In 2050, China Invades America....

ASIAN AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY
PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF

BEIJING, CALIFORNIA

by Paul Heller

July 1 - 17, 2010

preview Monday, June 28th

Directed by Duy Nguyen

Starring Stephen Hu, Lisa Kang, Tom Lazur, Jennifer Vo Le, Wayne
Lee*, JanLee Marshall, Garth Petal*, and Erika Salazar.
(*Denotes members of Actors Equity Association)

Beijing, California is an unflinching study of one nation's invasion by another-
but this time, the victim is not Iraq or Afghanistan; rather, it is America, and
the invader is China. As playwright Paul Heller noted in his January 29, 2009
interview with the San Francisco Chronicle's 96 Hours, "I hope the audience members will look at their own values and their perceptions of other countries-
and how those might change if we were the ones being invaded. What I think
we'll see is that Americans would act like everybody else in the world if they
became citizens of a Third World country."

The play's futurist scenario takes place in 2050, when Katrina-like disasters
and a series of financial meltdowns lead to America's collapse. The audience
follows a series of characters and stories in the Bay Area over a span of 50
years, and discovers what happens to American values in the aftermath of
foreign occupation.

Beijing, California contains three interwoven plots, each exploring a different aspect of the Chinese invasion. In one storyline, we follow the presidents of
the U.S. and China as their deep, long-term friendship is shattered by China's ascendance and America's deterioration. In another, we examine a family
amidst America's economic wreckage. Living on a Third World income, they are forced into a shocking business decision. The final story focuses on a Chinese
American translator who must navigate a San Francisco segregated into
Baghdad-like militarized zones, as she attempts to expose a terrible crime.

For more information, click here:
www.asianamericantheater.org/beijing-california

Beijing, California is generously funded by CA$H, a grants program of
Theatre Bay Area, in partnership with Dancers' Group; Grants for the Arts/
San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund; the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation; and the
Zellerbach Family Foundation.