Lia Chang: Snowboarder Suzen Murakoshi to Debut Tale of Unconditional Love at Calgary Fringe Festival, 7/29-8/5

Snowboarder Suzen Murakoshi

Suzen Murakoshi kicks it up a notch with her solo show, Breathe Love Repeat: a Near Life Experience. Photo by Anya Garrett.

New York based actor, playwright, and snowboarder Suzen Murakoshi kicks it up a notch with her solo show Breathe Love Repeat: a Near Life Experience, a true story written and performed by Ms. Murakoshi, and directed by Obie (Off-Broadway) award winner Ching Valdes-Aran, which is part of the exciting lineup at the 2011 Calgary Fringe Festival. Performances for Breathe Love Repeat: a Near Life Experience, are at Venue 1008, 1008 14th Street, SE. in Calgary from July 29-August 5, 2011. Tickets are $10-$14, and are available as of July 1st at www.calgaryfringe.ca//

A “Samurai Super Daughter” struggles with her mother at the crossroads between East and West to affirm life between this world and the next. With warmth and humour, Breathe Love Repeat: a Near Life Experience tells the story of the last days in the life of a mother and daughter. This uplifting and life affirming show travels from the mountains of Japan to the islands of Hawaii. Delightful in its simplicity, and memorable in its expression, Ms. Murakoshi brings the clarity of life into focus by bringing us closer to the end.

Suzen Murakoshi is a veteran of Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theatres. Her favorite roles include “Juliet” in Romeo and Juliet at the Cleveland Playhouse and “Connie” in A Chorus Line on Broadway. Together with Obie award winner, Ching Valdes-Aran, Ms. Murakoshi has performed her own past work at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where she was short-listed for Best Actor for her role as “Helen” in Slippery When Wet (SWW). She has appeared in the films Bill Murray’s Quick Change, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street and Mario Van Peebles’ New Jack City.

Ms. Murakoshi received an MFA from the NYC New School of Drama in Playwriting and Acting. She also attended Oxford University, Balliol College, with the British American Drama Academy. Her work has been produced at the Penumbra Theatre in Minneapolis, MN to critical acclaim.

Other produced plays include Slippery When Wet at La MaMa Experimental Theatre, Sisters at Circle in the Square Downtown, NYC. Her short play, Dunno, Gotta Go was accepted and given a reading at the Edward Albee Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska, 2004.

Ms. Murakoshi has worked with the 52nd Street Project in New York City for many years as a writer, actor and director. While there, she co-wrote short plays with ‘Genius Award” fellow, Willie Reale as well as having been directed as an actor by Oscar winner Frances McDormand.

In 2007, Ms. Murakoshi was awarded a Mayoral Proclamation from Michael Bloomburg and the City of New York for her work with the Kids Project where she is the Artistic Director. The Kids Project performs free shows for the NYC area with a target audience of 90,000 children and adults annually.

Where:
Venue 1008
1008 14th Street, SE.
Calgary, AB T2G 3K3.
Canada

When:
Friday, 7/29: 10pm
Sat., 7/30: 8pm
Sun., 7/31: 6pm
Mon., 8/1: 10pm
Thurs., 8/4: 6pm
Fri., 8/5: 4pm

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Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden. Lia currently plays Nurse Lia on “One Life to Live”. She has appeared in Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and “New York Undercover”.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space are in the newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.

Lia Chang: Suzen Murakoshi Stars in Breathe Love Repeat at Studio Theatre

Suzen Murakoshi Photo by Ron Rinaldi

Breathe Love Repeat, written and performed by Suzen Murakoshi (Edinburgh Fringe, Short List for Slippery When Wet), and directed by Obie Award winner, Ching Valdes Aran, is featured in the United Solo Theatre Festival at Studio Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd St. in New York, on Sunday, November 14 at 2pm.

Breathe Love Repeat is Ms. Murakoshi’s uplifting and life affirming solo show which tells the story of the last days of her mother, once energetic, but now graying into the winter of her life. About life and death, Breathe Love Repeat is delightful in its simplicity and memorable in its expression.

Suzen Murakoshi has worked on stages on Broadway, off-Broadway, in Europe, Canada and in American regional productions. Her favorite roles include “Juliet” in Romeo and Juliet at the Cleveland Playhouse and “Connie” in A Chorus Line on Broadway. She was nominated for an ‘Acting Excellence” award for her role as “Helen” in SWW at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has appeared in the films Bill Murray’s Quick Change, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street and Mario Van Peebles’ New Jack City.

Ms. Murakoshi received an MFA from the NYC New School Drama School in Playwriting and Acting in 1997. She credits Willy Reale and Felix Dennis for her playwriting successes. She has had a reading of Slippery When Wet (SWW) at the NY Theatre Workshop, a workshop at Circle Rep, and full productions of SWW at La MaMa Experimental Theatre, NYC, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, and most recently at the Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, MN.

Other produced plays include Sisters at Circle in the Square Downtown, NYC. Her short play, Dunno, Gotta Go was accepted and given a reading at the Edward Albee Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska, 2004.

Ms. Murakoshi has worked with the 52nd Street Project in New York City for many years as a writer, actor and director. While there, she co-wrote short plays with ‘Genius Award” fellow, Willie Reale as well as having been directed as an actor by Oscar winner Frances McDormand.

In 2007, Ms. Murakoshi was awarded a Mayoral Proclamation from Michael Bloomburg and the City of New York for her work with the Kids Project where she is the Artistic Director. The Kids Project performs free shows for the NYC area with a target audience of 90,000 children and adults annually.

“Breathe Love Repeat”
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 2pm
Studio Theatre, Theatre Row at 42nd Street
410 West 42nd St.
New York
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through telecharge or by calling 212.239.6200.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2010 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachang@hotmail.com.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Multimedia: The 52nd Street Project Benefit Photos: Michael Cerveris, James Monroe Inglehart, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Matthew Morrison, Greg Naughton and Kelli O’Hara
STORIES FROM CHINESE AMERICA: The Arthur Dong Collection, Vol. 2 as 4 disc DVD Box Set, Parties in LA (11/6) and SF (11/13)
AAJA & MOCA Nov. 4 FREE Panel & Town Hall on covering Chinatown: “CHINATOWN, UNCOVERED”
Koto Oyako don CD Release Concert, w/Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto & Brian Mitsuhiro Wong, Numi Tea Garden, Oakland, 11/13
Abingdon Theatre Company Presents the New York premiere of Reggie Cheong-Leen’s play, The Nanjing Race, 10/29-11/21
Lia Chang: Velina Hasu Houston’s Calligraphy Set for World Premiere at LATC, 11/10-12/12
Cindy Cheung in Will Eno’s Middleton at the Vineyard through 11/21
Sudhish Kamath’s Good Night|Good Morning Starring Manu Narayan & Seema Rahmani Screens in Mumbai 10/24, NY on 10/28
Andre De Shields is W.E.B. Du Bois in New Federal Theatre’s Knock Me a Kiss by Charles Smith, 11/11- 12/5
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Signs Fred Korematsu Day Bill, Bill Establishes January 30 as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution
Multimedia-Photos and Video: Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas- In the Makeup Chair with Thom Sesma
Crafting a Career
Photo Call: BD Wong and the Cast of Heading East at the Asia Society
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

Photo by Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, an award-winning multimedia journalist.

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden.

This year, selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space will become part of newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, VIBE, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.