Colony Theatre Presents YEAR ZERO, Previews June 1

The Colony Theatre is thrilled to present the first production of its 37th season of shows - its first ever with six productions instead of five. The production is the West Coast Premiere of YEAR ZERO, written by Michael Golamco and directed by David Rose. YEAR ZERO will preview on Wednesday, June 1; Thursday, June 2; and Friday, June 3 at 8:00pm and will open on Saturday, June 4 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, July 3 at The Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center.

How do you move forward in life when you're stuck where you are? In Long Beach, CA, two young Cambodian-Americans search for an answer. Vuthy is a lonely 16-year-old who loves hip hop and Dungeons & Dragons. His ambitious older sister is starting to veer from her steadfast path to higher education and assimilation. With great humor and a modern sensibility, Year Zero sensitively explores how to escape a painful past while honoring the legacy of one's own history. It's a contemporary comedic drama about reinvention, redemption, and finding where we belong. (This play contains strong language.)

The award-winning Colony Theatre was founded in 1975 as a 99-seat Equity-waiver theatre in Silver Lake. Over the years the company was so successful artistically, and built such a large subscriber base, that in 2000 it was able to move into a 270-seat theatre created for it by the City of Burbank, becoming one of only 5 mid-size professional theatres in the LA area that produce a year-round season of plays and musicals, and that employ actors under contract with Actors' Equity Association. Since the move to Burbank, The Colony was named one of "25 Notable U.S. Theatre Companies" by the Encyclopedia Britannica Almanac for 8 years in a row and voted "Best Live Theatre in LA" in The Daily News 2006 Readers' Choice poll. The company's audience is so loyal that in an era when subscription is declining dramatically, and when the industry-wide "gold standard" renewal rate of 80% is considered unattainable, for the past two seasons The Colony has achieved a subscription renewal rate over 90%. In the coming year, at a time when many theatres are shortening their seasons and canceling performances, The Colony is expanding, for the first time in its history presenting six shows instead of the usual five.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

MICHAEL GOLAMCO (Playwright) is an LA-based playwright and screenwriter. His play Year Zero received acclaimed productions at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago (Jeff Nomination for Best New Work and Grand Prize Winner of Chicago Dramatists' Many Voices Project) and at Second Stage Theatre in New York. His play Cowboy Versus Samurai has had several productions since its premiere in New York City, including in Canada and Hong Kong. As a screenwriter, Michael's film Please Stand By was presented at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival's On Track film development program, and his short film, Dragon of Love, was awarded Best Short Film at the Hawaii International Film Festival and ran in regular rotation on the Sundance Channel. Michael is the recipient of the 2009 Helen Merrill Award and is a member of New Dramatists and Center Theatre Group's Writers Workshop. He is currently working on new play commissions for South Coast Repertory and Second Stage Theatre.

David Rose (Director) has staged over 25 productions since he became a company member in 1990, including Visiting Mr. Green, Mary's Wedding, and The Voice of the Prairie. Other Colony productions include Almost, Maine, "Master Harold" ... and the boys (NAACP Theatre Award nomination), ...Young Lady From Rwanda, Billy Bishop Goes to War, Sherlock's Last Case, the L.A. Premiere of The Drawer Boy, Fuddy Meers, The Nerd, The Man Who Came to Dinner, the World Premiere of Bea[u]tiful in the Extreme, Our Country's Good (six L.A. Ovation Award nominations, Drama-Logue Award), the L.A. Premiere of The Living, The Front Page (L.A. Weekly Award - Revival Production of the Year), You Can't Take it With You (Drama-Logue Award), June Moon, and the West Coast Premiere of Peccadillo. He also directed Second Stage productions of True West, Baby With the Bathwater, and I Can Fit My Fist in My Mouth. As an actor, David has appeared at The Colony in Bedroom Farce (Drama-Logue Award), Mornings at Seven, The Clearing, Incident at Vichy, Einstein and the Polar Bear, and Pastoral.

Elsewhere in Los Angeles, he has directed productions of Geniuses (Drama-Logue Award), Justin Tanner's Big Bear, and the nine-month run of the smash hit Road to Nirvana (Drama-Logue Award) - all at Burbank's Third Stage - as well as The Dining Room at Theatre 40, Inspecting Carol at the Ivy Substation (Drama-Logue Award), and Chased From Paradise and The Blues Are Running at the Lost Studio. He is the former Artistic Director of The New York Comedy Repertory Ensemble and a founding member of Washington, D.C.'s acclaimed Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

ABOUT THE CAST AND DESIGN TEAM

EYMARD CABLING (Glenn) was most recently seen last season at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the role of Arpad in She Loves Me. Other shows at OSF included Pride and Prejudice, American Night, and Throne of Blood. His tours include the North American tour of Miss Saigon (The Engineer) and Broadway Asia's production of The King and I (The Kralahome) in China, Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore. Other regional credits include History of the Word at the Apollo Theater, Miss Saigon, Aida, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Honor, One Red Flower, Once on this Island, and Company, which was directed by Billy Porter.

Tim Chiou (Han) is reprising the role of Han after originating it at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago. He recently performed in Crimes of the Heart at East West Players and Snow Falling on Cedars at TheatreWorks in Silicon Valley. His film and television credits include "Grey's Anatomy," "NCIS," "CSI-NY," and the multi-canvassed immigration drama "Crossing Over."

Christine Corpuz (Ra) has appeared Off-Broadway in Antony and Cleopatra (Theatre For A New Audience) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Public Theater / Shakespeare in the Park). Her other New York credits include Wish We Were Here (New York International Fringe Festival) and Save the World (Roundtable Ensemble). In Los Angeles, she has appeared in such productions as Mysterious Skin with East West Players and Opus with the Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara. Christine has also written and performed in her one-woman show, I Am Nothing Like My Mother, in both Los Angeles and New York, earning her an AUDELCO Best Solo Performance nomination in 2008. She recently returned to the west coast from New York where she graduated with an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts' Graduate Acting Program. She also holds a BFA in theatre from UC Santa Barbara.

DAVID HUYNH (Vuthy) has performed in theatre, television and film in both Canada and the United States. He was last seen on stage in Mysterious Skin, directed by Tim Dang, at East West Players, earning a Ticket Holder Award for Best Actor in a Play 2010, and was also seen in Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth at the Actors Playpen. David made his feature film debut starring in Juwan Chung's gangland thriller Baby and also has leading roles in Mark Tran's All About Dad and the film Bang Bang by Byron Q, currently touring the film festival circuit. David's television appearances include "ER," "Cold Case," "Without A Trace," and "Invasion." David studied film and theatre at The University of Manitoba.

YEAR ZERO has assembled an award-winning design team. The Scenic Design is by David Potts (Emmy Award - HBO's "Deadwood"). The Lighting Design is by Luke Moyer (Ovation Award - Dracula). The Costume Design is by Anthony Tran (The Goat or Who Is Sylvia). Original Music and Sound Design are by Peter Bayne (Ovation Award - Opus). Props design is by MacAndMe.

ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING

YEAR ZERO will open on Saturday, June 4 at 8:00pm and continue through Sunday, July 3. Performances for YEAR ZERO are Thursdays & Fridays at 8:00pm; Saturdays at 2:00pm & 8:00pm; and Sundays at 7:00pm. Ticket prices range from $20.00 - $42.00 (student, senior and group discounts are available). YEAR ZERO will preview on Wednesday, June 1; Thursday, June 2; and Friday, June 3 at 8:00pm at The Colony Theatre, 555 North Third Street (at Cypress) adjacent to the Burbank Town Center.

Opening night performance with reception - all tickets $50.00. There are question-and-answer talkbacks after the performances on Friday, June 10, and Thursday, June 23. For tickets, call the Colony Theatre Box Office at 818/558-7000 ext. 15 or online at www.colonytheatre.org.

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