PAC NYC has cast the world premiere of The Unsinkable, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s new play about a teenager in the freezing Atlantic as the Titanic goes down, inspired by the six Chinese seamen who survived the sinking and were then left out of its history. Aya Ogawa directs, and previews begin Wednesday, February 10, 2027.
The company of six is Will Dao, Sam Im, Zion Jang, Julian Leong, Jo Mei and David Shih. Jessica Ko and Jimmy Nguyen are the understudies, covering three tracks each.
The play is a PAC NYC commission, developed at the center since its first artistic team was taking shape, and it was among the new works named when the center set out its season in September. Its hero is Little Fong, 17 years old when he is thrown into the water. The struggle to stay alive plays out inside his head, and his memories carry the story from the engine rooms of Liverpool and the streets of Chinatown to the sugarcane fields of Cuba and, in 1986, a Chicago nursing home. The staging draws on puppetry, dance traditions from both sides of the Atlantic and touches of Chinese opera.
For Cowhig it is a reunion with a producer who already knows her work: artistic director Bill Rauch produced one of her plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. “We commissioned this piece when our very first artistic team was just beginning to shape our vision,” Rauch said, “and it’s rewarding to see Frances’s inspiration come to life with such an extraordinary cast and creative team, led by Aya’s incredible vision.”
Cowhig’s trilogy The China Plays — The World of Extreme Happiness, The King of Hell’s Palace and Snow in Midsummer — has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hampstead Theatre and the National Theatre in Britain, and by Manhattan Theatre Club, Classic Stage and the Goodman Theatre in the U.S. Ogawa won an Obie for The Nosebleed at Lincoln Center Theater, and directed Haruna Lee’s Obie-winning Suicide Forest at The Bushwick Starr and Ma-Yi Theatre Company.
The design team is You-Shin Chen (scenic), Karen Boyer (costumes), Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (lighting and projections), Fan Zhang (sound and original music), Emma Wiseman (puppets) and Leslie Espinosa (hair, wigs and makeup). Benjamin Akio Kimitch choreographs and Christine Mok is the dramaturg. Casting is by The Telsey Office / Charlie Hano, CSA, with additional casting by Stephanie Yankwitt & Company Casting. Siena Yusi is production stage manager and Mackenzie Seewagen assistant stage manager. The Roy Cockrum Foundation provides major production support.
Opening night is Thursday, February 18, 2027, and the limited run ends Sunday, March 7, 2027, at 6 World Trade Center, 251 Fulton Street. Tickets are sold through PAC NYC and on 212-266-3000. The center runs $30 ticket programs for audiences under 30, responders and educators, student discounts reach 50%, and groups save up to 20%.
