CONGRATULATIONS CHRISTINE TOY JOHNSON!

Mar 30

Congratulations to the multi-talented, inspiring Leviathan Lab alum, mentor, and Writer-at-Large Christine Toy Johnson for her multiple honors this past week!

Chris' work as a playwright has been included in the upcoming EATING CULTURES ART EXHIBITION at the UNITED STATES OF ASIAN AMERICA FESTIVAL. Co-presented by the Asian American Women Artist Association and the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, the multidisciplinary art exhibition will run May 1, 2014 through May 30, 2014 at SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco. Featuring over thirty emerging and established Asian Pacific American artists from around the country, Eating Cultures is a deliciously provocative multi-disciplinary arts exhibition of artworks inspired by Asian American food and foodways. You can learn more about the exhibition at http://www.examiner.com/article/eating-cultures-art-exhibition-at-united-states-of-asian-america-festival.

Chris' work as an actor is being thrillingly featured in the New York premiere of TOUGH TITTY, by the late, award-winning playwright Oni Faida Lampley, presented April 23-May 11 at the Paradise Factory in the East Village, produced by Ami Brabson, and Emmy and Obie Award-winning actor Andre Braugher, and directed by Lydia Fort. You can read more about the upcoming production on broadwayworld.com, and playbill.com.

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.

CONGRATULATIONS CHRISTINE TOY JOHNSON!

LAST WEEK TO SEE THE WORK OF PETER KIM, FRANCIS JUE, AND ALAN MUROAKA IN SIGNATURE THEATRE'S KUNG FU

CONGRATS TO DIANE PHELAN AND KARL JOSEF CO FOR STREET SEEN AT PROSPECT THEATER!