Feb. 5 - Mar. 17: Ruy Iskandar and Yuekun Wu Set for Signature Theatre’s Production of David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and The Railroad

New York

Signature Theatre (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) is presenting THE DANCE AND THE RAILROAD written by Tony award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) and directed by May Adrales, in The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street in New York. THE DANCE AND THE RAILROAD begins preview performances on February 5 and will continue through March 17, 2013. Opening night is on February 25, 2013. All tickets for the initial run of the production are $25 as part of the Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access. Purchase Tickets

(Photo) David Henry Hwang Photo by Lia Chang

The cast features Ruy Iskandar (The Public Theater’sMeasure for Measure and Classic Stage Company’sPurimcelo) as Ma and Yuekun Wu (Theater for the New City’s Love in Tears and Laughter & Luo Shen: Legend of the Luo River) as Lone.

On a California mountaintop in 1867 near the Transcontinental Railroad, two Chinese workers struggle through poverty and hunger to reconnect with the traditions of their homeland. THE DANCE AND THE RAILROAD premiered as part of a commission by the New Federal Theatre in 1981, and had its professional debut on July 16, 1981 Off-Broadway at the Joseph Papp Public Theater. It was directed by John Lone, with Lone and Tzi Ma in the cast. The play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a 1982 Drama Desk Award. THE DANCE AND THE RAILROAD follows the twice-extended GOLDEN CHILD as the second production in the Residency One: David Henry Hwang Series.

The design team includes Mimi Lien (Scenic Design), Jennifer Moeller (Costume Design), Jiyoun Chang (Lighting Design), Broken Chord Collective (Sound Design), Huang Ruo (Music), Qian Yi (Chinese Opera Consultant), Leah Loukas (Wig Design) and Grace Zandarski (Vocal Coach). Casting by TELSEY + COMPANY, William Cantler CSA. Cole P. Bonenberger is Production Stage Manager.

David Henry Hwang was awarded the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award which comes with a $200,000 prize. Hwang’s plays include Bondage, Chinglish (2012 Drama Desk Award nomination), The Dance and the Railroad (1982 Drama Desk Award nomination), Family Devotions(1982 Drama Desk Award nomination), FOB (1981 Obie Award), Golden Child (1997 Obie Award, 1998 Tony Award nomination), M. Butterfly (1988 Tony Award, 1989 Pulitzer Prize finalist), and Yellow Face (2008 Obie Award, 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalist). He also wrote the libretti for three Broadway musicals: Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida (co-author), Disney’s Tarzan, and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song (revival, 2002 Tony Award nomination). In opera, his libretti include four works with composer Philip Glass – 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, Icarus at the Edge of Time, Sound and Beauty, and The Voyage – as well as Howard Shore’s The Fly, Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar (two 2007 Grammy Awards), and Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland (Opernwelt 2007 World Premiere of the Year). Hwang penned the feature films Golden Gate, M. Butterfly, and Possession (co-author), and co-wrote the song “Solo” with Prince. He sits on the Council of the Dramatists Guild, and served on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities by appointment of President Clinton.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.