National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO) Creative Producer Peter Kim will depart the company as of the end of this month, ending an 11-year tenure. Kim, also a stage and screen actor, is stepping away to focus on personal projects that he has been developing and directing in recent years.
The company is not naming a successor, but is "examining other producing models," according to press notes.
"It's been an honor to serve NAATCO’s mission as creative producer," says Kim in a statement. "I feel privileged to have worked alongside Mia [Katigbak, the company's co-founder and actor-manager] during the company’s incredible growth, establishing its merited and rightful place in the NYC theatrical landscape as well as nationally with the NAATCO National Partnership Project. With the company on sturdy footing and assured of its legacy, I am ready to focus on the independent projects I’ve been directing and developing over the last few years, including Soomi Kim’s autobiographical dance-theatre piece GUT (굿) and an original holiday musical called The Tuckcracker! I will forever cherish the many spaces NAATCO created to foster community as well as the numerous employment opportunities for Asian and Asian American theatremakers."
"After performing in two plays (He Who Says Yes/He Who Says No in 1999 and The Seagull in 2009—Peter is an excellent actor), and after diligently following the company’s work, Peter ascertained NAATCO’s need for help in producing its works," adds Katigbak. "I had been the company’s sole operator since its inception in 1990 and Peter offered to be a volunteer, expressing his desire to learn how to produce. The learning curve was steep, but Peter’s perspicacity and adeptness inspired awe. His first project in 2013 was the award-winning Awake and Sing!, for which he was associate producer. When it was remounted in 2015 at the Public Theater, he was almost single-handedly responsible for its seamless production. After producing critically acclaimed, award-winning productions over the next nine years, he became NAATCO’s creative producer in 2022."
Kim's producing work with NAATCO has also included Cymbeline, Isabel, and Romeo and Juliet in partnership with Two River Theater; Out of Time at The Public Theater; What If If Only; Henry VI: Shakespeare's Trilogy in Two Parts; [Veil Widow Conspiracy]; Charles Francis Chan Jr.'s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery; and Sagittarius Ponderosa. Kim is also an accomplished screen actor, with performances in Gen V, Bros, The Forty-Year-Old Version, Sex and the City, Hackers, and more.
"Peter’s joining the company brought about an important phase of NAATCO’s growth," continues Katigbak. "His impact on the company, from the operational to the aesthetic aspects of our productions, was immediate and substantial. Relieving me of the multi-faceted and often intricate and complicated process that is producing allowed me to concentrate on developing and supporting our programming and its reach, especially as I crafted the NAATCO National Partnership Project for which Peter was an invaluable collaborator. Peter possesses a compassionate intelligence and when he first offered help producing, I was astounded and moved. His commitment to NAATCO’s mission deepened throughout his tenure with the company, and I cannot overstate the importance and significance of his work with us. I will miss his sane and wise counsel, and his always calming insight and attentiveness."
The company, dedicated to supporting the significance of Asian American theatre in the U.S., is currently presenting Cymbeline at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater Off-Broadway through February 15. Up next is Bus Stop, a co-production with Classic Stage Company and Transport Group, and a Play On Shakespeare-commissioned modern translation (by Alison Carey) of Twelfth Night, being done at TheatreSquared in Arkansas.
Visit NAATCO.org.