Virginia Tech announces residency of contemporary theater artist Ping Chong
Ping Chong, one of America's most renowned contemporary theater artists, is returning to Virginia Tech for the development and world premiere of God Favors the Predator. The piece will run at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 2 to 4, and Monday, Dec. 6, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 5, in Squires Haymarket Theatre on Virginia Tech's campus.
Virginia Tech's Department of Theatre Arts, in association with Ping Cong & Company Inc, is producing God Favors the Predator as part of the main stage season. The production is made possible, in part, by the funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.
God Favors the Predator is an original new work that will use storytelling and a sparse physical environment to examine how people make choices as right, wrong and all that lies between is negotiated. It is the second world premiere Chong has created at Virginia Tech.
Five years ago, Ping Chong, Theatre Arts M.F.A. alumnus Michael Rohd, and Theatre Arts professor Randy Ward created and premiered American Gothic at Virginia Tech. Since, the three have worked together all over the world and are now returning to Blacksburg to collaborate another world premiere.
Ping Chong began exploring the meaning of contemporary theatre on a national and international level in 1975. Now at the forefront of experimental theater, his New York based company, Ping Chong & Company Inc., has won worldwide acclaim for its visually arresting multi-media stage productions.
Michael Rohd is a nationally recognized leader in community-based theatre. After earning his master's from Virginia Tech in 2000, Rohd founded Sojourn Theatre. The company has earned numerous honors, including a prestigious Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Partnership Grant.
Randy Ward is a professor in the theatre arts at Virginia Tech, where he has been designing and teaching for 30 years. Through his work with Ping Chong & Company, he has designed work throughout the world.
Tickets for God Favors the Predator are $8 general and $6 student/senior citizen. Purchases can be made on line at http://www.tickets.vt.edu/ and at the Squires Ticket Office by calling (540) 231-5615. For further information, contact the School of the Arts at (540) 231-5200.
