Full Cast Set For THE UNSINKABLE World Premiere at Perelman Performing Arts Center

Perelman Performing Arts Center has revealed the full cast and creative team for the world premiere of The Unsinkable, a new play by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, directed by Aya Ogawa. The Unsinkable was commissioned and developed by PAC NYC.

Performances begin on Wednesday, February 10, with an opening set for Thursday, February 18. This is a limited run through Sunday, March 7, 2027.

The company will feature Will Dao, Sam Im, Zion Jang, Julian Leong, Jo Mei, and David Shih. Jessica Ko and Jimmy Nguyen will each understudy three tracks.

The Unsinkable is a world premiere theatrical storm of memory, myth, and survival. When 17-year-old Little Fong is plunged into the freezing Atlantic as the Titanic sinks, survival becomes a battle inside his own mind. The Unsinkable is a wildly inventive, darkly funny, and deeply moving odyssey inspired by the six Chinese seamen who lived—then were erased from the story of the Titanic’s survivors. From Liverpool’s engine rooms and Chinatown streets to Cuban sugarcane fields, and a Chicago nursing home in 1986, Little Fong’s memories and desires spring to life through puppetry, cross-Atlantic dance traditions, and flourishes of Chinese opera. He fights for dignity and love even as time slips and his life is largely forgotten.

“Having produced a play by Frances at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, I knew that I wanted to bring her work to PAC NYC,” said Bill Rauch, Artistic Director. “We commissioned this piece when our very first artistic team was just beginning to shape our vision, 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. One of the great joys of making theater is nurturing an idea from its earliest beginnings and watching it grow into a fully realized world premiere production of an important new play.”