Plymouth Congregational Church
1900 Nicollet Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Directions here
Enter at Door #3 (faces Nicollet Ave)
Theater 45° and Theater Mu present a one-night-only staged reading of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman featuring an Asian American principal cast. Miller’s masterpiece depicts Willy Loman (Broadway’s Greg Watanabe), an ordinary traveling salesman in desperate pursuit of the American Dream. Winner of both the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize for Best Play in 1949, Salesman explores one man’s loosening grip on dignity and reality and the cost of his fall on his wife and two sons.
Directed by Rich Remedios
Stage Management by Ajah Williams
Rick Shiomi, Seth Patterson, Adelin Phelps, Kevin Fanshaw, Olivia Wilusz, and Katie Bradley*
Marketing by Emjoy Gavino
2 hrs 45 min (including intermission)
AUDIENCE MASKS REQUIRED throughout the duration of the reading. Theater 45° recommends N95 or KN94 masks.
Arthur Miller (Playwright) is considered one of the greatest American dramatists of the 20th century. He earned widespread praise for Death of a Salesman, which opened on Broadway in 1949 and won the Pulitzer Prize along with multiple Tonys. He received more acclaim for his award-winning follow-up, The Crucible, which reflected his unwavering refusal to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee. Miller died in 2005 at the age of 89, leaving a towering body of work that continues to be re-staged internationally and adapted for the screen.
Rich Remedios (Director) (he/him) is an actor whose credits include Broadway productions of An Inspector Calls and Love! Valour! Compassion! He has also performed regionally with History Theater, Jungle Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (as part of the Asian American Theater Festival), Park Square Theatre, Theater Mu, The Playwrights’ Center, Frank Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Theatre in the Square, Theatrical Outfit, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Grand Central Theatre and the Costa Mesa Playhouse. Film and television work includes roles in the films The Public Domain and To Say Goodbye, Lifetime’s hit show “Drop Dead Diva”, and recurring roles on the daytime dramas All My Children and As the World Turns as well as numerous commercials, independent films, short films and industrial videos. Rich’s directing credits include The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh for Theatre Coup d’ Etat and the world premier TRUST by John Woehrle at the Black Box Theater in St. Cloud, MN and The Lab Theater in Minneapolis, MN.
Greg Watanabe (Willy Loman) (he/him) made his Broadway debut in Allegiance and was recently seen in Cambodian Rock Band at Theater Mu/Jungle Theater, Victory Gardens, the City Theatre Pittsburgh, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, and Hold These Truths at Virginia Stage Company. Other appearances include world premiere productions of The Ballad Of Yachiyo (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Public Theater-New York), The Summer Moon (A Contemporary Theater, South Coast Repertory Theatre), The Happy Ones (South Coast Rep, LA Drama Critics Circle nomination for best featured performance) and Extraordinary Chambers (the Geffen Playhouse, Ovation nomination for best featured actor). Other appearances include Golden Child (Signature Theater), Yellow Face (Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company, San Diego Theater Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play).
Lily Tung Crystal (Linda Loman) (she/her) is the Artistic Director of Theater Mu and has directed Twin Cities productions of Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band, Jiehae Park’s peerless at Theater Mu, MN Opera’s Art is a Verb (Harrison Rivers, librettist), and Mu’s live film-theater production of Susan Soon He Stanton’s Today Is My Birthday. Other shows include David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish and Flower Drum Song at Palo Alto Players, and the world premiere of Leah Nanako Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow at Ferocious Lotus. For all three shows, she was named a Theatre Bay Area Award Finalist for Outstanding Direction. As an actor/singer, Lily has performed at theaters across the country, including Cal Shakes, Crowded Fire, Magic Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, New World Stages, Playwrights’ Center, Portland Center Stage, SF Playhouse, and Syracuse Stage. She is a YBCA 100 honoree, named by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as a “creative pioneer making the provocations that will shape the future of culture.” | theatermu.org, lilytungcrystal.com.
Eric Sharp (Biff Loman / Line Producer) (he/him) is an actor, writer, and director based in Minneapolis. At Theater Mu Eric has appeared in Cambodian Rock Band, Today Is My Birthday, Hot Asian Doctor Husband, Charles Francis Chan Jr…, Two Mile Hollow, and Yellow Fever, among many others. He recently directed the YouTube series The Remix with Theater Mu, and produced, directed, and performed in You Shall Hear Me: Stories From Beyond. Jungle Theater audiences have seen him in Hand to God, Small Mouth Sounds, and Is Edward Snowden Single? Other credits include Paula Vogel’s Bard at the Gate, Guthrie Theater, Ten Thousand Things, Trademark Theater, Frank Theatre, and the Minnesota, Toronto, and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. Eric’s voiceover work can be heard on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and Penguin Random House Audio. Catch him onstage next in Vietgone at the Guthrie Theater. | worksharp.org
Seth Patterson (Artistic Director, Theater 45°) (he/him) is one of the founders of Theater 45°. He holds an MFA in theater performance from Florida Atlantic University and has been a professional actor in southeast Florida, Milwaukee, Chicago and the Twin Cities. He was a Lead Teaching Artist with Upstream Arts and the Managing Director of Torch Theater. He is now the Minister for Spiritual Formation & Theater at Plymouth Church in Minneapolis with an MDiv from the University of Chicago. Seth believes that theater is an exploration of the power and necessity of embodied storytelling to deepen the many facets of being human.
*Appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The purpose of Theater 45° is to present stories that engage the spiritual side of the human person regardless of — but not ignoring — religious experience. These stories are rooted in questions and not answers. As a community of story-tellers and story-receivers, we strive to give an experience of collaboration, intersectionality and valuing and honoring the many voices that get pushed to the margins. We will present stories that are meant to nurture transformation and deepen how we navigate our encounters with those that we may consider to be others.
Theater Mu is the second-largest Asian American theater company in the nation. Founded in 1992, Mu tells stories from the heart of the Asian American experience, presenting a fusion of traditional and contemporary artistic influences, which range from classics to up-and-coming voices in our community. Theater Mu’s continuing goal to celebrate and empower the Asian American community through theater is achieved through mainstage productions, emerging artist support, and educational outreach programs. Theater Mu is a member of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists as well as a member of the Twin Cities Theatres of Color Coalition, proudly standing alongside New Native Theatre, Pangea World Theater, Penumbra Theatre, and Teatro Del Pueblo.