National Asian American Theatre Company officially kicks off its 28th season with Stephen Brown-Fried’s new adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry VI. The adaptation of the trilogy is divided into two parts, Part 1: Foreign Wars, which opens August 21, and Part 2: Civil Strife, which opens August 22.
Brown-Fried also directs the NAATCO production, running through September 8 in the Mezzanine Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theaters. Performances began August 11.
Brown-Fried directs a cast made up of Rajesh Bose (Indian Ink, Disgraced), Ron Domingo (The Romance of Magno Rubio), John D. Haggerty (Les Miserables), Wai Ching Ho (Daredevil, Iron Fist), David Huynh (No-No Boy, The Cherry Orchard), Michelangelo Hyeon, making his New York City debut), Anna Ishida (Beowulf —A Thousand Years of Baggage), Paul Juhn (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Good Person of Szechwan), Vanessa Kai (KPOP), Mahira Kakkar (Winter's Tale), Mia Katigbak (Awake & Sing!), Jon Norman Schneider (House Rules, Awake and Sing! ), James Seol (KPOP), David Shih (Blindspot, KPOP), Sophia Skiles (A Dream Play, The Seagull), and Kim Wong (Henry V).
“Shakespeare’s Henry VI is the story of a great nation’s decent into barbarism and cruelty. It is a study of how the experience of a problematic foreign war erodes civil discourse at home, and how that erosion allows political self-interests to take hold and send a country hurtling into civil war,” says Brown-Fried. “A story can be made to resonate and radiate with new power when it’s told by actors who don’t look the way the audience may have expected the characters to look. It contributes to an ongoing nationwide examination of who we, as theatre-makers, endow with the right to speak for all of America.”
Henry VI features scenic design by Kimie Nishikawa, costume design by Nicole Slaven, lighting design by Reza Behjat, sound design by Toby Algya, and prop design by Ryo Tatsumi. Orlando Pabotoy and Kimiye Corwin serves as movement directors; Peter Kim is associate producer for NAATCO.