Backstage Pass with Lia Chang

Artists Nina Kuo and Lorin Roser attend Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Editathon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

CENTRAL BOOKING is presenting the exhibition old Tech new Tech, curated by Maddy Rosenberg, September 9 – November 1, 2015. The opening reception is on Thursday, September 17, 2015, from 6pm – 8pm, at 21 Ludlow Street in New York. (F train to East Broadway) The Gallery is open Thursday – Sunday from 12pm – 6pm.

A true feast for the eyes, it contains much that is also interactive, from hand cranks to computer games. CENTRAL BOOKING has previously avoided technology exhibitions in order to concentrate on the pure sciences. But in the spirit of embracing all branches of thought and practices in the art and science realm, it seemed time to confront technology head on in various stages.

The artists: Aaron Beebe, Yael Brotman, Book Art Museum of Lodz, Catherine clover, Deborah and Glen Doering, DOEprojekts, Katherine Jackson, Alexandra Limpert, Trish Mackenzie, Patricia Olynyk, Marianne R. Petit, Benjamin Poynter, Joseph A. W. Quintela, Lorin Roser, Nina Kuo, Alan Rosner, Sophia Sobers, Carol Salmanson, Brett Wallace, Claire Watkins.

The Book Art Museum of Lodz started as pamphleteers, coming out of the dark with three-dimensional lenticular prints, die-cuts and even the making of their own type to suit, running the gamut from old to new technologies. Deborah Doering and Glen Doering a team that together is DOEprojekts, take the very low technological medium of drawing and raise it to high technological interaction. Lorin Roser and Nina Kuo combine musical compositions with image realizations that only the computer can manifest. Catherine Clover is an artist of few words- and images; she evokes native birds through sound and asks us to listen.

Trish Mackenzie stands alone as a scientist with artist collaborators, tracing art as it evolves from the artist’s brain. The electronic elements of Claire Watkins crawl along the wall with a gentle movement that we may at first miss in its delicacy. Though the geometry of Brett Wallace is fabricated by new technology it bears a vintage look, but climbs into a new light. With Benjamin Poynter, too, we see a comfort with more traditional media interpreted through the latest platform, a gaming mind with the lyricism of a ballet.

Deborah Doering and Glen Doering will moderate a panel of artists and scientists discussing the use of technology in art on Thursday, October 1 at 7pm. Admission is $5 and sitting is limited.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an award-winning filmmaker, a Best Actress nominee, a photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in FebOne1960.com Blog, Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.

Other Articles
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center hosting 2nd annual Wikipedia APA; photos from NY Editathon at Museum of Modern Art
Film Lab & Time Warner Screening & Panel on Media Constructions of BEAUTY featuring Rick Guidotti, Becky Curran, Blue Michael, Jennifer Betit Yen and Lia Chang on October 7
AsAmNews.com: Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Ruby Yang talks about her new film, My Voice, My Life
AsAmNews.com: Actor Tzi Ma Rides ‘Hell On Wheels’ to New Heights
AsAmNews.com: First Look: Collecting Contemporary at the Asian Art Museum in SF, Sept. 4–Oct. 11
AsAmNews.com: Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center to host 2nd annual Wikipedia APA in September
AsAmNews.com: What’s Next for Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka, Director of Critically Acclaimed The Report
AsAmNews.com: Eric Ting is the New Artistic Director of the California Shakespeare Theater
AsAmNews.com: Longtime Asian American Reporter in New York Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
AsAmNews.com: Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka Directs New Off Broadway Drama THE REPORT
AsAmNews.com: The King and I’s Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles and Betsy Morgan Perform Concert in the Park
Broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: First Look at THE REPORT as Part of FringeNYC
Broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: Phylicia Rashad, Andre De Shields & More Original Cast Members from THE WIZ Reunite in Central Park!
AsAmNews.com: Arthur Dong’s Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970 wins American Book Award
AsAmNews.com: Four Playwrights to Explore the Intersections of Orange County Diversity Through SCR’s CrossRoads
AsAmNews.com: Future Looks Bright for Asian American Cinema
AsAmNews.com: Asian American Tweeters Get Special Shout-out in Playbill
Playbill.com: Retweet! BroadwayGirlNYC’s Picks For Most Useful Theatre Women on Social Media
AsAmNews.com:Playing Hide And Seek With Actress Lia Chang
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Cast Reunion featured in BLACK BELT MAGAZINE August/September 2015
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang
AsAmNews.com: A Chat with Broadway’s New King of Siam, Jose Llana
AsAmNews.com: Lunch with Tony Winner Lea Salonga and George Takei, Stars of ALLEGIANCE
AsAmNews.com: AAPI Heritage Month: My Grandmother’s Detention on Angel Island
Crafting a Career

Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.
All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2015 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

Ping Chong Photo by Lia Chang

I’ve alway considered Ping Chong to be a national treasure and now it is official. On Thursday, September 10, 2015, at 3:00 p.m. ET in the East Room ceremony at the White House, President Barack Obama will present the 2014 National Medal of Arts to Mr. Chong, who is being recognized for his contributions as a theater director, choreographer, and video and installation artist. Mr. Chong’s innovative performances explore race, history, technology, and art to challenge our understanding of humanity in the modern world.

The other recipients of the 2014 National Medal of Arts this year include John Baldessari, Miriam Colón, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Sally Field, Ann Hamilton, Stephen King, Meredith Monk, George Shirley, University Musical Society, and Tobias Wolff.

NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, “Ranging from literature, theater, and visual arts to arts presentation and philanthropy, these artists and organizations have broadened our horizons and enriched our lives. I join the President in congratulating them and celebrating what the arts do for America.”

First Lady Michelle Obama will attend. The event will be live streamed at WH.gov/Live.

The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the federal government. It is awarded by the president of the United States to individuals or groups who are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts in the United States.

Citations:

John Baldessari for his contributions as a visual artist. His ambitious work combines photography, painting, and text to push the boundaries of image, making him one of the most influential conceptual artists of our time. (Venice, CA)

Miriam Colón for her contributions as an actress. Ms. Colón has been a trailblazer in film, television, and theater, and helped open doors for generations of Hispanic actors. (New York, NY)

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for supporting creative expression across the country. With generosity and a bold commitment to artistic risk, this foundation has helped artists, musicians, dancers, and actors share their talents, enriching the cultural life of our Nation. (New York, NY)

Sally Field for her contributions as an actress and filmmaker. The dignity, empathy, and fearlessness of her performances have touched audiences around the world, and she has deployed those same qualities off-screen in her advocacy for women, LGBT rights, and public health (Los Angeles, CA)

Ann Hamilton for her contributions as a visual artist. Ms. Hamilton uses time as process and material, and her work demonstrates the importance of experiencing the arts first-hand in the digital age. (Columbus, OH)

Stephen King for his contributions as an author. One of the most popular and prolific writers of our time, Mr. King combines his remarkable storytelling with his sharp analysis of human nature. For decades, his works of horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy have terrified and delighted audiences around the world. (Bangor, ME)

Meredith Monk for her contributions as a composer, singer, and performer. Renowned for her groundbreaking vocal techniques, Ms. Monk has reimagined the instrument of voice with her innovative work. (New York, NY)

George Shirley for his contributions as a tenor. The first African American tenor to sing in a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Shirley has captivated audiences for more than 50 years with his masterful performances. As a pioneer and as a teacher, Mr. Shirley has paved the way for generations of aspiring African American opera singers. (Ann Arbor, MI)

University Musical Society for presenting the performing arts to communities in Michigan. For over a century, the Society has brought world-class orchestras, dance ensembles, jazz performers, and theater companies to Michigan, while supporting the study and creation of new works. (Ann Arbor, MI)

Tobias Wolff for his contributions as an author and educator. His raw works of fiction examine themes of American identity and individual morality. With wit and compassion, Mr. Wolff’s work reflects the truths of our human experience. (Stanford, CA)

The National Endowment for the Arts manages the nomination process on behalf of the White House. Each year, the Arts Endowment seeks nominations from individuals and organizations across the country. The National Council on the Arts, the NEA’s presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed advisory body, reviews the nominations and provides recommendations to the President, who selects the recipients.

About the National Endowment for the Arts

Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America.

Join the conversation on Twitter at #ArtsHumanitiesMedal.

The 2014 National Humanities Medals will be presented at the same ceremony. Among the recipients are author Jhumpa Lahiri, The Clemente Course in the Humanities, author Annie Dillard, architect and preservationist Everett L. Fly, philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, historian Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, scholar Fedwa Malti-Douglas, novelist Larry McMurtry, historian Vicki Lynn Ruiz and author and food activist Alice Waters.

The National Humanities Medal honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history and literature or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) manages the nominations process for the National Humanities Medal on behalf of the White House. Each year NEH invites nominations from individuals and organizations across the country. The National Council on the Humanities, NEH’s presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed advisory body, reviews the nominations and provides recommendations to the President, who selects the recipients.

Created as an independent federal agency in 1965, NEH awards grants that support research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities that have resulted in thousands of museums exhibits, scholarly books, films, and radio programs. NEH is celebrating its 50^th anniversary beginning Sept 29.

“The National Endowment for the Humanities is proud to join President Obama in celebrating the achievements of these distinguished medalists,” said NEH Chairman William Adams. “The recipients of this medal have sparked our imaginations, ignited our passions, and transformed our cultural understanding. They embody how the humanities can serve a common good.”

The first National Humanities Medal was awarded in 1996. Since then, 175 have been bestowed — to 163 individuals and 12 organizations — inclusive of this year’s recipients.

Lia Chang

Actor Brandon J. Dirden makes his directorial debut with August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Two River Theater. Photo by Lia Chang

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, is presenting August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, directed by Brandon J. Dirden, an award-winning actor who is making his directorial debut with this production. Seven Guitars is the third play in Wilson’s American Century Cycle produced by Two River, following the theater’s acclaimed mountings of Jitney and Two Trains Running. Performances will begin in Two River’s Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, on Saturday, September 12 and continue through Sunday, October 4. The opening night performance is Friday, September 18 at 8pm. Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org. The lead production sponsor is Springpoint Senior Living Foundation at The Atrium at Navesink Harbor.

Jason Dirden, Charlie Hudson III, Christina Acosta Robinson, director Brandon J. Dirden, Crystal Dickinson and Brittany Bellizeare in rehearsal for Two River Theater’s production of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

Among his many credits as an actor in the plays of August Wilson, Brandon J. Dirden made his professional debut in a 1990 production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the Alley Theatre and was honored with an Obie Award for his performance in The Piano Lesson at Signature Theatre in 2012. He made his Two River Theater debut in Wilson’s Jitney. He has also appeared at Two River in the world premiere of Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine and in Topdog/Underdog, in which he starred opposite his brother Jason Dirden under the direction of the play’s author, Suzan-Lori Parks. On Broadway, his credits include Clybourne Park (in which he appeared with his wife, Crystal Dickinson) and, most recently, All the Way, in which he starred as Martin Luther King Jr. opposite Bryan Cranston’s Lyndon Johnson. On television, he can be seen as Agent Aderholt in the FX series The Americans.

The world of August Wilson. Photo by Lia Chang

Kevin Mambo. Photo by Lia Chang

Seven Guitars is the 1940s play in Wilson’s 10-play cycle exploring the African-American experience in each decade of the 20^th century. Set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1948, it tells the story of Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton, played at Two River by Kevin Mambo (Fela!), a blues guitarist who sits on the edge of stardom. The production will feature original music by acclaimed jazz musician Jason Moran.

Costume designs by Karen Perry for Two River Theater's production of Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

It’s a family affair for Dirden who is directing his wife Crystal Dickinson who plays Louise and his brother Jason Dirden who plays Canewell. Brittany Bellizeare (Ruby), Brian D. Coats (Hedley), Charlie Hudson III (Red Carter), and Christina Acosta Robinson (Vera) are also featured in the cast.

Crystal Dickinson in rehearsal for Two River Theater’s production of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

Jason Dirden in rehearsal for Two River Theater’s production of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

Crystal Dickinso-Dirden and her husband Brandon J. Dirden at Two River Theater in Red Bank, NJ. Photo by Lia Chang

Brothers Jason Dirden and Brandon J. Dirden at Two River Theater in Red Bank, NJ. Photo by Lia Chang

Jason Dirden, Crystal Dickinson-Dirden and her husband Brandon J. Dirden at Two River Theater in Red Bank, NJ on September 3, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

The creative team for Seven Guitars includes scenic designer Michael Carnahan, costume designer Karen Perry, lighting designer Driscoll Otto, and sound designer David Margolin Lawson. The fight direction is by Unkle Dave’s Fight-House, the casting is by Heidi Griffiths and Kate Murray, and the production stage manager is Laura Wilson.

Costume designs by Karen Perry. Photo by Lia Chang

Multimedia: In the Costume Shop with Seven Guitars’ costume designer Karen Perry at Two River Theater

“One of the things we are proudest of here at Two River is our track record for giving actors new challenges that stretch them as artists,” says Artistic Director John Dias. “Some years ago, Brandon mentioned to me that he wanted to direct, and I have been searching for the right project for him ever since. We found it in August Wilson’s beautiful and wrenching Seven Guitars.”

Actor Brandon J. Dirden makes his directorial debut with August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Two River Theater. Photo by Lia Chang

Crystal Dickinson, Jason Dirden, Charlie Hudson III and Christina Acosta Robinson in rehearsal for Two River Theater’s production of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

Jason Dirden, Charlie Hudson III in rehearsal for Two River Theater’s production of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

Director Brandon J. Dirden and his team in rehearsal for Two River Theater’s production of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

Brian D. Coates, Jason Dirden, Charlie Hudson III, Crystal Dickinson, Christina Acosta Robinson in rehearsal for Two River Theater’s production of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

In rehearsal for Two River Theater’s production of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

Brandon J. Dirden directs August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Two River Theater. Photo by Lia Chang

Two Rivers Theater rehearsal room for Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

Ticket Information
Ticket prices range from $37 to $65, with discounts available for groups, seniors, and U.S. military personnel, their families, and veterans. A limited number of $20 tickets are available for every performance; $20 tickets may be partial view. Tickets for patrons under 30 are $20 and include the best available seats at every performance. Tickets are available from tworivertheater.org or 732.345.1400.

A page from the Seven Guitars' script. Photo by Lia Chang

Research to establish the world of August Wilson's Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

Props for Seven Guitars. Photo by Lia Chang

Inside Two River
Inside Two River is a series of events specially curated for each Two River Theater production. For more information or to reserve seats, patrons should visit tworivertheater.org or call 732.345.1400.

Book Club: The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, Sunday, September 20 at 5:30pm in the Victoria Mastrobuono Library (following the 3pm performance)
Literary Manager Anika Chapin will lead a discussion of The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem. Dylan and Mingus—one white, one black—are best friends growing up on a rough street in Brooklyn in the 1970s through the 1990s. Surrounded by the characters of their community and bonded by their love for music and comic books, the boys’ friendship is tested as the paths of their lives begin to diverge. In conjunction with Seven Guitars, Two River’s Book Club (free and open to the public) will discuss the good and bad sides of growing up in a tight-knit community, the power of musical stardom, and the dark side of a dream.

Audience Extras
Before Play and Lobby Display
Audiences will learn about August Wilson in Two River’s Before Play lecture series, which takes place 45 minutes prior to every performance, and Lobby Display.

Post-Play Conversations
Discussions with the cast and a member of Two River’s Artistic staff will take place on Wednesday, September 23 at 7 pm; Sunday, September 27 at 3pm; and Wednesday, September 30 at 1pm.

Accessibility
Working with Google, Two River has created and launched a virtual tour of its facility, which lives on Google Maps and tworivertheater.org. This virtual tour provides an additional level of support and benefit for patrons who use wheelchairs or require other assistance by allowing them to virtually come through the theater’s front doors and view the space in detail in advance of their visit.

An audio-described performance is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30 at 1pm, and an open-captioned performance is scheduled for Saturday, October 3 at 3pm. Tickets are available at a discounted rate of $25 for patrons using these services. To reserve wheelchair-accessible seating or tickets to a performance listed above, patrons should call 732.345.1400 or e-mail boxoffice@trtc.org.

Calendar
Saturday, September 12 at 8pm
Sunday, September 13 at 3pm
Wednesday, September 16 at 1 pm and 7pm
Thursday, September 17 at 8pm
Friday, September 18 at 8pm (Opening Night)
Saturday, September 19 at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, September 20 at 3pm
Wednesday, September 23 at 1pm and 7pm
Thursday, September 24 at 10 am (student matinee) and 8pm
Friday, September 25 at 8pm
Saturday, September 26 at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, September 27 at 3pm
Wednesday, September 30 at 1pm and 7pm
Thursday, October 1 at 10 am (student matinee) and 8pm
Friday, October 2 at 8pm
Saturday, October 3 at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, October 4 at 3pm

Sponsorship
The lead production sponsor for Seven Guitars is Springpoint Senior Living Foundation at The Atrium at Navesink Harbor. Inside Two River is sponsored by The William T. Morris Foundation. The Before Play series is sponsored by Zager Fuchs, PC.

Two River Theater is supported in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, Monmouth University, The Shubert Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Meridian Health/Riverview Medical Center, The Stone Foundation of New Jersey, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Investors Bank, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, Springpoint Senior Living Foundation at the Atrium at Navesink Harbor, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Wells Fargo, William T. Morris Foundation, US Trust, Brookdale Community College, and many other generous foundations, corporations and individuals.

Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, creates great American theater performed by award-winning artists. We produce American and world masterpieces, and new plays and musicals. Two River Theater offers new-play commissions and artistic development activities that support the most adventurous artists in the American theater; invites its audience to be part of the creative process through readings and open rehearsals; and cultivates students and young people to participate in innovative arts-education programs and become a new generation of theatergoers. Founded in 1994 by Joan and Dr. Robert M. Rechnitz, Two River Theater is easily accessible by car, train, or bus, with great restaurants and shopping within walking distance of the theater. For more information, visit tworivertheater.org or call 732.345.1400.

Multimedia: In the Costume Shop with Seven Guitars’ costume designer Karen Perry at Two River Theater
Brandon J. Dirden makes directorial debut with August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Two River Theater, September 12 – October 4
Photos: Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s YOUR BLUES AIN’T SWEET LIKE MINE starring Brandon J. Dirden, Merritt Janson, Roslyn Ruff, Andrew Hovelson and Charles Weldon at Two River Theater through May 3
Signature’s Revival of The Piano Lesson Sweeps AUDELCO’s with 8 Wins including Best Revival, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Roslyn Ruff, Chuck Cooper and Brandon J. Dirden; Also Among 2013 “VIV” Winners – Wild with Happy’s Colman Domingo and Sharon Washington, and Storyville’s Mercedes Ellington
Photos: Bryan Cranston, Peter Jay Fernandez, Roslyn Ruff, Tamara Tunie, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson Celebrate All The Way Opening Night
Photo Call: Derek Walcott’s Marie Laveau featuring Marie Thomas, Arthur Bartow, Trazana Beverly, Tom Brangle, Gerard Catus, Hunter Canning, John Danelle, Brandon Dirden, DK Dyson, Steve Greenstein, Teresa Lasley, Harrison Lee, Mizan Nunes, Stu Richel, Martin Shakar, DeWanda Wise

(front row l-r) Marie Laveau director Clinton Turner Davis with his cast Gerard Catus, Stu Richel, Martin Shakar, Teresa Lasley, DeWanda Wise, Marie Thomas, DK Dyson, John Danelle, Trezana Beverly and Lia Chang (back row l-r) Hunter Canning, Tom Brangle, Harrison Lee, Steve Greenstein, Arthur Bartow, Brandon Dirden

Lia Chang

Other Articles
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
Ping Chong, Meredith Monk, Miriam Colón, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Stephen King, Sally Field and more to receive 2014 National Medal of Arts; Jhumpa Lahiri among 2014 National Humanities Medal recipients
Lorin Roser and Nina Kuo are among the featured artists in old Tech new Tech exhibition at CENTRAL BOOKING, September 9- November 1
Columbia’s New Tang Center Dedicated to Study of Early Chinese Civilizations opens in October
AsAmNews.com: Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Ruby Yang talks about her new film, My Voice, My Life
AsAmNews.com: Actor Tzi Ma Rides ‘Hell On Wheels’ to New Heights
AsAmNews.com: First Look: Collecting Contemporary at the Asian Art Museum in SF, Sept. 4–Oct. 11
AsAmNews.com: Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center to host 2nd annual Wikipedia APA in September
AsAmNews.com: What’s Next for Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka, Director of Critically Acclaimed The Report
AsAmNews.com: Eric Ting is the New Artistic Director of the California Shakespeare Theater
AsAmNews.com: Longtime Asian American Reporter in New York Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
AsAmNews.com: Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka Directs New Off Broadway Drama THE REPORT
AsAmNews.com: The King and I’s Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles and Betsy Morgan Perform Concert in the Park
Broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: First Look at THE REPORT as Part of FringeNYC
Broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: Phylicia Rashad, Andre De Shields & More Original Cast Members from THE WIZ Reunite in Central Park!
AsAmNews.com: Arthur Dong’s Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970 wins American Book Award
AsAmNews.com: Four Playwrights to Explore the Intersections of Orange County Diversity Through SCR’s CrossRoads
AsAmNews.com: Future Looks Bright for Asian American Cinema
AsAmNews.com: Asian American Tweeters Get Special Shout-out in Playbill
Playbill.com: Retweet! BroadwayGirlNYC’s Picks For Most Useful Theatre Women on Social Media
AsAmNews.com:Playing Hide And Seek With Actress Lia Chang
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Cast Reunion featured in BLACK BELT MAGAZINE August/September 2015
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang
AsAmNews.com: A Chat with Broadway’s New King of Siam, Jose Llana
AsAmNews.com: Lunch with Tony Winner Lea Salonga and George Takei, Stars of ALLEGIANCE
AsAmNews.com: AAPI Heritage Month: My Grandmother’s Detention on Angel Island
Crafting a Career

Asia Society presents Filipino Design Now, a special showcase of top Filipino designers from September 11, 2015 to January 3, 2016. This special display coincides with Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms, an exhibition of over 100 spectacular works of gold from the 10th to 13th century, highlighting the creativity, prosperity and cultural connections of the precolonial period. The Asia Society is located at 725 Park Ave, New York, NY 10021.

Asia Society celebrates the artistic visions of top Filipino designers in this exclusive showcase conceived by Filipino jewelry designer Federico De Vera. An arbiter of taste, De Vera is a gallery owner of antique objects, curios, and jewelry, and more recently, the author of De Vera Objects andDe Vera Jewelry.

Presented in Asia Society’s lobby, the showcase features exclusive collections by fourteen renowned Filipino designers who have been invited to create products inspired by their interpretation of Philippine culture. Filipino Design Now provides an opportunity to experience the rich culture and heritage of the Philippines, promoting appreciation of and inspiring pride in Filipino design, material and craftsmanship. Signature pieces from these talented designer’s collections have been selected for inclusion in the display, with the balance of the collections featured for sale at AsiaStore and online at AsiaStore.org.

Featured designers include:

Maricris Brias, home textiles. Brias and her local artisans are committed to reviving the native artistry of Mindanao’s ethnic tribes, manufacturing textiles and home accents created from local abaca and banana fiber, handwoven exclusively by T’boli and Mandaya natives.
Lenora Cabili, fashion. Cabili’s designs are inspired by tradition, mixing the past with present, creating unique garments that incorporate ancient techniques of weaving, embroidery and bead work from indigenous Filipino groups.
Federico de Vera, jewelry. De Vera strives to find new lives for old things that have been discarded, and reinterprets them from a different point of view. Today his pieces are comprised of antique elements, often simultaneously organic and baroque, each unique and one of a kind.
Ian Giron, home accents. Giron creates home accents using coconut shell as his base and combining traditional methods of sanding and bleaching before applying gold leaf to achieve color and patina, a process that has been widely used in Asia for thousands of years.
Jewelmer, jewelry. Golden South Sea pearls are the centerpieces of the brand. Through a highly selective process, these elusive gems inspire artisans to create finely crafted jewelry to fulfill Jewelmer’s celebration of beauty in harmonious symmetry with nature.
Natalya Lagdameo, novelty textiles. Drawing on work as an interior designer and inspired by heirlooms and artifacts from around the archipelago, Lagdameo creates textile designs utilizing local Filipino materials.
Josie Natori, jewelry. Natori’s iconic, global brand, the House of Natori celebrates Asian aesthetics with the spirit of Natori’s adopted home in America, effortlessly melding the visual best of both the East and the West
Tina Ocampo, evening bags. Ocampo’s luxury brand Celestina,is comprised of a collection of evening bags, handcrafted by Filipino artisans, practicing age-old techniques and using exotic materials that can only be found in the Philippines.
Wynn Wynn Ong, jewelry. Favoring stones in their organic, untouched states and incorporating materials not often associated with jewelry, Ong combines unexpected elements into her meticulously hand crafted jewelry designs.
Anne Saguil, fashion. Saguil combines her passion for craftsmanship and fashion, designing clothes, handbags and accessories using hand embroidered techniques and indigenous handwoven materials.
Ditta Sandico, fashion. Sandico transforms indigenous fibers, such as banana, pineapple and abacca into a fashion art form, designing wraps that follow the movements of the body.
Rafe Totengco, minaudières. Totengco’s signature minaudière evening bags, featuring indigenous Filipino materials, blend uptown sophistication with a downtown edge.
Bea Valdes, jewelry & accessories. Valdes takes inspiration from various cultures, sourcing materials, patterns and ideas from around the world for her high-end accessories while continuing to shine a light on the Philippines as a design hub as she supports local artisans and their craftsmanship.
Al Valenciano, blankets. Valenciano’s signature brand Balay ni Atong showcases hand-woven textiles made on traditional wooden looms by local artisans using weaving techniques passed on through generations.

Asia Society and Museum

725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
New York, NY 10021
Tel: 212-288-6400
Fax: 212-517-8315

Box Office:
Phone: 212-517-ASIA
Web: https://tickets.asiasociety.org

Hours

Tuesday-Sunday, 11 am-6 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays.

Note: the Museum galleries are currently closed and will reopen to the public on Friday, September 11, with Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms and Video Spotlight: Philippines.

September through June: the Museum Galleries are open until 9:00 pm on Fridays. Free Friday nights resume on Friday, September 18.

For Garden Court Café hours, click here.

AsiaStore Hours:

Daily 11 am-6 pm. Fridays 11 am-9 pm beginning on Friday, September 18.

For more information about AsiaStore, click here.

Admission

$12.00; $10.00 for seniors and $7.00 for students with ID; free for members and persons under 16.

Admission is free on Fridays from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm starting on Friday, September 18.

A cell phone audio tour is included in the price of admission.

Admission is not required to visit the AsiaStore or Garden Court Café.

Directions

Located at 725 Park Avenue and East 70th Street.

Bus
M1, M2, M3, M4 to Madison Avenue and East 70th Street; M101, M102 to Lexington Avenue and East 70th Street; M30 to Park and 72nd; M66 to Park Avenue and 68th Street.

Subway
6 train to East 68th Street/Hunter College or F to East 63rd Street/Lexington Avenue.

Lia Chang

Other Articles
Photos: Creating an Asian American presence on Wikipedia, one WikiAPA Edit-a-thon at a time
Film Lab & Time Warner Screening & Panel on Media Constructions of BEAUTY featuring Rick Guidotti, Becky Curran, Blue Michael, Jennifer Betit Yen and Lia Chang on October 7
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
Photos: In Rehearsal with Seven Guitars’ Director Brandon J. Dirden at Two River Theater
Harold Koda to Step Down After Leading Met Museum’s Costume Institute for 15 Years; Andrew Bolton to Become Curator In Charge of the Department
815,992 Visitors to Costume Institute’s China: Through the Looking Glass Exhibition Make It Fifth Most Visited Exhibition in Metropolitan Museum’s History
Multimedia: In the Costume Shop with Seven Guitars’ costume designer Karen Perry at Two River Theater
Columbia’s New Tang Center Dedicated to Study of Early Chinese Civilizations opens in October
Martin Casella wins 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for Playwriting for The Report; Full List of 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award Winners
American Museum of Natural History previews The Butterfly Conservatory and a new book, The Butterflies of North America: Titian Peale’s Lost Manuscript
AsAmNews.com: Asian American Tweeters Get Special Shout-out in Playbill
Playbill.com: Retweet! BroadwayGirlNYC’s Picks For Most Useful Theatre Women on Social Media
AsAmNews.com:Playing Hide And Seek With Actress Lia Chang
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Cast Reunion featured in BLACK BELT MAGAZINE August/September 2015
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang
AsAmNews.com: A Chat with Broadway’s New King of Siam, Jose Llana

Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2015 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

Jessica Williams and Ebony Jo-Ann

Ebony Jo-Ann, an award-winning veteran actress noted for her role as Ma Rainey in August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Jessica Williams, beloved comedienne on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, will be honored with the Reel Sisters Hattie McDaniel Award (formerly known as a Pioneeer Award), on Sunday, October 25, 2015, at Kumble Theater, Long Island University, 1 University Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11201. The awards ceremony featuring an evening of film, entertainment and fun, kicks off at 6:30 pm. For ticket information call: 212.865.2982. Tickets are $35. Click here to purchase tickets. www.reelsisters.org

Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series renamed the award to honor a true pioneer who opened the doors for Black women and other women of color in film. Hattie was the first African-American woman to receive an Oscar — overcoming the challenges facing Black actors in Hollywood where there were few acting jobs available to them and limited roles.

Ms. Jo-Ann has been seen on Broadway in Gem of the Ocean, Drowning Crow, the revival of The Sunshine Boys with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, Sheila’s Day (co-author), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (original production and 2003 revival) and Mule Bone; and off-Broadway in Crowns at Second Stage Theatre, Inacent Black at the Mitzi Newhouse/Lincoln Center and Do Lord Remember Me at the American Place Theatre and Hunter College. Her regional credits include the title role of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Syracuse Stage and at the Kennedy Center in the August Wilson’s 20th Century; The Sunshine Boys with Jack Klugman at the George Street Playhouse; as Cookie in the Negro Ensemble Company’s production of Samm-Art William’s The Waiting Room; as Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune in the tour of If This Hat Could Talk; in Sanctified at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and as Essie Belle Johnson in Tambourines To Glory (True Colors Theatre Company, Helen Hayes Award nominee); Waiting To Be Invited at ACT Theatre/Seattle and the Denver Theatre Center; The Trial of One Short-Sighted Black Woman vs Mammy Louise and Safreeta Mae at the New Federal Theatre and the National Black Theatre Festival in North Carolina; Heaven and the Homeboy at Montclair State College; From the Mississippi Delta at Boston University, the Cincinnati Playhouse and the Alliance Theater; Lost in the Stars at the Long Wharf Theatre; Spunk at Center Stage; Bubblin’ Brown Sugar at Walnut Street Theatre; and Fame:The Musical at the Coconut Grove Theatre and the Walnut Street Theatre. She has been in the national and international tours of The Wiz, Satchmo, Apollo: It Was Just Like Magic and Sheila’s Day in Grahamstown, South Africa. Television credits include “The Jury,” “Law & Order SVU,” “100 Centre Street,” “The PBS American Authors Series,” “New York Undercover,” “Law & Order,” “Outreach” (pilot), “New York News” and “One Life to Live”. Film credits include Adam Sandler’s Grownups and Grownups 2 as Mama Ronzoni, Noise with Tim Robbins, Kate & Leopold as Nurse Ester, Pootie Tang as Pootie’s Mother, Eddie, The Day the Ponies Come Back, Tears of a Clown, The Stand-In, Fly By Night, Dark Waters, Chain of Desires, The Orphan King, When in Rome, The Other Brother, The Boxer, Driving Fish, The Stand-in and Marci X, Our Last Time (African Burial Ground Museum) and Frederick Douglass: An American Life as Harriet Tubman. Ms. Jo-Ann is the recipient of six Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Awards, a 2014 National Action Network’s WOMAN OF EXCELLENCE award for her continuing and outstanding dedication through her artistic talents as well as her contributions to civil and human rights, and a 1993 Jeff Award for supporting actress in the touring production of The Wiz.

In 2013, Ms. Jo Ann reprised her role as Ma Rainey for The Greene Space’s AMERICAN CENTURY CYCLE Recording of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Click here to listen to The recording of 1920: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

Ebony Jo-Ann as Addapearle, Darlesia Cearcy as Dorothy and the Munchkins in The Wiz is 40 at Rumsey Playfield, Summerstage in New York on August 12, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

This summer, Miss Jo-Ann appeared in PROJECT1VOICE’s 50^th anniversary staged-reading of the NEC seminal work, Happy Ending by Douglas Turner Ward, directed by Timothy Douglas, with Arthur French, Lizan Mitchell and Leslie Odom, Jr. at the Harlem Hospital Mural Pavilion; at Summerstage in Central Park and Marcus Garvey Park for The Wiz is 40; and released her latest CD Please Save Your Love For Me. Ebony Jo-Ann Official Website

Ebony Jo-Ann, André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater and George Faison after the #summerstageis30 performance of #thewizis40 at Rumsey Playfield in New York on August 12, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Jessica Williams is a young writer/performer out of Los Angeles’ UCB system and a former cast member in The UCB Sketch pilot for Comedy Central. She grew up in Torrance, CA and starred in the Nickelodeon show Just For Kicks as a teenager. While she was studying Film and English at Cal State Long Beach and doing improv as a member of “ComedySportz: The College Team,” she landed the role as the newest correspondent for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Recently she was featured on Variety’s “Top 10 Comics To Watch” and this year will recur in the upcoming third season of HBO’s Girls.

Click to Support their Indiegogo Campaign.

ABOUT HATTIE MCDANIEL

Hattie McDaniel — 1893-1952

Actress Hattie McDaniel was born on June 10, 1893, in Wichita, Kansas. By the mid-1920s, she became one of the first African-American women on radio. In 1934, she landed her on-screen break in the film Judge Priest. She then became the first African American to win an Oscar in 1940, for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. Then in 1947, after her career took a downturn, she starred on CBS radio’s The Beulah Show. She died on October 26, 1952, in Los Angeles, California.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON HATTIE

Directions:

SUBWAY:
IRT: 2,3,4,5 trains to Nevins Street Station
BMT: B, M, Q, or R trains to DeKalb Avenue Station
IND: A, C, or G trains to Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street Station

LIRR:
Flatbush Avenue Station

BUS:
B52, B26, B37, B38, B41, B45, B52, B54, B67, B103

AUTOMOBILE:

From Queens
Take the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway west to the Tillary Street Exit. Follow Tillary Street to Flatbush Avenue. Make a left onto Flatbush Avenue. The Brooklyn Campus is on the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues.

From Staten Island or Brooklyn
Take the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway east to Cadman Plaza West. Follow Cadman Plaza West to Tillary Street. Turn left on Tillary Street and then right on Flatbush Avenue. The Brooklyn Campus is at the third traffic light on the left.

From Manhattan
Take the Manahattan Bridge to Flatbush.
Continue down Flatbush until you reach The Brooklyn Campus on the corner of Flatbush and Dekalb.

Or take the Brooklyn Bridge and make a left turn at the first light on the Brooklyn side (Tillary Street) and proceed one block to Flatbush Avenue.

Take a right onto Flatbush and continue straight until you reach The Brooklyn Campus on the corner of Flatbush and Dekalb.

Photos and Video: Behind the Scenes with THE WIZ’s André De Shields at The Wiz is 40 at #Summerstage30
Ebony Jo-Ann Celebrates PLEASE SAVE YOUR LOVE FOR ME CD Release, with a concert at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar on July 15
Elain Graham, S. Epatha Merkerson and Ruben Santiago-Hudson set for PROJECT1VOICE’s 5th Annual 1VOICE/1PLAY/1DAY 2015 NYC staged-reading of HOME; Arthur French, Ebony Jo-Ann, Lizan Mitchell and Leslie Odom, Jr. set for 50th anniversary staged-reading of HAPPY ENDING

Lia Chang

Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Ping Chong Photo by Lia Chang

Meredith Monk and Ping Chong at the National Medal of Arts and Humanities Gala, hosted by the President’s Committee on the Arts & Humanities at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington D.C. on September 9, 2015. Photo by Bruce Allardice

I’ve alway considered Ping Chong to be a national treasure and now it is official. Today at 3:00 p.m. ET in the East Room ceremony at the White House, President Barack Obama will present the 2014 National Medal of Arts to Mr. Chong, who is being recognized for his contributions as a theater director, choreographer, and video and installation artist. Mr. Chong’s innovative performances explore race, history, technology, and art to challenge our understanding of humanity in the modern world.

First Lady Michelle Obama will attend. The event will be live streamed at WH.gov/Live.

The other recipients of the 2014 National Medal of Arts this year include Meredith Monk, Miriam Colón, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Sally Field, Ann Hamilton, Stephen King, Meredith Monk, George Shirley, University Musical Society, and Tobias Wolff.

Ping Chong, Bruce Allardice, Managing Director of Ping Chong & Co. and Emil J. Kang, Executive Director for the Arts at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the National Medal of Arts and Humanities Gala, hosted by the President’s Committee on the Arts & Humanities at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington DC on September 9, 2015. Photo courtesy of Emil J. Kang

Citations:

Miriam Colón for her contributions as an actress. Ms. Colón has been a trailblazer in film, television, and theater, and helped open doors for generations of Hispanic actors. (New York, NY)

About the National Endowment for the Arts

Join the conversation on Twitter at #ArtsHumanitiesMedal.

The first National Humanities Medal was awarded in 1996. Since then, 175 have been bestowed — to 163 individuals and 12 organizations — inclusive of this year’s recipients.

Agnes-Hsu Tang and her husband Oscar Tang, Lia Chang and Ping Chong at the opening reception of Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion at the New-York Historical Society in New York on September 23, 2014. Photo by Don Pollard

Lia Chang

Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

David Henry Hwang. Photo by Lia Chang

Tony Award-winning Playwright David Henry Hwang returns to Little Tokyo in Downtown Los Angeles to participate in special talkbacks on Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26, 2015, following the 8PM performances of his hit comedy Chinglish, produced by East West Players at the David Henry Hwang Theater, 120 Judge John Aiso St. in Los Angeles.

“The U.S. and China are at a critical moment in history—each nation is deeply interested in, but knows very little about the other. Chinglish was born from the many visits I’ve made to China over the past five or six years to witness the exciting changes there,” says Hwang.

Chinglish is about an American businessman who is desperately looking to score a lucrative contract for his family’s firm travels to China only to learn how much he doesn’t understand: his translators are unreliable, his consultant may be a fraud, and he is captivated by Xi, the beautiful, seemingly supportive government official who talks the talk – but what is she saying, anyway?

“As the namesake of our theater, it is only fitting that a work by David Henry Hwang, be a part of our 50th Anniversary Season. David is truly a trailblazer in expanding the spectrum of stories that explore the Asian American experience and Chinglish is his latest and the most relevant in reflecting the global world in which we live.” says Tim Dang, Producing Artistic Director. “Chinglish is a smart and comedic way of examining how lines, and cultures get crossed in international relations.”

The cast features Kara Wang (Chen Kaige’s Caught in the Web and Daniel Hsia’s Shanghai Calling) as “Xi Yan,” Matthew Jaeger as “Daniel Cavanaugh,” Jeff Locker as “Peter Timms,” Ben Wang as “Cai Guolang,” Leann Lei as “Miss Qian” and “Prosecutor Li,” Ewan Chung as “Bing” and “Judge Xu Geming,” and Joy Yao as “Zhao.” Jeff Liu directs the production, which begins previews on September 10.

Liu’s directorial credits include the two-part film entitled Yellow Face, based on the David Henry Hwang play of the same name, along with Christmas in Hanoi, Wrinkles, and Ixnay at East West Players.

The design team includes: set design by Hana Sooyeon Kim, lighting design by Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz, costume design by Yuheng Dai, sound design by Dennis Yen, and props by Michael O’Hara. Stage manager is Sylvia Trinh.

For the best seats in the house, buy your tickets online today! >>

Tony award winning playwright David Henry Hwang at NYFA Book Talk at Barnes & Noble East 86th St. in New York on July 26, 2012. Photo by Lia Chang

David Henry Hwang has been described by the New York Times as “a true original” and by Time magazine as “the most important dramatist of American public life since Arthur Miller.” In addition to winning the Tony Award, Hwang is a three-time nominee, a three-time Obie Award winner, a Drama Desk Award winner, an Outer Critics Circle Award winner, a John Gassner Playwriting Award winner, a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and The Deutsche Grammofone recording of his libretto for Ainadamar won two Grammy Awards.

In 2014, Hwang was named director of Columbia University’s School of the Arts’ M.F.A. program in playwriting. Hwang’s upcoming musical productions include The Forgotten Arm, with music and lyrics by Aimee Mann and Paul Bryan, for the Public Theater; and Pretty Dead Girl, with music and lyrics by Anne-Marie Milazzo. Hwang is a writer-producer for the Golden Globe-winning TV series The Affair; is developing an original television series, Shanghai, for Lionsgate and the Bravo Network; and is currently writing the film adaptation of Chinglish, to be directed by Justin Lin. According to Opera News, Hwang is America’s most-produced living opera librettist, and his collaboration with Bright Sheng on Dream of the Red Chamber for the San Francisco Opera will be produced at the War Memorial Opera House in Fall 2016.

Hwang is a recipient of the 2011 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a Grand Master of American Theater, the 2012 William Inge Award for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre, the 2012 Asia Society Cultural Achievement Award, the 2012 China Institute Blue Cloud Award, the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, the 2014 Doris Duke Artist Award, the 2015 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award and was recently named a Ford Foundation “Art of Change” Fellow. Hwang’s holds honorary degrees from Columbia College, Chicago, Dr. of Letters, 1998; American Conservatory Theatre, MFA Acting, 2000; LeHigh University, Dr. of Letters, 2011; USC, Dr. of Literature, 2013.

Click here for more articles on David Henry Hwang.

Lia Chang

Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Ann Harada in concert. Photo by Lia Chang

On Saturday, September 12, 2015, William V. Madison, author of Madeline Kahn: Being the Music, A Life (University Press of Mississippi, 2015), will host a musical tribute to the late singing actress as part of Metropolitan Room’s GONE TOO SOON series, produced by Joseph Macchia. Directed by three-time MAC Award-winner Peter Napolitano, The Music of Madeline Kahn, with music director Jeff Cubeta on piano, will feature friends & colleagues of the comic legend, as well as performers who have been inspired by her. The Metropolitan Room is located at 34 W 22nd St. in New York. www.MetropolitanRoom.com

Performing for this special event are singer-actors Walter Willison & Joan Copeland, who co-starred with Kahn in Richard Rodgers’ Two by Two (1970); actor/choreographer/producer Lawrence Leritz, who started as a fan & later worked with Kahn on the show Cosby (1999); composer Michael Cohen, music director at the Upstairs at the Downstairs nightclub where Kahn made her New York debut (1965-67); singer-actress Ann Harada (Avenue Q, Cinderella, & TV’s Smash); soprano Sarah Rice, the original Joanna in Sweeney Todd; soprano & MAC Award-winner Janice Hall; rising young soprano Rosa Betancourt; singer-actress Hanna Burke; singer-actress Minda Larsen, winner of Metropolitan Room’s 2015 MetroStar Challenge; MAC Award-winning singer-actor Adam B. Shapiro (HBO’s The Normal Heart) & singer-actress Julie Feltman (Unauthorized! The Musical Parody).

Classically trained, Madeline Kahn briefly considered a career in opera. After working in New York nightclubs, – she went on to success on Broadway & in Hollywood, winning back-to-back Oscar nominations for Paper Moon (1973) & Blazing Saddles (1974). She received four Tony nominations & won on her last nomination, as Best Actress for The Sisters Rosensweig (1993). On television, Kahn starred on four sitcoms and won a Daytime Emmy in 1987. She died of ovarian cancer in 1999, shortly after the release of her last film, Judy Berlin.

William V. Madison is a former producer for Dan Rather at CBS News & a former associate editor of Opera News magazine. His writing has appeared in lingua franca, The Forward, Pen World, Andante.com & The Kurt Weill Newsletter, among other publications. A graduate of Brown University & of Columbia University’s graduate program in creative writing, he has also worked in theatre (production assistant, Rags, 1986) & opera (Major-Domo, Ariadne auf Naxos, Fort Worth Opera, 2013).

Lia Chang

Other Articles
Photos: Harriet Harris, John Tartaglia, Christine Toy Johnson, Alan Muraoka, James Saito and More celebrate Ann Harada’s Debut at Lincoln Center in the American Songbook Series
Photos: Creating an Asian American presence on Wikipedia, one WikiAPA Edit-a-thon at a time
Film Lab & Time Warner Screening & Panel on Media Constructions of BEAUTY featuring Rick Guidotti, Becky Curran, Blue Michael, Jennifer Betit Yen and Lia Chang on October 7
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
Photos: In Rehearsal with Seven Guitars’ Director Brandon J. Dirden at Two River Theater
Harold Koda to Step Down After Leading Met Museum’s Costume Institute for 15 Years; Andrew Bolton to Become Curator In Charge of the Department
815,992 Visitors to Costume Institute’s China: Through the Looking Glass Exhibition Make It Fifth Most Visited Exhibition in Metropolitan Museum’s History
Multimedia: In the Costume Shop with Seven Guitars’ costume designer Karen Perry at Two River Theater
Columbia’s New Tang Center Dedicated to Study of Early Chinese Civilizations opens in October
Martin Casella wins 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for Playwriting for The Report; Full List of 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award Winners
American Museum of Natural History previews The Butterfly Conservatory and a new book, The Butterflies of North America: Titian Peale’s Lost Manuscript
AsAmNews.com: Asian American Tweeters Get Special Shout-out in Playbill
Playbill.com: Retweet! BroadwayGirlNYC’s Picks For Most Useful Theatre Women on Social Media
AsAmNews.com:Playing Hide And Seek With Actress Lia Chang
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Cast Reunion featured in BLACK BELT MAGAZINE August/September 2015
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang
AsAmNews.com: A Chat with Broadway’s New King of Siam, Jose Llana

Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Asia Society and Ayala Museum, with special participation from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), is presenting Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms, a groundbreaking gold exhibition from the Philippines in New York through January 3, 2016. The exhibit features over 120 spectacular gold objects dated between the 10th and 13th century, on loan from the collections of Ayala Museum and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The Philippine Gold exhibition in New York brings to fore in the world stage a truly fascinating yet little known aspect about the Philippines’ rich heritage.

Over view at Asia Society Museum are pre-colonial gold treasures such as gold necklaces, chains, waistbands, bangles, ritual bowls, implements, and ceremonial weapons. These rare artifacts reveal the sophisticated civilizations that flourished before the Spaniards arrived at Philippine shores. The gold pieces also portray the thriving maritime trade in the region, exemplifying the influence of Indians, Indonesians, and the Chinese, among other peoples, on the Philippine culture.

Programs to expand the spotlight on Philippine culture include academic lectures, a pop-up Philippine food bar, musical events, art and design exhibitions, a film festival and live cultural performances. These activities will be supported by other events organized by Asia Society Philippines in Manila.

Driving the Philippine Gold exhibition are Gala Benefit Committee chairs Doris Masaysay-Ho, Fernando Zobel de Ayala, and Loida Nicolas Lewis, with support from BSP Governor Amando Maglalang Tetangco. For this national undertaking, they have entrusted Nina Capistrano-Baker, curator at Ayala Museum, and Adriana Proser, John H. Foster Senior Curator for Traditional Asian Art at Asia Society New York, to co-curate the Philippine gold treasures at the New York exhibition.

Doris Magsaysay-Ho, Asia Society Philippine chair, believes that the Philippine Gold exhibition is extremely timely just as the country hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit this November. “While the Philippines has a lot of press coming out on economic issues, we thought there could also be a cultural story,” says Magsaysay-Ho. “These artifacts are also very little known scholarship-wise, so with the opportunity to bring them to New York, we are holding symposiums that place the collection in the whole realm of historical scholarship in the Austronesian context.”

Ayala Corporation’s Fernando Zobel de Ayala anticipates the pride the exhibition will instill in Filipinos around the world. “We are delighted to have this opportunity to exhibit this exceptional Filipino 10th to 13th century gold from the Ayala Museum and Bangko Sentral collections at the Asia Society in New York”, says Zobel de Ayala. “It will give Americans and visitors to New York the opportunity to get to know more about our rich culture and I have no doubt that it will also give Filipino Americans great pride to see these pieces from their country.”

BSP Governor Amando Maglalang Tetangco, Jr. says that “This exhibit is an excellent opportunity to showcase our pre-colonial cultural heritage. This is going to be the first time that the Philippine pre-Hispanic gold will be seen in the States. This is an opportune time for other people to know more about the Philippines and get to know the rich cultural heritage of our country.”

Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms is made possible by Ayala Corporation, with additional support provided by exhibition partners Bank of Philippine Islands, Del Monte Foods, Inc., Philippine Airlines, ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel and Tourism Promotions Board Philippines and exhibition benefactors CLSA, Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines, First Philippine Holdings Corporation, Goldman Sachs Gives, J.P. Morgan, Philam Life, an AIA Company, San Miguel Corporation, UBS AG and Western Union®. Philippine media partners are Philippine Daily Inquirer and Philippine Tatler.

For more information, please visit www.AsiaSociety.org/Philippines2015. To arrange a group tour of this special exhibition in New York, please call + 1 212.327.9237 or email philippinegold@asiasociety.org.

Asia Society Museum is located at 725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), New York City. HoursareTuesday through Sunday from 11:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M. and Friday from 11:00 A.M. – 9:00P.M. Closed on Mondays and major holidays. General admission is $12, seniors $10, students $7, and free for members and persons under 16. Free admission on Friday evenings, 6:00P.M. – 9:00 P.M. The Museum is closed Fridays after 6:00 P.M. from July 1 through Labor Day. Find out more at www.AsiaSociety.org/museum.

Lia Chang

Other Articles
Photos: Creating an Asian American presence on Wikipedia, one WikiAPA Edit-a-thon at a time
Film Lab & Time Warner Screening & Panel on Media Constructions of BEAUTY featuring Rick Guidotti, Becky Curran, Blue Michael, Jennifer Betit Yen and Lia Chang on October 7
Portraits of New York Chinatown after 9/11
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
Photos: In Rehearsal with Seven Guitars’ Director Brandon J. Dirden at Two River Theater
Harold Koda to Step Down After Leading Met Museum’s Costume Institute for 15 Years; Andrew Bolton to Become Curator In Charge of the Department
815,992 Visitors to Costume Institute’s China: Through the Looking Glass Exhibition Make It Fifth Most Visited Exhibition in Metropolitan Museum’s History
Multimedia: In the Costume Shop with Seven Guitars’ costume designer Karen Perry at Two River Theater
Columbia’s New Tang Center Dedicated to Study of Early Chinese Civilizations opens in October
Martin Casella wins 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for Playwriting for The Report; Full List of 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award Winners
American Museum of Natural History previews The Butterfly Conservatory and a new book, The Butterflies of North America: Titian Peale’s Lost Manuscript
AsAmNews.com: Asian American Tweeters Get Special Shout-out in Playbill
Playbill.com: Retweet! BroadwayGirlNYC’s Picks For Most Useful Theatre Women on Social Media
AsAmNews.com:Playing Hide And Seek With Actress Lia Chang
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Cast Reunion featured in BLACK BELT MAGAZINE August/September 2015
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang
AsAmNews.com: A Chat with Broadway’s New King of Siam, Jose Llana

Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Selections from the Lia Chang Photography Collection in the permanent collection of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) include the shell of the World Trade Center and 12 other images that illustrate how New York’s Chinatown, located just ten blocks from Ground Zero, was the largest residential area affected by 9/11. For eight days following the attack on 9/11, Chinatown south of Canal Street was a “frozen zone” in which all vehicular and non-residential pedestrian traffic was prohibited; and, for nearly two months, Chinatown residents and businesses were effectively isolated by the loss of telephone service.

Flag and the clothesline Photo by Lia Chang

The images include walls of the missing at Gouverneur Healthcare Services in Chinatown, memorials in New York Chinatown’s Chatham Square and the FDNY Firehouse in Chinatown, portable phone banks provided by Verizon, and idle workers with no business.

Shell of the World Trade Center Photo by Lia Chang

Wall of missing at after 9-11 Photo by Lia Chang

Wall of missing Gouverneur Healthcare Services after 9-11. Photo by Lia Chang

Wall of the missing after 9-11 Photo by Lia Chang

Wall of the missing Gouverneur Healthcare Services after 9-11. Photo by Lia Chang

Phone lines went down in Chinatown after the World Trade Center towers collapsed. Verizon provided portable phone centers for people to stay connected. Photo by Lia Chang

Memorial at the FDNY Firestation in Chinatown after 9-11 photo by Lia Chang

Memorial in Chatham Square after 9-11 Photo by Lia Chang

Memorial in Chatham Square after 9-11photo by Lia Chang

Memorial in the shadow of Confucius Plaza after 9-11Photo by Lia Chang

Business Slows in Chinatown after 9-11. Photo by Lia Chang

Business Slows in Chinatown After 9-11 Photo by Lia Chang

Business slows in Chinatown after 9-11 Photo by Lia Chang

Business Slows in Chinatown After 9-11 Photo by Lia Chang

Lia Chang

Other Articles
Photos: Creating an Asian American presence on Wikipedia, one WikiAPA Edit-a-thon at a time
Film Lab & Time Warner Screening & Panel on Media Constructions of BEAUTY featuring Rick Guidotti, Becky Curran, Blue Michael, Jennifer Betit Yen and Lia Chang on October 7
Photos: Ping Chong receives 2014 National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang set for East West Players’ CHINGLISH Talkbacks on 9/25 & 9/26
Photos: In Rehearsal with Seven Guitars’ Director Brandon J. Dirden at Two River Theater
Harold Koda to Step Down After Leading Met Museum’s Costume Institute for 15 Years; Andrew Bolton to Become Curator In Charge of the Department
815,992 Visitors to Costume Institute’s China: Through the Looking Glass Exhibition Make It Fifth Most Visited Exhibition in Metropolitan Museum’s History
Multimedia: In the Costume Shop with Seven Guitars’ costume designer Karen Perry at Two River Theater
Columbia’s New Tang Center Dedicated to Study of Early Chinese Civilizations opens in October
Martin Casella wins 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for Playwriting for The Report; Full List of 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award Winners
American Museum of Natural History previews The Butterfly Conservatory and a new book, The Butterflies of North America: Titian Peale’s Lost Manuscript
AsAmNews.com: Asian American Tweeters Get Special Shout-out in Playbill
Playbill.com: Retweet! BroadwayGirlNYC’s Picks For Most Useful Theatre Women on Social Media
AsAmNews.com:Playing Hide And Seek With Actress Lia Chang
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Cast Reunion featured in BLACK BELT MAGAZINE August/September 2015
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang
AsAmNews.com: A Chat with Broadway’s New King of Siam, Jose Llana

Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Click to view slideshow.

I’ve alway considered Ping Chong to be a national treasure and now it is official. On Thursday, September 10th in the East Room at the White House, President Barack Obama presented the 2014 National Medal of Arts to Mr. Chong, who is being recognized for his contributions as a theater director, choreographer, and video and installation artist. Mr. Chong’s innovative performances explore race, history, technology, and art to challenge our understanding of humanity in the modern world.

First Lady Michelle Obama was in attendance. The event was live streamed.

Updated at 5:15PM

The other recipients of the 2014 National Medal of Arts this year included Meredith Monk, Miriam Colón, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Sally Field, Ann Hamilton, Stephen King, George Shirley, University Musical Society, and Tobias Wolff.

Citations:

Miriam Colón for her contributions as an actress. Ms. Colón has been a trailblazer in film, television, and theater, and helped open doors for generations of Hispanic actors. (New York, NY)

About the National Endowment for the Arts

Join the conversation on Twitter at #ArtsHumanitiesMedal.

The 2014 National Humanities Medals were presented at the same ceremony. Among the recipients are author Jhumpa Lahiri, The Clemente Course in the Humanities, author Annie Dillard, architect and preservationist Everett L. Fly, philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, historian Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, scholar Fedwa Malti-Douglas, novelist Larry McMurtry, historian Vicki Lynn Ruiz and author and food activist Alice Waters.

The Clemente Course In The Humanities for improving the lives of disadvantaged adults. The Clemente Course has brought free humanities education to thousands of men and women, enriching their lives and broadening their horizons.

Annie Dillard for her profound reflections on human life and nature. In poetry and in prose, Ms. Dillard has invited us to stand humbly before the stark beauty of creation.

Everett L. Fly for preserving the integrity of African-American places and landmarks. A landscape architect, Mr. Fly has worked tirelessly to win historical recognition for Eatonville, Florida, Nicodemus, Kansas, and other sites central to African-American history, preserving an important part of our broader American heritage.

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein for bringing philosophy into conversation with culture. In scholarship, Dr. Goldstein has elucidated the ideas of Spinoza and Gödel, while in fiction, she deploys wit and drama to help us understand the great human conflict between thought and feeling.

Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham for illuminating the African-American journey. In her writings and edited volumes, Dr. Higginbotham has traced the course of African-American history, and deepened our understanding of the American story.

Jhumpa Lahiri for enlarging the human story. In her works of fiction, Dr. Lahiri has illuminated the Indian-American experience in beautifully wrought narratives of estrangement and belonging.

Fedwa Malti-Douglas for her studies of Arabic letters. Dr. Douglas has mapped the discourse of gender and letters in the Arab Middle East and applied her insights to American culture.

Larry McMurtry for his books, essays, and screenplays. Mr. McMurtry’s work evokes the character and drama of the American West with stories that examine quintessentially American lives.

Vicki Lynn Ruiz for her contributions as a historian. In monographs and edited volumes, Dr. Ruiz has pioneered the history of twentieth-century Latinas in a distinguished career that began with collecting oral testimony from Mexican immigrants who worked in U.S. canning factories.

Alice Waters for celebrating the bond between the ethical and the edible. As a chef, author, and advocate, Ms. Waters champions a holistic approach to eating and health and celebrates integrating gardening, cooking, and education, sparking inspiration in a new generation.

The first National Humanities Medal was awarded in 1996. Since then, 175 have been bestowed — to 163 individuals and 12 organizations — inclusive of this year’s recipients.

Lia Chang

Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Baayork Lee. Photo by Lia Chang

To celebrate the 5th Anniversary of The National Asian Artists Project, Executive Artistic Director, Baayork Lee, and her very special team are “turning it up” with a special and splashy show called PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE on Monday, October 5, 2015, at NYU Skirball Center, 566 LaGuardia Pl in New York. Showtime 8PM.

The evening will be a line-up of wall-to-wall musical numbers from Broadway shows and featuring highlights from past productions and current material, as well as what Baayork hopes to stage in the future, with her unique company. It is a fantastic opportunity to SHOW OFF the talents in NAAP, from soloists to dancers to choral.

The TWIST of the night is that many numbers will be staged by Broadway pros, who are friends and supporters of NAAP, and the evening will be supervised by Directors Baayork Lee and Richard Jay-Alexander. The evening will be conducted by Broadway’s Kevin Stites.

Karl Josef Co, Jaygee Macapugay, Raul Aranas, Christine Toy Johnson and the company of NAAP’s Hello Dolly! at The Pershing Square Signature Center on April 30, 2013. Photo by Lia Chang

In 2009, Lee founded (with Steven Eng and Nina Zoie Lam) the National Asian Artists Project, which focuses on providing opportunities for the Asian American artistic community. NAAP’s “Discover New Musicals” program allows writers of all races and ethnicities to have new works showcased annually, utilizing Asian American casts, and its educational programs enable artists to hone their craft and to stay competitive in the workplace.

Nina Zoie Lam, Baayork Lee and Steven Eng, the founders of NAAP, onstage before the performance of Oliver! at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre  inside The Pershing Square Signature Center in New York on June 7, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Purchase tickets at the NYU Skirball Center Website

Ticket Prices:
$250 includes show & VIP Post Show Party ($150 tax deductible)
$100 ($50 tax deductible)
$75 ($25 tax deductible)
$50
$35

Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Raul Aranas, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Scott Watanabe, Cindy Cheung, Virginia Wing and John Haggerty at the curtain call of NAAP’s Oliver! at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre inside The Pershing Square Signature Center in New York on June 7, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

About National Asian Artists Project (NAAP):
National Asian Artists Project (NAAP) exists to be a leader in educating, cultivating, and stimulating audiences and artists—current and future—through showcasing exceptional work by vibrant artists of Asian descent. Art constantly evolves, and NAAP strives to command a place at the fore with a uniquely compelling American voice.

NAAP believes that artists of Asian descent have many vital roles to play in the fostering of American communities.
*Through thoughtful educational programming, we seek to present the richness of theatre arts to underserved children, fostering creative self-discovery and expression.
*Support the artistic growth of theatre artists of Asian descent through professional employment opportunities.
*Build and cultivate new local and national audiences that encourage patronage and participation in the arts, including predominantly Asian communities unaccustomed to playing a role in the local or national arts dialogue.
*Capture and archive stories of prominent artists of Asian descent that they may be made available for future generations from which to learn and inspire.

Baayork Lee is surrounded by her NAAP chorus. Photo by Lia Chang

Other articles about Baayork Lee and NAAP:
Award Winning Actor Raul Aranas Talks THE BLACKLIST, NAAP’S OLIVER!, Songwriting and the Zen of Cycling
Photos: Tommy Tune, Bob Avian, Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson, Orville Mendoza, Lori Tan Chinn, Raul Aranas, Virginia Wing and More Celebrate 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award Recipient Baayork Lee
Oct. 10: Baayork Lee to Receive 2014 Paul Robeson Citation Award presented by the Actors’ Equity Foundation
National Asian Artists Project To Present All-Asian Production of OLIVER! Featuring Raul Aranas, Anthea Neri, Bonale Zohn Fambrini, Mel Sagrado Maghuyop, Cindy Cheung, Scott Watanabe, Virginia Wing, David Shih and More
Photos: Christine Toy Johnson, Baayork Lee, Jose Llana, Ann Harada, Dodie Pettit and More at Charles Randolph-Wright’s “Three Voices” concert series at Stage 72
Christine Toy Johnson and Raul Aranas Lead the Cast of the National Asian Artists Project’s (NAAP) Benefit Presentation of Hello Dolly!, at The Pershing Square Signature Center

Lia Chang

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Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lillias White sings “Home,” at the BC/EFA's Gypsy of the Year at The New Amsterdam Theatre in New York on December 9, 2014. Photo by Lia Chang

Andre Dé Shields in his New York apartment in 2009. Photo by Lia Chang

Broadway In Chicago and Producers Dori Berinstein and Bill Damaschke are presenting GOTTA DANCE, the new Broadway-bound musical about professional basketball’s first ever aged 60-and-older dance team in Chicago this year. GOTTA DANCE begins performances on December 13, 2015 and runs through January 10, 2016 at Broadway In Chicago’s Bank of America Theatre.

From the director/choreographer of Kinky Boots comes the incredible true story of ten determined dreamers who audition to dance at half time for a major NBA team. They have three things in common: they love to dance, they have something to prove, and they are all over 60. It isn’t until they make the cut that they find out they won’t be dancing tap, salsa or swing-they are going to bring down the house with a style that’s entirely new to them: hip hop. Don’t miss this original Broadway-bound musical about a group of ordinary seniors with extraordinary dreams as they battle pain, prejudice, self-doubt and each other for a chance to bust a move at center court in front of 20 thousand screaming fans.

Lori Tan Chinn. Photo by Lia Chang

Two-time Tony Award nominee André De Shields, Orange is the New Black‘s Lori Tan Chinn, five-time Emmy Award nominee Georgia Engel, Tony Award-winner Lillias White, television and film icon Stefanie Powers (making her Broadway debut), Haven Burton, and Nancy Ticotin are set to star in the pre-Broadway world premiere of GOTTA DANCE. The cast also features Tracy Jai Edwards, Madeleine Doherty, Kay Walbye, Lenora Nemetz, Alexander Aguilar, Colbe Lewis, Diane Findlay and Paul Castelon.

GOTTA DANCE brings together an all-star creative team that includes a book by Tony Award-nominee Chad Beguelin (Aladdin) and Tony Award-winner Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone), music by Tony Award nomineeMatthew Sklar (Elf) and lyrics by Tony Award-nominee Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde), with additional music by Marvin Hamlisch (an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Oscar winner) and direction and choreography by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots).

The creative team of GOTTA DANCE reunites Mitchell with his Kinky Boots collaborators, including five time Tony Award nominee David Rockwell (Scenic Design), Tony Award-winner Gregg Barnes (Costume Design) and Tony Award-winner Kenneth Posner (Lighting Design), along with Nick Kenkel (Co-Choreography), four-time Tony Award nominee Peter Hylenski (Sound Design), Tony Award-winner Larry Hochman (Orchestrations), Charlie Alterman (Musical Director) and Telsey + Company (Casting).

Tickets for GOTTA DANCE at the Bank of America Theatre range from $38 -$105. A select number of premium tickets are available for many performances. Group tickets for 10 or more are available by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710. Tickets are available at all Broadway In Chicago Box Offices (24 W. Randolph St., 151 W. Randolph St., 18 W. Monroe St. and 175 E. Chestnut), the Broadway In Chicago Ticket Line at (800) 775-2000, all Ticketmaster retail locations and online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

Lia Chang

Other articles about André De Shields:
Two-Time Tony nominee André De Shields, Tony Winner Lillias White, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’s Lori Tan Chinn, Stephanie Powers, Georgia Engel & More Will Lead Broadway-Bound Musical GOTTA DANCE in Chicago
André De Shields, Melba Moore, Jackee Harry, Harold Wheeler, Hattie Winston, Obba Babatunde, Maurice Hines, Alyson Williams, Norm Lewis, Larry Marshall, Peggi Blu, Longineu Parsons, Jeffrey Anderson- Gunter, Kirk Taylor, Jacob Wheeler, Dawnn Lewis and Jermaine Coles set for BLACK STARS OF THE GREAT WHITE WAY at National Black Theatre Festival, Aug. 3-4
THE WIZ: A Celebration in Dance and Music featuring André De Shields, Phylicia Rashad, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ebony Jo-Ann, Inaya Day and more at SummerStage in Central Park on August 12
Multimedia: CONFESSIONS OF A P.I.M.P. Opening Night with André De Shields; #Ignition Festival Continues through July 19
Video: André De Shields sings Smile in CONFESSIONS OF A P.I.M.P. in Victory Gardens’ 2015 IGNITION Festival of New Plays
Video: André De Shields sings Street Corner Symphony and Mary Mack in CONFESSIONS OF A P.I.M.P. in Victory Gardens’ 2015 IGNITION Festival of New Plays
Photo and Video Preview: Two-time Tony nominee André De Shields Kicks Off Victory Gardens’ 2015 Ignition Festival of New Plays with CONFESSIONS OF A P.I.M.P
Two-time Tony nominee André De Shields, GREY’S ANATOMY star Sandra Oh, Kimberly Lawson, Donica Lynn, Tony Mhoon, Doug Peck, Robert Reddrick, Anjali Bhimani and More set for 2015 IGNITION Festival of New Plays at Victory Gardens Theater, July 16-19
Victory Gardens Theater’s IGNITION Festival of New Plays features new works by Two-time Tony nominee André De Shields, Julia Cho, Minita Gandhi, Basil Kreimendahl, José Rivera, Madhuri Shekar and A. Zell Williams, July 16-19
tcgcircle.org THE GRAND ILLUSION by ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS in FOX FELLOWSHIPS
Conversations with the Divine with Owais Ahmed, Baize Buzan, Kathryn Cesarz, Kamal Hans, Brian Grey, Donica Lynn, Patrese McClain and Miranda Zola at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater
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Click here for more articles on André De Shields.

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Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Chita Rivera

The 100 Hispanic Women National, Inc. (100HW) will host its 19^th annual awards dinner “An Inspirational Evening” on Thursday, September 17, 2015 at Cipriani’s Wall Street in New York City.

The 100 Hispanic Women’s “Latina Legend” Award will be bestowed for the first time in the history of the organization to Ms. Chita Rivera.

Chita Rivera is Broadway’s most versatile and accomplished singer, dancer and actress. She has won Two Tony Awards and received an exceptional 10 Tony Award nominations for her starring roles in such landmark Broadway musicals as West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago, The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman and, most recently The Visit. Ms. Rivera received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama and was the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honor.

The Latina Legend Award will continue to be awarded annually by the 100 Hispanic Women as recognition to individuals who have been recognized nationally as first time recipients in any given field and noteworthy service representing the Hispanic community.

Also being recognized at the 2015 gala are the following honorees: Lorraine Montenegro, Historical Consultant for United Bronx Parents, Inc. will receive the Latina Service of Excellence Award; Rose Rodriguez, New York State Chief Diversity Officer will receive the Public Service Leadership Award; the Every Woman Wellness has been selected to receive the Groundbreakers Award and will be accepted by Dr. Juana L. Cuevas, Dr. Lisette Lugo and Dr. Monica Simons; and the annual “Men-Ción” Honorable Award will be presented to Dr. Magdy Mikhail, Chair of the Department of OBY/GYN and Women’s Health at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center.

As part of the program, there will be a special tribute to Presidenta Emerita and Founding Member Milagros Baez O’Toole for her leadership and guidance since the inception of the organization.

“We are extremely proud of Chita Rivera’s outstanding accomplishments, the many years of commitment from Milagros Baez O’Toole, and the amazing work of all this year’s gala honorees”, Nancy Genova President of the 100 Hispanic Women National, Inc. stated.

100 HISPANIC WOMEN NATIONAL, INC. is a non-profit, non-partisan women’s organization dedicated to guiding Latinas towards excellence in leadership by fostering educational enrichment and creating opportunities to promote personal and professional advancement. It is through the annual gala that the organization raises the much needed funds to support the organization’s efforts to secure scholarships for our young scholars.

For further information and/or to purchase tickets for the gala, email 100hwgala@gmail.com or call the office directly at (646) 852-9665.

100hispanicwomen.org

Lia Chang

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Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Tonight I’m headed to the New York City Premiere of ALWAYS at AMC Empire 25 Times Square and the After Party. Looking forward to celebrating with Derek Ting ($upercapitalist), the writer, star and director of the film and his wife photographer Joyce Yung. The film also features Danni Wang (Madame Secretary), Peter Shinkoda (NetFlix’s Daredevil), Veteran Hong Kong actor Philip Chan (Supercop, Hard Boiled), and Ian Buchanan (General Hospital, Bold and the Beautiful).

Derek Ting. Photo by Lia Chang

NEW YORK CITY PREMIERE of “ALWAYS” + Afterparty
Address: 234 West 42nd (bet. 7th & 8th Ave.), New York City

Schedule:
6:30pm – 7:30pm Red Carpet Photos
7:30pm – 9:30pm Movie + Q&A with Producers & Cast
9:30pm – 11:30pm After Party at Skyroom, at Fairfield Inn & Suites New York Times Square, 330 W 40th St., New York, NY 10018

Synopsis: Liam Chan, a lawyer in Hong Kong, incidentally falls for Yan Li, a Shanghainese heiress to a hotel empire, where predestined obligations test their love.

Lia Chang

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Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Two River Theater (Artistic Director John Dias, Managing Director Michael Hurst) presents August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, directed by Brandon J. Dirden. The press opening is Friday, September 18 at 8pm and performances will continue through Sunday, October 4 in Two River’s Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ. Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or tworivertheater.org.

Jason Dirden (Canewell), Charlie Hudson III (Red Carter), and Kevin Mambo (Floyd Barton) in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Two River Theater. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Featured in the cast are Brittany Bellizeare (Ruby), Brian D. Coats (Hedley), Crystal A. Dickinson (Louise), Jason Dirden (Canewell), Charlie Hudson III (Red Carter), Kevin Mambo (Floyd Barton), and Christina Acosta Robinson (Vera).

The full company of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Two River Theater. From left: Charlie Hudson III (Red Carter), Brittany Bellizeare (Ruby), Crystal A. Dickinson (Louise), Jason Dirden (Canewell), Kevin Mambo (Floyd Barton), Christina Acosta Robinson(Vera), and Brian D. Coats (Hedley) in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Two River Theater. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

The creative team includes scenic designer Michael Carnahan, costume designer Karen Perry, lighting designer Driscoll Otto, and sound designer David Margolin Lawson. Original music is by Jason Moran. The fight direction is by Unkle Dave’s Fight-House, the casting is by Heidi Griffiths & Kate Murray, and the production stage manager is Laura Wilson.

Christina Acosta Robinson (Vera) and Crystal A. Dickinson (Louise) in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Two River Theater. Photo by T. Charles Erickson

In the costume shop with Karen Perry.

Lia Chang

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Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Actor and activist George Takei, founding members of Soh Daiko, Alan and Merle Okada, dancer Takehiro Ueyama and Christina Chiu will be honored at the Asian American Arts Alliance’s 33rd Anniversary Benefit Gala at Tribeca Rooftop, 2 Desbrosses St in New York on Wednesday, September 16, 2015. The evening is a celebration of outstanding Asian Americans in the arts and an opportunity for audiences and patrons to make a significant contribution toward the artistic talent within our community. Cocktails at 6:30pm, followed by dinner and entertainment. Buy tickets for the 33rd Anniversary Gala here!

Funds raised from this event support the Alliance’s programs and services, which offers artists opportunities to be their own best entrepreneurs across the spectrum of their careers—helping them to build audiences, seek funding, and grow their own artistic and strategic alliances.

George Takei

Alan & Merle Okada – Founding Members, Soh Daiko

FEATURING

the 2015 Jadin Wong Award for

Emerging Asian American Choreographer

Takehiro Ueyama

*The 2015 Jadin Wong Award is intended to recognize one emerging Asian American choreographer whose work shows potential for greater achievement and hopes to make a significant impact on the NYC artistic community as a whole.

the Fifth Annual Wai Look Award for

Outstanding Service to the Arts

Christina Chiu

*The Wai Look Award for Outstanding Service to the Arts is intended to recognize and encourage Asian American individuals working as an arts administrator, advocate, leader or equivalent whose active participation in or for the arts has made a considerable impact.

2015 Gala Benefit Honorary Chair
Mayor David Dinkins

2015 Gala Benefit Co-Chairs
Susan Onuma, Gary Moriwaki, Julie Azuma

2015 Benefit Committee
Karen Beluso, Rocky Chin & May Chen, Larry Hama, Barbara Ho, Fay Ann Lee, Cobi Narita, Ron Ostermann, Hong Qu, Ravi Rajan, Athena Robles & G. Richard Dodge, Jr., Beesham Seecharan, Bea Soong, Mark Swicegood, Norma Tan, Helen Wan, Andrew Wang, Cindy Zhou (list in formation)

Sponsors
WNYC, Park Avenue Artists, Jordan Young, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Sierra Nevada, Cafe Evergreen

For more information on sponsorship, benefit committee, or tickets, please contact Executive Director Andrea Louie (alouie@aaartsalliance.org) or Development Associate Anjali Goyal (agoyal@aaartsalliance.org).

Lia Chang

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Harold Koda to Step Down After Leading Met Museum’s Costume Institute for 15 Years; Andrew Bolton to Become Curator In Charge of the Department
Multimedia: In the Costume Shop with Seven Guitars’ costume designer Karen Perry at Two River Theater
Columbia’s New Tang Center Dedicated to Study of Early Chinese Civilizations opens in October
Martin Casella wins 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for Playwriting for The Report; Full List of 2015 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award Winners
American Museum of Natural History previews The Butterfly Conservatory and a new book, The Butterflies of North America: Titian Peale’s Lost Manuscript
AsAmNews.com: Asian American Tweeters Get Special Shout-out in Playbill
Playbill.com: Retweet! BroadwayGirlNYC’s Picks For Most Useful Theatre Women on Social Media
AsAmNews.com:Playing Hide And Seek With Actress Lia Chang
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Cast Reunion featured in BLACK BELT MAGAZINE August/September 2015
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang
AsAmNews.com: A Chat with Broadway’s New King of Siam, Jose Llana

Click here for other articles by Lia Chang, here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Dax Phelan’s award-winning film JASMINE starring Jason Tobin, Glen Chin, Grace Huang, Sarah Lian, Byron Mann and Eugenia Yuan, is screening in competition at the 11th Action On Film International Film Festival at the Krikorian Monrovia Cinema 12, 410 S Myrtle Ave, Monrovia, California 91016, on Saturday, September 19th at 7pm. The film is nominated for two awards: Best Actor (Jason Tobin) and Best Art Direction (Suki Lui). For ticket information, click here.

Jason Tobin attends the screening of Dax Phelan's Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Eugenia Yuan attends the screening of Dax Phelan's Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Byron Mann attends the screening of Dax Phelan's Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Leonard To (Jason Tobin) is a man who is struggling to come to terms with the unsolved murder of his beloved wife, Jasmine. After more than a year, he decides to come back to Hong Kong and move on with his life. He searches for a new job, attends group grief support meetings, and reconnects with Grace, a woman from his past. While he still calls the police, hoping Jasmine’s murder case will be resolved, Leonard does seem to start life anew.

A scene from Dax Phelan’s JASMINE

On the first anniversary of Jasmine’s death, Leonard visits her burial site and crosses paths with a mysterious man, who Leonard becomes convinced is a prime suspect for his beloved wife’s death. Leonard decides to investigate and follow this man, in hopes of finding connections to his wife’s murder, and reports the man to the police. However, when the police fail to arrest the man, Leonard realizes that the only way for him to stop his own fiery downward spiral and move on with his life once and for all is to take matters into his own hands. The result: a shocking and unforgettable final revelation.

ACV Executive Director John Woo, Jon Anderson, Jason Tobin, Dax Phelan, Byron Mann, Nicole Watson and David Tsuboi attend the #AAIFF2015 screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

In his directorial debut, Dax Phelan keeps us on an edge of our seats and takes us on a roller-coaster ride with his star-studded cast and crew. With a strong character-driven narrative and constant suspense all set in the bustling city of Hong Kong, Dax Phelan creates a story that is bold, riveting, and shocking with a theme that is universally relatable to anyone who has ever loved and anyone who has ever suffered. JASMINE is dedicated to Dax Phelan’s mother.

Dax Phelan attends the screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Dax Phelan is an award-winning screenwriter, producer, and director based in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and New York. Phelan was previously the Creative Executive for veteran producer Mace Neufeld (THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER) at Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment on projects such as THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER, THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, and THE EQUALIZER. Last year, Phelan teamed up with Academy Award-nominee Oren Moverman to executive produce Anja Marquardt’s SHE’S LOST CONTROL, which was nominated for two Film Independent Spirit Awards: Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay. He is currently adapting Neil White’s memoir IN THE SANCTUARY OF OUTCASTS for producer Stratton Leopold (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III) and co-producing Orson Welles’ final film, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND. Phelan was awarded the 2015 LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature for JASMINE, which also won in the categories of Best Editor (Chris Chan Lee), Best Cinematography (Guy Livneh), Best Sound Design (Lisa K. Fowle) and Best Actor-Drama (Jason Tobin).

Below is my photo coverage of the #AAIFF2015 screening of JASMINE at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015

Jason Tobin attends the #AAIFF2015 screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Byron Mann attends the #AAIFF2015 screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Dax Phelan, Jason Tobin and Byron Mann attend the #AAIFF2015 screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Jason Tobin and Eugenia Yuan attend the #AAIFF2015 screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015.

Nicole Watson, David Tsuboi, Michelle Tobin, Dax Phelan, Jason Tobin, Eugenia Yuan, Jon Anderson and guest attend the #AAIFF2015 screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Dax Phelan, Eugenia Yuan and Jason Tobin attend the #AAIFF2015 screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Jason and Michelle Tobin attend the #AAIFF2015 screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Elizabeth Sung, Jason Tobin and Dax Phelan attend the #AAIFF2015 screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Byron Mann and Tzi Ma after the screening of Dax Phelan's Jasmine at Village East Cinemas in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Lia Chang, Bea Soong, Phil Nee, Elizabeth Sung, Eugenia Yuan, Jason Tobin, Tzi Ma and Vic Huey at the #AAIFF2015 screening of Jasmine at Village East Cinema in New York on July 30, 2015. Photo by Ursula Liang

Lia Chang

Other Articles:
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
AsAmNews.com: Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center to host 2nd annual Wikipedia APA in September
Photos: Creating an Asian American presence on Wikipedia, one WikiAPA Edit-a-thon at a time
Film Lab & Time Warner Screening & Panel on Media Constructions of BEAUTY featuring Rick Guidotti, Becky Curran, Blue Michael, Jennifer Betit Yen and Lia Chang on October 7
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
Video and Photos: Ping Chong, Meredith Monk, Miriam Colón, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Stephen King, Sally Field and more receive 2014 National Medal of Arts; Jhumpa Lahiri among 2014 National Humanities Medal recipients
Harold Koda to Step Down After Leading Met Museum’s Costume Institute for 15 Years; Andrew Bolton to Become Curator In Charge of the Department
Multimedia: In the Costume Shop with Seven Guitars’ costume designer Karen Perry at Two River Theater
Portraits of New York Chinatown after 9/11
Broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: Phylicia Rashad, Andre De Shields & More Original Cast Members from THE WIZ Reunite in Central Park!
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Cast Reunion featured in BLACK BELT MAGAZINE August/September 2015
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang
Columbia’s New Tang Center Dedicated to Study of Early Chinese Civilizations opens in October
AsAmNews.com: Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Ruby Yang talks about her new film, My Voice, My Life
AsAmNews.com: Actor Tzi Ma Rides ‘Hell On Wheels’ to New Heights
AsAmNews.com: First Look: Collecting Contemporary at the Asian Art Museum in SF, Sept. 4–Oct. 11
AsAmNews.com: What’s Next for Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka, Director of Critically Acclaimed The Report
AsAmNews.com: Eric Ting is the New Artistic Director of the California Shakespeare Theater
AsAmNews.com: Longtime Asian American Reporter in New York Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
AsAmNews.com: Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka Directs New Off Broadway Drama THE REPORT
AsAmNews.com: The King and I’s Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles and Betsy Morgan Perform Concert in the Park
Broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: First Look at THE REPORT as Part of FringeNYC
AsAmNews.com: China: Through the Looking Glass Extended by The Met until Labor Day
AsAmNews.com: Arthur Dong’s Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970 wins American Book Award
AsAmNews.com: Four Playwrights to Explore the Intersections of Orange County Diversity Through SCR’s CrossRoads
AsAmNews.com: Future Looks Bright for Asian American Cinema
AsAmNews.com: Asian American Tweeters Get Special Shout-out in Playbill
Playbill.com: Retweet! BroadwayGirlNYC’s Picks For Most Useful Theatre Women on Social Media
AsAmNews.com:Playing Hide And Seek With Actress Lia Chang
AsAmNews.com: A Chat with Broadway’s New King of Siam, Jose Llana
AsAmNews.com: Lunch with Tony Winner Lea Salonga and George Takei, Stars of ALLEGIANCE
AsAmNews.com: AAPI Heritage Month: My Grandmother’s Detention on Angel Island
Crafting a Career

The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center is hosting a month-long series of #WikiAPA meetups across the U.S. and in Asia.

I attended the edit-a-thon in New York at the Museum of Modern Art, and they have also been held in Washington D.C. and Pasadena. Upcoming cities include Seattle (9/17), Oakland (9/18), Toyama City, Japan (9/20), Hong Kong (9/22), Austin and Bangkok (9/26), Chicago (9/29), San Diego (9/30), Minneapolis (10/1), as well as remotely, with participants taking part from all throughout the world. More are still being added. Check below for the details on the #WikiAPA in the city near you.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Check out my recap and photo essay of the New York #WikiAPA Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art, in addition to my interview with Adriel Luis, curator of Digital and Emerging Media for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.

I had a surreal moment at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s #WikiAPA Edit-a-thon when I walked to the front of the room and was greeted by my own Wikipedia page being edited in real time by someone in the room.

Lia Chang and her Wikipedia page on the screen at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Vic Huey

Since this was an evening focused on Wikipedia editing, dedicated to creating, updating, and improving articles about Asian Pacific American art and artists, it just goes to show you that we all could use a little improvement.

Lia Chang, Adriel Luis and Ann Matsuuchi attend the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Adriel Luis, curator of Digital and Emerging Media for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center; Ann Matsuuchi, instructional technology librarian and professor at LaGuardia Community College; and Nancy A. Bulalacao-Leung, co-founder of Filipino American Museum; were among the speakers in this evening hosted at the Museum of Modern Art in collaboration with Wikimedia NYC on Sept 2.

FAM co-founder, Nancy A. Bulalacao-Leung speaks at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Upon my arrival, I was handed a Wiki markup cheatsheet for editing Wikipedia articles.

Wiki markup cheatsheet at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Books on the Asian Pacific American experience were provided by the A/P/A Institute at NYU for reference.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

It was a great turnout and while some brought laptops, some attendees could be seen working with Wikipedia experts on their iPads, tablets and smartphones.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Below are excerpts from my interview with Luis.

Adriel Luis, curator of Digital and Emerging Media for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center speaks at Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Chang: What is the purpose of a WikiApa Edit-a-thon?
Luis: Wikipedia is one of the most referred to sources of information online, but one of the issues is that a lot of times for underrepresented communities, things, moments, people we find are important, are underrepresented. It’s not that Wikipedia doesn’t want that information on there, quite contrarily we do want that information and we need to be represented as editors. These events are not only put on to not only populate Wikipedia with more diverse content, but also to introduce folks who have never edited Wikipedia before to do it in a space where we are sitting on a nice balcony with wine being provided.

A view of the sculpture garden at Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

There are Asian Pacific American artists who may not have been historically signed with major record labels, or are not represented in Hollywood or television shows. By coming today and starting stub articles on Asian Pacific American artists, we are creating an Asian American presence on Wikipedia. The hope is that we start to see that things that might not have been considered valid sources in the past are now because we have such a wide access to digital resources.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

We are really starting from the beginning with a lot of this. On www.wikiapa.tumblr.com, you’ll find a list of musicians, performance artists and visual artists from different Asian Pacific American communities who may have made a major impact, but perhaps on a grass roots level. You may not find them in New York Times write-ups, or featured on MTV. Fortunately, we have institutions like the Smithsonian and the Museum of Modern Art backing us up. We see something like this WikiAPA edit-a-thon today as a starting ground. If some of these artists that are represented on this website don’t have much other representation, then we start working with grassroots media. We start working with more established media to create the types of sources that get cited on Wikipedia.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Chang: What is your role as curator of Digital & Emerging Media at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center?
Luis: My role as curator is thinking about untraditional space as the terrain for Asian Pacific American heritage through the lens of the museum. We are doing that because there is no national museum of Asian Pacific America in DC. We know that at least for the next couple of decades, we’re really looking at being at the helm of where museums are going in the digital age. We’ve seen how press has gone digital, and anticipate how exhibitions and museums will as well.

If we are looking at the Internet as a terrain for Asian Pacific American heritage, it is not that great of a terrain right now. If you Google Asian and search images, it’s kind of abhorrent. On top of that, there is a lot of underrepresentation on some our major information outlets like Wikipedia. WikiAPA is a part of an ecosystem of initiatives that we are facilitating in order to improve the terrain of Asian American information and heritage. Part of that includes giving people a better understanding of how to tweak the metadata on their websites and blogs so that when people search for Asian and Asian American stuff, those things have a better chance of showing up as well.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Chang: How do you tweak the metadata?
Luis: As an example, websites that promote mail order brides. They do this metadata dumping where in the code of their site, they will have Asian, Asian Women, Oriental, East Asian, and all this stuff so that no matter what you search that’s anywhere within the ethos of searching for Asian stuff, the first thing you will end up with is those search results. But then in contrast, if you are talking about an Asian American organization at a university, we understand more nuanced terms like Asian American, Asian Pacific American. The problem is if I am somebody who is from somewhere where there are not a lot of Asian Americans, and if I am genuinely interested in learning more about Asian Americans, but I am not familiar with the terminology, likely the term someone like me would type in would be Oriental. With that you don’t end up with any of the more progressive types of web presence of APAs. There’s a disconnect. Part of changing that ecosystem is doing things like tagging or naming files that are more conducive to matching those search results. Even we don’t like being called Oriental, we might want to include that in our metadata, so that when someone types Oriental, it shifts the culture so that maybe Google will at someone point say, “Did you mean Asian?” So we slowly change the landscape.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

If you were trying to build a museum in a city that is blighted or is a hostile environment for the community that you want to outreach to, before you can start collecting for the museum or building the museum, you need to do things so that we improve the community as a safer space for people to actually want to have it be their museum playground. That’s what we are doing with the internet right now. WikiAPA is part of that.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Chang: What was last year’s WikiAPA like?
Luis: Last year we did it in seven cities. This year we are doing it in 10 cities in the U.S. and three cities in Asia. We’re looking to do this regularly, and each time we do it, we learn a bit more and create more framework, so that eventually people can host their own Wikipedia edit-a-thons as well.

Karen Li-Lun Hwang and Ann Matsuuchi, Instructional Technology Librarian/Associate Professor, LaGuardia Community College at Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

One of the first things we try to do when we launch a WikiAPA in a city that has never done it before is to do a little bit of matchmaking. We find a venue. We find an expert in the field of Asian American art or whatever it is that we are focusing on, and we find Wikipedia experts. When we get that trinity of people together with logistical, scholarly and technical aspects covered, we try to encourage the cities to focus on aspects of the field of what they might gravitate towards. For instance with Chicago, there has been a very rich Asian American art scene, which is rare to find in the Midwest. So we are encouraging them to focus on local artists. At The Wing Luke, there’s a lot of connection between art and activism. So they’re expanding their topic from Asian American art to Asian American art and activism. In Washington DC, we’re focusing on artists who have gone through Smithsonian Archives Library of Congress. Depending on the cities, we keep it pretty loose, so that folks can really work on something they feel passionate about.

For more information about the #WikiAPA series, visit Smithsonian APA – Wiki or follow #WikiAPA on Twitter.

Click here to see photos on Wikimedia Commons.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Wikipedia_APA

http://smithsonianapa.org/wiki/

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Artists Nina Kuo and Lorin Roser attend Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

FAM co-founder, Nancy A. Bulalacao-Leung and Ryan Wong at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s Edit-a-thon at Museum of Modern Art in New York on September 2, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang

Seattle

Date: Thursday, September 17, 2015
Time: 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, at 719 S King Street
Public transit: Link Light Rail (International District/Chinatown), King County Metro
Proposed scope of work
RSVP: here

Oakland

Date: Friday, September 18, 2015
Time: 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm PDT
Location: Oakland Museum of California
RSVP: Eventbrite

Toyama, Japan

Date: Sunday, September 20, 2015
Time: 1:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Location: Toyama Mag.net
Public transit: JR Line
Please RSVP: http://ptix.co/1MMfgKO

Hong Kong

Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Time: 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm (Editing workshop at 5pm)
Location: Computer Labs, CityU School of Creative Media
Public transit: Kowloon Tong Station
RSVP: Facebook event

Austin, TX

Date: Saturday, September 26, 2015
Time: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: Asian American Resource Center, 8401 Cameron Road, Austin, TX 78754
RSVP: here
co-sponsored with the UTexas chapter of the Association for Information Science & Technology

Bangkok

Date: Saturday, September 26, 2015
Time: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: dtac headquater, Chamchuri Square [1]
Public transit: MRT (Bangkok)
RSVP: m:Wikimedians in Thailand/2015 Smithsonian APA

Chicago

Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30 pm
Location: University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Richard J. Daley Library, First floor of the library (RM 1-470), 801 South Morgan Street
RSVP: here

San Diego

Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Time: 2:00 pm.– 5:00 pm PST
Location: Geisel Library, University of California San Diego
RSVP: WikiAPA Editathon 2015 in San Diego, California

Minneapolis, MN

Date: Thursday, October 1, 2015
Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: Open Book, 1011 South Washington Avenue Rm 203 (in collaboration with The Loft)
RSVP: here

Lia Chang

Other Articles
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
AsAmNews.com: Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center to host 2nd annual Wikipedia APA in September
Photos: Creating an Asian American presence on Wikipedia, one WikiAPA Edit-a-thon at a time
Film Lab & Time Warner Screening & Panel on Media Constructions of BEAUTY featuring Rick Guidotti, Becky Curran, Blue Michael, Jennifer Betit Yen and Lia Chang on October 7
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
Video and Photos: Ping Chong, Meredith Monk, Miriam Colón, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Stephen King, Sally Field and more receive 2014 National Medal of Arts; Jhumpa Lahiri among 2014 National Humanities Medal recipients
Harold Koda to Step Down After Leading Met Museum’s Costume Institute for 15 Years; Andrew Bolton to Become Curator In Charge of the Department
Multimedia: In the Costume Shop with Seven Guitars’ costume designer Karen Perry at Two River Theater
Portraits of New York Chinatown after 9/11
Broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: Phylicia Rashad, Andre De Shields & More Original Cast Members from THE WIZ Reunite in Central Park!
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Cast Reunion featured in BLACK BELT MAGAZINE August/September 2015
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang
Columbia’s New Tang Center Dedicated to Study of Early Chinese Civilizations opens in October
AsAmNews.com: Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Ruby Yang talks about her new film, My Voice, My Life
AsAmNews.com: Actor Tzi Ma Rides ‘Hell On Wheels’ to New Heights
AsAmNews.com: First Look: Collecting Contemporary at the Asian Art Museum in SF, Sept. 4–Oct. 11
AsAmNews.com: What’s Next for Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka, Director of Critically Acclaimed The Report
AsAmNews.com: Eric Ting is the New Artistic Director of the California Shakespeare Theater
AsAmNews.com: Longtime Asian American Reporter in New York Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
AsAmNews.com: Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka Directs New Off Broadway Drama THE REPORT
AsAmNews.com: The King and I’s Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles and Betsy Morgan Perform Concert in the Park
Broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: First Look at THE REPORT as Part of FringeNYC
AsAmNews.com: China: Through the Looking Glass Extended by The Met until Labor Day
AsAmNews.com: Arthur Dong’s Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970 wins American Book Award
AsAmNews.com: Four Playwrights to Explore the Intersections of Orange County Diversity Through SCR’s CrossRoads
AsAmNews.com: Future Looks Bright for Asian American Cinema
AsAmNews.com: Asian American Tweeters Get Special Shout-out in Playbill
Playbill.com: Retweet! BroadwayGirlNYC’s Picks For Most Useful Theatre Women on Social Media
AsAmNews.com:Playing Hide And Seek With Actress Lia Chang
AsAmNews.com: A Chat with Broadway’s New King of Siam, Jose Llana
AsAmNews.com: Lunch with Tony Winner Lea Salonga and George Takei, Stars of ALLEGIANCE
AsAmNews.com: AAPI Heritage Month: My Grandmother’s Detention on Angel Island
Crafting a Career

Kelli O’Hara and Jose Llana in The King and I. Photo by Paul Kolnik

I am very excited to be going to The Actors Fund special performance of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s beloved classic THE KING AND I, starring Jose Llana as the King of Siam and Tony winners Kelli O’Hara as Anna and Ruthie Ann Miles as Lady Thiang, on Sunday, September 20th at 8pm. The entire company will donate their time and talent for this performance that will directly benefit The Actors Fund. Helmed by Bartlett Sher, Tony-winning revival of THE KING AND I is currently in residence at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, 150 West 65th Street in New York.

THE KING AND I is the winner of 4 2015 Tony Awards — Best Revival of a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (Kelli O’Hara), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Ruthie Ann Miles), and Best Costume Design of a Musical (Catherine Zuber).

Ruthie Ann Miles. Photo by Paul Kolnik

Ashley Park and Conrad Ricamora. Photo by Paul Kolnik

The King and I also features Ashley Park (as Tuptim), Conrad Ricamora (as Lun Tha), Edward Baker-Duly (as Sir Edward Ramsey), Jon Viktor Corpuz (as Prince Chulalongkorn), Murphy Guyer (as Captain Orton), Jake Lucas (as Louis), Paul Nakauchi (as Kralahome), and Marc Oka (as Phra Alack), and Adriana Braganza, Amaya Braganza, LaMae Caparas, Hsin-Ping Chang, Andrew Cheng, Lynn Masako Cheng, Olivia Chun, Ali Ewoldt, Bonale Fambrini,Ethan Halford Holder, MaryAnn Hu, James Ignacio, Misa Iwama, Jim Kaplan, Christie Kim, Mindy Lai, Analisa Leaming, Q Lim, Kelvin Moon Loh, Sumie Maeda, Paul HeeSang Miller, Betsy Morgan, Rommel Pierre O’Choa, Arisa Odaka, Kristen Faith Oei, Autumn Ogawa, Yuki Ozeki, Stephanie Jae Park, Bobby Pestka, Sam Poon, William Poon, Emilio Ramos, Brian Rivera, Bennyroyce Royon, Lainie Sakakura, Ann Sanders, Ian Saraceni, Julius Sermonia, Atsuhisa Shinomiya, Emily Stillings, Michiko Takemasa, Kei Tsuruharatani, Christopher Vo, Rocco Wu, Xiaochuan Xie, Timothy Yang and Minami Yusui.

Orchestra: $162.00
Loge: $162.00 & $107.00

*A $10.00 service and handling fee will be added for each ticket purchased.

For tickets call (212) 221-7300, ext. 133 or visit actorsfund.org.

Ruthie Ann Miles, Kelli O’Hara and company. Photo by Paul Kolnik

Actors Fund Special Performances have been thrilling audiences for more than 80 years with an electric energy unlike any other night of theatre! Each year, Broadway companies, in New York and on the road, generously give their time and talent by adding a performance to already rigorous schedules to benefit The Actors Fund. In order to make Special Performances possible, members of Actors’ Equity Association, Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802 AFM, Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and United Scenic Artists Union, waive their compensation to help The Actors Fund continue its vital work.

The Actors Fund is a national human services organization that helps everyone-performers and those behind the scenes-who works in performing arts and entertainment, helping more than 17,000 people directly each year, and hundreds of thousands online. Serving professionals in film, theatre, television, music, opera, radio and dance, The Fund’s programs include social services and emergency financial assistance, health care and insurance counseling, housing, and employment and training services. With offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, The Actors Fund has been-for 132 years-a safety net for those in need, crisis or transition. Visit www.actorsfund.org

Note: To all attending THE KING AND I Special Performance on Sunday, September 20

Please be advised that the Shinnyo Lantern Floating for Peace Event will be staged in Hearst Plaza outside the theatre. Allow a little extra arrival time in order to both see this beautiful event and allow for extra foot traffic.

While patrons may enter the Beaumont via Columbus Avenue and the plaza, and on 65th Street via the Linda Janklow Foyer, they will not be able to enter the Beaumont via the stairs on 65th Street that go directly up to the plaza level.

Lia Chang

Other Articles:
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
AsAmNews.com: Creating an Asian American presence on Wikipedia, one WikiAPA Edit-a-thon at a time
Film Lab & Time Warner Screening & Panel on Media Constructions of BEAUTY featuring Rick Guidotti, Becky Curran, Blue Michael, Jennifer Betit Yen and Lia Chang on October 7
FebOne Blog: THE VERSATILE LIA CHANG
Video and Photos: Ping Chong, Meredith Monk, Miriam Colón, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Stephen King, Sally Field and more receive 2014 National Medal of Arts; Jhumpa Lahiri among 2014 National Humanities Medal recipients
Harold Koda to Step Down After Leading Met Museum’s Costume Institute for 15 Years; Andrew Bolton to Become Curator In Charge of the Department
Multimedia: In the Costume Shop with Seven Guitars’ costume designer Karen Perry at Two River Theater
Portraits of New York Chinatown after 9/11
Broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: Phylicia Rashad, Andre De Shields & More Original Cast Members from THE WIZ Reunite in Central Park!
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Cast Reunion featured in BLACK BELT MAGAZINE August/September 2015
Drumhead Magazine: Living Colour Drummer Will Calhoun, Photos by Lia Chang
Columbia’s New Tang Center Dedicated to Study of Early Chinese Civilizations opens in October
AsAmNews.com: Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Ruby Yang talks about her new film, My Voice, My Life
AsAmNews.com: Actor Tzi Ma Rides ‘Hell On Wheels’ to New Heights
AsAmNews.com: First Look: Collecting Contemporary at the Asian Art Museum in SF, Sept. 4–Oct. 11
AsAmNews.com: What’s Next for Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka, Director of Critically Acclaimed The Report
AsAmNews.com: Eric Ting is the New Artistic Director of the California Shakespeare Theater
AsAmNews.com: Longtime Asian American Reporter in New York Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
AsAmNews.com: Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka Directs New Off Broadway Drama THE REPORT
Broadwayworld.com: Photo Flash: First Look at THE REPORT as Part of FringeNYC
AsAmNews.com: China: Through the Looking Glass Extended by The Met until Labor Day
AsAmNews.com: Arthur Dong’s Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970 wins American Book Award
AsAmNews.com: Future Looks Bright for Asian American Cinema
AsAmNews.com: Asian American Tweeters Get Special Shout-out in Playbill
Playbill.com: Retweet! BroadwayGirlNYC’s Picks For Most Useful Theatre Women on Social Media
AsAmNews.com:Playing Hide And Seek With Actress Lia Chang
AsAmNews.com: Lunch with Tony Winner Lea Salonga and George Takei, Stars of ALLEGIANCE
AsAmNews.com: AAPI Heritage Month: My Grandmother’s Detention on Angel Island
Crafting a Career

Lorin Roser and Nina Kuo are among the featured artists in old Tech new Tech exhibition at CENTRAL BOOKING, September 9- November 1

Ping Chong, Meredith Monk, Miriam Colón, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Stephen King, Sally Field and more to receive 2014 National Medal of Arts; Jhumpa Lahiri among 2014 National Humanities Medal recipients

Photos: In Rehearsal with Seven Guitars’ Director Brandon J. Dirden at Two River Theater

Federico De Vera, Maricris Brias, Lenora Cabili, Ian Giron, Jewelmer, Natalya Lagdameo, Josie Natori, Tina Ocampo, Wynn Wynn Ong, Anne Saguil, Ditta Sandico, Rafe Totengco, Bea Valdes, Al Valenciano are featured in Asia Society’s Filipino Design Now

Asia Society and Museum

Hours

Admission

Directions

Ebony Jo-Ann and Jessica Williams to receive Inaugural Reel Sisters Hattie McDaniel Award on October 25

Click to Support their Indiegogo Campaign.

ABOUT HATTIE MCDANIEL

Hattie McDaniel — 1893-1952

Photo: Meredith Monk and Ping Chong at the National Medal of Arts and Humanities Dinner; President Barack Obama will present the 2014 National Medals of Arts and the 2014 National Humanities Medals in Ceremony at White House to be Live streamed

Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang set for East West Players’ CHINGLISH Talkbacks on 9/25 & 9/26

Ann Harada, Joan Copeland, Walter Willison, Sarah Rice, Lawrence Leritz and more set for Madeline Kahn Tribute at Metropolitan Room on September 12

Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms on view at Asia Society through January 2016

Lia Chang: Portraits of New York Chinatown after 9/11

Video and Photos: Ping Chong, Meredith Monk, Miriam Colón, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Stephen King, Sally Field and more receive 2014 National Medal of Arts; Jhumpa Lahiri among 2014 National Humanities Medal recipients

NAAP’s Past, Present and Future 5th Anniversary Benefit Gala at NYU Skirball Center on October 5

Two-Time Tony nominee André De Shields, Tony Winner Lillias White, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’s Lori Tan Chinn, Stephanie Powers, Georgia Engel & More Lead Broadway-Bound Musical GOTTA DANCE in Chicago; Full Cast Announced

Broadway Icon Chita Rivera to be presented with Inaugural 2015 Latina Legend Award at 19th Annual 100 Hispanic Women National, Inc. Gala on Sept. 17

Derek Ting’s ALWAYS Premieres in New York at AMC Empire 25 Times Square on September 15

Brittany Bellizeare, Brian D. Coats, Crystal A. Dickinson, Jason Dirden, Charlie Hudson III, Kevin Mambo and Christina Acosta Robinson in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Two River Theater; Opens September 18

George Takei, Soh Daiko’s Alan & Merle Okada, Takehiro Ueyama and Christina Chiu to be honored at Asian American Arts Alliance’s 33rd Anniversary Benefit Gala on September 16

Dax Phelan’s JASMINE starring Jason Tobin, Byron Mann and Eugenia Yuan unspools at the 11th Action On Film International Film Festival on September 19

#WikiAPA Edit-a-thons in Seattle, Oakland, Toyama City, Japan, Hong Kong, Austin, Bangkok, Chicago, San Diego and Minneapolis

Seattle

Oakland

Toyama, Japan

Hong Kong

Austin, TX

Bangkok

Chicago

San Diego

Minneapolis, MN

The Actors Fund Special Performance of THE KING AND I starring Jose Llana and Tony winner Kelli O’Hara on September 20