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.

Asian American actors are cast in only two percent of the roles in Broadway and major Off Broadway productions according to new data released by the advocacy group, the Asian American Performers Action Coalition.

The two percent number is dismal. The data disclosed that of the 6,639 total roles cast in the past five theater seasons, only 54 Broadway parts went to Asian American actors, and 100 Asian American actors got work at nonprofit companies.

Asian American Performers Action Coalition advocates point to these statistics as proof that there is negligible representation of Asian Americans on stage, and a serious lack of true diversity.

Asian Americans are New York City's fastest growing ethnic group, currently comprising 12.9 percent of the population. 

More than 400 people, mostly performers attended the RepresentAsian conference at Fordham University on Monday February 13, 2012 to listen to a roundtable discussion about the topic moderated by Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (Chinglish, M.Butterfly) and 17 other members of the theatrical community. 

Theatre industry veterans at the round table discussion included Broadway director Bartlett Sher, Vineyard Theatre's Doug Aibel, playwright Douglas Carter Beane, producers Nelle Nugent and Stephen Byrd, and Actors' Equity boss Mary McColl.

Related: 

NPR's Randy Gener covers the RepresentAsian conference