National Asian Artists Project Announces Reading Series DISCOVER: NEW MUSICALS

National Asian Artists Project - NAAP announces the return of NAAP's Discover: New Musicals series, a one night only presentation of staged readings of new short or one-act musicals. The readings will be held on Monday, May 6, 2019 at 7:30pm at Theater 315 (315 West 47th Street - between 8th & 9th Avenues). This program complements NAAP's Rediscover series, in which casts of professional Asian-American actors perform classic or established works of the American musical theatre canon. The most recent production of the Rediscover series was Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods at The TimesCenter in October 2018.

NAAP's seventh Discover: New Musicals, went through a two-month process of evaluating a large and competitive pool of submissions. The three musicals selected for presentation are:

In _"Bethune"_, with book and music by Yan Li, Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune finds his passion and purpose renewed when he travels to 1930s China and aids the Communists in their struggle for liberation. Aided by his staff and local militiamen, he learns the price of belonging to two worlds and captures a glimpse of Mao's vision for the future.

Directed by Robert Lee. Featuring: Cassandra Hlong, Jiho Kang, Joey Ledonio, Tuan Malinowski, Brandon Mancuso, Mukta Phatak, Emily Su, Cindy Tsai.

"You, Me, I, We," with book and music by Jessica Wu, is an exploration of the crazy and chaotic way our minds work-the voices that direct our everyday actions, the ones that knock down those with harsh thoughts and lift us back up with a song.

Directed by Cassey Kivnick. Featuring: Shannon Ignatius Cheong, Adrianne Chu, Lynn Craig, YiWei Geng, Aubrie Knapp, Rebecca Lee Lerman, Celia Mei Rubin, Anna Stacy.

In "Zookeeper," with book and lyrics by Ellen Mairin Johnston and music by Emily Chiu, we find two very different young women, on a hitchhiking trip across America, get detoured on the Bayou where they're picked up by a local named Zookeeper.

Directed by Nina Zoie Lam. Featuring: Teresa Attridge, Heather Sawyer.

Tickets are $25 and may be obtained at www.NAAProject.org. For further information, please email discover@naaproject.org.

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