Urban Stages to Present World Premiere of Zhu Yi's A Deal
(© Allison Stock)
Urban Stages announced that it will kick off the 2017-18 season, its 34th, with the world premiere of Zhu Yi's A Deal, running November 15-December 10, with opening night set for November 20. Directed by John Giampietro, this production marks the Chinese playwright's off-Broadway debut, and will simultaneously tour China in Mandarin.
The play is described as follows: "Like many new upper-middle-class Chinese families, Mr. and Mrs. Li are proud to give their only daughter a life they could only dream of (an Ivy League degree in art and an apartment in Manhattan), until they realize she’s turning into a dangerous stranger. A Deal is a dark comedy that features a Chinese family’s home buying journey in New York in winter 2015, a time of increased real estate property ownership by overseas Chinese and a sharp decline in the value of the RMB against the U.S. dollar. It reveals the ideological conflicts between the East and the West in contemporary society by tracking a little stream of the global cash flow."
The cast includes Alan Ariano (The King and I), Pun Bandhu (The Treasurer), Helen Coxe (Side Man), Lydia Gaston (Miss Saigon), Wei Yi Lin, and Seth Moore. The creative team includes Rebecca Kane (stage manager), Rachel Kartiganer (assistant stage manager), Frank Oliva (set design), John Salutz (lighting and sound design), Audrey Nauman (costume design), Ryan Belock (projection design), Kim Sharp (technical director), Peter Napolitano (associate producer), Antoinette Mullins (development and literary director), Olga Devyatisilnaya (company manager and financial administrator), and Ilanna Saltzman (program director).
