Sir Tom Stoppard recommends | Click LIKE for Randy Gener to win TOFA-NY Award

"When it comes to theater, Randy Gener is a rock star," DAVID HENRY HWANG
“We’re very lucky to have him in our industry,” JACK O'BRIEN
"Randy is one of the most compelling voices in our era of globalization,” IOANA IERONIM
"Randy creates art himself with his incisive, finely wrought and insightful prose,” DOUG WRIGHT
"Randy Gener is an ideal recipient of any award for excellence," JEAN-CLAUDE VAN ITALLIE


Sir Tom Stoppard is a man of shocking generosity.  One of the world's greatest living dramatists, Stoppard joins the chorus of Broadway voices who have endorsed me to win the 2012 The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Award in the category of Media and Publishing.

TOM STOPPARD is the author of the plays Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Travesties, Jumpers, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, The Real Thing, Rock 'n' Roll, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.  Stoppard is also the author of the screenplay of the films Brazil and Shakespeare in Love (for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay). He has also won four Tony Awards. Stoppard says:

• "I have been impressed by Randy Gener’s professionalism as a journalist, and am happy to endorse his nomination for the TOFA-NY Award."



Sir Tom Stoppard

• "Your essay 'Fomenting a Denim Revolution,' about the Belarus Free Theatre, is a superb piece, the best and fullest account of the situation I have read. Everyone who cares about freedom in Belarus, and about the Free Theatre in particular, has reason to thank you.”

Listen to Stoppard. Click LIKE on my photo here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=131919673614181&set=a.131919633614185.23143.131554353650713&type=1&theater

Tom Stoppard is a fierce free speech champion. Along with Harold Pinter and Vaclav Havel, Stoppard was one of the first artists to throw the full weight of their support to the Belarus Free Theater. In fact, Stoppard himself directed a staged reading of his own one-act play for a PEN American Center benefit to support freedom in Belarus. In my essay in Critical Stages, entitled "The Struggle for a Free Theatre," the British playwright of Arcadia and The Coast of Utopia asked Hollywood and Broadway actors Margaret Colin and Billy Crudup to read Stoppard’s contribution to an omnibus play The Laws of War, which he had originally co-written with other British playwrights for a 2010 celebration of the work of Human Rights Watch. You can see my iPhone recording of the staged reading here.

TOFA-NY believes that social media is crucial in getting the word out about the many personalities and organizations that have made Filipino-Americans a significant and dynamic community in the U.S.

TOFA-NY recognizes exemplary Filipino-American individuals and organizations that have raised the profile of the Filipino American community in a unique and positive way – and to celebrate their achievements.  Voting for the 2012 TOFA-NY Award is presently being conducted via the social networking site Facebook.  Nominees from each category who receive the most Facebook LIKE's by the deadline will be declared as winners.

To click “LIKE” for Randy Gener for to win this important award, one must first visit his photo in the "Nominees for Media & Publishing" album on Facebook. Then please click LIKE tab under nominee's name.

Here is a direct link to click LIKE on the photo:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=131919673614181&set=a.131919633614185.23143.131554353650713&type=1&theater

Doug Wright clicked 'like' | For Randy Gener to win NY award for excellence at Carnegie Hall

BROADWAY RALLIES IN SUPPORT OF RANDY GENER 

FOR 2012 THE OUTSTANDING FILIPINO AMERICAN IN NEW YORK (TOFA-NY) AWARD AT CARNEGIE HALL

"When it comes to theater, Randy Gener is a rock star," DAVID HENRY HWANG

“We’re very lucky to have him in our industry,” JACK O'BRIEN

"Randy is one of the most compelling voices in our era of globalization,” IOANA IERONIM

"Randy creates art himself with his incisive, finely wrought and insightful prose,” DOUG WRIGHT

"Randy Gener is an ideal recipient of any award for excellence," JEAN-CLAUDE VAN ITALLIE

NEW YORK CITY, August 15, 2012 |  The Nathan Award-winning editor, writer and artist RANDY GENER has been nominated for 2012 The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Award in the category of Media and Publishing.  Artists from Broadway and the international world click raise their voices in support.

DOUG WRIGHT, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (I AM MY OWN WIFE), librettist (GREY GARDENS) and screenwriter (QUILLS):
"Randy Gener is that rare theater writer who is a true friend to artists; he champions their work, writes about it incisively, and brings a global perspective to bear on local culture. He does so much more than explicate art by other people; he creates it himself with his incisive, finely-wrought and insightful prose."


TOFA-NY is an awards event held annually at Carnegie Hall in New York during Filipino American History Month celebration in October.  TOFA-NY recognizes exemplary Filipino-American individuals and organizations that have raised the profile of the Filipino American community in a unique and positive way – and to celebrate their achievements.  Voting for the 2012 TOFA-NY Award is presently being conducted via the social networking site Facebook.  Nominees from each category who receive the most Facebook LIKE's by the deadline will be declared as winners.

To click “LIKE” for Randy Gener for to win this important award, one must first visit his photo in the "Nominees for Media & Publishing" album that resides inside "The 2012 TOFA-NY Award" Facebook Page. And then please click LIKE tab under nominee's name.

Here is a direct link to click LIKE on the photo:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=131919673614181&set=a.131919633614185.23143.131554353650713&type=1&theater

TOFA-NY believes that social media is crucial in getting the word out about the many personalities and organizations that have made Filipino-Americans a significant and dynamic community in the U.S.

An awarding ceremony will be held at Carnegie Hall in New York on October 27, 2012 with Philippine Consul General Mario de Leon Jr. and philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis as guest speakers.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas and Philippine TV personality Gel Santos Relos will emcee the awards event.  The evening will feature performances by vocalists Gail Banawis, Kay Habana, Alyssa Shoemaker, and Tiffany Viray, as well as Roberto Villanueva, a dancer.

Tickets are $60-100.  Call 212-417-0419. Carnegie Hall's box office is located at West 57th and 7th Avenue. Visit www.facebook.com/TOFAINY2 | CarnegieHall.org | CarnegieCharge.org 212-247-7800

Jean-Claude van Itallie recommends | Click 'like' for Randy Gener to win NY award for excellence at Carnegie Hall

BROADWAY RALLIES IN SUPPORT OF RANDY GENER 

FOR 2012 THE OUTSTANDING FILIPINO AMERICAN IN NEW YORK (TOFA-NY) AWARD AT CARNEGIE HALL

"When it comes to theater, Randy Gener is a rock star," DAVID HENRY HWANG

“We’re very lucky to have him in our industry,” JACK O'BRIEN

"Randy is one of the most compelling voices in our era of globalization,” IOANA IERONIM

"Randy creates art himself with his incisive, finely wrought and insightful prose,” DOUG WRIGHT

"Randy Gener is an ideal recipient of any award for excellence," JEAN-CLAUDE VAN ITALLIE

NEW YORK CITY, August 15, 2012 |  The Nathan Award-winning editor, writer and artist RANDY GENER has been nominated for 2012 The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Award in the category of Media and Publishing.  Artists from Broadway and the international world click raise their voices in support.

JEAN-CLAUDE VAN ITALLIE, playwright (“America Hurrah” and “Tibetan Book of the Dead“), author, teacher and seminal force in the explosive New York Off-Broadway theater of the 1960s: 
"The artist/theater critic Randy Gener is a powerful cultural force in American theater arts.  His articulate and insightful reviews, his personal encouragement of theater artists of different genres, and his knowledgeable, benevolent presence on the national theater scene make him an ideal recipient of any award for excellence."

Jean-Claude is my teacher. He instilled in me a performer's mission: to record each night's dreams and write on my feet. An iconic LaMaMa writer, van Itallie is the author of America Hurrah, The Serpent and Tibetan Book of the Dead. He will perform his latest work CONFESSIONS AND CONVERSATION at Ellen Stewart Theatre Sept. 20-23. Directed by Rosemary Quinn. Click here for more information.

TOFA-NY is an awards event held annually at Carnegie Hall in New York during Filipino American History Month celebration in October.  TOFA-NY recognizes exemplary Filipino-American individuals and organizations that have raised the profile of the Filipino American community in a unique and positive way – and to celebrate their achievements.  Voting for the 2012 TOFA-NY Award is presently being conducted via the social networking site Facebook.  Nominees from each category who receive the most Facebook LIKE's by the deadline will be declared as winners.

To click “LIKE” for Randy Gener for to win this important award, one must first visit his photo in the "Nominees for Media & Publishing" album that resides inside "The 2012 TOFA-NY Award" Facebook Page. And then please click LIKE tab under nominee's name.

Here is a direct link to click LIKE on the photo:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=131919673614181&set=a.131919633614185.23143.131554353650713&type=1&theater

TOFA-NY believes that social media is crucial in getting the word out about the many personalities and organizations that have made Filipino-Americans a significant and dynamic community in the U.S.

An awarding ceremony will be held at Carnegie Hall in New York on October 27, 2012 with Philippine Consul General Mario de Leon Jr. and philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis as guest speakers.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas and Philippine TV personality Gel Santos Relos will emcee the awards event.  The evening will feature performances by vocalists Gail Banawis, Kay Habana, Alyssa Shoemaker, and Tiffany Viray, as well as Roberto Villanueva, a dancer.

Tickets are $60-100.  Call 212-417-0419. Carnegie Hall's box office is located at West 57th and 7th Avenue. Visit www.facebook.com/TOFAINY2 | CarnegieHall.org | CarnegieCharge.org 212-247-7800

Broadway's Jack O'Brien recommends | Click 'like' for Randy Gener to win NY award for excellence at Carnegie Hall

BROADWAY RALLIES
IN SUPPORT OF RANDY GENER 

FOR 2012 THE OUTSTANDING FILIPINO AMERICAN
IN NEW YORK AWARD AT CARNEGIE HALL

"When it comes to theater, Randy Gener is a rock star," HWANG

“We’re very lucky to have him in our industry,” O'BRIEN

"Randy is one of the most compelling voices in our era of globalization,” IERONIM

"Randy creates art himself with his incisive, finely wrought and insightful prose,” WRIGHT

"Randy Gener is an ideal recipient of any award for excellence," VAN ITALLIE

NEW YORK CITY, August 20 |  I am nominated for the 2012 The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Award in the category of Media and Publishing.

Artists from Broadway and the international world are clicking LIKE on my photo and raising their voices in support.

Jack O'Brien

Here is JACK O'BRIEN, three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway director (Hairspray, The Full Monty and The Coast of Utopia):

"There are journalists you avoid, and there are journalists you both seek out and look forward to:  Randy Gener is in the latter category.  He is not only fair, intelligent and probing, but he's enthusiastic as well.  There is a standard evident in his writing which is too rare in that profession – not an inquiry designed just to 'make news,' but rather a curiosity to know what lies behind the spark of an idea.  For that commodity alone, he should be enshrined. But then, he can write!  We're very lucky to have him in our industry.”

To click “LIKE” for Randy Gener for to win this important award, one must first visit his photo in the "Nominees for Media & Publishing" album that resides inside "The 2012 TOFA-NY Award" Facebook Page. And then please click LIKE tab under nominee's name.

Here is a direct link to click LIKE on the photo:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=131919673614181&set=a.131919633614185.23143.131554353650713&type=1&theater


Jack O'Brien is an American director, producer, writer and lyricist. He served as the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California from 1981 through the end of 2007.

O'Brien has won three Tony Awards and been nominated for seven more, and won five Drama Desk Awards. He has directed and produced musicals, including The Full Monty and Hairspray, contemporary dramas such as The Piano Lesson, The Invention of Love and The Coast of Utopia, Shakespeare classics, including Hamlet and Henry IV (a combination of Part 1 and Part 2), and operas, including Il trittico at the Metropolitan Opera.


Awards for Jack O'Brien:

• 1990 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play – The Piano Lesson
• 2001 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play – The Invention of Love
• 2003 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical – Hairspray
• 2003 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – Hairspray
• 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play – Henry IV
• 2004 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play – Henry IV
• 2007 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play – The Coast of Utopia
• 2007 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play – The Coast of Utopia

TOFA-NY is an awards event held annually at Carnegie Hall in New York during Filipino American History Month celebration in October.  TOFA-NY recognizes exemplary Filipino-American individuals and organizations that have raised the profile of the Filipino American community in a unique and positive way – and to celebrate their achievements.  Voting for the 2012 TOFA-NY Award is presently being conducted via the social networking site Facebook.  Nominees from each category who receive the most Facebook LIKE's by the deadline will be declared as winners.

An awarding ceremony will be held at Carnegie Hall in New York on October 27, 2012 with Philippine Consul General Mario de Leon Jr. and philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis as guest speakers.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas and Philippine TV personality Gel Santos Relos will emcee the awards event.  The evening will feature performances by vocalists Gail Banawis, Kay Habana, Alyssa Shoemaker, and Tiffany Viray, as well as Roberto Villanueva, a dancer.

Tickets are $60-100.  Call 212-417-0419. Carnegie Hall's box office is located at West 57th and 7th Avenue. Visit www.facebook.com/TOFAINY2 | CarnegieHall.org | CarnegieCharge.org 212-247-7800

From David Henry Hwang | Support Randy Gener to win NY award for excellence at Carnegie Hall

BROADWAY RALLIES IN SUPPORT OF RANDY GENER 

FOR 2012 THE OUTSTANDING FILIPINO AMERICAN IN NEW YORK (TOFA-NY) AWARD AT CARNEGIE HALL

"When it comes to theater, Randy Gener is a rock star," DAVID HENRY HWANG

“We’re very lucky to have him in our industry,” JACK O'BRIEN

"Randy is one of the most compelling voices in our era of globalization,” IOANA IERONIM

"Randy creates art himself with his incisive, finely wrought and insightful prose,” DOUG WRIGHT

"Randy Gener is an ideal recipient of any award for excellence," JEAN-CLAUDE VAN ITALLIE

NEW YORK CITY, August 15, 2012 |  The Nathan Award-winning editor, writer and artist RANDY GENER has been nominated for 2012 The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Award in the category of Media and Publishing.  Artists from Broadway and the international world click raise their voices in support.

"When it comes to theater, Randy Gener is a Filipino-American rock star," says DAVID HENRY HWANG, the preeminent American dramatist (Chinglish, Yellow Face, The Golden Child), a Tony Award winner (M. Butterfly) and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. "As the first Asian American to win the Nathan Award, theater criticism's top prize, Randy commands the respect of theater artists from Broadway to Europe and Asia. What's more, he has used his position to promote and advance worthy playwrights and directors who might not otherwise be noticed. Randy Gener is undoubtedly one of New York's Outstanding Filipino-Americans."


TOFA-NY is an awards event held annually at Carnegie Hall in New York during Filipino American History Month celebration in October.  TOFA-NY recognizes exemplary Filipino-American individuals and organizations that have raised the profile of the Filipino American community in a unique and positive way – and to celebrate their achievements.  Voting for the 2012 TOFA-NY Award is presently being conducted via the social networking site Facebook.  Nominees from each category who receive the most Facebook LIKE's by the deadline will be declared as winners.

To click “LIKE” for Randy Gener for to win this important award, one must first visit his photo in the "Nominees for Media & Publishing" album that resides inside "The 2012 TOFA-NY Award" Facebook Page. And then please click LIKE tab under nominee's name.

Here is a direct link to click LIKE on the photo:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=131919673614181&set=a.131919633614185.23143.131554353650713&type=1&theater

TOFA-NY believes that social media is crucial in getting the word out about the many personalities and organizations that have made Filipino-Americans a significant and dynamic community in the U.S.

An awarding ceremony will be held at Carnegie Hall in New York on October 27, 2012 with Philippine Consul General Mario de Leon Jr. and philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis as guest speakers.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas and Philippine TV personality Gel Santos Relos will emcee the awards event.  The evening will feature performances by vocalists Gail Banawis, Kay Habana, Alyssa Shoemaker, and Tiffany Viray, as well as Roberto Villanueva, a dancer.

Tickets are $60-100.  Call 212-417-0419. Carnegie Hall's box office is located at West 57th and 7th Avenue. Visit www.facebook.com/TOFAINY2 | CarnegieHall.org | CarnegieCharge.org 212-247-7800

Goethe-Institut's Wilfried Eckstein joins talkback with D.C. Jewish leaders on humor, wit and MEIN KAMPF

NEW YORK CITY |    Wilfried Eckstein, the new director of the Goethe-Institut Washington, has joined our talkback on humor, wit and George Tabori's MEIN KAMPF on Sunday at the H Street Playhouse.

I am moderating a talk back Sunday Aug. 12 after the 3pm matinee show in Washington, D.C.  Please see a play with us. We will talk about it after SCENA's performance.

For me, a return to the state capital.  In November 2011, I represented the U.S. media in the first-ever "German and American Media Dialogue," organized by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, D.C.  The "Media Dialogue" took place at the Goethe-Institut there.  --RG

George Tabori and MEIN KAMPF
Dialogues with Jewish leaders 
Rabbi Harold White and Dr. Donn B. Murphy
and Goethe-Institut's Wilfried Eckstein


This talkback happens after 3pm matinee performance of MEIN KAMPF of SCENA Theater in Washington, D.C.. The play performing nightly at H Street Playhouse, 1365 H Street in D.C.

Tabori

In MEIN KAMPF,  GEORGE TABORI, the dramatist and writer, bypassed the taboo surrounding the Holocaust with wit. He was one of the last of the generation of writers forced into exile by the Third Reich. Hungarian by birth, writing in English and directing and occasionally acting in German, Tabori was the most widely performed modern writer in the German theater by 1992.

Rabbi White

RABBI HAROLD WHITE recently retired from Georgetown University in Washington, DC after serving as Jewish Chaplain for 40 years. Rabbi White is the first rabbi to be appointed to a full-time Campus Ministry position by a Catholic university.

Dr. Murphy

The Washington Post calls DR. DONN B. MURPHY "a man of the theater in every sense." Dr. Murphy taught theatre and speech courses at Georgetown University from 1954 to 2000. At the invitation of Jacqueline Kennedy and Letitia Baldrige, he became a theatrical advisor to the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Administrations for White House dramatic and music presentations in the East Room (1961–1965). He was a founding member of the National Theatre Corporation (1974) and is President and Executive Director of the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Wilfried Eckstein

WILFRIED ECKSTEIN, the new director of the Goethe-Institut Washington, is no stranger to the United States. The Karlsruhe native spent the 1978-79 academic year studying English and American literature and 20th century American history at Princeton University. That year was capped off by a memorable cross-country road trip. Since joining the foreign service of the Goethe-Institut in 1988, he has held posts in Russia, Thailand and, most recently, China.

SCENA's production of Mein Kampf performs at the H Street Playhouse from July 7 - August 19 and it is appropriate for audiences 16 and up.

Moderator:

RANDY GENER is a George Jean Nathan Award-winning editor, writer and artist in New York City.

He is a 2012 Nominee for The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Awards (Category: Media & Publishing), an annual awards event held during Filipino American History Month celebration. To win this award, please click here to LIKE on Gener's photo in the Nominees Album of the official TOFA-NY Facebook page.

EXCERPTS FROM SCENA THEATRE'S PRESS RELEASE:

Only SCENA Theatre of Washington, D.C. is daring enough to bring MEIN KAMPF, an in-your-face black comedy by George Tabori to Washington, DC.
This farce tells the story of a young down and out painter named Adolf Hitler and his relationship with two Jews, Herzl and Lobkowitz in a Viennese flophouse circa 1900s. First seen in Vienna in 1987, Mein Kampf was an instant success in Europe and the hit of the 1988 Berlin Festival winning every Best Play award.  

MEIN KAMPF is rarely produced in the United States with only a handful of productions since its premiere in 1987, most notably a performance in Los Angeles at The Actor's Gang with Tim Robbins in 1991. The setting is winter in a doss-house in Blutgasse, Vienna. Among the shelter’s inhabitants is Schlomo Herzl, an unsuccessful bookseller who deals mainly in Bibles and the Kama Sutra. Events take a dramatic twist with the arrival of a newcomer, one Adolf Hitler, who has come to Vienna from the sticks to secure a place at the Academy of Arts. With such a volatile and taboo subject, Tabori writes with a savage humor and a deep compassionate understanding of the evil that is to come.  

SCENA Theatre is Washington's premier cultural institution, bringing the best in international theatre to DC and stimulating cultural exchange between local and international artists. 

Founded in 1987 under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert McNamara and Managing Director Amy Schmidt, Scena produces an annual season of plays, a Workshop Series aimed at developing new work from around the world, special events, and the Washington International Theatre Festival, staged each year at venues throughout the city.

Cast: Mein Kampf features accomplished Washington area actors such as Cameron McNary (Hitler), Stas Wronka (Herzl), Stephen Lorne Williams (Lobkowitz), Hannah Burkhauser (Gretchen), along with Gary Baker, Tom Byrne, Brandon Mitchell, Ellie Nicoll and Joseph Carlson. Designers: Michael C. Stepowany (Set), Alisa Mandel (Costumes), Andrew Griffin (Lights), and James Garver (Sound).


Tickets are $25 - $35 in August. Tickets may be purchased here on Scena's website http://www.scenatheater.org/ or by calling 703. 683.2824. Also tickets may be bought at the H Street Playhouse one hour prior to performances. 

http://www.scenatheater.org/

Conversations with Jewish leaders: Rabbi Harold White and Dr. Donn B. Murphy on MEIN KAMPF at H Street Playhouse in D.C., Sunday Aug. 12

NEW YORK CITY |  I am moderating an artist talk back after a Sunday matinee show in Washington, D.C.  Please see a play with us, then talk about it after SCENA's performance.

For me, a return to the state capital.  In November 2011, I represented the U.S. media in the first-ever "German and American Media Dialogue," organized by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, D.C.  In cooperation with the Studio Theater, the "Media Dialogue" took place at the Goethe-Institut there.  --RG

George Tabori and MEIN KAMPF
Dialogues with Jewish leaders 
Rabbi Harold White and Dr. Donn B. Murphy


This talkback happens after 2pm matinee performance of MEIN KAMPF of SCENA Theater in Washington, D.C.. The play performing nightly at H. Street Playhouse.

Tabori

In MEIN KAMPF,  GEORGE TABORI, the dramatist and writer, bypassed the taboo surrounding the Holocaust with wit. He was one of the last of the generation of writers forced into exile by the Third Reich. Hungarian by birth, writing in English and directing and occasionally acting in German, Tabori was the most widely performed modern writer in the German theater by 1992.

Rabbi White

RABBI HAROLD WHITE recently retired from Georgetown University in Washington, DC after serving as Jewish Chaplain for 40 years. Rabbi White is the first rabbi to be appointed to a full-time Campus Ministry position by a Catholic university.

Dr. Murphy

The Washington Post calls DR. DONN B. MURPHY "a man of the theater in every sense." Dr. Murphy taught theatre and speech courses at Georgetown University from 1954 to 2000. At the invitation of Jacqueline Kennedy and Letitia Baldrige, he became a theatrical advisor to the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Administrations for White House dramatic and music presentations in the East Room (1961–1965). He was a founding member of the National Theatre Corporation (1974) and is President and Executive Director of the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.

SCENA's production of Mein Kampf performs at the H Street Playhouse from July 7 - August 19 and it is appropriate for audiences 16 and up.

Moderator:

RANDY GENER is a George Jean Nathan Award-winning editor, writer and artist in New York City.

He is a 2012 Nominee for The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Awards (Category: Media & Publishing), an annual awards event held during Filipino American History Month celebration. To win this award, please click here to LIKE on Gener's photo in the Nominees Album of the official TOFA-NY Facebook page.


***********************************************************
EXCERPTS FROM SCENA THEATRE'S PRESS RELEASE:

Only SCENA Theatre of Washington, D.C. is daring enough to bring MEIN KAMPF, an in-your-face black comedy by George Tabori to Washington, DC.
This farce tells the story of a young down and out painter named Adolf Hitler and his relationship with two Jews, Herzl and Lobkowitz in a Viennese flophouse circa 1900s. First seen in Vienna in 1987, Mein Kampf was an instant success in Europe and the hit of the 1988 Berlin Festival winning every Best Play award.  

MEIN KAMPF is rarely produced in the United States with only a handful of productions since its premiere in 1987, most notably a performance in Los Angeles at The Actor's Gang with Tim Robbins in 1991. The setting is winter in a doss-house in Blutgasse, Vienna. Among the shelter’s inhabitants is Schlomo Herzl, an unsuccessful bookseller who deals mainly in Bibles and the Kama Sutra. Events take a dramatic twist with the arrival of a newcomer, one Adolf Hitler, who has come to Vienna from the sticks to secure a place at the Academy of Arts. With such a volatile and taboo subject, Tabori writes with a savage humor and a deep compassionate understanding of the evil that is to come.  

SCENA Theatre is Washington's premier cultural institution, bringing the best in international theatre to DC and stimulating cultural exchange between local and international artists. 

Founded in 1987 under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert McNamara and Managing Director Amy Schmidt, Scena produces an annual season of plays, a Workshop Series aimed at developing new work from around the world, special events, and the Washington International Theatre Festival, staged each year at venues throughout the city.

Cast: Mein Kampf features accomplished Washington area actors such as Cameron McNary (Hitler), Stas Wronka (Herzl), Stephen Lorne Williams (Lobkowitz), Hannah Burkhauser (Gretchen), along with Gary Baker, Tom Byrne, Brandon Mitchell, Ellie Nicoll and Joseph Carlson. Designers: Michael C. Stepowany (Set), Alisa Mandel (Costumes), Andrew Griffin (Lights), and James Garver (Sound).



Tickets are $25 - $35 in August. Tickets may be purchased here on Scena's website http://www.scenatheater.org/ or by calling 703. 683.2824. Also tickets may be bought at the H Street Playhouse one hour prior to performances. 

http://www.scenatheater.org/

Media advisory on coverage of Sikh temple shooting

I wish to express my deepest condolences to the families of those who were victimized after the shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin.

In Sikhism, they teach about equality. They do sewa (service to others). They strongly disagree wiith prejudice and discrimination. "God created everyone, so all are equal and deserve the same treatment and respect" (Mool Mantra)

Sikhs cultivate an awareness and respect for the dignity of all life, human or otherwise. Such respect for life is fostered where one first recognises and nurtures the divine inner spark within oneself, then sees it and cherishes it in others.

The history of the gurus is full of stories of their love for animals, birds, trees, vegetation, rivers, mountains and sky. Many Sikhs have a strong tradition of being vegetarian.

A strong Sikh tradition is the equality of men and women. Especially in terms of making education available to everybody

Courtesy of PolicyMic

In San Francisco, AAJA (Asian American Journalists Association) has issued a "Media Advisory on Coverage of Sikh Temple Shooting."  Here are a few guidelines for organizations reporting on this tragedy:

• The word “Sikh” is pronounced “seek.”
• A Sikh temple is also called a “gurdwara” (pronounced GOORD-war-ah).
• The Sikh religion is an offshoot of the Hindu religion. It was founded around 1500.
• There are 25 million to 30 million Sikhs around the world, most of them in India. About 250,000 to 300,000 Sikhs live in the United States.
• As part of their religion, Sikhs are prohibited from cutting their hair. Most Sikh men wear turbans. For this reason, they’re often confused with Muslims. Sikhism and Islam are, of course, two separate and distinct religions.
• Sikhs believe in one God.

Source: http://www.aaja.org/media-advisory-on-coverage-of-sikh-temple-shooting/

AAJA’s “Handbook to Covering Asian America” can be a resource in fairly, accurately and sensitively reporting on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The South Asian Journalists Association may be able to provide further assistance. For example

SIKHISM

Not an Arab faith, but a monotheistic religion with elements of Hinduism and Islam. Sikhs are often mistaken in the West for Arabs, who wear turbans as an article of clothing. But all Sikhs, men and women, wear turbans and related covering over their uncut hair as a religious symbol of respect for God. 'Sikh' is derived from the Sanskrit for “he wishes to learn.” The word 'guru,' or spiritual leader (from the Sanskrit for “venerable”), comes from Sikhism."