Thom Sesma. (Photo by Lia Chang)

On Thursday, May 17, 2012, actor/director Thom Sesma, who just completed a two and half year run as Scar in Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas, will speak at the Mary Pickford Theater located on the third floor of the Library of Congress James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. at noon. His talk is part of the Library of Congress celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) noon events in May, sponsored by the LC Asian American Association.

Sesma just participated in the all-star Shinsai: Theaters for Japanbenefit at Cooper Union’s Great Hall in NYC, in memory of the tragic events of March 2011 and in tribute to the heroic recovery efforts of the Japanese people.

Photos: In Rehearsal with Director Bartlett Sher and the cast of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan
Photos: Highlights of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan (3pm) with Andre Bishop, Mary Beth Hurt, Jennifer Lim, Angela Lin, Philip Kan Gotanda, Thom Sesma, Sab Shimono, Richard Thomas, Jay O. Sanders, and more 

For 30 years, BD Wong has been obsessed with the one-man musical Herringbone, which features a book by Tom Cone, music by Skip Kennon and lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh, and was first produced in New York at Playwright’s Horizons in a memorable 1982 production starring David Rounds.

Wong has headlined four critically-acclaimed productions of the ambitious musical – in which he enacts, sings and dances at least 11 characters – at the Williamstown Theatre Festival (2007), McCarter Theatre (2008), and La Jolla Playhouse (2010), all directed by Tony Award-winner Roger Rees (Nicholas Nickleby, Peter And The Starcatcher). Wong also starred in another earlier production at the American Musical Theatre Festival in 1994.

Dixon Place is presenting BD Wong’s tour-de-force performance in this difficult-to-perform musical, which is rarely revived.

Wong, best known for his Tony Award winning performance in M. Butterfly and his role in the long running hit series “Law & Order: SVU,” will appear in Herringbone

Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin is a restricted free agent this off-season. Should he stay with the New York Knicks? Writers from the Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times offer their opinions.

The 12th Annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), presented by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC), which runs from May 23 to 27 at the Tribeca Cinemas in Lower Manhattan, showcases more than 50 features, documentaries, and short films over a span of five days. The festival kicked off with an opening night red carpet screening of Bedabrata Pain’s CHITTAGONG on May 23 at the Paris Theater, followed by a VIP gala dinner at the Essex House Ballroom. Tonight, Rituparno Ghosh’s CHITRANGADA, the centerpiece film will have its world premiere at Tribeca Cinemas. On Sunday, May 27, 2012, Anurag Kashyap’s GANGS OF WASSEYPUR closes the festival at NYU’s Skirball Theater, followed by an awards ceremony and closing night party, sponsored by Wells Fargo.

“And the nominees for the 12th annual NYIFF are…”
BEST FILM 
Aadukalam
Chitrangada
Chittagong
Gattu
Shala

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM 
Big in Bollywood
Inshallah Football
Kumare
Saving Face
Transgenders: Pakistan’s Open Secret

BEST SCREENPLAY
Pooja Desai, Anvita Dutt, Rajesh Narasimhan, Ashish Patil (Mujshe Fraaandship Karoge)
Avinash Deshpande (Shala)
Rituparno Ghosh (Chitrangada)
Vetri Maaran (Aadukalam)
Bedabrata Pain, Shonali Bose (Chittagong)

BEST DIRECTOR
Sujay Dahake (Shala)
Rituparno Ghosh (Chitrangada)
Vetri Maaran (Aadukalam)
Prashant Nair (Delhi in a Day)
Bedabrata Pain (Chittagong)

BEST YOUNG ACTOR
Sihle Dlamini (Lucky)

Clubbed Thumb’s 17th annual SUMMERWORKS season of new plays kicks off with Susan Soon He Stanton’s TAKARAZUKA!!!, directed by Lear deBessonet, about the real-life all-female Japanese theatre troupe from May 26-June 4 at HERE Arts Center, 145 6th Ave in New York.

The cast ofTAKARAZUKA!!!includes Jennifer Ikeda (TOP GIRLS, Manhattan Theater Club; TITUS ANDRONICUS, The Public), Brooke Ishibashi (THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G, Ma-Yi Theater Company in association with Vampire Cowboys Theater Company), Paul Juhn (“30 Rock”), Glenn Kubota (Pan Asian Rep) and Angela Lin (CHINGLISH). For tickets, priced $18, phone (212) 352-3101 or visitHERE.org. HERE Arts Center is located 145 Sixth Ave at Dominick. Showtime is at 8:30, there is no performance on May 30, 2012.

Part ghost story, part love story, TAKARAZUKA!!! tracks the career sunset of Yuko, the star of a Japanese theater that stages all-female Western style musical extravaganzas. But when you take away her partner, her fans, and her tux, who will she be?