Evento

People for Whom the World Spins and Turns

This world premiere play by James J. Hsiao, MD, introduces audiences to five recovering addicts and their sometimes-catastrophic attempts to survive a 28-day recovery program. Not yielding to temptation becomes a day-to-day strategy as questionable practices ensue. Relationships begin, strengthen, and disintegrate as these five lives spin, turn, evolve, and stand still.

The production of this play is part of the Addiction/Recovery Project which will present a series of community conversations surrounding the production.

Generous support is provided by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Additional technical support provided by the Center for Social Innovation (C4), a department of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration under the federal governments Department of Health and Human Services.

THE PLAYWRIGHT
James J. Hsiao, MD, is a writer, filmmaker, and physician. He studied film as an undergraduate at Yale University, where his thesis film, Voices, a documentary about the 1947 Taiwan uprising that led to the massacre of tens of thousands of Taiwanese by Chinese Nationalists, was awarded the Howard Lamar Prize for Outstanding Work in Film and/or Video. Hsiao has written plays that have been read as part of the National Asian American Theater Festival and the Baltimore Playwrights Festival. He wrote and directed a feature-length film, Water Lilies, which screened in several New York film festivals. Most recently, he has written several screenplays, which have received top awards in the national film festival circuit. Hsiao received his M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed his residency training at the New York Presbyterian Hospital. He currently works as an emergency physician in San Diego. His essays have been published in the online Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine.

THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE
The Essential Theatre is a non-profit, professional theatre dedicated, but not limited to producing theatre reflective of the African-American experience that explores and celebrates America's rich, diverse cultural landscape. Paramount to the company's mission is the implementation of programs for youth in Washington, DC's metropolitan area that promote interdisciplinary education and positive levels of self-esteem. Founded in 1989, the company hosts a play development program, The Essential Theatres New Play Reading Series, the Childrens Program in Public Schools, and the Womens Works Program. The company also maintains a relationship with area Social Services programs in an effort to provide job training opportunities.

The New Play Reading Series gives voice to work of new and established playwrights. It is in substance an incubator that serves to nurture the work of participating writers for a three-year period in a supportive and collaborative environment with other artisans, actors and directors. Further, it is a forum where audience members are welcomed to engage in an open, frank dialogue with playwrights about issues presented in the material as well as techniques used to present them. The New Play Reading Series was initiated in the spring of 1992.

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