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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

NOW ON STAGE

WORLD PREMIERE

PAN ASIAN REPERTORY THEATRE PRESENTS THE BROTHERS PARANORMAL BY PRINCE GOMOLVILAS DIRECTED BY JEFF LIU

FEATURING BRIAN D. COATS, NATSUKO HIRANO, VIN KRIDAKORN, EMILY KURODA, DAWN L. TROUPE, ROY VONGTAMA

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT THROUGH MAY 19, 2019 AT THE BECKETT THEATRE AT THEATRE ROW (410 WEST 42ND STREET)

OPENING NIGHT IS WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2019 AT 7:00PM

New York, NY (April 29, 2019) - Pan Asian Repertory Theatre (Tisa Chang, Founding Artistic Producing Director), with a prestigious grant and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, continues the 2018- 2019 season with the World Premiere of the play The Brothers Paranormal, by Prince Gomolvilas. Directed by Jeff Liu, the six-member cast features Brian D. Coats as Felix, Natsuko Hirano as Noi, Vin Kridakorn as Max, Emily Kuroda as Tasanee, Dawn L. Troupe as Delia, and Roy Vongtama as Visarut. Performances began April 28, 2019 for a limited engagement through May 19, 2019 in The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). Opening Night is Wednesday evening, May 1, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.

A ghost story, The Brothers Paranormal by Prince Gomolvilas, directed by Jeff Liu, follows two Thai brothers who investigate paranormal activities in the Midwest. When the siblings visit the home of an African-American couple, who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina, their notions of reality, and spiritual beliefs are pushed to a breaking point.

Pan Asian Rep explores—for the first time—Thai-American and African-American intersection, spiritual displacement, and the taboo subject of mental health. May is recognized as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month.

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"The play's intersection of genre and race, as well as the exploration of the spirit realm in a country that’s doing some deep soul-searching, is what drives my passion for this project” state Prince Gomolvilas. “While I interviewed and shadowed actual paranormal investigators, I also spoke to one of the world’s leading experts on dying, death, and grief—all in an effort to explore the play’s disparate themes: the trauma of displacement (from one’s country of origin, from post-Katrina New Orleans, from the corporeal world); the high incidence of mental health issues among Asian immigrants; and the different ways in which people cope with incredible loss."

Director Jeff Liu had this to share, “The Brothers Paranormal is a ghost story, and as such, it has many of the elements that people find so entertaining about the genre: a supernatural, possibly deadly force, a mystery as to its nature, the banding together of ordinary humans to face it; moments of terror, of surprise, of humor, of genuine human connection.” He went on to say, “It is also a drama about how we deal with grief, complicated by family legacies of mental illness and depression. It‘s about two unlikely heroes, both members of embattled minorities in this country, who find a way to connect and support each other through the worst that life has to offer. Over the course of the play, our protagonists Max and Delia, a Thai-American man and an African-American woman, respectively, form a connection, and I can’t remember seeing the intersection between these cultures dramatized so gracefully.” He ended by stating, “These connections across differences are exactly what we need more of in these anxious, polarizing times.”

The creative team includes Set Design by Sheryl Liu (Daybreak), Costume Design by Hyun Sook Kim (Dream of Red Pavilions), Lights by Victor En Yu Tan (Shogun Macbeth), and Sound Design by Ian Wherle (Sayonara). The Stage Management team is Kristine Schlachter and Sabrina Morabito.

Tickets for The Brothers Paranormal are priced at $62.25, plus $2.25 theater restoration fee, and will play the following performance schedule: Tuesday - Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 2:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Opening Night tickets on May 1 at 7:00 p.m. are priced at $102.25 and include the post-show reception. Tickets may be purchased at www.telecharge.com, (212) 239-6200, or by visiting the box office. Group, senior and college discounts are available at www.TelechargeOffers.com

There will be Special Student Matinee performances on selected weekdays at 11:00 a.m. To bring your school to a performance and more information, please email [email protected] or call (212) 868-4030.

If you would like to coordinate a post-show meet & greet with the artists, please call Pan Asian Rep at (212) 868- 4030 or email [email protected]

For more information about Pan Asian Rep, visit www.panasianrep.org. For information about Theatre Row, visit www.theatrerow.org

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Prince Gomolvilas (Playwright) is a Thai-American playwright whose work includes Big Hunk o’ Burnin’ Love, The Theory of Everything (PEN Center USA Literary Award for Drama), and Mysterious Skin (based on the novel by Scott Heim). His plays have been produced at The Drill Hall (London), East West Players (Los Angeles), Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (San Francisco), and Singapore Repertory Theatre. His work has also been developed at the Alley Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Geva Theatre Center, La Jolla Playhouse, The Lark, Ma-Yi Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. His TEDx talk, "Mind the Gap," is available at www.princegomolvilas.com.

Jeff Liu (Director) adapted the Pulitzer nominated play Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang for the YOMYOMF Network on YouTube. His productions include: Two Mile Hollow (Artists at Play), Mexican Day (Rogue Machine, LA Times Critics Choice), Tiger Style! (Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists), Chinglish (LA Premiere, LA Times Critics Choice), Texas, Terminus Americana, The Golden Hour (Lodestone Theatre Ensemble), The Chinese Massacre Annotated (Circle X), Ixnay, Wrinkles, Christmas in Hanoi (East West Players), Slice (Fremont Centre Theatre), and three years with Sci-Fest, the LA Science Fiction One Act Play Festival. He is a member of the O’Neill National Directing Fellowship cohort of 2016.

Tisa Chang (Pan Asian Rep Founding Artistic Producing Director) has led the company since inception, promoting stories seldom told and voices seldom heard. She is a theatre professional with five decades of experience as an actor, dancer, and director. Highlights include: Sayonara; The Joy Luck Club; the epic play-with-music Cambodia Agonistes, which toured nationally and to Cairo and Johannesburg; Kwatz! The Tibetan Project; and Rashomon, which was invited to Havana Theatre Festival in 2003. She innovated premieres, in English and Mandarin Chinese of the Peking opera, Return of the Phoenix, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at La Mama ETC.

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, celebrating its 42nd Milestone Season, is the most veteran Asian American theatre company on the East Coast. With the help of the late Ellen Stewart and core Asian American artists at La Mama ETC, Tisa Chang founded Pan Asian Rep in 1977 with the vision that Asian American artists can equally follow their artistic aspirations to reach the zenith of American Theatre. Its mission is to provide professional theatre opportunities for Asian American artists to work under the highest standards of excellence and create new works that dignify Asian Americans and dispel stereotypes, focusing on stories of probing social justice issues with distinctive Off-Broadway Productions, Tours, National Outreach, and Community Service. Mel Gussow of The New York Times described it as "A Stage for All the World of Asian –Americans” and wrote that “Before Pan Asian Rep, Asian Americans had severely limited opportunities in the theater....” The company has nurtured thousands of artists and is a “who-is-who” of Asian American theatre history, with notable alumni/ae: June Angela, Tina Chen, Philip Gotanda, Wai Ching Ho, David Henry Hwang, Daniel Dae Kim, Lucy Liu, Ron Nakahara, Qui Nguyen, R.A. Shiomi, Lauren Yee, and Henry Yuk.

Pan Asian Rep Programs are made possible, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; City Council member Margaret Chin; and major support from the Shubert, NY Community Trust, Howard Gilman, Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels, Lucille Lortel Foundations; and generous individuals.

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