimed performance artist Denise Uyehara in collaboration with award-winning visualist Adam Cooper-Terán. Through a nexus of video, monologue, music and ritual, Archipelago remixes ancient origin myths of Okinawa (Japan's southern-most islands) and the history of the Sonoran Desert's Yaqui River Valley, situating them in contemporary times.

Seattle Children's Theatre (Seattle, WA)
A Single Shard
Based upon the book by Linda Sue Park
Adapted by Robert Schenkkan
Used by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Copyright 2001 All Rights Reserved
February 23 to March 18, 2012

Ages 8 and up - a thought-provoking drama
Charlotte Martin Theatre

Newbery Award-winning author Linda Sue Park brings us a story of perseverance set in 12th-century Korea. Living under a bridge with his only friend, the crippled Crane Man, 12-year-old orphan Tree Ear seeks a better life for them both. After Tree Ear breaks a piece of master potter Min's work, Min grudgingly allows the boy to help with menial tasks in repayment, but never permits Tree Ear to try his hand at pottery. When the Emperor requests a sample of Min's exquisite pottery, Tree Ear volunteers to embark on the dangerous journey in hope of earning the master potter's respect.

Play Synopsis

A Note from Artistic Director Linda Hartzell:
Tree Ear is a role model for all of us. I hope everyone in our audience will come away from the performance with a greater respect for life and the power of possibility.

ASL Interpreted Dates:
Public - March 10 @ 2pm
Schools - March 6 @ 10am

In the Wings Dramashop: Saturday, March 3

Age Recommendation:
Ages 8 and up
The Newbery-award winning book makes a powerful performance about perseverance and potential. Homelessness, ethical questions, hardships and an emotionally charged story are most suitable for older elementary aged children.

Curriculum Connections: Honesty, Perseverance, Apprenticeship, Pottery, Loyalty, Respect, Poverty, Literature, Family

Mo'olelo (San Diego, CA)
How I Got That Story
by Amlin Gray
directed by Seema Sueko
February 23 to March 18, 2012

starring Brian Bielawski & Greg Watanabe

How do you survive the confusion of war?
An eager newspaper reporter from Dubuque travels to fictional war-torn "Am-bo Land" to cover the country, but the country ends up covering him. This fast-paced "nightmare comedy" asks: where is the boundary between historical fact and subjective experience? What is the human impact of war and the role of the media?

February 23 - March 18, 2012

fu-GEN (Toronto, Canada)
fu-GEN's annual fundraiser: Zombie Prom
February 25, 2012

Where: Canadian Stage's Rehearsal Hall (Berkeley Theatre)
When: Saturday, February 25th, 2012; doors and bar at 6pm, dinner at 6:30pm

Tickets: $40 with a tax receipt

It is just as you imagine: an undead celebration of Asian Canadian theatre in gaudy prom garb! There will be music, drinks, raffles, delicious food and amusing zombie-based activities including a live band, brain cupcakes, costume prizes, zombie movies, zombie cocktails, cotton candy, and yes, a zombie prom king and prom queen.

To get your tickets, talk to a fu-GEN staff or board member. You can also reach us by e-mail: contact Jenna Rodgers, Artistic Associate, at jenna@fu-gen.org

Performance Works (Vancouver, BC)
Confessions of The Other Woman
by Valerie Sing Turner
March 2 to 7, 2012

Confessions of The Other Woman, by Valerie Sing Turner shows March 2, 3, 4, 7, 2012 at Performance Works on Granville Island!

Synopsis of play: What would YOU do if you met your soul mate – and he was married? That's the question Eve, a 40-something Asian-Canadian woman, struggles to answer in Confessions of the Other Woman, a new play by Valerie Sing Turner, winner of the 2011 Enbridge playRites Award for Emerging Canadian Playwright.

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre (New York, NY)
Newworks Series
March 8 to April 8, 2012  At The West End Theatre

Stella Rising
Created and performed by Napua Davoy
March 8- 18, 2012 at West End Theatre (263 W. 86th Street)
A one-woman show, with 10 characters and original music ranging from jazz to opera.  A mother/daughter story of conflict, reconciliation, and loss to dementia spanning from the 60’s to the present. "Hawaiian paradise meets The Grapes of Wrath."

Baudelaire: La Mort
Conceived by Ernest Abuba, Shigeko Suga, Minouche
Directed by Shigeko Suga and assisted by Minouche
March 23- April 8, 2012 at West End Theatre (263 W. 86th Street)
A tri-lingual adaptation from Baudelaire’s poems, segmented from his masterpiece Les Fleur du Mal, Baudelaire is a theatrical staging fusing Butoh, Flamenco and French poetry featuring Ernest Abuba, Anna Gheesling, Minouche and Shigeko Suga and original music created and performed by Yukio Tsuji

Mu Performing Arts (Minneapolis, MN)
Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them
by Rey Pamatmat
March 16 to April 1, 2012
Mixed Blood Theatre

Mu will next join several theaters around the country in the world premiere of Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them by A. Rey Pamatmat. The gritty yet tender new drama tells the story of three children—Kenny, his friend Benji, and his little sister Edith—fending for themselves on a Midwestern farm after being all but abandoned by the adults in their lives. They are forced to face the pain and joy of growing up as their relationships evolve and the outside world encroaches on their makeshift family. Edith opens March 16 at Mixed Blood Theatre.

Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (Vancouver, BC)
13th Annual Asian Comedy Night -
Etch-Your-SKETCHOFF 4! -
Double Unlucky!
March 29 & 30, 2012

8pm nightly at the Roundhouse Performance Centre @ Davie & Pacific Blvd

Local Sketch Groups compete for the coveted Vancouver Rice Bowl and the Peoples' Choys Award.

Registration and Tickets will be announced March 1, 2012.

GENseng (Geneseo, NY)
Eye of the Coconut
by Jeannie Barroga
Directed by Kimberly R. Olsen
April 26 and 27, 2012 @ 7:00 pm
April 28, 2012 @ 2:00 pm

Black Box Theatre
SUNY Geneseo Campus, Geneseo, NY
Tickets $8.00

Please, AATR readers, find GENseng Geneseo on FaceBook and "like us"!

SIS Productions (Seattle, WA)
Sex in Seattle 20: Happily Ever After
by Kathy Hsieh
April 27 to May 26, 2012

Sex in Seattle is back one last time! Join SIS Productions for the grand finale of its popular hit theatre series! Don't miss the country's longest-running quirky romantic comedy about contemporary Asian American women, their lives and their loves.

Impact Theatre (Berkeley, CA)
Crevice
by Lauren Yee
May 3 to June 13, 2012

Impact closes the season with the world premiere of local rising star Lauren Yee's Crevice, directed by Impact Associate Artistic Director Desdemona Chiang (who also directed Yee's Ching Chong Chinaman in 2008). Unemployed, overambitious, and verging on 30, siblings Liz and Rob vow to build themselves brighter futures. Now if they only knew what that meant. But late one night, they discover something that may just give them the direction they need to finally grow up. Crevice—which features longtime Impact favorite Marissa Keltie and which is partially funded by a grant from PlayGround, where the play originated as a short—opens in May 2012.

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre (New York, NY)
Rangoon
A World Premiere Production Of A New Play
By Mayank Keshaviah
May 2012

Rangoon centers on the Patel family, who having lost wealth after a political coup in Burma, emigrates to the rural American south, and run a 7-11 store while in pursuit of the American Dream. This family of Indian immigrants must deal with seductions of American life, while trying to keep its heritage alive. This funny, tragic and quintessentially 21st century American story examines issues of cultural heritage, and social justice.

Yangtze Repertory Theatre (New York, NY)
The Chalk Circle
Adapted by Joanna Chan
from the 13th Century Yuan Dynasty Opera
May 2012

Directed by Christopher McElroen
Theatre for the New City, New York, NY

East West Players (Los Angeles, CA)
A Little Night Music
May 10 to June 24, 2012

East West Players' historic success of producing musicals by Stephen Sondheim continues with this Tony Award-winning seminal classic about love, marriage and infidelity inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night. A newly envisioned production not to be missed.

Kumu Kahua Theatre (Honolulu, HI
K?mau A‘e
A Kumu Kahua Revival by Alani Apio
May 31 to July 1, 2012

The Hawaiian Sovereignty movement, with its complexities and controversies, takes the stage in this powerful drama. Fresh out of prison, Michael Kawaipono Mahekona joins a group of activists on a mission to reclaim Hawaiian land. As the group splinters over whether to stand firm or compromise on its principles, Michael must decide how to stay true to what he believes. First produced in 1997, K?mau A‘e returns to Kumu Kahua, sharing its message with a new generation of audiences. This play contains strong language.

Teada Productions (Los Angeles, CA)
Refugee Nation
May 31 to June 24, 2012

REFUGEE NATION
Comes home after touring the country for 5 years!
by Leilani Chan & Ova Saopeng
Produced by TeAda Productions and The Latino Theater Company

Los Angeles Theater Center
514 S. Spring St
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Mu Performing Arts (Minneapolis, MN)
Into the Woods
music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
book by James Lapine
June 2 to 17, 2012
Loring Theater

Bootleg Theatre (Los Angeles, CA)
Going Green the Wong Way
by Kristina Wong
June 28 to July 15, 2012