Photo Flash: First Look at Fordham University's SWOONY PLANET

New York, April 16, 2012 – MacArthur Genius Grant winner Han Ong's play "Swoony Planet" is closing Fordham University Theatre Program's "A Season of Cultural Revolution 2011-2012," which aimed at promoting cultural diversity through theater.  "Swoony Planet," preceded by Saviana Stanescu's "For a  Barbarian Woman," Pierre Beaumarchais' "The Marriage of Figaro," and Naomi Iizuka's "Anon(ymous)," will have its last weekend run from Thursday, April 19 to Saturday, April 21 at Fordham University's Pope Auditorium (113 W 60^th St. and Columbus Ave.). Mia Katigbak, artistic producing director for National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), directs.

"Swoony Planet" won the Kesselring Prize for playwriting in 1993. The play presents a lyrical story of Asian immigrants searching for missing family members, and seeking for happiness in all the wrong places in modern-day America.

Its cast includes Micha Green as Kirtana (an Indian single parent); Kalon Hayward as an airport security guard; Precious Sipin as Jessica (a Filipino social worker); Daniel Velasco as Artie (Jessica's son); William Yuekun Wu as Leoncillo (Artie's long-lost father); Harry Dreyfuss as a magician and Kumar (Kirtana's suitor); Paul Thode as a nursing attendant and Martin (Jessica's American husband); and Taylor Armstrong Purdee as bugle boy. 

For this campus-based production, Katigbak works with Kris Stone for scenic design; Isabelle Simone for costume design; Peter West for lighting design; Alex Hawthorn for sound design and composition; Deborah Gaouette for props design; and Sofia Montgomery for production management.

For tickets to "Swoony Planet," email fclcboxoffice@gmail.com. Ticket Prices: $15 for general admission, and $5 for seniors and students.

Photos by Rebecca Zoltowski