Pan Asian Rep to Host 2017 Arts & Action Gala Tomorrow

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre will host a one-night only special event celebrating the upcoming season with the 2017 Arts & Action Gala Dinner on Thursday evening, November 9, 2017 at The Golden Unicorn Restaurant in Chinatown (18 East Broadway at Catherine Street).

The 2017 Arts & Action Honorees are Ron Nakahara (Actor/Director), Andrea Louie (Art & Community Advocate), and a Special-In-Memoriam tribute to Edward Sakamoto, whose plays were produced at Pan Asian Rep (Yellow Is My Favorite Color, Manoa Valley, Life of The Land, Aloha Las Vegas, and Fishing for Wives).

The evening will be co-hosted by veterans Erin Quill (Avenue Q, The King & I, and her blog "The Fairy Princess Diaries") and Henry Yuk (Teahouse, Yellow Fever, You Can't Take It with You). Presenters include Raul Aranas, (Miss Saigon, The King & I), and Joe Choi (Vice President of Goldman Sachs). The Co-Chairs for the event are Bea Soong and Henry Yuk.

The festivities will begin at 6:00 p.m. with wine and appetizers and a sit down Chinese Banquet (Peking Duck, and traditional delectable treats) at 7:00 p.m., followed by the presentations Co-hosted by Erin Quill and Henry Yuk. Individual tickets begin at $150 and sponsorship tables begin at $2,500. For additional information on Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, or to purchase tickets, visit www.panasianrep.org, or via email at info@panasianrep.org. or by calling (212) 868-4030.

Ron Nakahara is an Hawaiian born actor & director. Credits include Ping Pong, Romeo & Juliet (The Public Theatre); Ching Chong Chinaman, Rashomon, Empress of China, The Three sisters (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre); Earth and Sky (Second Stage); Danton's Death Mama E.T.C.); The School for Wives (NATCO); Wild Swans (Young Vic ); Snow Falling on Cedars, The Merchant of Venice (Hartford Stage Co.); Comedy of Errors (The Shakespeare Theatre, D.C). Film credits include Isn't It Romantic, The Wolf of Wall Street, Sleepwalk With Me. He can currently be seen as Hirochi in Netflix's "Daredevil Season 2." Other TV credits include "Madam Secretary," "Elementary," "Law & Order," "Hawaii 5-O."

Andrea Louis, executive director of the Asian American Arts Alliance, leading arts advocacy and cultural equity for New York City's diverse, pan-Asian, multidisciplinary cultural community. She is the author of a novel, Moon Cakes (Ballantine Books) and co-editor of an anthology, Topography of War: Asian American Essays (The Asian American Writers' Workshop). She was featured in the 2016 Mandarin Leader Magazine and was 2016 honoree for Leadership for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) in Los Angeles.

In Memoriam: Ed Sakamoto, whose plays were produced at Pan Asian Rep include Fishing For Wives, Yellow is My Favorite Color, Manoa Valley, The Life of the Land, Aloha Las Vegas, and career spanning five decades. His plays have been staged in various venues, including East West Players in Los Angeles, Kumu Kahua Theatre in Hawai'i. In 1998 Sakamoto received the Hawai'i Award for Literature, the highest literary honor presented by the Hawai'i State Council in a special ceremony at the Hawai'i State Capitol. He received Po'okela Theater Awards for Aloha Las Vegas and Our Hearts Were Touched with Fire.

The evening will benefit Pan Asian Repertory Theatre's 41st Milestone Season that will include the world premiere of Daybreak a new play by Joyce Van Dyke that will bring attention to Armenian-American history, inspired by the true stories of two women friends, survivors of the Armenian genocide and carries the story of these women into the 21st century future to celebrate the endurance of the human spirit. Performances are set to begin April 21, 2018 for a limited engagement through May 13, 2018 at the Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row.

The season also includes the return of the iconic NO-NO BOY written by Ken Narasaki. DC Metro Theatre Arts says, "NO-NO BOY is an extraordinary and essential play... I can only urge everyone who cares about how theater connects to this country's past and future to catch Pan Asian Rep's NO-NO BOY wherever whenever you can." Performances are set to begin February 8, 2018 for a limited run through February 18, 2018 at Studio Theatre of Theatre Row. For more information on programming, visit www.panasianrep.org.

Tisa Chang (Pan Asian Rep Founding Artistic Producing Director) has led the company since inception promoting stories seldom told and voices seldom heard. She is theatre professional for 5 decades as actor, dancer director and highlights include: 2015's Sayonara; 2007'sThe Joy Luck Club, intercultural epic Cambodia Agonistes which toured nationally and to Cairo and Johannesburg, Kwatz! The Tibetan Project, and Rashomon which was invited to Havana Theatre Festival in 2003. She innovated premieres, in English and Mandarin Chinese of the Peking opera, Return of the Phoenix, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, founded in 1977 by Tisa Chang, is the East Coast's first Asian American theatre dedicated to providing a professional forum to Asian American and diverse artists where she used Artistry in Action to counter stereotyped casting, and to broaden the theatrical vocabulary of American theatre.

Pan Asian Rep has opened doors for many who enjoy careers in film, television and on Broadway. The company has been invited to many international theater festivals including Edinburgh, Singapore, Cairo and Johannesburg. As noted by Variety Magazine, "....the aesthetic mission and professional chops of the Pan Asian Repertory Theater are admirable." The company is regarded as a pioneer for artistic excellence and service - with an Off-Broadway Season, Training/Outreach, Play Development- and is recognized by diverse communities, press and the American theatre mainstream. Mel Gussow of The New York Times described it as "A Stage for All the World of Asian -Americans" and wrote that "Before Pan Asian Rep, Asian Americans had severely limited opportunities in the theater..." In 2017 TCG named Tisa Chang as a one of nine Legacy Leaders.

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