Tony Winner BD Wong Named Artist-in-Residence at La Jolla Playhouse

La Jolla Playhouse announces that Tony Award-winning actor BD Wong has been named the theatre's latest Artist-in-Residence beginning January, 2015.

This multi-month residency program is designed to give artists the freedom to focus on their ongoing body of work, while becoming fully immersed in all aspects of the institution, from the stage to the boardroom to the classroom. In addition to developing his own writing and directing projects, Wong will act as a representative of the Playhouse and participate in artistic planning, education and outreach activities, lead master classes at UC San Diego and serve as a community liaison for arts advocacy in San Diego, among other Playhouse activities.

"The Artist-in-Residence program bolsters the Playhouse's mission to serve as a more supportive and profound home for the important theatre artists of today and tomorrow," said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. "BD Wong has a long history with the Playhouse, and it is incredibly satisfying to offer him the resources to develop his own projects while further integrating him into the Playhouse community, with a special emphasis on both new musical development and education."

Wong is the second artist to be named Playhouse Artist-in-Residence. The program was initiated last year with the appointment of award-winning scenic designer and UC San Diego graduate Robert Brill.

BD Wong has appeared in La Jolla Playhouse's productions of The Orphan of Zhao and Herringbone and was a 2011 Playhouse Gala Honoree. He received the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World, Clarence Derwent and Tony Awards for his Broadway debut in M. Butterfly - an unprecedented achievement. Television credits include Law & Order: SVU, All-American Girl, Oz, And the Band Played On, Awake and HBO's The Normal Heart. Film credits include Jurassic Park, The Freshman, Father of the Bride, Seven Years in Tibet, Executive Decision, The Salton Sea and Mulan. Broadway credits include the revivals of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Pacific Overtures. Regional theatre credits include Herringbone (Williamstown Theatre Festival, McCarter Theatre). He is the author of the critically-acclaimed memoir Following Foo: (the electronic adventures of the Chestnut Man) (Harper Entertainment). He has been honored by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Asian AIDS Project, GLAAD, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, The Anti-Violence Project, Lambda Legal and Marriage Equality New York. He is a board member of The Actors' Fund and Rosie's Theater Kids. Upcoming acting projects include the films Focus (Warner Bros.) and Jurassic World (Universal), and a guest-starring role on NCIS: New Orleans, to air on CBS February 3. He is a San Francisco native and holds an honorary M.F.A. from American Conservatory Theatre. @BD_WONG.

The nationally-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including the currently running hit Jersey Boys, as well as Memphis, Big River, The Who's Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Farnsworth Invention, 33 Variations, Bonnie & Clyde, Peter and the Starcatcher, Chaplin: The Musical, Hands on a Hardbody and Side Show. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-art theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre. La Jolla Playhouse is led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg.

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