Manhattan Theatre Club has scheduled an AAPI Night for the American premiere of Golden Shield, written by Anchuli Felicia King (White Pearl) on Wednesday, May 4 at 7 PM at New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street in New York. Click here to purchase tickets.
Golden Shield begins performances on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 ahead of a Tuesday, May 17, 2022 opening night at New York City Center – Stage I (131 West 55th Street). A special discount code ‘SHIELD’ is being offered for $35 tickets from 4/26 – 5/15 and $40 tickets from 5/18 – 6/12.
May Adrales (Vietgone at MTC) directs an ensemble which includes Cindy Cheung, Fang Du, Kristen Hung, Daniel Jenkins, Michael C. Liu, Max Gordon Moore, Ruibo Qian and Gillian Saker.
From international playwright Anchuli Felicia King comes a riveting new play about loyalties, intrigue and the delicate art of translation. When enterprising American lawyer Julie Chen files a class-action lawsuit involving a multinational technology corporation and the Chinese government, she hires her strong-minded sister Eva as her translator. But what compromises will they make in order to win? And can they put aside their past differences to speak the same language? Directing this fast-paced production is May Adrales (Vietgone).
The show’s creative team includes dots (scenic design), Sara Ryung Clement (costume design), Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (lighting design), Charles Coes & Nathan A. Roberts (original music & sound design) and Alyssa K. Howard (production stage manager).
Major support for Golden Shield is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as part of The Sloan Initiative: Setting the Stage for Science and Technology. Additional support is provided by the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
TICKETING INFORMATION
Tickets for Golden Shield can be purchased online at www.nycitycenter.org, by calling 212-581-1212, or by visiting the New York City Center box office (131 West 55th Street).
MTC SUBSCRIPTIONS AND PATRON MEMBERSHIPS
To join MTC’s season of plays as a Subscriber or a Patron, call the MTC Clubline at 212-399-3050 or go to www.manhattantheatreclub.com.
To sign up for MTC’s “30 Under 35” program, offering $30 tickets for theatregoers age 35 and under, visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com/30under35/.
HEALTH AND SAFETY INFORMATION
For update to date COVID protocols, go to www.manhattantheatreclub.com/protocols/.
BIOGRAPHIES
Anchuli Felicia King (Playwright) is a playwright, screenwriter and multidisciplinary artist of Thai-Australian descent. Felicia’s plays have been produced by the Royal Court Theatre (London), Studio Theatre (Washington D.C.), American Shakespeare Center (Staunton), Melbourne Theatre Company (Melbourne), Sydney Theatre Company, National Theatre of Parramatta and Belvoir Theatre (Sydney). She is under commission with the Royal Court Theatre, the Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theatre Company, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Melbourne Theatre Company. Felicia is currently a screenwriter on “The Baby,” a dark horror comedy produced by Sister Pictures for HBO/Sky, “The Twelve,” a trial drama for the Foxtel Group and “Deadloch,” a noir comedy and Amazon original series. She is also writing on TV projects in development for HBO, A24, AMC, Sister Pictures, BBC Studios, Warner Bros, Amazon, Netflix, Easy Tiger, Lucky Chap Entertainment, Hoodlum Entertainment and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
May Adrales (Director) is a director, artistic leader, teacher and mother; she has directed over 25 world premieres. Her work has been seen most recently at Second Stage (Rajiv Joseph’s Letters of Suresh), Manhattan Theater Club (Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone), Signature Theater, Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, WP, New York Theater Workshop, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Rep, Milwaukee Rep and South Coast Rep. She was awarded the prestigious Ammerman Award at Arena Stage and Theater Communications Group’s Alan Schneider award for freelance directors. She is a Drama League Directing Fellow, Van Lier Directing Fellow, WP Lab Director, SoHo Rep Writers/Directors Lab and New York Theater Workshop directing fellow, TCG New Generations Grantee, SDC Denham Fellowship and PaulGreen Directing Award. She served as an Associate Artistic Director at Milwaukee Rep; Artistic Associate at The Playwrights Center; Artistic Associate at The Public Theater; and Director of Artistic Programs and Artistic Director at The Lark. She serves on the board of Theater Communications Group. May has directed and taught at Juilliard, Harvard/ART, ACT, Fordham, NYU and Bard College. She is currenting the Director of the Theatre Program and Assistant Professor at Fordham University. May has served on faculty at the Yale School of Drama and Brown/Trinity MFA program. MFA, Yale School of Drama. (www.mayadrales.net)
MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB, under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, has become one of the country’s most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. Over more than four decades, MTC productions have earned numerous awards including 7 Pulitzer Prizes, 27 Tony Awards, 40 Drama Desk Awards and 49 Obie Awards. MTC has a Broadway home at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) and two Off-Broadway theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street). For more information on MTC, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.
Manhattan Theatre Club is committed to being an anti-racist organization that respects and honors all voices while upholding the values of community, equity, access, and belonging. We understand that the United States is a country founded on white supremacy and anti-Blackness, and that these belief systems are tightly woven throughout American arts and culture. We recognize MTC’s place within that history, and understand that uprooting biases requires ongoing work. To this end, we have been reviewing, and are continuing to review, our policies and practices in order to create an inclusive, anti-racist environment for our artists, staff members, and audiences. We wish to express solidarity with and gratitude towards those from historically oppressed communities whose voices have raised consciousness and encouraged action. We will continue to post regular progress reports on our website at manhattantheatreclub.com/edi.
Broadwayworld.com: Photos: American Premiere of GOLDEN SHIELD Begins Rehearsals at MTC
Lia Chang is a Chinese-American actor, a multi-media content producer, an award-winning filmmaker, and a photo activist and documentarian, who lifts up and amplifies BIPOC communities and artists and the institutions that support them.
Lia moved to New York from her home in San Francisco when she was 17 years of age and made her stage debut as Liat in a national tour of South Pacific with Barbara Eden and Robert Goulet. She spent many years working extensively Off-Broadway, including Signature Theatre’s revival of Sam Shepard’s Chicago. Her film work includes Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, and The Last Dragon. The decades of being viewed by others through the narrow lens of “Asian actor” in the industry brought Lia to a turning point, and she picked up her camera, determined to create awareness by documenting the work and the lives of her BIPOC colleagues, resulting in the creation of thousands of photographs and pieces of video. Her photo archives are housed in the AAPI collection in the Library of Congress’ Asian Reading Room under “Lia Chang Theater Portfolio collection,1989-2011” and in the “Lia Chang Photography Collection” in The Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library.
Lia’s awards include the 2000 OCA Chinese American Journalist Award and the 2001 AAJA National Award for New Media. She is also an AAJA Executive Leadership Graduate, a Western Knight Fellow at USC’s Annenberg College of Communications for Specialized Journalism on Entertainment Journalism in the Digital Age, a National Press Photographers Association Visual Edge/Visual Journalism Fellow at the Poynter Institute for New Media, and a Scripps Howard New Media Fellow at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
More recently, Lia co-founded Bev’s Girl Films, which makes films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. She executive produced and starred in the indie films Hide and Seek (AA Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Best Actress Nomination), Rom-Com Gone Wrong, and When the World Was Young (2021 DisOrient Film Audience Choice Award for Best Short Narrative).
A retrospective of Lia’s photographs will be on view at the Museum of the City of New York later this year, documenting her BIPOC colleagues and contemporaries in the performing arts, which will include photos of Prospect Theater Company artists at work. www.liachang.com, www.liachangphotography.com
Backstage Pass with Lia Chang 