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A CONVERSATION WITH PING CHONG
PING CHONG, the creator of Truth & Beauty, will be coming to Charlottesville
to see our production and participate in a question and answer session
after the show on Thursday, February 23, 2006.
Mr. Chong is an internationally recognized director, writer, choreographer,
and video artist. He is the recipient of two Obie Awards, a Guggenheim
Fellowship, and two Bessie Awards. Since 1972, he has created more
than fifty works for the stage, including twenty-five works in his “Undesirable
Elements” oral history series.
The University of Virginia Drama Department Examines American Consumerism
and Culture in the Politically Charged Play Truth and Beauty by Ping
Chong
How does mass media influence American culture? Can markets and marketing
be trusted? How much do American commercialism and corporate propaganda
affect today’s youth? These questions and many others are the
focus of Truth and Beauty, a multi-media exploration by Ping Chong
which continues the U.Va. Department of Drama’s 2005-2006 season.
The Drama Department will present Truth and Beauty in the Culbreth
Theatre February 16-18 and 22-25 at 8:00 p.m.
Truth and Beauty features an ensemble cast comprised of both
graduate and undergraduate actors performing a variety of sketches
and scenes.
Director Richard Warner describes the structure and tone of the play
as “a combination of The Daily Show and Saturday
Night Live. [Truth and Beauty] mocks and challenges and…takes
on topics such as globalization, corporate corruption, gun violence,
freedom of speech,
and terrorism.”
Warner, head of the Drama Department acting program, adds, “We
hope it provokes discussion, makes people laugh some, [and] maybe makes
them think a little about how much Corporate America is a part of their
lives… Truth and Beauty is about our responsibility to sustain
all that is great about America... our freedom, our diversity, our
fight for equality.” Warner’s previous directing credits
for the Drama Department include The Ives Have It!, The
Laramie Project,
and A Streetcar Named Desire.
Truth and Beauty was created by Ping Chong in collaboration
with Michael Rhod and Jeff Randall. The show premiered at Virginia
Tech in October
of 1999, and the script was published in the March 2001 issue of American
Theatre. Originally produced with a cast of two, U.Va.’s
production will feature a cast of eight: Kate Brennan, Jonathan Cobb,
Matt Fletcher,
J. Hernandez, Karie Miller, Melinda Miller, Anjili Pal, and Nate Patten.
Tickets for Truth and Beauty are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors
(60+) and $8 for students; full-time UVa students can use their ART$
Dollars
to purchase tickets. For more information, call the Drama Department
Box Office at 434-924-3376. The box office is open from 1 p.m. to 6
p.m. Monday through Friday.
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For documents describing past productions, click here.
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