Kyoung's Pacific Beat to Present World Premiere Of NERO

Kyoung's Pacific Beat will present the World Premiere of NERO, written, directed and edited by Kyoung H. Park, in an exclusive, virtual World Premiere. Free online streaming will be available from June 17-June 30. NERO is an epic, Shakespearerean "streamplay" and its 5 online episodes run approximately 4 hours.

NERO theatricalizes George W. Bush's presidency and War on Terror through a satirical reimagining of the rise and fall of Nero's Roman Empire. Written and directed by Kyoung H. Park, NERO exposes how the ruling class maintains control through warfare and state violence, unearthing white male supremacy as the root of American Imperialism. The full web series will be available for free worldwide from June 17 - June 30 through the following URL: www.kyoungspacificbeat.org

"Reflecting the savagery of today's American Empire, NERO has become our most savage work to date," states Park. "We've created NERO while witnessing the rise of anti-Asian, anti-Black, and anti-gay violence in our community in the midst of a surge of white nationalism, state violence and war. NERO's hybrid theatrical aesthetics and our free, virtual premiere, is a testament to our experiences as queer, artists of color making theater in these pandemic times."

NERO's multicultural ensemble includes David Gelles (Graceland with Lincoln Center), Claudia Acosta (Bathhouse.pptx with Flea Theater), Yadira De La Riva (La Negra with BRIC), Ariel Estrada (Made in China with 59E59), Ash Mayers (The Survival with National Queer Theater), Zach Lusk (Dough with New Ohio Theatre), Sade Namei (English with Alliance Theater), Kaila Saunders (La Folie with Black Lady Theater), Imran Sheikh (Disgraced with Milwaukee Rep) and Ishmael Thaahir (A Midsummer Night's Dream with Triad Stage). The creative team features original music by Helen Yee (Miss Julia with Festival Iberoamericano in Bogotá), set, prop and animation design by Yoon Young Choi (Soft Power with Public Theater), lighting and visual effects by Marie Yokoyama (Three Trees with PanAsian Rep), costume and puppet design by Andrew Jordan (A Child's Tale with Baryshnikov Arts Center), cinematography by Sanae Ohno, sound design by JC Gorritti and choreography by Sean Griffin from Unkle Dave's Fight-House.

NERO was developed by Kyoung's Pacific Beat between March 2020 - September 2021 via Zoom, innovating the use of green-screen technology and digital platforms to create live, online performances, asynchronous streaming, public outdoor screenings and rough-cut screenings at The Exponential Festival in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, the World Premiere of NERO was filmed in residency at Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in the Bronx, where KPB's ensemble collaborated with a professional film crew of color with seed funding from the Ford Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mosaic Network & Fund at the New York Community Trust. NERO was edited between 2022 - 2024 by Kyoung H. Park, in collaboration with composer Helen Yee, sound engineer JC Gorritti, and video animators Yoon Young Choi and Marie Yokoyama. NERO is a SAG-Aftra approved new media series.

Kyoung's Pacific Beat is a non-profit, peacemaking theater collective dedicated to working with artists, non-artists, and local communities to transform experiences of oppression into peace messages through radical experimentations with theatrical forms. Since 2011, KPB has devised four full-length plays and created over 40 community-based, experimental projects. KPB's work centers stories of (im)migration, queerness, trauma and the ways these intersect in communities of color. KPB's productions have been described as "intensely personal" by American Theater Magazine and "very much of this moment" by the New York Times.

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