The 1981 play — set "on a California mountaintop in 1867 near the Transcontinental Railroad" — is the second production in the Residency One: David Henry Hwang Series this season (following last fall's Golden Child). The work was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
May Adrales directs the play in which "two Chinese workers struggle through poverty and hunger to reconnect with the traditions of their homeland," according to Signature.
Opening night is Feb. 25 in the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center at 480 W. 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues. The limited engagement plays to March 17.
Iskandar, who was seen in The Public Theater's Measure for Measure and Classic Stage Company's Purimcelo, plays Ma. Wu, of Theater for the New City's Love in Tears and Laughter & Luo Shen: Legend of the Luo River, plays Lone.
The design team includes Mimi Lien (scenic design), Jennifer Moeller (costume design), Jiyoun Chang (lighting design), Broken Chord Collective (sound design), Huang Ruo (music), Qian Yi (Chinese opera consultant), Leah Loukas (wig design) and Grace Zandarski (vocal coach). Casting is by Telsey + Company (William Cantler CSA). Cole P. Bonenberger is production stage manager. Tickets to the initial runs of all Signature productions at The Pershing Square Signature Center are $25, part of the groundbreaking Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access, "a program that guarantees affordable and accessible tickets to every Signature production for the next 20 years."
To purchase tickets for all Signature productions, call the Signature Theatre Box Office at (212) 244-7529 or visit signaturetheatre.org.
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Next up in the Hwang Residency One series will be the world premiere of Kung Fu in fall 2013. The author is best known for his Tony Award-winning play M. Butterfly.
