Lia Chang: André De Shields and Alison Fraser Star in Staged Reading of Michael Aman’s The Unbleached American at Theater Row on May 9

André De Shields © Lia Chang

André De Shields and Alison Fraser star in The Working Theater’s Staged Reading of Michael Aman’s The Unbleached American at Theater Row, 410 W 42nd Street in New York, on Monday, May 9, at 7pm. Alfred Preisser directs.

The Unbleached American is a play based on the life of Ernest Hogan, an African-American who made a small fortune in the 1900s writing the first “coon song”.

Michael Aman wrote the book and lyrics for Becoming Tennessee (Richard Rodgers Award finalist 2009). He co-wrote the book for the musical The Piper (with Grammy winning composer Marcus Hummon) – Actors Bridge, Nashville, 2010. He wrote the book and co-write the lyrics for Secrets of Songwriting (O’Neill Cabaret and Performance Conference 2009). He co-wrote the book and lyrics for The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde (2005 NYMF). He also co-wrote the book for Let Me Sing! A Musical Evolution (George Street Playhouse; Charlotte Repertory Theatre). Michael currently teaches theatre and film at John Jay College and advanced screenwriting at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He has a Ph.D. in Theatre.

Click here to reserve tickets ($10 suggested donation).

Founded in 1985, The Working Theater’s mission is to produce plays for and about working people. “We believe that theater should not be a privilege or a luxury, but a staple,” says Mark Plesent. “We want working people who may not be able to afford commercial theater or who feel that it does not resonate with their lives and experience, to make play-going a regular part of their cultural activities.” Over the years, the company has commissioned and produced more than 70 world premieres of culturally diverse new plays; garnered widespread recognition and critical acclaim for writing, acting, directing as well as their pioneering efforts in audience development.
www.theworkingtheater.org

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 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 liachangpr@gmail.com.

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Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

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 Photos: The Working Theater’s HONEY BROWN EYES by Stefanie Zadravec at The Clurman

Edoardo Ballerini Photo by Lia Chang

The New York premiere of The Working Theater’s Off-Broadway production of HONEY BROWN EYES by Stefanie Zadravec – winner of the Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play in 2009 at Theater J in Washington, DC, has performances January 9 – February 6, 2011, at the Clurman Theatre (410 W. 42 St.) on Theater Row in Manhattan.

Erica Schmidt – whose numerous credits include directing the musical The Burnt Part Boys at the Vineyard Theatre and New York Stage and Film, as well as Lorenzo Pisoni’s multiple award-winning Humor Abuse at Manhattan Theatre Club – directs HONEY BROWN EYES.

Daniel Serafini-Sauli and Kate Skinner Photo by Lia Chang

The cast of HONEY BROWN EYES features Edoardo Ballerini (Corky Corporale on “The Sopranos,” “Dinner Rush,” “Romeo Must Die,” “Boardwalk Empire”), Daniel Serafini-Sauli (“You Belong to Me,” “United 93″), Sue Cremin (“Killing the Boss”), Gene Gillette (“Lieutenant of Inishmore”), Beatrice Miller (Ridley Scott’s “Tell Tale,” “Toy Story 3″), and Kate Skinner.

HONEY BROWN EYES kicks off the 26th season of the Working Theater – dedicated to developing and producing plays Off-Broadway for and about working people. Past productions – earning numerous Drama Desk Award nominations and one Drama Desk Award, along with three Audelco Awards – include Exit Cuckoo by Lisa Ramirez and directed by Colman Domingo, the award-winning Tabletop, King of Shadows and Hold Please.

Sue Cremin and Edoardo Ballerini Photo by Lia Chang

HONEY BROWN EYES is Ms. Zadravec’s play about how the lives of two friends – both members of a rock and roll band when they were young – are intertwined anew as they find themselves on opposite sides of the war in Bosnia, one a militiaman, the other a Muslim resister. With the lives of loved ones at stake, HONEY BROWN EYES – set in two kitchens during the notorious 20th-century conflict in the former Yugoslavia — depicts not only the day-to-day toll war takes on families and communities, but the far-reaching effect of American pop culture on people half a world away.

Edoardo Ballerini and Gene Gillette Photo by Lia Chang

In addition to HONEY BROWN EYES - which has been published by “American Theatre” magazine – Ms. Zadravec’s other plays include the Baltimore Playwrights Festival Award-winning Save Me, along with The Fear Project (The Barrow Group) and 167 Tongues (Theater 167). She is a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a member of the Women’s Project Lab and has been awarded a Playwrights Realm Fellowship for 2010-11.

HONEY BROWN EYES has set design by Laura Jellinek, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, sound design by Bart Fasbender, and costume design by Emily Rebholz.

Kate Skinner and Daniel Serafini-Sauli Photo by Lia Chang

The performance schedule for HONEY BROWN EYES is Tuesdays at 7 pm, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, with matinees Saturdays at 2 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets are $25 – in keeping with Working Theater’s policy of keeping Off-Broadway admissions more affordable for working class people and their families. Reservations can be made by calling Tele-charge at 212 239 6200 or online at www.telecharge.com.

Working Theater has two “pay what you can” matinees at 2 p.m., on Saturdays January 15 and 22. Tickets are available day of performance, subject to availability, at the Theatre Row box office, open daily noon to 8 p.m. at 410 W. 42 St. in New York. Click here the meet the cast of HONEY BROWN EYES.

About WORKING THEATER
Founded in 1985, the Working Theater’s mission is to produce plays for and about working people. Working Theater believes that theater should not be a privilege or a luxury, but a staple, striving to make play-going a regular part of the cultural activities of working people who may not be able to afford commercial theater or who feel that it does not resonate with their lives and experience. Toward that goal, the company offers stories that reflect a diverse population of the working majority, acknowledging their complexity and often-denied power in an increasingly complex world. By creating theater of interest to working people and by bringing this constituency to its productions, Working Theater aims to change the composition of New York’s theater audience to reflect a full range of socio-economic diversity.. In a nation that is frequently divided by cultural and class distinctions and where economic disparity continues to widen, Working Theater is committed to making theater that can bridge those divisions, expanding the reach of theater’s impact to all people, uniting us in our common humanity. Over the years The Working Theater has commissioned and produced more than 70 world premieres of culturally diverse new plays.

Related HONEY BROWN EYES Articles:
Timeoutny.com Review: Honey Brown Eyes
New York Times Review: Honey Brown Eyes
Nytheatre.com review: Honey Brown Eyes
backstage.com review: Honey Brown Eyes
theatermania.com review: Honey Brown Eyes
citysbest.com: Honey Brown Eyes Review
newjerseynewsroom.com review: Honey Brown Eyes looks at Bosnian Horrors
New York TheatreGuide.com Off –Broadway Photo Feature: HONEY BROWN EYES
broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: Honey Brown Eyes
The Theater J Blog: Honey Brown Eyes

Other Articles by this Author:
Lia Chang Photo Slideshows of Productions in the Working Theater’s 25th Anniversary Season
Multimedia: Photos of Ed Cardona, Jr.’s American Jornalero at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre
Multimedia: Photos of André De Shields in Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory: From Douglass to Deliverance
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 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.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform 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 Timesand 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.