Award-winning theater director Ping Chong to speak at Syracuse University

Award-winning theater director Ping Chong to speak at Syracuse UniversitySeptember 25, 2008Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

Syracuse Symposium 2008 presents critically acclaimed theater director and installation artist Ping Chong in a special appearance at Syracuse University on Monday, Oct. 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3. The lecture is presented in conjunction with the world premiere of Chong’s “Tales from the Salt City” at Syracuse Stage Oct. 14-Nov. 2. Lecture parking is available in the University Avenue Garage for $3.50 (garage closes at 10 p.m.).

Chong has created more than 50 multidisciplinary works for the stage, which have been presented at major festivals and theaters around the world. His world premiere of “Tales from the Salt City” is a powerful exploration of the changing face of Syracuse through an interview-based theater work. As the latest work in Chong’s world-renowned Undesirable Elements series, the production weaves together the compelling and inspiring narratives of citizens of Syracuse-both recent arrivals and longtime residents-who are in some way living between cultures.

Chong is recipient of two Obie Awards, including one for Sustained Achievement in 2000; six National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships; a Playwrights USA Award; a Guggenheim Fellowship; a TCG/Pew Charitable Trust National Theatre Artist Residency Program Fellowship; a National Institute for Music Theatre Award; and two “Bessie” Awards for Sustained Creative Achievement and for Outstanding Creative Achievement. In 2006, Chong received a USA Prudential Fellowship from the United States Artists Foundation.

“Ping Chong is a legendary pioneer, and I am honored to count him as a friend and mentor,” says Tim Bond, Syracuse Stage producing artistic director. “His innovative theatrical work defies definition. He commands the stage with economy and passionate storytelling, and he invites us to experience our connectedness in a very real and unavoidable way.”

Further information on Chong’s Undesirable Elements series is available on the Web at http://www.UndesirableElements.org. Information about “Tales from the Salt City” is available on the Syracuse Stage website at http://www.syracusestage.org.

Syracuse Symposium is a semester-long intellectual and artistic festival celebrating interdisciplinary thinking, imagining and creating, presented by The College of Arts and Sciences to the entire Syracuse community. The fall 2008 symposium theme is migration. Further information about the symposium is available at http://syracusesymposium.org.