The Sugar House at the Edge of the Wilderness is a play with music and a live twitter feed about kids growing up fast, children raising children, and shifting notions of home. When their father dies suddenly and their mother goes on a grief pilgrimage, Chinese adoptees Greta and Han are sent to live with their ex-rockstar uncle and his young girlfriend. Wrestling with the wilds of New York and their grief, Greta gets in trouble with the law and put in a court mandated reform program and Han runs away to play music on the street. On the edge of the wilderness, Greta and Han must ask themselves: If I can’t go home, where do I go?

Directions

Connelly Theater 220 East 4th Street New York, NY 10009

About the Playwright

Carla Ching | Playwright

An LA native, Carla stumbled upon pan-Asian performance collective Peeling at the Asian American Writers Workshop and wrote and performed with them for three years, which she still considers her first theater training. Her plays include Nomad Motel (forthcoming Rolling World Premiere at City Theatre, Pittsburgh, Horizon Theatre in Atlanta and Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City;  The Atlantic Theatre in NYC; 2017 Kilroys List play), The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up (Artists at Play, Theatre Mu and forthcoming from Aurora Theatre and Midnight Rice), Fast Company (South Coast Rep, Lyric Stage, Ensemble Studio Theatre, PFP in Seattle ), TBA (2g), The Sugar House at the Edge of the Wilderness (Ma-Yi Theatre Company), Dirty and Big Blind/Little Blind. Her full-length plays have been produced or workshopped by The O’Neill Playwrights Conference, The Atlantic Theatre Company, South Coast Rep, Center Theater Group, Huntington Theatre Company, the National New Play Network Showcase of New Plays, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Lark Play Development Center, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, Unicorn Theatre Company, The Women’s Project, Partial Comfort, 2g, The Hegira, Ferocious Lotus, Porkfilled Productions and Artists at Play among others. She’s currently under a Toulmin Commission from the Atlantic Theatre writing a new play entitled Revenge Porn that will be workshopped at Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor in Summer 2018. Former Artistic Director of Asian American Theater Company, 2g. Urban Artists Initiative fellow, Teachers and Writers Collaborative fellow and Lark Playwrights Workshop fellow. TBA is published in Out of Time and PlaceFast Company is published by Samuel French. BA, Vassar College. MFA, New School for Drama. Proud member of New Dramatists and The Kilroys. Carla wrote on USA’s Graceland,  AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead, Amazon’s I Love Dick, Beau Willimon’s forthcoming The First for Hulu and AMC’s Preacher.  She’s taught workshops for The New Victory Theater, Lincoln Center Institute, The Public Theater, The Women’s Project, TDF, American Place Theater, Young Playwrights, The Wallis Annenberg Center and Center Theater Group. She also taught Playwriting at Pace University in NY.

About the Director

Daniella Topol | Director

Daniella Topol‘s world premiere productions include: Sheila Callaghan’s Dead City (New Georges), Rajiv Joseph’s Monster at the Door (Alley Theatre), Catherine Treischmann’s How the World Began (South Coast Rep; Women’s Project), Lloyd Suh’s Jesus in India (Magic Theatre), Willy Holtzman’s The Moroni Strad (City Theatre, PA), Stefanie Zadravec’s Electric Baby, and Sheila Callaghan’s Lascivious Something (Women’s Project/Cherry Lane). Her upcoming productions include: Jessica Dickey’s Charles Ives Take Me Home (Rattlestick Productions) and Ari Roth’s Andy and the Shadows (Theatre J).

Design Team

  • Clint Ramos | Scenic Design
  • Theresa Squire | Costume Design
  • Japhy Weideman | Lighting Design
  • Shane Rettig | Sound Design
  • Alex Koch & David Tenant | Video Design

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