A story of commitment to change, Stones of Tiananmen follows Chinese writer and philosopher Liu Xiaobo (the 2010 Nobel Peace Laureate) upon his release from a re-education camp. He struggles to find his footing in pursuit of freedom of speech and democracy in China. As he seeks to recover from personal missteps, he is spurred by his encounters with Ding Zilin, founder of the ‘Mothers of Tiananmen’ and the imagined Lost Souls of 1989. While Liu Xiaobo charts a path of peaceful resistance, his wife, poet and artist Liu Xia, ultimately discovers the acuteness of the consequences.
Stones of Tiananmen, USA. Playwright: C. L. Cooper. Director: Ralph Pena. Cast: Mia Katigbak (as Ding Zilin), Karen Tsen Lee (as Liu Xia), Eric Yang (as Guard/Yang Yu), David Shih (as Liu Xiaobo), Jo Yang (as The Figure), Henry Yuk (as Jiang Peikun). Stage directions: Jesse Jae Hoon.
The play was developed under the auspices of the Visual Artists Guild, initiated by Ann Lau and Peggy Howard Chane.
Free and open to the public. Online registration through Eventbrite is required. Masks are required inside the venue.
The 2022 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival s is dedicated to the people of Ukraine fighting for their independence. 🇺🇦 Suggested donation ($10) will be used to support Ukrainian refugees. All collected funds will be donated to People in Need, a Czech non-governmental, non-profit organization with over 20 years of experience in helping people in emergencies all over the world.
ABOUT
C.L. COOPER is an award-winning playwright and human rights activist whose work has been produced in the US, Canada, Europe and Israel. In New York, her work has been at Primary Stages, Wings, Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio, MultiStages, EST, Town Hall, Museum of Tolerance, and more, as well as in Chicago, Minneapolis, DC, Philadelphia, Boston, LA, Maryland, Texas, Florida, Budapest, Helsinki, Jerusalem, and elsewhere. A two-time Jerome Fellow, Cooper’s plays are included in 17 volumes and have won awards from Pen & Brush, Samuel French, Malibu Int’l Festival, Quixote Foundation, and others. Cooper is also a journalist on human rights topics.
RALPH B. PENA has been Artistic Director of Ma-Yi Theater Company since 1996. Under his artistic leadership, Ma-Yi Theater has become the country’s leading incubator of new plays by Asian American playwrights, with a history of productions garnering numerous awards including nine Obie Awards, the Off-Broadway Alliance Award, nine Drama Desk nominations, a special Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theater, and most recently, a Lucille Lortel Award and the Ross Wetzsteon Obie Award. For Ma-Yi, Ralph has directed Felix Starro, The Chinese Lady, The Children of Vonderly, House/Boy Microcrisis, House Rules, The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra GO!, and Among the Dead. Ralph’s work has been seen on the stages of Laguna Playhouse, Victory Gardens, Long Wharf Theater, Children’s Theater Company, The Public Theater, NAATCO, The Round House Theater, and LaMama ETC., among others. He is the recipient of an Obie Award for his work on The Romance of Magno Rubio and a proud member of the Ensemble Studio Theater.
CAST
MIA KATIGBAK Selected NYC: Out of Time (NAATO); The Headlands (LCT3); Henry VI (NAATCO, St. Clair Bayfield Award); Trial of the Catonsville Nine (Transport Group); Scenes From a Marriage (NYTW); Dear Elizabeth (WP); Awake and Sing! (NAATCO, Obie Award). Other NYC: Public Theater, PlayCo, Ma-Yi, Foundry, New Georges, Soho Rep, Clubbed Thumb, Target Margin. Regional: Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Humana Festival, Two River Theater, Berkeley Rep, Guthrie. 2021 USA Fellow; Special Drama Desk Award 2019; 2017 Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship for Distinguished Achievement; Otto René Castillo Award for Political Theater; Actor-Manager and Co-Founder, NAATCO. BA, Barnard College; MA, Columbia University.
ERIC YANG Born in Stamford, CT and raised in Shanghai, Eric is no stranger to living in two different worlds. After graduating from Princeton as the only student his year studying both economics and theater, he went on to work in data science before rediscovering his love of acting. You know, just like everyone else. He currently studies at HB Studio. Previous credits include New Federal Theatre's world premiere of Gong Lum's Legacy (Joe) as well as work in voice over and animation.
DAVID SHIH Theater: The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin and The House That Jack Built (Indiana Rep); Will Eno’s Gnit (Theatre for a New Audience); NAATCO’s Henry VI, Awake and Sing! (Public Theater co-production), and Veil Widow Conspiracy (NYTW co-production); The Great Wave (Berkeley Rep); KPOP (Ars Nova); Somebody’s Daughter (2nd Stage); Tiger Style! (La Jolla Playhouse); Bike America (Ma-Yi Theater); and Crane Story (Playwrights Realm). Television: Hunters, Billions, City on a Hill, Iron Fist, The Path, Blindspot, Elementary, Madam Secretary, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, and Law & Order: SVU. Film: The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Eighth Grade, Mr. Sushi, All the Little Things We Kill, Fan Girl, and Saving Face. Dave is a critically acclaimed audiobook narrator. He is the voice of Eddie Toh in the hit video game Grand Theft Auto V. He also works with Only Make Believe performing for children in hospitals and care facilities.
KAREN TSEN LEE has performed with Ma-Yi Theatre in Trial By Water by Qui Nguyen, No Foreigners Beyond This Point by Warren Leight, with Pan Asian Repertory in No-No Boy based on the book by John Okada on the aftermath of the Japanese-American incarceration, Tea- WWII Japanese army brides and their life in America by Velina Hasu Houston, A Doll’s House. Other: Visiting Hours, Golden Child, Joy Luck Club, Macbeth. Regionally performed with Shakespeare Theatre, McCarter, Long Wharf, Baltimore Center Stage, and Seattle Repertory. Films: The Lennon Report, Rock the Paint, Fabled, Contour, Made in Chinatown, and Tender Ears Television: all Law & Orders, House of Cards and coming soon on Netflix, Jigsaw. Dedicated to those who fight for the truth.
JO YANG - member of AEA / SAG-AFTRA, is pleased to be joining the Rehearsal for the Truth Festival as The Figure in Stones of Tiananmen. Her favorite stage appearances in New York and regional theatre include, Endlings at NYTW and at the American Repertory Theatre, where she originated the role of Sook Ja, a Korean deep-sea diver; The Comfort Women (Urban Stages); M. Butterfly (Seattle Repertory Theatre); Heart Song (Florida Repertory Theatre); Ah, Wilderness (NAATCO); The Joy Club (Pan Asian Rep); The Boys Next Door (Seattle Group Theatre); and Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks (The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble). She was recently seen as a beloved Chinese-American restaurant owner and victim of a hate crime in the timely Chinatown episode on CBS’s The Equalizer. She has also recurred in her Mandarin speaking role on Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and will soon be in Mayim Bialik’s directorial film debut, As They Made Us with Dustin Hoffman and Candace Bergen.
HENRY YUK is a native New Yorker, from Brooklyn. He has worked extensively with Pan Asian Rep (including Yellow Fever, Teahouse, Yellow Is My Favorite Color), as well as with NAATCO (The Cherry Orchard, You Can’t Take It With You, Awake and Sing!) and Ma-Yi Theatre Co. (The Square, No Foreigners Beyond This Point). His film work includes Kundun (directed by Martin Scorsese), Brooklyn Lobster, and the cult classic, The Last Dragon. His TV work includes Marvel’s Iron Fist, Warrior (now on HBO Max), The Sopranos, Cosby, Dellaventura, and various Law and Order episodes. Most recently, he appeared in the New Federal Theatre production of Gong Lum’s Legacy.
ABOUT THE 2022 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH THEATER FESTIVAL
The 2022 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival: Under Pressure is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, GOH Productions, Czech National Trust, Terezin Music Foundation, Trap Door Theatre, and Yara Arts Group.
The festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Ministry of Human Capacities, Hungary, and Society for the History of Czechoslovak Jews.