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Kyoung’s Pacific Beat presents the virtual World Premiere of NERO. The full web series will be available for free worldwide from June 17 – June 30, exclusively through our new website: www.kyoungspacificbeat.org. NERO is an epic, Shakespearerean “streamplay” and its 5 online episodes run approximately 4 hours.
NERO theatricalizes George W. Bush’s War on Terror to our present day through a satirical reimagining of the rise and fall of Nero’s Roman Empire. Written, directed and edited by Kyoung H. Park, NERO exposes how the ruling class maintains control through warfare and state violence, unearthing white male supremacy as the root of American Imperialism.
NERO’s multicultural ensemble includes David Gelles (Graceland with Lincoln Center), Claudia Acosta (Bathhouse.pptx with Flea Theater), Yadira De La Riva (La Negra with BRIC), Ariel Estrada (Made in China with 59E59), Ash Mayers (The Survival with National Queer Theater), Zach Lusk (Dough with New Ohio Theatre), Sade Namei (English with Alliance Theater), Kaila Saunders (La Folie with Black Lady Theater), Imran Sheikh (Disgraced with Milwaukee Rep) and Ishmael Thaahir (A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Triad Stage). The creative team features original music by Helen Yee (Miss Julia with Festival Iberoamericano in Bogotá), set, prop and animation design by Yoon Young Choi (Soft Power with Public Theater), lighting and visual effects by Marie Yokoyama (Three Trees with PanAsian Rep), costume and puppet design by Andrew Jordan (A Child’s Tale with Baryshnikov Arts Center), cinematography by Sanae Ohno, sound design by JC Gorritti and choreography by Sean Griffin from Unkle Dave’s Fight-House.
“Reflecting the savagery of today’s American Empire, NERO has become our most savage work to date,” states Park. “We’ve created NERO while witnessing the rise of anti-Asian, anti-Black, and anti-gay violence in our community in the midst of a surge of white nationalism, state violence and war. NERO’s hybrid theatrical aesthetics and our free, virtual premiere, are a testament to our experiences as queer, artists of color making theater in these pandemic times.”
Kyoung’s Pacific Beat invites you to a Digital Watch Party celebrating the Virtual World Premiere of NERO. Together, we will watch the first act of NERO and Claudia Alick will host a Q&A Session with artists from our production. This event is free of charge and open to the general public.
The World Premiere of NERO was developed with support from Pregones/PRTT and its ASAP/Artist Space At Pregones initiative and with seed funding from the Ford Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Mosaic Network & Fund at the New York Community Trust. NERO received workshop screenings at Hillel Plaza – Flatbush Junction and at The Exponential Festival 2023 and 2024. NERO is a SAG-AFTRA approved new media production.
Production design support provided by the Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York). Additional support provided by NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program) and A.R.T./New York’s Small Theatres Fund made possible with support from the Howard Gilman Foundation.
NERO is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, an Innovation Award from the NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate-Crimes and local City Council Member Farah N. Louis.
Accessibility support provided by the New York Community Trust, Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York) Microgrant and NYSCA/TDF Tap Plus. Post-production support provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.
NERO’s World Premiere was developed in partnership with GAPIMNY – Empowering Queer and Trans APIs, The Blasian March, Caribbean Equality Project, Asians 4 Abolition, Asians Fighting Injustice, PeoplesHub, The Exponential Festival and Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. NERO’s workshop production was developed with generous support from the Howard Gilman Foundation, IndieSpace, Jerome Foundation, MAP Fund and Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation.
NERO received public readings with the Ma-Yi Theater’s Writer’s Lab (February 2015), Sol Project (February 2016), New Ohio Theater’s Producers’ Club (October 2017), supported by a 2019-2020 Dramatist Guild Fellowship and is based on research conducted at the George W. Bush Presidential Archives in Dallas.
CONTENT WARNING: NERO is not suited for minors; it contains irreverent, political satire on imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy (bell hooks) and depicts oppressive violence.