"Herein Lies the Truth" at Riverside Theatre -- April 18 through 28.
Thursday, April 18, through Sunday, April 28
Riverside Theatre, 119 East College Street, Iowa City IA
A wonderfully funny and moving solo performance designed to make audiences question how preconceived notions about disability can blur the truth, writer/actor Aaron Pang's autobiographical Herein Lies the Truth enjoys its world-premiere staging at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre April 18 through 28, its author a University of Iowa MFA nonfiction candidate who will relate the story of how an accident changed the trajectory of his life.
Poignant, riotous, and revealing, Herein Lies the Truth follows Paul's real-life journey to understand his new body after suffering a spinal-cord injury, and having to face the uncertain world of first loves, online dating, and sex. Throughout his staged monologue, the playwright/star explores how he navigates the perceptions of the world as someone who walks with a cane, and how to respond when strangers ask, “What happened?” Part stand-up comedy and part storytelling, Herein Lies the Truth is a sincere, confused, hilarious, and imperfect story about life and love with a disability.
Aaron Pang is currently an MFA candidate at the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. A first-generation child of Chinese immigrants, he has worked in the tech sector, hails from Oakland, California, and holds degrees in Computer Science and Business Administration from Washington University. With Pang's previous performance venues including The Moth in New York City and Iowa City's Hancher Auditorium, his work has appeared in Essay Daily, as well as on America’s Test Kitchen’s podcast Proof.
Serving as Herin Lies the Truth's director, Johanna Kasimow is Assistant Professor of Theater Arts at the University of Iowa and has worked with artists and companies across the United States, including with the Eva Steinmetz Project, Antigravity Performance Project, Tiny Circus, and New Paradise Laboratories, In 2023, Kasimow was a participant in the NEH Summer Institute for Preserving and Transmitting American Ensemble-Based Devised Theatre, hosted by Pig Iron Theatre Company. Recently, she premiered City In Heat, a site-specific live-cinema performance piece, as part of the Open Air Media Festival at Iowa City's Public Space One. Among Kasimow's creative team for Herein Lies the Truth are scenic/projections designer Kaelen Novak, lighting designer Haven Haywood, sound designer Dakota Parobek, and stage manager Reese Morgan.
Following the April 21 performance, there will be a talk-back with Pang and Kasimow moderated by professor Miriam Gilbert, and after April 28's closing performance, there will be a talk-back with Pang and Andre Perry, executive director of Hancher Auditorium. Riverside Theatre's latest production is sponsored by Jo Ann Bell and the Robert E. Yager Charitable Trust, and a toast celebrating the artistic and production team will take place following the April 19 show.
Herein Lies the Truth will be staged in Iowa City from April 18 through 28, with performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Admission is $15-39, and more information and tickets are available by calling 319-259-7099 and visiting RiversideTheatre.org.
