PAT TO YAN & EUGENE MA
A Staged Reading of “A CONCISE HISTORY OF FUTURE CHINA”
 
October 30, 2017
IN RESIDENCE: October 24- 30, 2017
Originally penned in English, while having received its first full production in Hong Kong performed in Cantonese Chinese, A Concise History of Future China became the first play ever to have been featured in the world-renowned Berliner Festspiele Theatertreffen Stückemarkt by a Chinese playwright in 2016. Playwright Pat To Yan’s text is recalibrated by Drama Desk-nominated theater-maker Eugene Ma in this staged reading.
PERFORMANCES: Monday, October 30th, 2017
TIME: 7:00-8:00 PM Staged Reading, 8:00-8:30 PM Reception and informal discussion
PRICE: If you’re interested in attending this staged reading, please email concisehistorybyyan@gmail.com to receive the passcode to register online.
At IRT:154 Christopher st. NYC #3B (third floor)
Let us witness barbarism unfolding in a dream-like asynchrony: A country on the brink of civil war. Two generations, two cities, two opposite journeys. As the entire population of the land is fleeing towards the South, the Outsider struggles to get to the North in order to fulfil his mission. Timelines intermingle. Without anywhere to run or hide, where is our collective history headed?
The work “resists any linear narrative dramaturgy, using highly concentrated poetical interweaving to elaborate the cruel phantasms of a contemporary society of asynchronies…”–– Kathrin Roggla (Jury member, Berliner Festspiele Theatertreffen Stückemarkt 2016)
This event is supported by the proceeds from A WEEKEND OF CLOWN WORKSHOP with Eugene Ma on Saturday, October 28th and Sunday, the 29th from 12-5pm at IRT Theater. No prior acting experience is needed for this class. Please visit HERE for more information.
Pat To Yan, Playwright
Eugene Ma, Director
Tina Chang, Producing Consultant
Fang Du as The Outsider
Samuel Im as Man From Political Party
Kenneth Lee as Man Without Heartbeat
Wei-Yi Lin as Antigone
Jo Mei as Sinister Girl
Christopher Tramantana as Cat With a Hole and Stage Direction
Pat To Yan was born in 1975 in Hong Kong, where he studied English Literature and Sociology. He encountered and produced new European plays while working as an author and director in Hong Kong. He was a member of the “New Writing Laboratory” which ran a program of developing new writing and organized a large international conference on new playwriting. Since 2014 he has been based in London, where he is enrolled in the M.A. Playwriting program at Royal Holloway University of London and has realized several works as a writer and co-director.
Eugene Ma is a Drama Desk-nominated international multidisciplinary theater maker. Select Directing: The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel (OSF), The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere (CSV Center), Childhood by Thornton Wilder, pool (no water) by Mark Ravenhill. Select Acting: Theater for a New Audience, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, The Wallis. Teaching: SUNY Purchase, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Yale, Fordham, NYU, PPAS. Currently Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate Acting Program and Resident Director at the Flea Theatre. BFA: NYU.
IRT Theater is a grassroots laboratory for independent theater and performance in New York City, providing space and support to a new generation of artists. Tucked away in the old Archive Building in Greenwich Village, IRT’s mission is to build a community of emerging and established artists by creating a home for the development and presentation of new work. Some of the artists we have supported include Young Jean Lee, Reggie Watts and Mike Daisey.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and The Nancy Quinn Fund, a project of ART-NY.
PLEASE NOTE: All sales final and there is no late seating at IRT Theater.
***IRT is a fully wheelchair-accessible facility.***