Zachary Noah Piser Will Lead Reading Of EASTBOUND Produced By New York Theatre Barn

To launch New York Theatre Barn's 12th season, the company will produce a reading of the new musical Eastbound on January 12th and 13th, 2019 led by Zachary Noah Piser (B'way: Wicked; Off-B'way: Sweeney Todd). With book and music by Cheeyang Ng (2018 Drama League Residency) and book and lyrics by Khiyon Hursey (2017 Dramatists Guild Fellow), Eastbound is the recipient of New York Theatre Barn's 2017 IMPACT Award.

Two worlds. Two cultures. One goal: Survival. As Chinese-American adoptee Calvin seeks out his birth family for a bone marrow transplant, unbeknownst to him, his biological brother, Yun, who grew up in China seeks to break free of his family's traditions. Their quests for their personal survival lead them to discover what it means to be a family. Told through the soundscape of a contemporary score amalgamated with traditional Chinese folk music, Eastbound is performed in English and Mandarin with a diverse cast.

Joe Barros (The Evolution of Mann, Bastard Jones, 2018 Drama League Residency) directs, with music direction by Justin Ramos, casting by Eisenberg/Beans Casting (Daryl Eisenberg, CSA?; Ally Beans, CSA), and the stage manager is Theresa Carroll. Additional cast members include Daniel Le, Cheeyang Ng (Tour: Vocalosity), Erin Leigh Peck (TV: Billions, Happy; Off-B'way: I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, Disenchanted), Xavier Reyes (Tour: Kinky Boots), Mandarin Wu, and Shuyan Yang.

Eastbound has been incubated and developed by New York Theatre Barn and Musical Theatre Factory over the past three years. During this time, the show received a NAMT Writers Residency Grant, was presented in Musical Theatre Factory's 4x15 series, and was in residency with MTF culminating in a workshop. The show has been featured in all of New York Theatre Barn's core programming platforms: New Works Series, Choreography Lab (led by choreographer Mandarin Wu), and its residency program.

New York Theatre Barn will offer two presentations on January 12th at 4PM and 7:30PM, as well as one presentation on January 13th at 6PM. The presentations will take place at the Black Box at Playwrights Horizons Downtown, located at 440 Lafayette Street in New York City. Those interested in attending the reading should contact Artistic Director Joe Barros: joe@nytheatrebarn.org.

Now in its 12th season, New York Theatre Barn is a Manhattan-based non-profit theatre company dedicated to incubating, investigating, and producing new musicals that tell untold stories. Theatre Barn's core programs include the New Works Series - exclusive pre-premieres incubating new musicals, the Choreography Lab - the only platform where choreographers and writers collaborate on movement for new musicals during incubation, and unique residency opportunities which recently resulted in a developmental production of the musical Sam's Room, inspired by true stories of nonverbal teens who find a way to communicate. For more information: www.nytheatrebarn.org.