Photography MARIA BARANOVA-SUZUKI

Written by Jeremy Tiang, Directed and Developed by Michael Leibenluft
Produced in association with Gung Ho Projects

World premiere at the Connelly Theatre, October 2023

“Based on the wild true story of Arthur Miller — who very much did not speak Mandarin — going to Beijing in 1983 to direct an all-Chinese cast in a production of Death of a Salesman. …an incredible concept.”

-Vulture

In the spring of 1983, in a groundbreaking act of cross-cultural collaboration, Arthur Miller accepted an invitation to direct his play Death of a Salesman with an all-Chinese cast at the Beijing People’s Art Theatre despite not speaking a word of Mandarin. The production was a resounding success due, in no small part, to the multilingual talents of renowned Chinese actor Ying Ruocheng (Bertolucci's The Last Emperor) who translated the text and played Willy Loman.

This extraordinary encounter, which Miller detailed in his memoir Salesman in Beijing, is the inspiration for Salesman之死, which centers on Shen Huihui, a young university professor, who is summoned to the theater for a special task: to interpret for Arthur Miller, who will soon arrive to direct his iconic play – in Mandarin. Meanwhile, the Chinese ensemble, newly out of the Cultural Revolution, has never met “a salesman.” Will they be able to find common ground? Mostly based on true events, Salesman之死 is a multilingual tale of cultural confusion, impossible translation, and unexpected encounters amid the chaos of theater making.

  • A note on the title: 之死 (pronounced “zhīsǐ”) means “death of” – so Salesman之死 simply means “Death of a Salesman.” The bilingual title reflects the hybrid nature of the play, which moves freely and fluidly across languages and cultures.

  • Salesman之死 is performed in English and Mandarin with corresponding surtitles in both languages.

  • Running time: Approximately 100 minutes without an intermission.

 About The Artists

Jeremy Tiang 程异 (he/they) is a playwright, novelist, and translator from Chinese. His work for the stage includes A Dream of Red Pavilions, The Last Days of Limehouse and Salesman之死, as well as translations of plays by Chen Si'an, Wei Yu-Chia and Quah Sy Ren. He has also translated over thirty books, including novels by Lo Yi-Chin, Yeng Pway Ngon, Yan Ge, Zhang Yueran and Shuang Xuetao, as well as Zou Jingzhi’s Ninth Building, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize. His novel State of Emergency won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2018. Originally from Singapore, he now lives in Flushing, Queens. www.JeremyTiang.com

Michael Leibenluft 李迈 (he/him) is a bilingual, Obie Award-winning theater and film director and educator. For Gung Ho Projects: Flood in the Valley, a bilingual folk musical set in Liangshan, Sichuan and Appalachia and a festival of Taiwanese queer plays in translation. For Yangtze Rep: June is the First Fall by Yilong Liu. Other projects include: I’ll Never Love Again (a chamber piece) by Clare Barron at the Bushwick Starr, The Whore from Ohio by Hanoch Levin with New Yiddish Rep, The Subtle Body by Megan Campisi at 59E59 and the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, North Bank Suzhou Creek by William Sun at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel with Drum Tower West Theater in Beijing, and the docuseries How to Have Sex in a Pandemic.

About The Cast

Sandia Ang 翁春晓, a native of China, received her Master’s Degree in Voice Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. She has appeared as Lady Thiang in The King and I at different theaters including the Paper Mill Playhouse, and the Taj Mahal, in Atlantic City. Ms. Ang has performed as Eva in The Floating Box at The New York Asia Society; and as The Doctor in Angels’ Voices at the Kennedy Center. She takes special pride in presenting Chinese Music to western audiences. Musicfromchina.org has featured Sandia as a soloist in their concerts.

Sonnie Brown is excited to be working with Yangtze Repertory Theatre in Salesman之死. She was last seen in the Civilians project The Unbelieving, in the Ma-Yi production of Once Upon A (korean) Time, and Ensemble Studio Theatre's production of what you are now, for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk award. She can be seen in the popular Netflix show, “Partner Track,” among many other TV shows, like “Law and Order,” where she plays a judge from time to time and films. Hopefully the strike will be over soon and more TV and film projects will be in the works.

Julia Gu 谷曦 Theater: 7 Minutes (Waterwell), Day 364: The Scaled Boy (Yangtze Rep. Theatre), I Know You (Abbey Theatre of Ireland), BAb(oo)shka (St.Ann’s Warehouse), Chinese Opera and Modern Drama (Lenfest Center), Medusa Volution (Happylucky No.1), Salome (Irondale Theater), Salesman之死 (Laguardia Performing Arts Center), Speaking As Then (Columbia Schapiro Theater). Film: Undercurrent (short), Illness (short). Juliaguxi.com

Claire Hsu 許佳倩 (She/Her) is thrilled to be working with some of her favorite people on Salesman之死. Made in Taiwan, Claire is a two-time award-winning trilingual actress, who has performed in French, English and Mandarin. Favorite theater credits: The Hard Problem (regional: Quantum Theater), world premiere of Persuasion (Bedlam), The Doormen (NYC Fringe), and world premiere of LeDécalage (Taiwan). Favorite screen credits include Amazon Original movie You Were Never Really Here with Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix, and Universal Pictures’ Boogie. She lives happily ever after in Queens with her daughter, husband, and two felines.

Lydia Jialu Li 黎珈璐 (they/them) is an actor and performing artist, exported from Beijing Sanlitun. A Chinese, English, Japanese and Emoji user. A chaos of radio calisthenics, yoga, Suzuki, Viewpoints, Mime, Grotowski, Butoh and Kendo. Trained in Beijing, Shanghai, Fukuoka, Moscow, Berlin, NYC, LA, and Ashfield. Previously played at Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Double Edge Theatre, JACK, Los Angeles Performance Practice, REDCAT, Center For New Performance, Park Avenue Armory, Outfest LA, AAIFF, MNFF, SDAFF, Urbanworld, Cairo International Film Festival, etc. Was a resident artist at Mabou Mines, and a fellow artist at todo dar productions. BA in Sociology, Fordham University LC; MFA in Acting, CalArts. www.lilydia.com

Jo Mei’s 梅园 New York theater credits include, Lunch Bunch (PlayCo. & Clubbed Thumb), Anatomy of a Suicide (Atlantic), Babette’s Feast (Theatre at St. Clement’s), World of Extreme Happiness (Manhattan Theatre Club), You For Me For You (Ma-Yi). Regionally she has worked at Berkeley Rep, Pittsburgh City Theatre, Portland Stage, A.R.T., The Goodman, Woolly Mammoth and others. TV credits include “Crashing” (HBO), “Nicki” (Freeform), “Bones” (Fox), and “The Good Wife” (CBS). Jo stars in and co-wrote the award-winning film “A Picture of You”; other film credits include “A Bread Factory, Part One”, “Who We Are Now”, “Adult World”, “The Grief of Others”. Member: The Actors Center. Training: Juilliard.

Team

Director - Michael Leibenluft
Playwright - Jeremy Tiang
Scenic Designer - Chika Shimizu
Costume Designer - Karen Boyer
Lighting Designer - Daisy Long
Co-Sound Designer - Kai-Luen Liang
Co-Sound Designer - Da Xu
Projection Designer - Cinthia Chen
Head Props - Jessica M. Smith
Dramaturg - Annie Jin Wang
Story Consultant - Shen Huihui
Production Stage Manager - Kevin Jinghong Zhu
Assistant Stage Manager - Cynthia Yiru Hu
Associate Director - Tianding He
Production Manager - Jonathan Cottle
Producing Associate - Yining Cao

Excerpts from Arthur Miller’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN courtesy of the Arthur Miller 2004 Literary and Dramatic Property Trust.

ANNOUNCING THE SECOND COHORT OF PROJECT YZ ARTISTS

Launched in 2022, Project YZ is Yangtze Rep’s first residency program with a goal to support and build an artistic home for AAPI immigrant artists. Project YZ encourages its resident artists to connect with their artistic impulses, push boundaries, and give back to the community. Now in its second year, we are shifting focus to support the artistic journey of each resident artist. We envision a process that values open dialogue, honest conversation, and bold endeavors. We want to create a sense of belonging through artistic discovery. In addition to $10,000 in direct support, the one-year residency program will offer professional development and research opportunities.

Read the Press Release to learn more.

Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin (they/she) is a writer, performer, educator, and new work advocate. Kaela's plays include Call Out Culture (2022 O'Neill NPC Finalist, 2021 NADIA Festival, 2019 Ars Nova’s ANTFest), High School Coven (2023 Strand Theatre Baltimore Production, 2017 Corkscrew Festival), Harpers Ferry 2019 (2022 Know Theatre of Cincinnati production, 2021 Kendeda finalist), Tiger Beat (2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, 2021 Seven Devils Conference finalist), and The Well-Tempered Clavier (2020 BAPF finalist, 2019 Paul Stephen Lim Award.) Kaela has received six Kennedy Center awards and has developed work with the Alliance Theater, Gingold Theatrical Group, Exquisite Corpse Company, The Road’s Under Construction Lab, the Coop’s Clusterf*ck, Playground-NY, and Pipeline Theater Company’s Playlab. Commissions include work with EST/Sloan, Montana Repertory Theater, Luna Stage, and College of the Holy Cross. Garvin is the Tank’s 2022 & 2023 Pridefest curator and a founding member of Undiscovered Countries, a Brooklyn-based incubator of new interdisciplinary art. They worked on staff at the Sewanee Writers Conference and as the BAPF Season 45 Play Selection Advisor at the Playwrights Foundation. Kaela has taught playwriting at Cornish College of the Arts, Freehold Theatre, and Indiana University. They currently work as the Programming Associate for the Tank NYC and the Literary Manager for Luna Stage in New Jersey. www.kaelameishinggarvin.com

Photo credit: Leilani Carr

David Lee Huynh is a first-generation Việt-American artist based in New York City. His Off-Broadway credits include the critically acclaimed six hour revival of Shakespeare's Henry VI (NAATCO), Once Upon A (korean) Time (Ma-Yi Theatre Company), The Merchant of Venice (Theatre for a New Audience/Shakespeare Theatre), No-No Boy and The Emperor’s Nightingale (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre). His television/film credits include starring in the official Dungeon and Dragon actual play series 𝘌𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺, Blue Bloods, FBI, Solitary, and Children of the Dust. His voiceover career includes credits on "Star Wars: The Battle of Jedha", "Minecraft: The Shipwreck", and Tom Hanks' debut novel "The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece." TEDx Speaker: “Asian Enough?” Founding member of The Sống Collective, an organization devoted to the artistic growth and development of the Việt diaspora in America. MFA: University of Houston Professional Actor Training Program | www.davidleehuynh.com