Clearday is a cosmetics company on the rise: Based in Singapore, launching a global skincare line, and bringing a start-up mentality to the big leagues. But a draft ad for their latest skin whitening cream surfaces on YouTube, gathering views and outrage. As morning nears in the U.S. market—19,643 views. 467,327. 654,398.—Clearday’s all-female team hustles to contain the damage before Buzzfeed weighs in. Someone’s definitely getting fired. A comedy from rising Thai-Australian writer Anchuli Felicia King about toxic corporate culture, selling whiteness, and shame as both a cultural commodity and canny marketing strategy.
Runtime: 90 minutes with no intermission
Environmental Warnings: This production includes use of incense, flashing lights, and fog.
White Pearl is generously underwritten by
Steve and Linda Skalet and
Bobbi and Ralph Terkowitz.
Click on artist headshot to see bio
Anchuli Felicia King is a multidisciplinary artist of Australian-Thai descent who works primarily in live theatre. Felicia had her professional playwriting debut with White Pearl at London’s renowned Royal Court Theatre in May 2019 directed by Nana Dakin. The same play debuted in Australia at Sydney Theatre Company / National Theatre of Parramatta in October 2019 and is published by Samuel French. Felicia’s play Golden Shield premiered in August 2019 at Melbourne Theatre Company and Slaughterhouse had its world premiere at Belvoir’s 25A independent program in October 2019. Felicia was the projection designer on both Slaughterhouse and White Pearl in Sydney. Felicia’s play Keene was announced as a winner of the Shakespeare’s Contemporaries competition at the American Shakespeare Centre and will receive a workshop ahead of a full production in 2020. Felicia has worked as a writer, dramaturg, sound designer, projection designer, and creative consultant with a wide range of companies, including Punchdrunk, PlayCo, Roundabout Theatre, 59E59, Ars Nova, the Obie Awards, The Builders Association, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Red Bull Theater Felicia, Playwriting Australia, Yellow Earth Theatre, House of North and SHIFT Festival in Shanghai. Felicia is currently under commission for new plays with Melbourne Theatre Company and the Royal Court Theatre.
Desdemona Chiang is a stage director based in Seattle, WA and Ashland, OR, and is co-founder of Azeotrope (Seattle). Her recent directing credits include Vietgone (Alley Theatre), M Butterfly (South Coast Repertory), The Great Leap (Guthrie Theater), Caught (Intiman Theatre), The Winter's Tale (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Pride and Prejudice (Pittsburgh Public Theater), King of the Yees (ACT Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage), As You Like It (California Shakespeare Theater), Constellations (Seattle Rep), The Crucible (PlayMakers Repertory Company), Smart People (Long Wharf Theatre), The Journal of Ben Uchida (Seattle Children’s Theatre), The Comedy of Errors (American Shakespeare Center), and The Merchant of Venice (Seattle Shakespeare Company), among others. She is an adjunct faculty member at Cornish College of the Arts. Her awards and honors include the Princess Grace Award, the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise, the Gregory Award for Outstanding Direction, a Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Sir John Gielgud Fellowship, a Drama League Directing Fellowship, and she is a Young Leader of Color (Theatre Communications Group). She is affiliated with Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and Directors Lab West. She earned a BA at the University of California, Berkeley and an MFA in directing from the University of Washington School of Drama.
(As of October 2019)
Shanta Parasuraman recently appeared as #8 in The Wolves at Studio Theatre. Other productions include the national tours of The Buddy Holly Story and Remarkably Normal, Outside of Eden at the New Ohio Theatre, Yentl at Theatre J, and Not Enuf Lifetimes with The Welders. Shanta received a BA in Theatre/Drama and Telecommunications from Indiana University and was an Allen Lee Hughes Artistic Development Fellow at Arena Stage.
(As of October 2019)
Jody Doo is a born and raised Singaporean. She has appeared as Jocasta in Oedipus at the American Theatre of Actors. Other productions include Gabriele in Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Lady Nijo in Top Girls, and two years as a comedic actor at Universal Studios Singapore. She's also appeared on Syfy, Oxygen Channel, Comedy Central and in international commercials for Maybelline, Huawei, and L.L. Bean. This summer, Singapore’s top radio channel, Kiss92fm, invited her to talk about her career and life. Jody graduated from Circle in the Square’s Professional Workshop and has a BA from University at Buffalo.
(As of October 2019)
Resa Mishina is a proud native of Yokohama, Japan, and spent her childhood years in Singapore. Theatre credits include You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Annie, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, 9 to 5, and The Music Man at Flat Rock Playhouse; Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at Slow Burn Theatre Company; Miss Saigon at Interlakes Summer Theatre; and TEXAS! at Texas Musical Drama. Resa has a BFA in Musical Theatre from Rider University.
(As of October 2019)
Diana Huey most notably played Ariel in the first National Tour of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, where she made international headlines for facing racism over her casting as an Asian-American actor and her activism for diversity in the arts. Other favorite productions include Kim in Miss Saigon at the Signature Theatre and Flatrock Playhouse, Sherrie in Rock of Ages at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Kira in Xanadu at Hangar Theatre, and originating the role of Spider in Pasek and Paul’s James And The Giant Peach at Seattle Children’s Theatre. She has also appeared on TNT’s Leverage and Netflix’s It’s Bruno!. Diana is the proud recipient of a Helen Hayes Award for Miss Saigon and a Gregory Award for The Little Mermaid.
(As of October 2019)
Narea Kang makes her Studio Theatre debut with White Pearl. Select regional credits include Caught at Intiman Theatre; The Hard Problem, A Christmas Carol, and John at American Conservatory Theater; and The Tempest at Livermore Shakespeare Festival. Television credits include Blue Bloods and upcoming HBO series Betty. Narea holds an MFA from the American Conservatory Theater.
(As of October 2019)
Jenna Zhu was last seen in BAD NEWS... i was there directed by JoAnne Akalaitis at NYU Skirball in cooperation with the Guthrie Theater. She has also appeared in You Across From Me, The Rust Belt Bronies Meetup Group for Adult Fans of My Little Pony, The Soul of the World, Spell It Out, The Sandwich and the Rock, Pyrphóros, and Persuasion at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Additional recent credits include In Someone Else's Shoes at the Oculus, American Scoreboard at HB Playwrights Theatre, The Crucible and Titus Andronicus at Bedlam, and readings/workshops for the Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, The New Group, Clubbed Thumb, The Drama League, Musical Theatre Factory, The Lark, The Juilliard School, and The Kennedy Center, among others. Jenna has a BA from Swarthmore College with High Honors in Political Science and Psychology and is a proud alumna of the Professional Training Company at the Actors Theatre of Louisville (2017-2018).
(As of October 2019)
Zachary Fall recently appeared in the award-winning Subject Mater at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Other UK stage credits include Tartuffe at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London's West End, a trilogy of Tennessee Williams plays entitled Kingdom of Earth at the Rosemary Branch Theatre, and Jean Anouilh's Antigone at the Barons Court Theatre. French stage credits include Richard III with La Manufacture touring France and Switzerland and Dans La Foule with Adesso e Sempre (currently in pre-production). Television credits include Poldark, Versailles, Genius: Picasso, Guilt, Crossing Lines, Immortality, and Reinas. Film and gaming credits include Allies, The Division 2, and A Plague Tale: Innocence. His production company, Woven Voices, won a Scotsman Fringe First Award for their production of Subject Mater. Zachary received a BA in Acting from the Drama Centre London.
(As of October 2019)
Debra Booth has a long history with Studio, where she has designed White Pearl, Translations, The Wolves, The Father, The Hard Problem, Constellations, The Apple Family Cycle, Jumpers for Goalposts, Belleville, Cock, Edgar & Annabel, Bachelorette, Moonlight, Blackbird, My Children! My Africa!, The Pillowman, and many others. Her international work includes premiere opera Marco Polo (Tan Dun/Martha Clarke) in Munich, Hong Kong, and New York. Regionally, her credits include Sooner/Later and Vicuna at Mosaic Theater Company; Small Mouth Sounds at Round House Theatre; Richard III, The Collection, and The Lover at the Shakespeare Theatre Company; Marisol at Hartford Stage and The Public Theater; Trying, The Illusion, and Happy Days at Portland Stage; the New York premiere of Angels in America at The Juilliard School; Broken Glass at Philadelphia Theatre Company (Barrymore Award nomination); and A Moon for the Misbegotten at Yale Rep. Debra is the recipient of a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts design grant. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
(As of February 2020)
Helen Huang designs her 29th production at Studio with White Pearl. Her regional credits include Alice in Wonderland at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; The Great Leap at Guthrie Theater; Matilda the Musical at The Children’s Theatre, Minneapolis; and Miss Bennet and Christmas at Pemberley at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. DC area credits include JQA at Arena Stage; A Doll’s House, Part 2 at Roundhouse; Fences at Ford’s Theatre; Me…Jane at The Kennedy Center; and Fickle: A Fancy French Farce at Olney Theatre Center. She has received a Helen Hayes Award and an Ivey Award. Helen is a professor of MFA Costume Design at University of Maryland, College Park.
(As of October 2019)
Matt Carlin's regional credits include FAME en Espańol at Gala Hispanic Theatre. Off Broadway credits include props for Happy Birthday, Wanda June at The Duke on 42nd Street. Other New York credits include props for Spring Awakening at Gallery Players, The Sea Concerto with Flux Theatre Ensemble and Beauty and the Beast at White Plains Performing Arts Center. New York set design credits include Worse Than Tigers at The New Ohio Theater, So Happy Together at Bristol Valley Theater, and The Wild Party at Schaeberle Studio Theater.
(As of October 2019)
Wen-Ling Liao makes her Studio Theatre debut with White Pearl. Her selected credits include The Boy Who Danced on Air with Abingdon Theater Company (Off-Broadway); House of Joy and Quixote Nuevo with Cal Shakes; Vietgone with A.C.T.; Chill with Merrimack Repertory Theater; Milk Like Sugar with Huntington Theatre Company; Sense and Sensibility with Dallas Theater Center; The Chinese Lady, Oedipus El Rey, The Resting Place, and Reel to Reel with Magic Theater; Dance Nation, Significant Other, King of the Yees, and Barbecue with San Francisco Playhouse; The Who and The What, The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, and I and You with Marin Theater Company; The Importance of Being Earnest with Aurora Theater Company; Appropriate with SpeakEasy Stage Company; and A Nice Indian Boy with East West Players. Her selected international credits include Scarlet Stone at Tirgan Festival in Toronto, BodyPart and In Spite of It at TANZINOLTEN Festival in Switzerland), Riz Flambe and Riz Souffle at Avignon Off-Festival in France, and Toi at Taipei Fringe Festival in Taiwan. Wen-Ling earned her MFA from The University of California, San Diego and BA from National Taiwan University.
Melanie Chen Cole is a San Diego-based freelance sound designer. Her recent regional credits include Noura at The Old Globe, Silent Sky at Tantrum Theatre/Ohio University, the 2019 WOW Festival PDA and 2019 POP Tour Light Years Away at La Jolla Playhouse, and Buzz (world premiere) and Romeo & Juliet at Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Other regional credits include Dallas Theater Center and PlayMakers Repertory Company. Melanie holds an MFA in Sound Design for Theatre & Dance from UC San Diego.
(As of October 2019)
Rasean Davonte Johnson is a Chicago-based video artist and theatrical designer. He has had the opportunity to work regionally with institutions such as Woolly Mammoth, Olney Theatre Center, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, Berkshire Theatre Group, McCarter Theatre Center, Alliance Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Court Theatre, The Kitchen Theatre, Writers Theatre, Manual Cinema, and internationally with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland), Ningbo Song and Dance Company (China) and B-Floor Theatre (Thailand). Additionally, his video and installation work has been seen at the Yale Art Gallery, The Bridgeport Film Festival, and the Logan Center for the Arts. He holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
(As of October 2019)
Madison Bahr's Studio Theatre productions include Queen of Basel, The Remains, Moment, Murder Ballad, Chimerica, and The Torch Song Trilogy. Other regional credits include Cabaret at Olney Theatre Center; Billy Elliot: The Musical at Signature Theatre; Charlotte’s Web and The Little Mermaid at Imagination Stage; Kiss and Guards at the Taj at Woolly Mammoth; Our Suburb at Theater J; ReEntry, Next Fall, and Glengarry Glen Ross at Round House Theatre; and In The Heart Of America at Rep Stage. Madison holds a BA in Theatre with a focus in Stage Management from the University of Maryland (College Park).
(As of October 2019)
Leigh Wilson Smiley's regional voice, dialect, and text direction credits include Ivo van Hove’s A View from the Bridge and Blues Journey at The Kennedy Center; Fences, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Ragtime, The Glass Menagerie, 110 in the Shade, Freedom Song, Carpetbagger’s Children and A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theatre; Cabaret, Xanadu, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and Happy Time at Signature Theatre; Intelligence and Hot & Throbbing at Arena Stage; OVO for Cirque du Soleil; On the Eve of Friday Morning at The Shakespeare Theatre; The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, As You Like It, and Arcadia at Folger Shakespeare Theatre; and numerous shows at Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts. She hosts the Visual Accent and Dialect Archive, a web based, crowd-resourced dialect and accent site, and is a member of Actors Equity, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. Leigh has served as Director of the University of Maryland School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies for eight years and teaches Acting, Voice, and Speech.
(As of October 2019)
Adrien-Alice Hansel is the Literary Director at Studio, where she has dramaturged the world premieres of Queen of Basel, The Remains, No Sisters, I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart, Animal, Laugh, Red Speedo, Dirt, Lungs, and The History of Kisses as well as productions of Cry It Out,Translations, Curve of Departure, The Effect, Wig Out!, Straight White Men, Cloud 9, Hedda Gabler, Constellations, Jumpers for Goalposts, Bad Jews (twice), The Apple Family Plays, Invisible Man, Sucker Punch, The Golden Dragon, and The New Electric Ballroom, among others. Prior to joining Studio, she spent eight seasons at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she headed the literary department and coordinated project scouting, selection, and development for the Humana Festival of New American Plays. She also served as production dramaturg on roughly 50 new, contemporary, and classic plays there, including premieres by Naomi Wallace, Gina Gionfriddo, Kirk Lynn and Rude Mechs, Rinne Groff, The Civilians, Anne Bogart and SITI Company, Jordan Harrison, and John Belluso. She is the co-editor of eight anthologies of plays from Actors Theatre and editor of eight editions of plays through Studio. Adrien-Alice holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
(As of April 2019)
