SPOTLIGHT ON...is rotating gallery of playbills, production stills, candid cast photos, book covers, reviews, costume and set renderings, actual text, rewrites from Elizabeth's exciting play-ography!!!
Please check back often!
A DIRECTOR/PLAYWRIGHT'S PERSPECTIVE...
FINDING AND DIRECTING NEW ACTORS -- AIN'T NO BIG THANG...
Coming in 2008...
Watch for "Tips n' Tricks -- How to find a Good Asian Actor"... an essay by Elizabeth Wong on the challenges of multi-cultural casting...
in "Notes From A Rehearsal," an online column written by playwrights on the theatrical process, published by the Playwrights Center of Minneapolis.
www.pwcenter.org/notesfromarehearsal
Congratulations Cast!!! Job Well Done!!! "Letters" Cast Wins Ensemble Acting Award -- American College Theatre Festival
"I personally attended a meeting of the Asian and Asian American students, and begged them to attend the auditions. Appealing to them to REPRESENT! And to demonstrate the depth and breadth of acting talent that no one thinks is out there. A direct appeal of interest, and a call to arms...this usually is a good tactic for finding hidden talent." -- Elizabeth
THE REVIEWS ARE IN!!!
"LETTERS IS REVOLUTIONARY"
"STRONG.....POWERFUL....GRIPPING" -- Sarah K. Whipple, Albany Student Press, Oct. 22, 2007
"Elizabeth
Wong's play "Letters to a Student Revolutionary" gives the sobering
events of the time a new stunning life...Wong, who also directs the
play, does a wonderful job creating complex characters and
communicating deep meaning."
"(Mieko)
Beyer deserves accolades just for being able to get through several
continous monologues without getting winded and still sounding
belieable. She is an American to the hilt, exemplified by her
mile-a-minute Valley Girl-speak and pop culture references...Though
Beyer's Bibi seems flighty at first, she is a revolutionary in her own
way. Beyer makes the character, who has a tough, pioneering spirit
under a shell of materialism, come alive."
"Despite looking like
a stereotypical school girl, (Miji) Jeong brings outstanding humor,
anger and energy to her role as revolutionary Karen."
"One weak
actor could destroy the blance of the entire show. Luckily, all of the
actors are strong. Each of the Greek-style chorus members, played by
Paul Park, Danny Oh, Josephine Park and Maxamillion Han, also have a to
play at least three different roles, some of which include speaking
another language. Josephine Park shines in the role of Bibi's
overbearing mother, while Paul Park is excellent as the love interest
of both young women. Oh and Han are most notable in the comical roles
of Karen's complex older brother, and her cat Debbie."
"While
the play, which runs for 90 minutes without an intermission, is strong
and edgy throughout, the last 15 minutes is particularly gripping. It
is a tense crescendo up to what the audience knows is inevitable...the
discussion of, "selective historical amnesia," in Communist China and
modern America strike a chord that is both unsettling and powerful."
New Actresses Mieko Beyer and Miji Jeong Chosen from "Letters" Cast to Compete in Prestigious ACTF/Kennedy Center National Irene Ryan Acting Competition
"On a campus setting, it's also good to reach out to non majors. Many times, Asian parents discourage their talented kids from majoring in the performing arts, calling it frivolous and a waste of their hardearned money. So I go to the education department, the psychology department, the engineering department looking for closeted Asian actors. In my Albany production, I cast a psych major, a biology major...and one actress who was a drop out from the theatre dept, frustrated by the lack of opportunities. Going outside the theatre dept. also brings a new audience and fresh energy, pluses all around." -- Elizabeth Wong
LETTERS TO A STUDENT REVOLUTIONARY
By Elizabeth Wong
This
powerful and disarmingly funny play is about friendship and political
awakening. Bibi Lee is a typical American teenager on a "back to your
roots" family vacation in China when she meets Karen, an idealistic
girl who wants to practice English. From this innocent chance
encounter, a charming and poignant 10-year correspondance begins, as
these two young women share their lives and loves, triumphs and trials
until their friendship is cut short by the June 1989 Tiananmen Square
uprising.
* World Premiere - Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, NYC * Commemorates the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. * Performed worldwide, including the Tokyo Brecht Festival, and the Singapore Arts Festival. * West Coast Premiere - East/West Players, Los Angeles. * Winner of the Theatreworks Award, Colorado Springs
*Cast: 3m, 3w (expandable cast. Multicultural casting) *Bare Stage with Props. *Running Time: 90 minutes. *No Intermission. *Licensed and Published by Dramatic Publishing Co, www.dramaticpublishing.com
"People are always asking how to bring new audiences to their theatres. The answer is easy, if you want an integrated multi-cultural audience, you have to consistently provide plays that reflect those audiences and their experiences. Otherwise, audiences are bored by more of the same ol' same ol'" -- Elizabeth Wong
Color production photos provided by Alexandra Baucage, "Letters" dramaturg and asst. stage manager. "It's important also to have a multicultural crew. I called upon Alex, for example, a native of Puero Rico, to help out with Spanish language in the play. Stage manager Cheryl Roundtree, our African-American dancer, helped out with choreography. These new actors had to learn two dialects of Chinese, Spanish; they had to sing the Chinese National Anthem in Mandarin and English; they learned tai chi, and they had to learn the "souljah boi" club dance. New actors tend to be a blessing, since they don't know when to be AFRAID!!!" -- Elizabeth Wong
COMING UP SOON ON SPOTLIGHT ...
PRODUCTION PHOTOS FROM "THE MAGICAL BIRD: FABULOUS FILIPINO FOLKTAIL"
CHECK BACK SOON!
CHINA DOLL Winner of the Petersen New Play Award/Fellowship
