New York City hosts first-ever
NATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN THEATER FESTIVAL

25 U.S. theater companies and solo artists convene June 11-24

FULL SCHEDULE OF PARTICIPANTS AND PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCED

New York City hosts the first-ever NATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN THEATER FESTIVAL (NAATF) from June 11-24, 2007 when more than 25 Asian American performing arts companies and solo artists from across the U.S. convene for two weeks of performances at venues throughout New York City, including Abingdon Theatre, Asia Society, Culture Project, The Flea Theater, La MaMa ETC, Nagelberg Theater/Baruch PAC, The Public Theater, Theatre Row in Manhattan, West End Theater; Queens Theatre in the Park; Pregones Theater in the Bronx; and Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island. Tickets to NAATF events are $18-$20; and available by calling Theatermania.com at 212-352-3101 or (toll free) 866-811-4111; or online at www.NAATF.org.

A sampling of productions to be presented as part of NAATF includes William Finn's musical FALSETTOLAND, performed by the NYC-based National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO); Pan Asian Repertory Theatre's Off-Broadway production of TEA; Brooklyn-based Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company's LIVING DEAD IN DENMARK; East West Players' THREE FILIPINO TENORS from Los Angeles; New York-based Ping Chong & Company's UNDESIRABLE ELEMENTS; Los Angeles-based Kristina Wong's solo show WONG FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST; and New York's Ma-Yi Theatre Company's return Off-Broadway limited engagement of THE ROMANCE OF MAGNO RUBIO. See full schedule below.

The participating theater companies and solo artists in the NATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN THEATER FESTIVAL represent the tremendous diversity of the ever-growing Asian American population in the U.S.: From states including, California, New York, Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Arizona, and Minnesota, the works presented in NAATF reflect the writers' and performers' ethnic heritages from such countries as Cambodia, China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and of course, the United States.

The NATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN THEATER FESTIVAL was born out of a Theatre Communications Group (TCG) roundtable for theaters of color, after which, six of the top Asian American theater groups (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, East West Players, Ma-Yi Theater, the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), Second Generation, and Mu Performing Arts) decided to meet in June 2004 to discuss the state of Asian American Theater.

Lead sponsors of the Festival are Ford Foundation and JP Morgan Chase. Presenting sponsors are National Performance Network with funding from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Time Warner, with media sponsorship from the Village Voice and NYTheatre.com. The festival is sponsored in part with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

THE FIRST NATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN THEATER FESTIVAL runs June 11-24, 2007 at various venues throughout NYC. Tickets to NAATF events range from $18-$20; discount subscription packages are also available; call Theatermania.com at 212-352-3101 or (toll free) 866-811-4111. For additional information, visit www.NAATF.org.

NATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN THEATER FESTIVAL PARTICIPANTS:

ACCENT
Makoto Hirano & Roko Kawai (Philadelphia, PA)
ACCENT is a new dance-theatre collaboration between Japanese-American performance artists Makoto Hirano and Roko Kawai. Makoto and Roko share a "linguistic phenomenon" -- that while English is the language that they are most comfortable speaking, their Japanese holds no traceable accent or hint that they may not be a native to Japan. Through movement, dialogue, and humor, they explore the voice and language(s) of the body to ask, "how does my accent look?" This show is being presented on a shared bill with STRANGE RAIN by Marian Yalini Thambynayagam.
Dates: June 22 at 9:3; June 23 at 1:00 and 7:00; and June 24 at 4:30. Venue: Abingdon Theater

AND
Marcus Young (Minneapolis, MN)
In his solo work AND, conceptual artist Marcus Young makes theater unfamiliar by leading the audience on a quiet yet radical inquiry into the nature of performance. Like Zen text or the Book of Dao, AND is poetic, down-to-earth, elusive, and profound.
Dates: June 21 and 23 at 7:00; June 24 at 3:00 and 7:00. Venue: The Flea Theater

BIG HEAD: JAPANESE INCARCERATION DURING WWII AND THOSE PERCEIVED AS "THE ENEMY," POST 9/11
Denise Uyehara (Tucson, AZ)
BIG HEAD revisits the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II and considers current-day treatment of those perceived as "the enemy now" -- including Muslim Americans, Arab Americans, and South Asian Americans. Clay animation, video montage, text and movement evoke the winding path of collective memory and provide hope for the future.
Dates: June 12, 13 and 14 at 9:30. Venue: Theatre Row, The Kirk Theatre

CARRY THE TIGER TO THE MOUNTAIN
Pan Asian Repertory Theatre (New York, NY)
In 1982, Vincent Chin was beaten to death outside a Detroit bar by two unemployed auto workers. The men were fined $3,780. An American Story – a quest for justice.

Dates: June 20, 21, 22, 23 at 7:30; and June 20 and 22 at 2:00. Venue: West End Theatre

THE CASTE & THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT
Stir-Friday Night! (Chicago, IL)
A high energy, gut-busting sketch comedy revue, THE CASTE delivers a turbo boost of physical comedy and a cruise control view of political and social satire. SFN! cleverly weaves through musical numbers, monologues, choreographed bits, and satirical sketches at a lightning quick pace.
Dates: June 12, 13, 14 and 15 at 9:30 pm. Venue: Abingdon Theater; and June 17 (time tbd) at Queens Theatre in the Park

COOKING CON KARIMI CON CASTRO
kaotic good productions (Newark, CA)
"This is CNN meets the Food Network": Using the recipes as points of departure to talk about cultural collisions and complex political events occurring around the world, Cooking Con Karimi (Con Castro) is a humorous, audience interactive cooking show that challenges conventional notions of how we approach food, culture, and politics.. and the audience gets to eat free food that’s prepared live by chefs Mero Cocinero Karimi and Comrade Cocinero Castro.
Dates: June 19, 21 at 8:00 and June 20 at 2:00 and 8:00, Venue: Abingdon Theatre

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia, PA)
Part cabaret, part objet d'art, part truth or dare. In a night of all new 5-minute-or-shorter "speed plays" asking and addressing the question of what Asian America wants, F. Omar Telan and a rotating cast take you on a roller coaster ride of comedy, drama, serious reflection, and pure theatrical entertainment.
Dates: June 15 at 10:00; June 17 at 5:30; June 21 at 10:0; and June 23 at 10:00. Venue: LaMaMa ETC

FALSETTOLAND
NAATCO (New York, NY)
In 1998, Peter Marks wrote in the New York Times: "[NAATCO] has taken FALSETTOLAND, William Finn's lyrical paean to Jewish angst, with its aggressively Jewish New York sensibility and multiple references to gefilte fish, and recast it with Asian-American actors. Does the gambit work? Let's put it this way: You should be so talented." NAATCO presents this remount with Alan Muraoka, who directed in 1998, on board once again. Also from that company are Christine Toy Johnson and Jason Ma. Also featuring: Ben Wu, MaryAnn Hu, and Francis Jue.
Festival Dates: June 14 - 24. Times and venue TBD.

THE FEMALE HEART
Diverse City (New York, NY)
A story of hope and dreams deferred and the redeeming power of unconditional love.
Dates: June 16 at 8:00; June 17 at 2:00 and 7:00; and June 18 at 8:00. Venue: Theatre Row, The Clurman

FROM THE ASHES
Pangea World Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
From the Ashes explores the reality of what it means to be searching for home, for something to believe in, and for causes to live for. Using the immediacy of street theater as the idiom, From the Ashes explores the global question of migration and movement in a multi-lingual, physically charged performance with live music.
Dates: June 12, 13, 14 and 15 at 7:00. Venue: Abingdon Theater

FROM THE HEART: A CELEBRATION OF ASIAN & ASIAN AMERICAN WOMEN
Jude Narita (Marina del Rey, CA)
Jude Narita presents a celebration of Asian and Asian American women -- breaking stereotypes, creating true identity, surviving internment, cherishing family, and holding onto their dreams for the future. Memories and dreams mix with present. Embracing one's own heritage is like coming home. And ultimately, the women illuminate the universal similarities of us all. Presented on a shared bill with ON THIS ISLAND.
Dates: June 19, 20 and 21 at 7:00. Venue: Theatre Row, The Clurman Theatre; and June 17 (time tbd) at Queens Theatre in the Park

GUNS & TAMPONS: A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN I KNOW
Hanalei Ramos (Jersey City, NJ)
By staging poetic portraits of some of the most intimate moments in a woman's life, Hanalei Ramos challenges our limited definition of "violence against women."  Ultimately, the patchwork testimony of several individuals becomes the story of all women, and a compelling glimpse into a world of survival and strength.
This show will be presented on a shared bill with Living Memory/Living Absence by Anida Yoeu.
Dates: June 16 at 8:00; and June 17 at 3:00 and 8:00. Venue: Abingdon Theatre

HAPPY VALLEY
Mu Performing Arts (Minneapolis, MN)
In HAPPY VALLEY, playwright Aurorae Khoo sets the play amid the tremendous turmoil of 1997 as Hong Kong returns from British rule to Mainland Chinese control. Through the charming prism of a young girl, Tuppy and her uncle, Khoo explores racism between Asian ethnic groups, the struggles of adolescence, and the life-changing nature of emigration.
Dates: June 22 at 8:00; June 23 at 3:00 and 8:00; and June 24 at 5:00. Venue: Theatre Row, The Clurman Theatre

THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA
NAATCO (New York, NY)
NAATCO remounts its highly acclaimed 2000 production of Federico García Lorca's play about a repressive and tyrannical mother, which was finished just months before his assassination. THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA was selected by the Village Voice as one of the best shows of the 2000 season.
Festival Dates: June 12 - 24(times tbd). Nagelberg Theater at the Baruch Performing Arts Center

I LAND
Ma-Yi Theater Company (New York, NY)
Keo Woolford's new play weaves together hula, hip-hop, traditional Hawaiian story talk, and spoken word in a semi-autobiographical journey that navigates the many worlds where hula lives: from backyard parties to Hollywood kitsch to the realm of the sacred. Produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company, I LAND is co-commissioned in cooperation with Asia Society and Diverse Work Space.
Festival Dates: June 20, 21, 22, and 23 at 8:00; June 24 at 3:00. Venue: Culture Project. (Tickets to this Off-Broadway production are $25-38).

KOREAN BADASS
Asian American Theater Company (San Francisco, CA)
Everybody has a dream… His is to be the first Asian Steve McQueen. KOREAN BADASS is a hellbent-for-leather, balls-to-the-wall solo performance by Stevie Lee Saxon and directed by Jeannie Barroga.
Dates: June 14, 16, 22 and 24 at 10:00. Venue: LaMaMa ETC

LEE/GENDARY
Soomi Kim (New York, NY)
LEE/GENDARY is the deconstruction of an icon; a hallucinatory walk through the landscape of Bruce Lee's mind the moment before he dies. This unique gender-bending performance reflects Lee's drive to defy definition, by fluidly integrating text, live original music, video, and an explosive hybrid of martial arts, dance, and acrobatics.
Dates: June 19, 20, 21 at 9:30. Venue: Theatre Row, The Clurman Theatre; and June 17 (time tbd) at Queens Theatre in the Park

LIVING DEAD IN DENMARK
Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company (Brooklyn, NY)
Living Dead in Denmark is an action-adventure/horror sequel to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. All the world’s a stage…and this one’s covered in blood and zombies!
Dates: June 12, 13, 14, 15 at 8:00. Venue: Theatre Row, The Clurman Theatre

LIVING MEMORY/LIVING ABSENCE
Anida Yoeu Ali (Chicago, IL)
LIVING MEMORY/LIVING ABSENCE is an exploration of memory and exile, and the pain of these experiences within the bodies of genocide survivors. In this interdisciplinary piece Anida Yoeu Ali performs poetry with movement inspired by Butoh set against a video and sound backdrop of her memories in Cambodia.
This show is being presented on a shared bill with Guns & Tampons by Hanalei Ramos.
Dates: June 16 at 8:00 and June 17 at 3:00 and 8:00. Venue: Abingdon Theater

ON THE ISLAND
Jump Start Performance Company (San Antonio, TX)
Have you ever imagined yourself alone, abandoned in a God-forsaken spot in the middle of an ocean? On the Island is a chilling, enigmatic tale of imprisonment without trial, framed and punctuated with aerial dance.
This show is being presented on a shared bill with FROM THE HEART by Jude Narita.
Dates: June 19, 20 and 21 at 7:00. Venue: Theatre Row, The Clurman Theatre

PARANG SABIL
New World Theater (Amherst, MA)
PARANG SABIL by Kinding Sindaw will be presented by New World Theater. A multimedia performance about the U.S. military occupation of Mindanao in the Philippines, presented through the staging of a traditional epic poem and the writings of Mark Twain. Kinding Sindaw is a dance-theatre troupe grounded in the indigenous forms of the southernmost island of the Philippines, Mindanao.
Dates: June 19, 20 and 21 at 7:00; and June 20 at 1:30. Venue: Theatre Row, The Kirk

RAMBLE-ATIONS: A ONE D'LO SHOW
D'Lo (Santa Monica, CA)
Born Gay into a Tamil-Sri Lankan Hindu family and raised by Hip Hop. "Gay Hindu Hip Hop-These 3 things make me but don't allow for one another. This is my attempt at fusing these elements of my being (and my imaginary friends) onto the stage."
Dates: June 18, 19, 20, 22 at 7:00; and June 23 at 3:00. Venue: The Flea Theatre

REFUGEE NATION
TeAda Productions (Santa Monica, CA)
Collaborators Leilani Chan and Ova Saopeng have collected poignant and gripping first-hand accounts from Laotian refugees trying to create a future while their descendants struggle to understand their past. Through theatre, dance and poetry, these artists have created an interdisciplinary theatrical experience that illuminates the plight of displaced peoples and cultures worldwide.
Dates: June 22 at 7:00; June 23 at 3:30 and 9:30; and June 24 at 2:00. Venue: The Abingdon Theatre

REPLACED RITUALS - EXCERPT REMEMBERED RHYTHMS
Courtyard Dancers (Wynnewood, PA)
REMEMBERED RHYTHMS is part of the Replaced Rituals project, a contemporary dance theater piece that gives voice to migratory rituals of the South Asian diaspora. This work integrates classical dance styles of India with pedestrian movements, tabla, and drum kit to explore a new expression of displacement. This semi-autobiographical piece addresses the complex relationship of an immigrant's experience to her past that is embedded in bodily memories.
This show will be presented on a shared bill with Big Head by Denise Uyehara.
Dates: June 12, 13, 14 at 9:30 pm. Venue: Theater Row, The Kirk Theater

THE ROMANCE OF MAGNO RUBIO
Ma-Yi Theater Company (New York, NY)
THE ROMANCE OF MAGNO RUBIO is the OBIE Award-winning story of heartache and dreams. Set in the central valleys of California in the 1930's, the play tells the tale of Magno, a short Filipino migrant worker who longs for love. Cast includes JoJo Gonzales and Paolo Montalban (who starred as Prince Charming in "Cinderella" with Brandy and Whitney Houston).
Festival Dates: June 11-17; Tuesdays-Saturdays at 8pm; Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm. Venue: Culture Project. (Tickets to this Off-Broadway production are $25-$50).

THE SPOKEN WORLD
Youth Speaks, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
The Spoken World is a journey into memory and the grotesque body as experience in the lives of five Bay Area 20-something year old.
Dates: June 19 and 21 at 9:30, June 20 at 4:00 and 9:30. Venue: Theatre Row, The Kirk Theatre

STRANGE RAIN
Marian Yalini Thambynayagam (Brooklyn, NY)
STRANGE RAIN blends spoken word, theater, movement, song, and video in a haunting journey that unearths hidden wounds within Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.
This show is being presented on a shared bill with ACCENT by Makoto Hirano and Roko Kawai
Dates: June 22 at 9:30; June 23 at 1:00 and 7:00; and June 24 at 4:30. Venue: Abingdon Theatre

TEA
Pan Asian Repertory Theatre (New York, NY)
Four women gather to remember a friend, Himiko, after she kills her abusive American husband and herself. Her friends, also war brides, meet at her house to drink tea, comb through Himiko's life and consider their own.
Festival Dates: June 11- 17, 2007; Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8:00; Sundays at 3:00. Venue: West End Theatre.
(Tickets to this Off-Broadway production are $20-40).

TELEMONGOL
18 Mighty Mountain Warriors in collaboration with Lodestone Theatre Ensemble, Cold Tofu & OPM
(Glendale, CA)
This sketch comedy performance tells the story of AHOLE-TV (Asia Home of Language Entertainment), a fictional Asian American cable network with a mission to create programming by and for the Asian Pacific American community.
Dates: June 22 at 7:00, June 23 at 4:00 and 9:00 and June 24 at 4:00. Venue: Theatre Row, The Kirk Theatre

THREE FILIPINO TENORS
East West Players (Los Angeles, CA)
Coming from different yet similar musical backgrounds, Antoine Reynaldo Diel, Randy Guiya, Lito Villareal, known as the THREE FILIPINO TENORS blend their voices and talents to create an autobiographical musical program full of variety, beauty and heart.
Dates: June 12, 13, 14, 15 at 7:00. Venue:  Theatre Row, The Kirk Theatre
*Special Encore Performance: June 17, 3:00 at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center

U-HAULS, BRIDESMAIDS & BACKWARDS MOUNTAIN
Regie Cabico, Aileen Cho (New York, NY)
Two downtown spoken words veterans present a new triptych.
Dates: June 12, 13, 19, 20 at 8:00. Venue: LaMaMa ETC

UNDESIRABLE ELEMENTS
Ping Chong & Company (New York, NY)
Created by theatrical innovator Ping Chong, UNDESIRABLE ELEMENTS is a powerful exploration of the Asian-American experience in New York through an interview-based theater work. A chamber piece of storytelling, the performance features real people telling their personal experiences of creating cultural identity out of a rich and complex heritage.

Dates: June 14, 8:00. Venue: Pregones; and June 15 at 8:00 at Asia Society

WONG FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
Kristina Wong (Los Angeles, CA)
Incisive writer and performer Kristina Wong mixes sharp humor and shaky psychology in WONG FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEXT, an absolutely-not-autobiographical, serio-comic quest for a cheap fix to eradicate depression, anxiety and all-out neuroses.
Dates: June 16 at 8:00, June 17 at 3:00 and 7:00; and June 18 at 7:00. Venue: Theatre Row, The Kirk Theatre

VENUES
Abingdon Theatre: 312 West 36th Street
Asia Society: 725 Park Avenue
Culture Project: 55 Mercer Street
The Flea Theater: 41 White Street
La MaMa ETC: 74 East 4th Street
Nagelberg Theater/Baruch PAC: 55 Lexington Avenue
The Public Theater: 425 Lafayette Street
Theatre Row's Kirk and Clurman Theatres: 410 West 42nd Street
West End Theater: 263 West 86th Street
Queens Theatre in the Park: Flushing Meadows /Corona Park in Queens
Pregones Theater in the Bronx: 571-575 Walton Avenue in the Bronx
Snug Harbor Cultural Center: 100 Richmond Terrace (at Snug Harbor Road) on Staten Island

In conjunction with the first-ever NATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN THEATER FESTIVAL, additional independent arts events are happening throughout the city. These include: Desipina in participation with the Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 DAYS/365 PLAYS PROJECT; Fred Ho's DRAGON VS. EAGLE: ENTER THE WHITE BARBARIANS! at the Apollo Theater; Fluid Motion Theatre & Film's GOLDEN FLEECE PROJECT by Mronalini Kamath at Cherry Lane Studio Theater; Second Generation's MADE IN TAIWAN, starring screen actor Michelle Krusiec; May Nazareno's CABARET PAMANA AKO at the Duplex; Marisa Marquez' SAMPAGUITA at 45th Street Theatre; Sita Mani's SCARAB TALE at Dharma Road; and Rich Kiamco's UNACCESSORIZED at Under Saint Mark's Theatre; and other exciting events, TBA.

For additional information and updates, please visit www.NAATF.org.