David Henry Hwang and Huang Ruo Matthew Murphy
The opera with music by Huang Ruo will be directed by Chay Yew at Perelman Performing Arts Center.
Casting for the New York premiere of An American Soldier has been announced. Huang Ruo's opera, with a libretto by David Henry Hwang, will play at the Perelman Performing Arts Center May 12-19 in a production directed by Chay Yew. Carolyn Kuan will conduct.
An American Soldier is based on the true story of Private Danny Chen, whose death in 2011 was followed by an investigation and subsequent court-martial of his fellow soldiers.
The PAC NYC cast includes tenor Brian Vu as Danny Chen, mezzo-soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen as his mother, soprano Hannah Cho as his school friend Josephine Young, and baritone Alex DeSocio as Sgt. Aaron Marcum, one of the soldiers charged in the investigation. They are joined by Ben Brady, Cierra Byrd, James C Harris, Shelén Hughes, Joshua Sanders, Christian Simmons, Misoon Ghim, Luke Harnish, and Angela Yam.
An American Soldier will include scenic design by Daniel Ostling, costume design by Linda Cho, lighting design by Jeanette Yew, and multi-media design by Nick Hussong.