New York City

August 9 - August 25, 2012 The Lion Theatre 410 West 42nd Street, New York

Victor Lirio (Resurrection, The Female Heart) and an all-star cast are on stage in Manhattan this week with the war-based psycho drama Two Rooms. 

Named Best Play of the Year by Time Magazine when it debuted in 1988, Two Rooms is about Michael (Connor), an American professor who is held hostage in a dark room in Beirut. His wife, Lainie (Warner), holds a vigil for him in an empty room in their home outside of DC. As events in the Middle East begin to spin out of control, the possibility of bringing Michael safely back home becomes more tenuous.

Victor Lirio is joined by fellow actors Curran Connor (Julius by Design, 39 Steps), Dawn Evans (The Ladies of the Corridor, The Sopranos), and Bree Michael Warner (Balm in Gilead, Six Feet Under) in the lead role of Lainie, are set for Diverse City Theater Company’s (“DCT”) production of Two Rooms, by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award nominee Lee Blessing, directed by Jamie Richards. Two Rooms has a preview performance on Wednesday, August 8 at 8pm, and opens for a limited run on Thursday, August 9th at 8PM at Theatre Row’s The Lion Theatre located at 410 West 42nd Street in New York City. Performances run through Saturday, August 25th. Tickets are $19.25 and can be purchased on Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.

 
August 19, 2012 (Updated August 29, 2012 with screening dates and video of SAG Foundation's conversation with cast members Linus Roache and Michael Park, and producer/writer/actor Derek Ting.)

by Lia Chang

Don't miss these screenings!: (more listings below)
SAN FRANCISCO - August 24 - 30 at the Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema, 601 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
LOS ANGELES - August 31 - September 6 at the Laemmle's Noho 7, 5240 Lankershim Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (North Hollywood, CA 91601)

Kudos to Derek Ting, for taking control of his destiny, pursuing his dream and realizing his vision with his eleven year journey from inception to the big screen. Derek is the writer, producer and star of $upercapitalist, a financial thriller set in Hong Kong directed by award-winning filmmaker Simon Yin. Ting's film debuts in theaters this month, and is available now through your local cable TV station's video-on-demand, and online at many outlets including iTunes and Amazon Video. (Top image L to R: Lia Chang, $upercapitalist writer, producer and lead actor Derek Ting, producer and Derek's wife Joyce Yung Photo by Francois Bonneau). 

I met Derek and his wife, Joyce Yung, a producer on the film, when the Screen Actors Guild Foundation hosted a special 'Conversations' advance screening of $upercapitalist, at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway in New York. 

$upercapitalis

Clint Eastwood: A Ramblin’ Guy 
by Ben Fong-Torres

All right, all together now, with Neil Diamond in mind:

"I am," I said, to no one there
And no one heard at all, not even the chair
"I am," I cried. "I am," said I
And I am lost, and I can't even say why
Leavin' me lonely still

Well, Clint Eastwood must’ve felt pretty lost and lonely after his debacle of a speech at the Republican convention. Here he’d turned his back on the Democratic Party by attacking President Obama – or at least his imagination of Obama, represented by the now infamous empty chair on stage, with which Eastwood conducted a one-to-none conversation. But he’d done Mitt Romney and the GOP no favors by screwing up the convention’s rigid time line, looking slightly disheveled and rambling for 12 minutes when he’d been given five, delaying Romney’s big moment. And, in line with previous convention speakers, Eastwood issued statements that either were inaccurate or did no service to the anointed candidate.

Among his missteps: He chastised Obama for his timeline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.  But Romney himself has endorsed that strategy. Eastwood wondered whether it was a good idea to have attorneys (like Obama, a Harvard Law School grad) to be in the White House.

Backstage, Romney probably wasn’t wondering, since he also holds a degree from Harvard Law School.