Roundabout Theatre Company has announced the third season of The Refocus Project, its multi-year project to elevate and restore marginalized plays to the American canon. This year’s series of readings will feature Asian American and Pacific Islander playwrights: Prince Gomolvilas, Velina Hasu Houston, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, and Anuvab Pal. In addition to readings of their plays, this year’s line-up will also include artistic support for plays by Jeannie Barroga, Philip Kan Gotanda, Edward Sakamoto, and Wakako Yamauchi in an essay series titled ‘Literary Ancestry Series: Responses from Ma-Yi Writers Lab’ in partnership with Ma-Yi Theater Company. The series will include essays on each of these plays by members of Ma-Yi Writers Lab discussing how the AAPI canon has influenced their own work. Free readings of each play this summer in the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. In the fall, a streamed version of four readings will be available free of charge. Year Three plays were chosen by a reading committee led by Lead Refocus Advisor Jess McLeod, and including Rehana Lew Mirza, Gaven Trinidad, Annie Jin Wang and members of the Roundabout Artistic staff. The readings are as follows; OLA NĀ IWI (THE BONES LIVE) by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl (1994), directed by Cara Hinh on Mon May 22, 2023 at 7:00 PM. Kawehi is travelling home to Hawai’i after a work trip in Berlin, but she’s got a secret in her bag: a set of Hawai’ian bones she discovered in a German museum. With investigators hot on her heels, Kawehi embarks on a mission to repatriate the stolen bones and bury them while aided by friends and a mysterious young woman; CHAOS THEORY by Anuvab Pal, directed by Arpita Mukherjee on June 5 at 7:00 PM. Sunita Sen and Mukesh Singh are close friends pursuing academic careers; she’s focusing on Indian history while he is studying English literature. Taking place over 40 years, "Chaos Theory" follows the pair’s relationship as they immigrate from India to the US and both become professors at Columbia University; BIG HUNK O’ BURNIN’ LOVE by Prince Gomolvilas, directed by Eric Ting on June 12, 2023 at 7:00 PM. Five days before his 30th birthday, Winston’s parents reveal a surprising family secret that sends his life plans up in flames. Thus begins a whirlwind comedic journey in which Winston must reevaluate everything he thought he knew about himself and his parents; TEA by Velina Hasu Houston, directed by Jess McLeod on June 26, 2023 at 7:00 PM. After the untimely death of their neighbor, four women meet at her home for tea. They are Japanese wives of American Servicemen who have come to America post-war with their new husbands, drawn together not by choice but by forced proximity and shared identity. For more information, please visit roundabouttheatre.org/refocus. Press contact: Polk & Co (917/261-3988)...