Year Zero: Second Stage announces cast

Second Stage Theatre kicks off this summer's Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series with the New York premiere of Year Zero, written by Michael Golamco, opening at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre on 26 May 2010, following previews from 18 May and running through to 13 Jun 2010.

Directed by Will Frears, Year Zero will feature Louis Ozawa Changchien, Peter Kim, Mason Lee and Maureen Sebastian.

Year Zero: Vuthy Vichea (Mason Lee) is a 16-year-old Cambodian American who wears thick glasses, loves hip hop, and plays Dungeons and Dragons. After his mother's death, Vuthy and his sister Ra (Maureen Sebastian) struggle to reinvent themselves in Long Beach, California where being different can be deadly.

Michael Golamco's is the recipient of the 2009 Helen Merrill Award and is a member of New Dramatists. He is currently working on a new play commission for South Coast Repertory. His play, 'Cowboy versus Samurai,' has had several productions since its premiere in NYC, including in Canada and Hong Kong.

Will Frears returns to Second Stage Theatre where he directed the mainstage production of Theresa Rebeck's 'The Water's Edge.' Other Off Broadway directing credits include 'Still Life '(MCC); 'Rainbow Kiss' (The Play Company); 'Pen' (Playwrights Horizons); 'Terrorism' (The New Group/The Play Company); 'Omnium Gatherum' (Variety Arts).

Louis Ozawa Changchien (Han). TV credits: "Law & Order," "Heroes and Villains," "3 lbs," "Lights Out." Film credits: "Fair Game," "Gigantic," "Pretty to Think So," "Tomorrow Arigato," "Robot Stories" and "On the Q.T." Upcoming film: "Indelible, Predators."

Peter Kim (Glenn). Broadway: 'Thoroughly Modern Millie.' Many off-Broadway and regional credits. TV/Film: "Hackers," "Useless," "Women Who Eat Meat," "B.S.I," "Sex and the City," "Mercy," "Ugly Betty," "The Return of Jezebel James," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

Mason Lee (Vuthy Vichea ). Stage credits include 'Zanna Don't,' 'Hair,' and 'Guys and Dolls' at the at the Play Group Theatre; 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' 'Much Ado About Nothing,' 'Romeo and Juliet' (Semi-Royal Shakespeare Company). Film: Ang Lee's "The Hire: Chosen."

Maureen Sebastian (Ra) appeared in Bonnie J. Monte's world premiere adaptation and direction of Jules Verne's novel, 'Around the World in Eighty Days,' at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison, New Jersey. She has also appeared on "Gossip Girl" and in the short film "Fragments. "

Created as a program to help develop and provide exposure for the voices of a new generation of theatre artists, the Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series seeks to develop the skills of emerging playwrights, to provide early-career artists with the support of a major artistic institution, and to create new plays for the American Theatre. Each show has a limited rehearsal period, as well as a streamlined budget.

The series has helped launch and advance the careers of several up-and-coming playwrights, including Rajiv Joseph (Pulitzer Prize finalist 'Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,' 'Animals Out of Paper'), Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa ('Good Boys and True,' HBO's "Big Love"), Adam Bock ('The Receptionist,' 'The Drunken City'), and Brooke Berman ('Hunting and Gathering'). The Second Stage Theatre Uptown Series will also present the world premiere of Leslye Headland's Bachelorette, directed by Trip Cullman, opening at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre on 21 Jul 2010, following previews from 12 May and running through to 7 Aug 2010.