Off-Broadway Cast Announced for Laowang: A Chinatown King Lear

The full cast and creative team has been announced for the off-Broadway production of Alex Lin’s Laowang: A Chinatown King Lear, which is set to begin previews at 59E59 Theaters on November 1, with an official opening night November 16. Performances are scheduled through December 14.

Described as “a caustic and imaginative spin on King Lear that explores the changing face of America’s Chinatowns and the fight to preserve a fading cultural memory,” Laowang: A Chinatown King Lear is about the fading matriarch of a Chinese-American family and the restaurant that serves as the bedrock of their prosperity–which is now being circled by a high-rise developer. She has summoned her three grandchildren to the restaurant to plan their next move.

The cast of Laowang will include Cindy Cheung (Bus Stop) as Amy Choy and others, Wai Ching Ho (Endlings) as A-Poh (the grandmother), Amy Keum (KPOP) as Lai-Fa Choy and others, Jon Norman Schneider (Eurydice) as Steven Choy and others, and Daisuke Tsuji (Life of Pi) as Wesley Chiu and others.

Joshua Kahan Brody directs. Nikki Lint (Yes, I Can Say That!) is the production stage manager and Sammy Landau (Water for Elephants) is the assistant stage manager.

Laowang will feature scenic design by Wilson Chin (Cost of Living), costume design by Tina McCartney (Pru Payne), lighting design by Reza Behjat (English), original music and sound design by Nicholas Drashner (Every Brilliant Thing), and props supervision by Thomas Jenkeleit (SUMO).