Ma-Yi Theater to Stage Reading of PAPER DOLLS at Theatre Row Next Week

Ma-Yi Theater - one of the nation's leading companies dedicated to the development and performance of new works by Asian-American playwrights - will present a reading of the new play with songs, PAPER DOLLS by Philip Himberg on Monday, March 9 at 3:30 pm at The Acorn Theatre on Theatre Row (410 W. 42 St.) This industry reading is by invitation only with inquiries accepted at info@ma-yitheatre.org.

PAPER DOLLS comes to the U.S. having debuted in 2013 in London at the Tricycle Theatre, directed by Tricycle's artistic director Indhu Rubasingham, who will direct the March 9 reading in New York. The Tricycle production was a runaway, four-star hit in London, earning high praise from the London Times and The Guardian.

Judy Blazer (ME AND MY GIRL), Francis Jue (THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE), Joan Barber, Yuval Boim, David Deblinger, Ron Domingo, Pierre Epstein, Lauren Klein, Jason Liebman, Jake Manabat, Orville Mendoza, Ari Stacherl and Daniel Velasco comprise the cast that will perform in the PAPER DOLLS reading.

The reading is directed by Indhu Rubasingham, with musical direction by Vadim Feichtner.

A new play with songs, PAPER DOLLS is the story of five Filipino men who immigrate to Tel Aviv as private caretakeers to Orthodox and Chasidic men. Six days a week they are devoted nurses to their elderly charge, but on their day off, they fashion gowns from Israeli newspapers and become drag performers who sing Hebrew, Yiddish and English pop tunes. The play considers what it means to cross literal and figurative boundaries, create new families and search for a meaningful home in a shifting world. Mr. Himberg's play is based on the Israeli documentary film of the same name.

Philip Himberg is director of the Sundance Theater Institute.

The PAPER DOLLS reading is co-presented by Stanley Buchthal and Bob and Co. and is a revised version of the London production.

MA-YI THEATER COMPANY - whose world-premiere of Rehana Lew Mirza's play SOLDIER X begins performances Off-Broadway at HERE on March 24 - recently enjoyed great critical and popular success with its double-bill this fall of LIVIN' LA VIDA IMELDA and CHAIRS AND A LONG TABLE on Theater Row. The company won the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for its critically-acclaimed production of THE WONG KIDS IN THE SECRET OF THE SPACE CHUPACABRA GO! last season. Founded in 1989 and now celebrating its 26th anniversary season, MA-YI is a Drama Desk and OBIE Award-winning, Off-Broadway not-for-profit organization whose primary mission is to develop and produce new and innovative plays by Asian American writers. It is currently led by Ralph B. Peña (Artistic Director) and Jorge Z. Ortoll (Executive Director). Since its founding, Ma-Yi has distinguished itself as one of the country's leading incubators of new work shaping the national discourse about what it means to be Asian American today. Its numerous acclaimed productions include last season's BIKE AMERICA, JESUS IN INDIA, Qui Nguyen's THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G and SOUL SAMURAI (with Vampire Cowboys), Mike Lew's MICROCRISIS and the revival of Ralph B. Peña's FLIPZOIDS. Other productions include: RESCUE ME by Michi Barall, Lloyd Suh's AMERICAN HWANGAP and THE CHILDREN OF VONDERLY and THE ROMANCE OF MAGNO RUBIO. Through successful programs such as the Writers Lab, Ma-Yi emboldens a new generation of Asian American artists to voice their experiences, while developing a steady stream of quality new works by Asian American playwrights for its own performing repertory. New works developed at the Writers Lab have gone on to successful productions around the country, at such theaters as Victory Gardens, Laguna Playhouse, Long Wharf Theater, Woolly Mammoth, and the Actors Theater of Louisville, to name a few. Ma-Yi Theater Company productions have earned 10 OBIE Awards, numerous Henry Hewes Award nominations, a Drama Desk nomination for Best Play and the Special Drama Desk Award for "more than two decades of excellence and for nurturing Asian-American voices in stylistically varied and engaging theater." For more information, visit www.ma-yitheatre.org.

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