Cast and Creative Team Announced for MEMORIAL World Premiere at Pan Asian Repertory Theatre

Launching its 46th Milestone Season, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre has announced as a tribute to the Chinese architect Maya Lin with deep respect for her courage and creativity, the titanic role of "Maya" will be played by two actors - Angel Lin and Nancy Ma - in alternation for the world premiere of Memorial by Livian Yah, directed by Jeff Liu, which is supported, in part, by a prestigious award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The cast of six will also feature Glenn Kubota as Hideo Sasaki, Rachel Lu as Julia Lin, Robert Meksin as Wolf von Eckardt, and James Patrick Nelson as Colonel James Becker.

The world premiere engagement is set to begin performances on Thursday, January 19, 2023 for a limited engagement through Sunday afternoon, February 19, 2023 at Mezzanine Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 West 53rd Street, west of 10th Avenue). Lunar New Year Opening set for Sunday afternoon, January 22, 2023 at 2:30PM.

The world premiere of the new play Memorial written by Livian Yeh surrounds Maya Lin, the 21-year-old architect who is forced to defend herself to veterans and the United States Congress when her "untraditional" memorial design was selected to commemorate Vietnam veterans on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Is democracy about compromise and working together?

"My first visit to D.C. was in 2015, and, on a lark, I went to the National Mall." stated playwright Livian Yeh. "Standing at the center of the National Mall, I was struck by how different the Vietnam Veterans Memorial looked from the other memorials. It was dark. It went underground. It presented the names of American casualties in the Vietnam War. When I discovered it was designed by Chinese American architect Maya Lin, who fought for her memorial despite fierce opposition from both the veteran community and the United States Congress, I knew I had to dramatize her story."

Director Jeff Liu added, "Most importantly, the play captures democracy in action, dramatizing the often painful nature of negotiation and compromise, which in this case resulted in one of the great works of American art."

The creative team includes Sets by Sheryl Liu, Costumes by Karen Boyer, Lighting by Victor En Yu Tan, Sound by Da Xu, Projections by Gregory Casparian, and Graphics by Brit Godish. The Production Stage Manager is Kristine Schlachter with Assistant Stage Manger Ingrid Pierson.

Memorial will play the following performance schedule: Tuesday - Saturday at 7:00pm; Saturday and Sunday at 2:30pm.

NOW ON SALE: Tickets for Memorial are priced at $60. Senior/Miliary/Student discounts available. $30 Rush Tickets are available at the Box Office 1 hour prior to the performance. Tickets may be purchased by visiting the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre website at www.panasianrep.org.

Tickets for Lunar New Year Opening on January 22 beginning at 2:30pm are priced at $80 that includes the reception following the performance.

GROUP SALES: Tickets for Groups of 10+ are priced $45. Reservations made be made by calling the Pan Asian office at (212) 868-4030, or via email to Victoria Linchong at vlinchong@panasianrep.org, or info@panasianrep.org.

The milestone 46th Milestone Season will also include the return of a Pan Asian classic for a limited benefit engagement to commemorate Asian Heritage Month (May 2023). Dates and location will be announced shortly and will culminate with the expanded annual 2-week play festival NuWorks 2023, an experimental series of self-created work from innovative artists exploring an eclectic range of genres and techniques using poetry, text, dance and music. The series begins Friday, June 2, 2023 and will conclude Sunday afternoon, June 18, 2023 at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street).

In the spring the company will gather friends and colleagues to celebrate and honor the memory of co-founding artistic director and award-winning actor Ernest Abuba. Date and location to be announced shortly.

For additional information, please visit the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre website at www.panasianrep.org, or via email at info@panasianrep.org.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Livian Yeh

(Playwright) is a writer based in San Francisco, CA. She's written for Reader's Digest, HowlRound, The Bold Italic, Hunker, and StarTrek.com, among other publications. Her plays have been developed at Pan Asian Rep, Company One, Fresh Ink, and Boston Playwrights' Theatre. She is an alumna of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and Rooted and Written at The Writers Grotto.

Jeff Liu

(Director) is a writer and director for theater, film and web, currently a Resident Dramaturge for the Ojai Playwrights Conference. He was the former Literary Manager for East West Players and was a member of the O'Neill National Directing Fellowship cohort of 2016. His productions include the LA premiere of Chinglish by David Henry Hwang, as well as the world premieres of The Brothers Paranormal by Prince Gomolvilas, Two Mile Hollow by Leah Nanako Winkler, The Chinese Massacre (Annotated) by Tom Jacobson, The Golden Hour by Philip W. Chung, Terminus Americana by Matt Pelfrey, and Texas by Judy Soo Hoo. He also adapted the Pulitzer nominated Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang for the YOMYOMF Network on YouTube. During the pandemic, he filmed Paletas de Coco by Franky D. Gonzalez for Ars Nova ANTFest and Latino Theater Company's Re:Encuentro 2021. His short film of David Henry Hwang's Trying To Find Chinatown played on Signature Theatre's SigSpace platform in May 2022.

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre

celebrating its 46th Milestone Season, is the most veteran Asian American theatre company on the East Coast. Tisa Chang founded Pan Asian Rep in 1977 at Ellen Stewart's La Mama ETC with the vision to promote equity and access that Asian Americans artists can equally follow, focusing on stories of probing social justice issues with distinctive Off-Broadway Productions, Tours, National Outreach, and Community Service.

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