Mu Performing Arts Opens YELLOW FACE at the Guthrie, 2/6

The Guthrie and Mu Performing Arts today announced that actor Randy Reyes will star in the Mu production of the Obie Award-winning play YELLOW FACE by David Henry Hwang, directed by Rick Shiomi. The production, proudly presented by the Guthrie, marks the second of three works by Hwang - all of which feature Reyes in leading roles - to be presented in the Twin Cities during the 2009-10 season. Reyes' performance as DHH, Hwang's alter-ego in YELLOW FACE, is bookended by his appearance in Mu's recent production of Hwang's new adaptation of FLOWER DRUM SONG, and his upcoming appearance as Song Liling in the Guthrie's production of M. BUTTERFLY.

Mu Performing Arts' production of YELLOW FACE previews February 4 and 5, opens February 6 and continues through February 21 in the Dowling Studio at the Guthrie. Single tickets range from $18 to $30, and are available from the Guthrie box office at 612-377-2224 or online at www.guthrietheater.org.

This comic, head-spinning story - in which mistaken racial identities collide with family, media, and politics - earned Hwang his third Obie Award in 2008 and made him a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Incorporating elements of his artistic and personal life, YELLOW FACE begins as DHH (Reyes), fresh from the success of his Tony Award win for M. BUTTERFLY, publicly protests the casting of a Caucasian actor in a Eurasian role in the original production of MISS SAIGON. The play spirals into a dizzying mix of autobiography and fantasy, as DHH accidentally creates his own nemesis, an actor named Marcus (Matt Rein), who responds in the extreme after being mistakenly cast and then replaced by a less racially-ambiguous actor in DHH's failed response to the Miss Saigon controversy, a play called Face Value. As years pass, Marcus follows DDH as he navigates the relationship with his father (Kurt Kwan), government investigations, and a sea of media debate that stirs up questions of what it means to be Asian and what it takes to be American.

The cast of YELLOW FACE also includes Kurt Kwan, Erika Crane, Don Eitel, Kim Kivens, Allen Malicsi, Rose Tran and Wade Vaughn. The creative team includes Joe Stanley (Set Design), Wu Chen Khoo (Lighting Design), Cana Potter (Costume Design), Forest Godfrey (Sound Design), and Lisa Smith (Stage Manager).

Mu Performing Arts is the third largest pan-Asian performing arts organization in the U.S., and is home to Theater Mu, an Asian American theater company, and Mu Daiko, a Japanese taiko drumming group. Founded in 1992, Mu has come to be known for it unique blending of Asian and Western artistic forms in the expression of Asian and Asian American stories and music.

Mu Performing Arts presents four shows annually - three mainstage Theater Productions and one mainstage Mu Daiko concert. Artist development festivals, including New Eyes, New Faces and Passing the Beat: A Student Taiko Recital, give experience to emerging directors, actors, playwrights and taiko students, and Mu taiko classes serve approximately 200 students between the ages of 8 and 65 annually. Mu's outreach programs and performances bring theater and taiko performances and residencies to schools, colleges, community organizations, and corporations throughout the upper Midwest. For more information, call 651.789.1012 or visit www.muperformingarts.org.

The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened a new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006.

The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.guthrietheater.org.

 

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