NAATCO to Present World Premiere Of ISABEL By Reid Tang At The Abrons Arts Center

​NAATCO, the National Asian American Theatre Co., will present the World Premiere of Isabel, by reid tang, co-commissioned by NAATCO and Long Wharf Theatre as part of the NAATCO National Partnership Project.

Performances for this limited Off-Broadway engagement begin Friday June 14th, with Opening Night set for Thursday June 20th.  Performances will be Monday through Saturday evenings at 7pm, with matinees Friday and Saturday at 3pm. Special Preview performances Sunday 6/16 at 3pm and 7pm. No performance Juneteenth, 6/19.  This limited run will continue through Saturday July 6th only, at the Abrons Arts Center (466 Grand Street at Pitt Street) as part of the @Abrons Series. The performance runs 70 minutes.  Tickets are $45 (all fees included) and are on sale NOW. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit NAATCO.ORG. 

Matt is fixing up a cheap old house in the middle of nowhere; then Harriet and Isabel show up unannounced, bringing news about mysterious abandoned staircases in the forest, a backpack named Loaves, and the uncannily human screams of mountain lions.

Kedian Keohan directs a cast that features Sagan Chen (Off-Broadway credits include Work Hard Have Fun Make History - Clubbed Thumb; Exotic Deadly: or The MSG Play - Atlantic Theater; Happy Life - The Hearth Theater); Haruna Lee (for NAATCO: Leah's Train; Off-Broadway: The Nosebleed - Chocolate Factory/Japan Society; Suicide Forest - Obie Award, Bushwick Starr/Ma-Yi Theater; Pride Voices: New Plays from Taiwan - Taipei Cultural Center in New York; Futurity - Soho Rep; A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes - Women's Project Theater/New Georges; The Balcony - Red Bull Theater); and Ni-Ni (making his Off-Broadway debut). 

reid tang's credits include Work Hard Have Fun Make History (Clubbed Thumb Summerworks), Future Wife (Theatertreffen Stückemarkt), and Party In A Google Sheet (New Georges). tang was the recipient of the Obie Award-winning Breaking the Binary Theatre's first $10,000 commission to develop a new, original full-length work. They grew up in Singapore and presently live in Brooklyn and is making their Off-Broadway debut.

Kedian Keohan (they/he) is a trans theater director and creator of live performances. Director: Minna Lee's Last Gold (Hunter College), Amando Houser's DeliaDelia! The Flat Chested Witch (Brick Aux), Ann Marie Dorr's squirrel friend dreams and other ideas from times of grief (?!: New Works), Erin Markey's First Lady (Bard Spiegeltent), reid tang's Work Hard Have Fun Make History (Breaking the Binary), K Hurley's Blush (Soho Rep W/D Lab). Associate Director: Ryan J. Haddad's Dark Disabled Stories (Public Theater/Bushwick Starr). Assistant Director: Orlando (Signature Theatre), minor theater's Pathetic (Abrons Art Center), Singlet (Bushwick Starr), and Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future (Ars Nova). Kedian performed the role of Major in NY Times' Critic Pick Marie It's Time (HERE Arts Center) by Julia Jarcho. Kedian is a former Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, Soho Rep Writer Director Lab alum, and a New Georges affiliated artist.

The creative team includes dots - scenic design (two 2024 Tony Award nominations - An Enemy of the People, Appropriate; Henry Hewes Design Award,  Drama Desk nomination - Public Obscenities; Lortel Award nomination - You Will Get Sick); Hahnji Jang - costume design (The Bengsons - LCT3); Barbara Samuels - lighting design (Obie Award - Public Obscenities, Wolf Play; Hewes Design Award - Public Obscenities; Lortel Award nomination, Drama Desk nomination  - Rags Parkland Sings The Songs of the Future); Tei Blow - sound design (Henry Hewes Award,  Bessie Award, Creative Capital Award winner) with Jeremy Kadetsky as associate sound designer; Addison Heeren - prop design (Broadway: Almost Famous, Freestyle Love Supreme, Flying Over Sunset, Pass Over). Nat Kelley DiMario will serve as Production Stage Manager with Assistant Stage Manager Mars Neri. Production Manager is  Libby J'Vera; Casting by tbd casting co.

"Isabel is another creation produced by the NNPP, a co-commission with our anchor partner, Long Wharf Theatre,” said NAATCO co-founder and Actor-Manager Mia Katigbak. “Jacob Padrón, LWT's Artistic Director, and I were both intrigued by and curious about reid tang's work and the co-commission is a fulfillment of one of the requisites of the NNPP, which mandates a second production (Queen by Madhuri Shekar was the first) that centers Asian Americans.”

"reid tang's Isabel is a dark comedy that's somehow also spooky and tender. reid has a singular voice and the play centers a nuanced trans sibling relationship. We've assembled an extraordinary team of trans theater makers: Kedian Keohan and reid will be making their Off-Broadway debuts as director and playwright, respectively, and our cast consists of three superstar Asian American trans/non binary actors, one of whom will be making their professional debut after a nationwide casting search," said Peter Kim, NAATCO Creative Producer.

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