Congratulations to Mu Performing Arts, currently celebrating its 20th Anniversary mainstage season, which continues its string of ‘Best of’ top end of year picks with last year’s musical offering, Little Shop of Horrors. In the last three seasons, seven out of nine productions have been listed on end of year lists.

Graydon Royce of The Minneapolis Star Tribune, writes,
“Little Shop of Horrors,” Mu Performing Arts
“Heart, charm and humor wrapped up in a dopey musical about a human-eating plant.This show demonstrated how far Mu has come. Jennifer Weir directed and actors Randy Reyes, Sara Ochs and Kurt Kwan led the cast.”
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/stageandarts/136113038.html

Dominic P. Papatola of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes,
“Theater 2011: ‘Best’ missed the test. Here are 10
productions that made a difference”

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) will honor Parkin Lee of The Rockefeller Group, Yale Law professor Jean Koh Peters, and Fareed Zakaria, CNN host and Time editor-at-large with the 2012 Justice in Action Awards, at its Annual Lunar New Year Gala on Wednesday, February 8, 2011 at PIER SIXTY, Chelsea Piers, in New York City.

The co-emcees for the evening are Juju Chang, Emmy Award-winning correspondent for ABC News Nightline, and Sree Sreenivasan, Dean of Student Affairs and digital media professor at Columbia Journalism School.

The AALDEF Justice in Action Awards recognize exceptional individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions in advancing justice and equality. Past recipients include the late civil rights icons Fred Korematsu and Gordon Hirabayashi, David Henry Hwang, Harold Koh, Mira Nair, Deval Patrick, Salman Rushdie, BD Wong, Seymour Hersh, Charles Ogletree, Jr., Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn, Harry Belafonte, Margaret Cho, and Yoko Ono.

After a well received run at the Calgary Fringe Festival, New York based actor, playwright, and snowboarder Suzen Murakoshi continues to take Canada by storm with her solo show Breathe Love Repeat: a Near Life Experience, a true story written and performed by Ms. Murakoshi, and directed by Obie (Off-Broadway) award winner Ching Valdes-Aran, at the 30th Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival.

Performances for Breathe Love Repeat: a Near Life Experience, are from Thursday, August 11 – Saturday, August 20, 2011. Tickets are available at the Central Fringe Theatre Box Office in the TransAlta Arts Barns (10330 84 Avenue), online at

The Asia Society held its 2011 Asia Society Awards Dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York on Wednesday, January 11, 2012.

Comedian and actor, Dan Nainan emceed the festivities, which included a special performance by members of the Silk Road Ensemble.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Ray Kelly, Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, were among the 400 who came out to honor and to celebrate the 90th birthday of former Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead, who was presented with an Asia Society Award.

Tony Award-winning and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist playwright and librettist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), whose hilarious and sexy new comedyCHINGLISH is currently on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street) in New York was presented with the 2011 Cultural Achievement Award.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leading pro-democracy opposition leader in Myanmar, received the 2011 Asia Society Global Vision Award, and a videotape of her acceptance speech was played during the dinner.