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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
- March 1999
Asia
Society Presents the World Premiere of
The Road Home
Stories of Children of War
A Storytelling
Concert Featuring
Priya Ayyar, Daniel Carlton, Steve Harrison,
Wendy vanden Heuvel, Yolanda King and Ken Leung
Tuesday through Saturday, April 13-17, 8:00 P.M., and Sunday,
April 18, 7:00 P.M.
Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), New York
City
Tickets: $20 ($16 members) 212/ 517-ASIA
The
Road Home: Stories of Children of War is a 90-minute multimedia
theater piece, conceived and directed by Lawrence Sacharow
(Three Tall Women), that weaves together live performance,
slides, video and original music to tell the personal stories
of victims of violence. The text is based on interviews among
the project artists and young refugees from Bosnia, Cambodia,
Tibet and inner-city America, and is performed in a documentary-like
storytelling style.
With a
script by James Lecesne (Word
of Mouth)
and featuring video footage by Barbara Kopple (Wild
Man Blues),
scenes of war-torn landscapes are juxtaposed with the words
of young people telling their experiences from Phnom Penh
to the Bronx. Footage includes a meeting between Yolanda King,
daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. (who also performs live),
and His Holiness The Dalai Lama.
The Road Home
was created as a means of encouraging governments, international
organizations and individuals to redouble their commitment
to the peaceful resolution of ethnic difficulties. The work
takes us on a personal journey through violence to compassion.
The work's storytelling performance style underscores the
need to tell the stories of today, and how doing so can achieve
a personal carthasis leading to non-violence. Sacharow pioneered
the notion of storytelling as performance. The premiere of
The Road Home
coincides with the 30th anniversary of Sacharow's The
Concept,
considered the pioneer performance art play, in which drug
addicts from Daytop Village "performed" their stories
on stage. The
Concept ran
for three years Off-Broadway before touring worldwide and
performing for two administrations at The White House. Walter
Kerr called The
Concept "without
question the most moving theatrical experience in New York…"
Music
is by Tibetan composer/performer Nawang Khechog. Text is by
James Lecesne (Word
of Mouth).
Sets by Tony Award-winner Marjorie Bradley Kellog, costumes
by Kassia Walicka Maimone and lights by Sarah Sidman (Big
Apple Circus). With contributions from Academy Award-winning
documentarian Barbara Kopple and directed by Obie Award-winning
director Lawrence Sacharow,
The Road Home
is based on the work of Bunting Peace Fellow Judith Thompson
and Reebok Human Rights Award winner Arn Chorn. The
Road Home is
a River Arts Repertory Production.
The Asia Society is America's leading institution dedicated
to fostering understanding of Asia and communication between
Americans and the peoples of Asia and the Pacific. A nonprofit,
nonpartisan educational institution, the Asia Society presents
a wide range of programs including major art exhibitions,
performances, media programs, international conferences and
lectures. The Asia Society is headquartered in New York City,
with regional centers in Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles,
Hong Kong, Manila and Melbourne, Australia, and representative
offices in San Francisco, Seattle and Shanghai. For more information,
contact the Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021.
(212) 288-6400. (www.asiasociety.org).
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