Posted on our AFC Community news email list :
Hi, we’re excited to announce the opening of the play “Trial By
Water”, co-produced by dueEast Theatre Company (a 501c3 organization)
and A-Squared Theater Workshop.
The full press release is below. Group sales are only $10/ticket for
groups of 10 or more. Please consider bringing your Asian organization
to the play. Show your support for local Asian American theater and,
more importantly, for this compelling story of the Vietnamese refugee
experience.
The reservation hotline is 773-353-5979 and the show is at EP Theater,
1820 S. Halsted Street in Chicago.
Here’s a link: www.myspace.com/ASquaredTheaterWorkshop
Thanks, everyone!
For Immediate Release
Contact: Mia Park, 773-972-6745, Mia@MiaPark.com
PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
Who: dueEast Theatre Company in conjunction with A-Squared Theater
Workshop presents the Midwest debut of the play, “Trial by Water” by
Qui Nguyen. The 501c3 organization dueEast Theatre Company explores
the Asian American/Pacific Island experience through theatre,
dynamically brings those stories to the general theatre-going public,
and gives APIA theatre artists opportunities in the arts. A-Squared
Theater Workshop is a collective who creates an artistic environment
of risk taking and growth for Asian American theatre artists. This
year, A-Squared Theater Workshop performed several staged readings of
plays written by or about Asians and Asian Americans. “Trial By Water”
is their debut stage production. The play features an exciting cast of
local actors. Steve Nguyen recently graduated from the theater
department at Roosevelt University. Giau Truong is an acting teacher
who left Vietnam as a boat person and refugee. Recently on stage in
Chicago, Mia Park played a robot in “The Intelligent Design of Jenny
Chow” and Cary Shoda played a boat captain in “Camino Real”. Marissa
Lichwick from New York and Jason Buhalis from South Carolina make
their Chicago stage debuts in “Trial By Water”.
What: On May 22, 1988, 110 Vietnamese crowded onto a small boat to
escape their country. The first day at sea, they met a vicious storm.
When the storm passed, the engine could not be restarted. They began
to drift. Instead of floating back to Vietnam as everyone had hoped,
the waves carried them further out to sea. The expected weeklong
voyage stretched into 38 days. Ten days into the trip people began
dying of thirst and hunger. Murder and cannibalism took over. When
Filipino fishermen came to the rescue, there were 52 survivors.
A 10 year old boy who was on the boat is Mr. Nguyen’s cousin. The
author has dedicated the play to him, their families and “all the
Vietnamese Boat People.” The playwright reports that after his cousin
reached the United States, he told Mr. Nguyen, “I think my soul is
dead.” The survivor was 10; Mr. Nguyen was 12. Based on these events,
Qui Nguyen’s play “Trial by Water” chronicles the voyage of two young
brothers, Huy and Hung, from Vietnam to the Philippines in order to
start new lives. As the engine on their boat breaks, their voyage
becomes an Odyssey forcing each brother to examine their morality as
they face peril of nightmarish proportions.
Originally produced by Ma-Yi Theatre in March 2006, NYC, “Trial By
Water” was lauded by critics. “It is interesting to see how facts and
fiction combine, for Mr. Nguyen wants to talk not only about the
descent into savagery aboard the boat but also about how to live a
humane and moral life in a world in which events would often dictate
otherwise.: – New York Times. “Beneath the shrieks and fake blood,
Nguyen’s play asks an absorbing question no 15-year-old should have to
answer: What does it profit you to gain the whole world if you lose
your soul?” – Village Voice.
Where: EP Theater, 1820 S. Halsted Street, Chicago, IL, 312-850-4299.
EP Theater seats 50 and is located in the artsy Pilsen neighborhood on
Chicago’s near south side. Both the theater entrance and parking are
located in the back of the building. CTA: Redline Cermak/Chinatown
stop to #18 bus West; Orange Line Halsted stop to # 8 bus North; Blue
Line UIC/Halsted stop to #8 South; #168 bus. Metra: BNSF Railway
Halsted stop. Driving: 90/94 East to 18th Street exit. At 18th Street,
turn east. At Halsted turn south. EP Theater is on the east side of
Halsted.
When: Opening night Saturday, October 27th at 8:00 PM. The play runs
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00PM and Sundays at 7:00PM through November
18, 2007. Tickets are $15 at the theater box office or by calling the
reservation hotline at 773-353-5979. $10 tickets available for groups
of 10 or more.
Why: Director Allen Hope Sermonia of dueEast Theatre Company says that
“‘Trial By Water’ is a compelling play because it contains the
universal themes of survival and personal morality. ‘Trial by Water’
is semi-biographical of Vietnamese boat persons after the Vietnam War.
Though the American theatrical canon has several plays about Vietnam
vets dealing with the aftermath of war, plays regarding the Vietnamese
experience to become American are a rarity. `Trial By Water’ is
written by an Asian American author performed by Asian Americans. We
need to tell our stories to ourselves as much as we need to tell
others. We want to reflect what’s actually happening in our world. In
addition, we’re discovering our own artistic and cultural voices
through the rehearsal and production process of `Trial By Water’. As a
side note, Nguyen’s `Trial by Water’ is the first in a trilogy of
plays to chronicle the Vietnamese American experience.”
“Trial by Water” Related URL’s:
A-Squared Theater Workshop: www.myspace.com/ASquaredTheaterWorkshop
Playwright: Qui Nguyen, www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qui_Nguyen
Venue: EP THEATER, www.eptheater.com
