Meet the Cast of 99 HISTORIES

Artists at Play proudly presents our cast for the Los Angeles premiere of 99 Histories! Not the writer but the actor JULIA CHO plays "Eunice," a former cello prodigy who channeled pain into music until mental illness forced her to quit playing. Now pregnant, she has returned home to live with her mother. SHARON OMI plays "Sah-Jin," who immigrated from Korea years ago and loves her daughter but fails to understand her. JANICE PAK is "Girl" and JOLENE KIM is "Young Woman," different figures from the women's respective pasts. DAVID HUYNH is "Paul," a young doctor and potential mate for Eunice in the eyes of Sah-Jin. BRENDAN BRADLEY is both "Joe," Eunice's ex-boyfriend and father of her unborn child, and "Daniel Merritt," an American missionary from Sah-Jin's past back in Korea.

JULIA CHO (Eunice) is a founding member of Artists at Play and played "Desdemona Wong" in our inaugural production Ching Chong Chinaman and "Veronica" in last fall's production of Cowboy Versus Samurai. Film/TV credits include Larry Crowne, The Newsroom, 2 Broke Girls, NCIS, and Scandal.

SHARON OMI (Sah-Jin) has appeared in Blood Wedding (Odyssey Theatre), Uncle Vanya (American Conservatory Theatre) and Romeo and Juliet (Ahmanson Theatre), among others. She has also been seen in television shows like Shameless, Big Bang Theory and Southland.

JANICE PAK (Girl) is a recent graduate of CalArts with a B.FA. in Acting. At CalArts, she appeared in Trojan Women, All's Well That Ends Well, Uncle Vanya, Our Lady of 21st  Street and 4.48 Psychosis.

JOLENE KIM (Young Woman) has appeared onscreen in television shows like Grey's Anatomy, 24, Pushing Daisies and onstage at many theatres across Los Angeles. Jolene is currently in Theatre @ Boston Court's Stupid Fucking Bird. 

DAVID HUYNH (Paul) won a Special Jury Prize at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival for Outstanding Newcomer Award and Best Emerging Actor for his performance in Juwan Chung's Baby. He has appeared on stage at Sacred Fools Theater Company, Kirk Douglas Theater, East West Players and Colony Theatre. 

BRENDAN BRADLEY (Joe, Daniel Merritt) has appeared in NCIS, Wizards of Waverly Place, The Legend of Neil, among others. Theatrically, he was seen off-Broadway in Goonies the Musical, Office Sonata and The Oresteia. Brendan was also in Boni B. Alvarez's Marabella, part of the 2014 Artist at Play Readings.

The cast of 99 Histories also includes Desiree Mee Jung (u/s Eunice), Diana Tanaka (u/s Sah-Jin), Kimiko Ann (u/s Girl), Jane Lui (u/s Young Woman), Junot Lee (u/s Paul) and Matthew Mancuso (u/s Joe, Daniel).

$10 early-bird special available now for 99 Histories! Purchase tickets here.

EDITH nominated for Ovation Award

2013 Ovation Awards Nominees — South by Southeast

Artists at Play is proud to announce that the cast of our 2012 production Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them has been nominated for an Ovation Award in the category of Acting Ensemble in a Play!

Since 1989, the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards have recognized "excellence in theatrical performance, production and design in the Greater Los Angeles area." Judged by Ovation Voters, our peers in the theatre community, our Edith was Ovation Recommended near the end of its run last year. In addition to our GLAAD nomination for Outstanding Los Angeles Theater, we are thrilled by this new honor.

We extend our gratitude and congratulations to the entire Edith team, especially our actors Amielynn Abellera ("Edith"), Brian Hostenske ("Benji"), Rodney To ("Kenny") and director Jennifer Chang.  Without them and our supporters, we would not have been able to bring Edith to life.

Currently gearing up for tech rehearsals, we cannot wait to share our latest production with you... the Los Angeles premiere of Cowboy Versus Samurai, which opens September 28. Stay in touch with Artists at Play through this blog, Facebook, or Twitter, and we'll see you at the theatre!

COWBOY VERSUS SAMURAI: Actor's Perspective

Artists at Play's Julia Cho is pulling double duty for the Los Angeles premiere of Cowboy Versus Samurai. Find out what drew her to this play not only as a producer, but as an actor.

Julia Cho and West Liang in rehearsal

Why were you interested in Cowboy Versus Samurai? 

Little known fact: My first attempt at directing was in college as part of this women's theatre fest. I proposed and was allowed to present, as interstitials throughout the program, select scenes between the two female characters from Achievers, a play by... Michael Golamco. A few years prior, I had seen a production and lo and behold, there were young, modern Asian American characters portrayed by Asian American performers onstage. Then I discovered Cowboy Versus Samurai and was struck by the same impression. Fast forward years later and here I am, one of the proud founding members of this theatre collective Artists at Play. CvsS had been on our group's radar since our inception and we are thrilled to be presenting the Los Angeles premiere this fall with yours truly tackling the role of Veronica Lee. 

What do you find interesting / intriguing / challenging about the character that you are playing? 

As candid and uninhibited as she is, Veronica only lets you dig so far beneath the surface. As Del describes his first impression of her, she has this "big city get-the-hell-outta-my-way thing going on." And yet, this is the same woman who will engage total strangers in conversation, immediately draw you into sharing your secrets, and then go home to nurse her adopted tail-less cat. You see this person who seems like she has it all together, and yet certain choices, certain behaviors still hint at perhaps not all is as it seems. 

What do you hope audiences will take away from the play after watching it? 

With any great play or work of art, the hope is that after seeing Cowboy Versus Samurai, thoughts will be sparked, issues will be raised, and conversations will be initiated. Whenever you deal with race, emotions are bound to be stirred. And throw love into the mix, and you're just asking for trouble. But with any new relationship, you need to stumble upon and discover the not so pretty parts and hopefully learn, grow, and move on to something that could potentially be truly life-changing.


Get your tickets to Cowboy Versus Samurai, beginning September 26 and running through October 20. For tickets: http://bit.ly/AAPCVsS

The Cast of COWBOY VERSUS SAMURAI

After countless submissions and dozens of auditions, Artists at Play proudly presents the cast for the Los Angeles premiere of Cowboy Versus Samurai!

FEODOR CHIN is Chester, Travis’ Asian Brother-with-a-Capital-B who is desperate to escape his small town. Theatrically, Feodor has appeared in All My Sons (Matrix Theatre Company), Three Sisters (Chalk Repertory) and A Winter People (The Theatre @ Boston Court).

JULIA CHO is Veronica, the new girl in town who holds the affection of Travis ... but has a history of only dating white men. Julia is a founding member of Artists at Play and played Desdemona Wong in our inaugural production Ching Chong Chinaman.

DANIEL VINCENT GORDH is Del, Travis’ handsome but dim All-American cowboy friend. Daniel is best known for playing the role of "William Darcy" in the popular web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (which also featured Julia Cho as "Charlotte Lu"). 

WEST LIANG is Travis, a high school English teacher and the only Korean American in Breakneck, Wyoming. West is an accomplished writer and actor who was nominated for the LA Weekly Awards for his performance in Their Eyes Saw Rain, which he also wrote.

 
Also featuring: Michael Barnum (Chester u/s), Macleish Day (Del u/s), Elaine Loh(Veronica u/s) and Julian Yuen (Travis u/s).
 
Before we finalized this stellar cast of actors, we had an unexpected visit (and impromptu audition!) at the end of our casting weekend — check out this video and see who came to surprise us!

Auditions for COWBOY VERSUS SAMURAI

Artists at Play will hold auditions for the roles listed below as part of their upcoming production, Cowboy Versus Samurai by Michael Golamco (Los Angeles premiere). Please send headshots/resumes to AAP.casting@gmail.com by Friday, July 5.  

Cowboy Versus Samurai
Producers: Julia Cho, Peter J. Kuo, Stefanie Wong Lau, Marie-Reine Velez 
Associate Producer: Nicholas Pilapil
Author: Michael Golamco
Director: Peter J. Kuo 

Contract: 99-Seat Theatre Equity Waiver 
Rehearsals: August - September 2013 
Previews: September 26 - 27, 2013 
Performances: September 28 - October 20, 2013
(w/ possible extension to October 27, 2013) 

Auditions: Saturday, July 13, 2013
Callbacks: Sunday, July 14, 2013

Auditions and callbacks will be held in Alhambra. Rehearsals will tentatively be held in Downtown L.A. Performances will take place at The Rosenthal Theater at Inner-City Arts.

Union and non-union actors eligible to submit.  To be considered for this project, email your headshot/ resume to AAP.casting@gmail.com. Submission deadline is Friday, July 5. Script is available at Samuel French.


SEEKING PRINCIPALS/ UNDERSTUDIES FOR FOLLOWING ROLES:

TRAVIS  –  Korean American, mid 20s-early 30s. English teacher, earnest, closeted romantic.

CHESTER  –  "Asian [American] of Unknown Origin," mid 20s-early 30s. Passionate, militant.

DEL  –  Caucasian, mid 20s-early 30s. P.E. teacher, dim, handsome. Wyoming dialect a plus. 

VERONICA (UNDERSTUDY ONLY)  –  Korean American, mid 20s-early 30s. Sexy, nerdy, whip-smart.