Artist Talk: Ping Chong with Ian Buruma November 11, 2010

Part of the 2010 Next Wave Festival (Throne of Blood)

Reinventing Kurosawa’s classic Throne of Blood as a theater work would take the boldness and creative genius of someone like Ping Chong. He expands on his own contemporary vision in a conversation with award-winning author Ian Buruma, voted one of the world’s “Top 100 Public Intellectuals” (Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines).

Ping Chong has created more than 70 works for the stage, which have been commissioned and presented by major venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Seattle Repertory Theatre, London’s Barbican, and the Vienna, Tokyo Arts, and Spoleto Festivals, among others. He has created site- and/or media-specific installations for MIT and the Venice Biennale, among others. Many of his play scripts have been published by TCG. Chong was born in New York City’s Chinatown and studied filmmaking and graphic design at the School of Visual Arts and the Pratt Institute, before beginning his theatrical career with Meredith Monk’s the House Foundation.

Chong’s past interdisciplinary productions at BAM have been: The Games (1984 Next Wave), co-created with Meredith Monk, The Angels of Swedenborg (1986 Next Wave), and Chinoiserie (1995 Next Wave). He returns to BAM for the 2010 Next Wave Festival with Throne of Blood, a stage adaptation of the 1957 film by Akira Kurosawa.

Official Website: http://bam.org/view.aspx?pid=2258