American Hwangap Opens at The Wild Project (195 East 3rd St) In NYC. Trip Cullman directs an ensemble cast featuring some of the country's most accomplished Asian-American actors, including James Saito (TV's "Eli Stone" and Obie winner for DURANGO), Michi Barall (Charles Mee's QUEENS BOULEVARD), Mia Katigbak (DOGEATERS), Peter Kim (THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE), and Hoon Lee (YELLOWFACE). Runs 5/9-6/7
AMERICAN HWANGAP is Mr. Suh's comedy, set in a West Texas suburb where a Korean American family prepares for the return of the husband and father who left them 15 years earlier to go back to his native Korea. Having chosen to return to the U.S. to celebrate his "hwangap" -- the Korean expression for the traditional, much-revered milestone of one's 60th birthday -- patriarch Min Suk Chun sets off all manner of comic and heart-wrenching speculation and suspicion amongst his wife and grown children about the real reason for his homecoming. That one of them should end up sitting naked in a tree before the "hwangap" is concluded is just part of what makes this family reunion so memorable and unique.
Mr. Suh -- author of THE CHILDREN OF VONDERLY presented Off-Broadway by Ma-Yi Theater in 2007 -- notes that he was prompted to write AMERICAN HWANGAP as his family was preparing for his own father's "hwangap" in 2005, which coincided with the 60th anniversary of Korean Independence Day, a milestone not truly marked in a nation that still leaves families divided between North and South Korea.
AMERICAN HWANGAP opens in New York following its world premiere recently at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco about which Robert Hurwitt in the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Much of the humor and poignant impact of Suh's impressive new play resides in the lonely distances between every person onstage. 'Hwangap' (pronounced 'hwon-gap') is as refreshingly original in its point of view as in its quirky humor and affecting relationships." Subsequent productions, including an engagement at Tanghalang Pilipino in the Philippines, are slated for next year.
Mr. Suh's play is the first work to be presented as part of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's recent grant to the NY-based Lark Play Development Center that will "create a movement" around new plays by providing funding for successive multiple productions (including an international venue) of a new play.
AMERICAN HWANGAP has scenic design by Erik Flatmo, costume design by Junghyun Georgie Lee, lighting design by Paul Whitaker and sound design by Fitz Patton.
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