From the outside, the 2010s in Twin Cities theater haven’t seen any changes as visible as the Guthrie’s 2006 move to its big blue riverfront home. The view from theaters’ seats, though, has changed significantly—a result of even more dramatic shifts behind the scenes.
Read MoreTheater Mu presents Jiehae Park’s peerless, a witty, lightning-quick, dark comedy about the cut-throat world of high school during college admissions. The production will be the Twin Cities directorial debut of Theater Mu’s new Artistic Director, Lily Tung Crystal. Long-time Mu artist, Katie Bradley, will assistant direct. Leading the cast are Francesa and Isabella Dawis, sisters born in Minneapolis who are happy to call Mu their artistic home.
Read MoreSeeking: Both Equity (AEA) and non-Equity. Six actor/musicians make up the cast and perform a mix of contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies.
Read MoreOur goal is to raise $20,000 by December 31. Funds raised will not only cover the day-to-day costs of producing the performances and programs you love, but also get us one step closer to the Mu we imagine. MAKE A DONATION OF ANY AMOUNT TODAY TO HELP US MEET THIS GOAL.
Read MoreLulu Wang (“The Farewell”) and Bong Joon Ho (“Parasite”) are both in the hunt for Best Director at the Oscars, and both of their candidacies would be historic. If they both make the cut, it would be the first time in history that two Asian filmmakers are nominated for the award at the same time.
Read MoreTheater Mu and the Jungle Theater today announced Lily Tung Crystal will step in as director of their upcoming co-production of Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band. Joshua Kahan Brody was originally set to direct the award-winning, part-theater/part-rock-concert show.
Read More“She wanted me to be like”—and here Ricamora slants his eyes, sticks out his front teeth, and chortles, “Oh ho ho ho.” As a college graduate without any formal theatre training, he got his introduction to acting via that Anything Goes. He says now it felt “icky, but I wanted to be able to keep doing the show and I fucking did it. And still to this day I feel terrible that I did it.”
Read MoreJoy, a Filipino American student at the University of California, Berkeley, wishes on a shooting star for supportive white parents when she feels pushed to the limit. “A lot of people don’t understand the weight or the debt we have to our parents. They don’t understand why it’s hard for us to live our own lives,” says playwright Joy Regullano
Read MoreHer popularity with artistic directors is evident in the Twin Cities, where four of her plays are being produced over an 18-month span — a rarity for any living playwright.
Read MoreI was drawn to Fast Company for so many reasons: the strong female leads, its underdog narrative, the comically dysfunctional-yet-relatable family dynamics, and its incredible sense of adventure. This play is part of an exciting generation of stories from Asian American writers who portray us as heroes, lovers, and villains with real depth and substance and complexity.
Read MoreEvery successful con is based on leveraging relationships. Establishing trust, exploiting vulnerabilities, and understanding the nature of human interaction. Carla Ching has deftly set this story inside an even more complex structure: a comically dysfunctional Asian American family.
Read MorePeople are just tired of narratives that perpetuate the fetishism of Asian women. The fetishization of Asian women in Western culture has roots dating to at least the early 1800s, when Victorian men became captivated by geishas while visiting port cities in Japan. The idea of Asian women as purely sexual objects was further bolstered in stories like the 1887 French novel “Madame Chrysanthème,” known for its adaptation into popular opera “Madame Butterfly.”
Read MoreBeginning their careers in the 1910’s silent film era, Anna May Wong and Sessue Hayakawa defied miscegenation laws and Yellow Peril sentiments by becoming overnight Hollywood sensations. Throughout their careers, they experienced the highs and lows of being Asian onscreen, gaining leading roles and Oscar nominations along the way. True icons often left out of history, we celebrate their lives and are inspired to build the world on our own terms.
Read More“Our immigrant parents came to America with a dream. That dream was for their children to land a first look television producing deal, scripted and unscripted, at a major Hollywood studio,” the trio said in a joint statement.
Read MoreAn AARP survey shows that many adults 50 or older prefer staying in their homes post-retirement but very few are able to do so. Even fewer can afford a long-term caretaker.
Read MorePlaywright Jessica Huang has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the 4 Seasons Residency. In collaboration with National New Play Network (NNPN), four organizations will collaborate in supporting Huang over the course of a year.
Read MoreThe Ordway Center for the Performing Arts has announced the recipients of the 27th annual Sally Awards. Saymoukda Vongsay, a Minnesota-based Lao-American writer who shares the experiences of refugees in plays, books and poetry. Her plays have been presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and locally by Theater Mu and Theater Unbound.
Read MoreLauren Yee makes her debut not only on American Theatre Magazine’s Top 20 but on their Top 10 Most Produced Plays list with not one but two titles: The Great Leap and Cambodian Rock Band.
Read More“I am not Brock Turner’s victim. I am not his anything. I don’t belong to him. I am also half Chinese. My Chinese name is Zhang Xiao Xia, which translates to Little Summer.” We must continue to listen to survivors, with all of their intersecting identities, whether or not they choose to publicly share their traumas. We must support, confront and disrupt, and work to eradicate systemic issues of toxic masculinity, rape culture, and sexual violence.
Read MoreFew Hollywood stories can match the career highs and heartbreaking lows of James Wong Howe, whom Variety recognized in its July 15, 1976, edition as “one of the world’s foremost cinematographers, and usually considered without peer in the black-and-white field.” More than 40 years later, that still holds true.
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