Happy Opening to Jojo Gonzalez in 3rd Kulture Kids HOLY LAND at HERE

Written By Ariel Estrada

Congratulations to Obie-award winner Jojo Gonzalez for his opening tonight of 3rd Kulture Kids U.S. premiere of HOLY LAND by Mohamed Kacimi at HERE Arts Center!

For tickets, show times, and more information about the show, visit HERE Arts Center's website here http://www.here.org/shows/detail/1416/

ABOUT THE SHOW
Can we find humor & poetry in extreme situations? Mohamed Kacimi’s compelling and entertaining HOLY LAND answers this question as five contemporary characters face the devastation of war. A city under siege…Carmen has disappeared at a checkpoint. Her daughter, Imen, must face a soldier’s house search alone. Next door, Alia, a midwife, focuses on preparing her coffee while Yad, her husband, gets away from it all by smoking and drinking. The only hope seems to reside in Jesus: the cat. This dark and humorous story follows two families hanging on to the banality of day-to-day life, at times to the point of insanity, as a way to transcend the atrocities of war.

Ariel Estrada
Actor | Producer | Graphic Designer | Grant Writer Ariel is an actor, singer, producer, and Executive Director of Leviathan Lab, a creative studio for Asian American performing artists. Under Leviathan Lab, he has produced acting and writing salons, cabarets, fundraising events, staged readings, showcase productions, and short films – including a critically acclaimed 2011 production of TWELFTH NIGHT, starring Obie-award winning actor Jojo Gonzalez, and directed by Nelson T. Eusebio III (Assistant Director under Daniel Sullivan, The Public/NYSF 2011; Lincoln Center Directors Lab), with music by Jason Ma (Broadway: MISS SAIGON, THE SLY FOX, SHOGUN THE MUSICAL). In 2012, Ariel served as Executive Producer for Leviathan Lab’s multiple-award winning short film TWO WEEKS (Featured Film, 2013 Screen Actors Guild Shorts Showcase; Winner, 2013 Film Festival Flix Short Film Competition; Winner, Best Ensemble, 2013 Asians on Film Festival; Award of Merit: Asian American, Best Shorts Competition (December 2013); and Official Selection, 20th Annual Filipino American Cine Festival, (December 2013). As Executive Director, Ariel has secured two consecutive grants (2012, 2013) from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council for his work with Leviathan Lab, as well as for the international award-winning men’s barbershop chorus Voices of Gotham (2013) and for Empire City Men’s Chorus (2013). Ariel served as both a performer and Executive Producer of Leviathan Lab's first LMCC-supported project, MIGRATION NATION, which took ten new short plays inspired by the experiences of Filipina overseas contract workers, and assembled them into a three day, site-specific, immersive theatre event at the Tribeca brownstone/artists collective Space on White. For Leviathan's second LMCC-supported project in 2013, Ariel served as Executive Producer, Assistant Teaching Artist, and Performer for their Chinatown Kids' Playbuilding Project (JOURNEY TO THE WORLD OF PLAYWRITING), which took plays created through a 10-week workshop with the 5th grade students of P.S. 124, and produced them using the adult professional actors and directors of Leviathan Lab. Leviathan was also a 2011 resident artist at Space on White, and was recently selected for the 2013 Artists-in Residence program at University Settlement. As an actor and singer, Ariel has performed on television, film, commercials, industrials, new media, and on, Off, and Off-Off Broadway. You can visit his IMDB page here. Ariel is also an accomplished, Fortune 500 level graphic designer. To view his design portfolio, please visit arielestradadesign.com.
www.arielestrada.com
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