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"Every half-hour, another person becomes a slave in the United states."
E. Benjamin Skinner

About

Chinese restaurant deliveryman Kuang gets trapped in an elevator.


Working at Happy Dragon Restaurant, he pays off his $60,000 debt to smugglers for his passage from China to the United States; from a country touted as the next global economic superpower to a country founded on the ideals of democracy and freedom.


After three days, he emerges dehydrated and terrified into a New York media blitz.


Stuck Elevator is an operatic solo performance prompted by this real-life experience of an undocumented immigrant/indentured slave in 21st century America.

Up Next
April 2010
NYU A/P/A Institute Events, New York
 
June 2010
Music Workshop Residency
, New Haven

October 2010

Migration Symposium, New York

In Development
Stuck Elevator is currently being developed by composer Byron Au Yong and hip-hop playwright Aaron Jafferis as part of a 2009-2010 NYU A/P/A Intitute Artists-in-Residence Program.


Stuck Elevator is a project of Creative Capital with additional support from API/2, Artist Trust, and 4Culture.


More Info
 Audio Interview (mp3)

 Sean Ryan, On the Boards, June 2009.


 Thoughts on Stuck Elevator
 Cynthia Wang, the randomness of a mint
 

 NW New Works
 Jeremy Barker, Seattlest

 Stuck Elevator Opera
 Gavin Borchert, Seattle Weekly
 
 Stuck in Elevator, No Way Out 
 Caroline Li, Northwest Asian Weekly


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Articles about Ming Kuang Chen, Fujianese immigrantion, take-out, and other related news on the Stuck Elevator blog..