| Pan Asian Rep to Honor Ako, Asian American Arts Alliance, & Lauren Yee at Art & Action Benefit Dinner on May 16 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 05:55 pm EDT 05/15/24 | |
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| PAN ASIAN REPERTORY THEATRE TO HONOR AKO, A4, AND LAUREN YEE AT ART & ACTION BENEFIT DINNER ON MAY 16 Participants Include May Adrales, Andrea Louie, Erin Quill, Leah Nanako Winkler, and Henry Yuk Pan Asian Repertory Theatre (Tisa Chang, Founding Artistic Director), a pioneering force in the advancement of Asian American theater since 1977, is set to honor actress Ako, service organization Asian American Arts Alliance (A4), and playwright Lauren Yee at its 2024 Art & Action Benefit Dinner. The festive event, which takes place on May 16 at the Golden Unicorn in Chinatown at 18 East Broadway, celebrates those who make a difference. Tickets are currently on sale at www.panasianrep.org. The benefit will be emceed by Erin Quill and Henry Yuk. Presenters include playwright Leah Nanako Winkler, who will salute Ako; Andrea Louie, former Executive Director of Asian American Arts Alliance, who will salute A4; and director May Adrales who will salute Lauren Yee. Pan Asian Rep's Art & Action Benefit dinner will begin at 6:00pm with wine and appetizers. A traditional Chinese banquet will follow at 7pm. The presentation of salutes will begin at 8pm. Proceeds from the event will support Pan Asian Rep's 47th millstone season which included the world premiere of Warrior Sisters of Wu. Individual tickets begin at $300 with tables of ten starting at $5,000, which can be purchased online at www.panasianrep.org/47th-benefit-dinner. Pan Asian Rep's Benefit Committee includes Tisa Chang, Abby Felder, Lucy Kan, Victor Kan, Dora Lu, Patricia Malone Chin, Lu Yu, Erin Quill, Mel Young, and Henry Yuk. Please visit www.panasianrep.org for additional information. About the Honorees Born in Japan and raised in Tokyo, Ako (honoree) is a former member of the world-famous Takarazuka Revue Company. Following a successful stage and television career in Japan, Ako moved to New York. She has appeared in films including SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS directed by Scott Hicks, a BBC-film called PRISONERS IN TIME with John Hurt, I ORIGIN, TOO TIRED TO DIE, SHADOW PLAY, DAITORYO NO CHRISTMAS TREE, NO RESERVATIONS and TWELVE directed by Joel Schumacher. Television work includes 30 ROCK, MERCY. New York Off Broadway productions include GOD SAID THIS,(Lucile Lortel award leading actress nomination), KENTUCKY, SUICIDE FORREST, SAYONARA, MOSCOWx6, SONG OF SONG OF SONGS, TAMAR OF THE RIVER, TEA WITH THE HAIKU GEISHA, TWO CITIES, TEA HOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON, A MAJORITY OF ONE, SHOGUN MACBETH, GASHRUM KOTWAL, Velina Hasu Houston's plays TEA and KOKORO.She was an Oregon Shakespeare Festival acting company member in the 2010-2012 seasons; she played Lady Asaji (Lady Macbeth) in ‘THRONE OF BLOOD' which transferred to BAM as a part of the Next Wave Festival, JULIUS CAESAR, LOVES LABOURS LOST, WHITE SNAKE and THE SEAGULL. Ako appears as Daiyoin in the popular FX series ‘SHOGUN.' The Asian American Arts Alliance (honoree) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring greater representation, equity, and opportunities for Asian American artists and cultural organizations through resource sharing, promotion, and community building. Since 1983, A4 has sought to unify, promote, and represent the artistic and cultural producers of one of New York City's fastest-growing populations. They are a diverse alliance of artists, organizations, and arts supporters who believe that working together as a pan-ethnic, multidisciplinary community is essential to nurturing the development of artists and arts groups. A4 serves as a thoughtful convener of the Asian American cultural workforce around issues of race, identity, and artmaking and provides a critical voice for this community. They are the only service organization in the country dedicated to the professional development of Asian American artists in all disciplines. www.aaartsalliance.org Lauren Yee's (honoree) CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND, with music by Dengue Fever, premiered at South Coast Rep, subsequent productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, City Theatre, Merrimack Rep, Signature Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and Jungle Theatre/Theater Mu. Her play THE GREAT LEAP has been produced at the Denver Center, Steppenwolf, Seattle Repertory, Atlantic Theatre, the Guthrie Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Arts Club, InterAct Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and Asolo Rep. Honors include the Doris Duke Artists Award, Whiting Award, Steinberg/ATCA Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award, Horton Foote Prize, Kesselring Prize, Primus Prize, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton, and the #1 and #2 plays on the 2017 Kilroys List. She's a Residency 5 playwright at Signature Theatre, New Dramatists members, Ma-Yi Writers' Lab member, and Playwrights Realm alumni playwright. TV credits: PACHINKO (Apple), INTERIOR CHINATOWN (Hulu), BILLIONS (Showtime), THE STERLING AFFAIRS (FX), SOUNDTRACK (Netflix). BA: Yale. MFA: UCSD. www.laurenyee.com About the Participants May Adrales (presenter) is a director, artistic leader, teacher and mother; she has directed over 30 world premieres. Her work has been seen most recently at Manhattan Theater Club (Qui Nguyen's "Vietgone" and "Poor Yella Rednecks" Felicia Anchuli King's Golden Shield ) Second Stage (Rajiv Joseph's "Letters of Suresh") Signature Theater, LCT3, MCC, Atlantic Theater Company, The Public Theater, WP, New York Theater Workshop, The Huntington Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Rep, Two River Theater Company, Milwaukee Rep and South Coast Rep. She was awarded the prestigious Ammerman Award at Arena Stage and Theater Communications Group's Alan Schneider award for freelance directors and finalist for the Zelda Fichandler SDCF awards. She is a Drama League Directing Fellow, Van Lier Directing Fellow, WP Lab Director, SoHo Rep Writers/Directors Lab and New York Theater Workshop directing fellow, TCG New Generations Grantee, SDC Denham Fellowship and Paul Green Directing Award. She served as an Associate Artistic Director at Milwaukee Rep; Artistic Associate at The Playwrights Center; Artistic Associate at The Public Theater; and Director of Artistic Programs and Artistic Director at The Lark. She serves on the board of Theater Communications Group. May has directed and taught at Juilliard, Harvard/ART, ACT, Fordham, NYU and Bard College. May has served on faculty at the Yale School of Drama and Brown/Trinity MFA program. MFA, Yale School of Drama. She is currently an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Theatre Program at Fordham University. www.mayadrales.net Andrea Louie (presenter) was Executive Director of the Asian American Arts Alliance, leading arts advocacy and cultural equity for New York City's diverse, pan-Asian, multidisciplinary cultural community. She is the author of a novel, Moon Cakes (Ballantine Books) and coeditor of an anthology, Topography of War: Asian American Essays (The Asian American Writers' Workshop). She has been appointed by Gov. Cuomo to the New York State Council on the Arts and the NYS Commission on National and Community Service. She was a board member for SMU DataArts, Poets & Writers, Bellevue Literary Press, and New Yorkers for Culture & Arts. She has served as a review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Joyce Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, EmcArts, and the Brooklyn Arts Council. She was a writer-in-residence for the National Book Foundation and has been awarded artist residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, Djerassi, Hedgebrook, and the Fundacíon Valparáiso in Spain. She is a member of the Asian American Writers' Workshop as well as the Asian American Journalists Association. She was an honoree of Leadership for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) in Los Angeles, and was an arts and community advocate honoree of the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre. Erin Quill (emcee) is a dual citizen of Australia and the USA. She holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University. She was an Member of the Original Broadway Company of TONY Award Winning musical, AVENUE Q. Other shows include DAVE, FLOWER DRUM SONG, KING & I, and many more. TV/Film includes- HBO's Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, HBO's The Other Two, Netflix's John Mulaney and the Sacklunch Bunch, CBS's The Blacklist, The Following, Nurse Jackie, Damages S2, and many more. Feature Films include The Mikado Project and Man On A Ledge Currently the short film she wrote, Queen Bessie's Gal, that is part of a larger film called ENTANGLEMENT which has appeared in over 30 film festivals including Cannes International Film Festival. It was individually a Semi Finalist in the London Indie Shortie Festival for Best Narrative International Shorts- it tells the story of her Great Grandmother in Australia. It is now On Demand in Australia on SBS television. Her blog, Fairy Princess Diaries is in it's 12th year of existence and most recently caused a casting change at The Met in their production of Turandot, where the roles of Ping, Pang and Pong were being danced by Caucasians. They have since adjusted to use the Asian heritaged dancers, according to audience members. Leah Nanako Winkler (presenter) is an award-winning playwright and TV Writer from Kamakura, Japan and Lexington Kentucky. Her plays include God Said This, Two Mile Hollow, Kentucky, Hot Asian Doctor Husband and The Brightest Thing in the World. Accolades and fellowships: Yale Drama Series Prize, Mark O'Donnell Prize from The Actors Fund and Playwrights Horizons, Audible's Emerging Playwrights Fund, Jerome New York Fellow at the Lark, Francesca Primus Prize, Peabody and a Steinberg Playwright Award . She's written for A24's Ramy, Love Life on HBO MAX, Schmigadoon!, among others. She is currently a co-executive producer and writer on Elsbeth. Upcoming: Crazy Rich Asians the musical. Henry Yuk (emcee) is a native New Yorker from Brooklyn. He has worked extensively with Pan Asian Rep (including "Yellow Fever", "Teahouse", "Yellow Is My Favorite Color"), as well as NAATCO ("The Cherry Orchard", "You Can't Take It With You", "Awake and Sing!") and Ma-Yi Theatre Co. ("The Square", "No Foreigners Beyond This Point"). He last appeared in "Gong Lum's Legacy" with The New Federal Theatre. His film work includes "Kundun" (directed by Martin Scorsese), "Brooklyn Lobster" (with Danny Aiello and Jane Curtin) and the cult classic "Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon". His TV work includes "The Sopranos", "Cosby", "Dellaventura", Marvel's "Iron Fist" and "Luke Cage", "Warrior" on Netflix and various Law and Order episodes. His most recent TV work was in Stephen Soderbergh's "Full Circle". www.henryyuk.com About Pan Asian Repertory Theatre Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, now celebrating its 47th season, was founded in 1977 by Tisa Chang and core artists at La Mama, with the help of the late Ellen Stewart, as a platform to break stereotyped casting and to broaden the theatrical vocabulary of American theatre. The company is a pioneer for artistic excellence and service—with annual Off-Broadway seasons, training, and play development— and praised by press, diverse communities, and the American theatre mainstream. 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 alums including 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. www.panasianrep.org |
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| Link | http://www.panasianrep.org |
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