Jeanne Sakata’s critically-acclaimed play Hold These Truths, starring 2013 Drama Desk Award Nominee Joel de la Fuente, is set for the 10th Annual soloNOVA Arts Festival at Culture Project, 6/4, 6/10 and 6/11

Joel de la Fuente as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths. Photo by Lia Chang

Congratulations to 2013 Drama Desk nominee Joel de la Fuente, who has been nominated in the category of Outstanding Solo Performance for his tour-de-force turn in Jeanne Sakata’s critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway one-man show Hold These Truths, inspired by the true story of second generation Japanese-American Gordon Hirabayashi. Under the brilliant direction of Lisa Rothe, Hold These Truths had it’s New York premiere last October in a production by Epic Theatre Ensemble at the Theatre at the 14th Street Y.

Mr. de la Fuente, who can currently be seen on Netflix’s “Hemlock Grove” and recently appeared in an episode of “Hawaii Five-O,” will reprise his portrayal as Gordon Hirabayashi and 36 other characters in Hold These Truths as one of the headliner events at the 10th Annual soloNOVA Arts Festival, the award-winning and longest-running solo performance festival in New York City.

Joel de la Fuente as Dr. Johann Pryce in Netflix’s Hemlock Grove. Photo: Netflix

Hold These Truths will have performances at the Culture Project, Tuesday, June 4 at 7pm, Monday, June 10 at 7pm and Tuesday, June 11 at 7pm at the Culture Project (45 Bleecker Street, NYC).

The design team for Hold These Truths includes set design by Mikiko Suzuki McAdams, sound designer and compositions by Daniel Kluger, lighting design by Cat Tate Starmer and costume design by Meg Weeden.

Joel de la Fuente as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths. Photo by Lia Chang

Inspired by a true story, Hold These Truths takes place in Seattle during World War II, where University of Washington student Gordon Hirabayashi is agonizing over U.S. government orders to forcibly remove and mass incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. As he fights to reconcile his country’s betrayal with his passionate belief in the U.S. Constitution, Hirabayashi journeys toward a greater understanding of America’s triumphs – and a confrontation with its failures.

In the dressing room with Joel de la Fuente, who stars as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths at The Theatre at the 14th Street Y in New York on November 24, 2012. Joel is holding a photo of Esther Schmoe and Gordon Hirabayashi on their wedding day. Photo by Lia Chang

Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi (1918-2012) was an American sociologist best known for his resistance to the Japanese-American internment during World War II. He was one of the only three to openly defy it. After being convicted for curfew violation he was sentenced to 90 days in prison. The verdict was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Hirabayashi v. United States (1943). They unanimously ruled against him. He later spent a year in federal prison for refusing induction into the armed forces after they had sent out a racially discriminatory survey to Japanese-Americans demanding renunciation of allegiance to the emperor of Japan. In 1987, the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit overturned his conviction from 1943. In 2012, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Hirabayashi for his principled stand against Japanese-American internment.

“One of the stunning things about Joel de la Fuente’s performance in Jeanne Sakata’s gripping one-man show is how completely he embodies the real-life character of Gordon Hirabayashi….de la Fuente, under the direction of Lisa Rothe, also plays many other characters—but his portrayal of Hirabayashi, whom President Obama just this year posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, feels eerily true to life.”
The New Yorker, October 2012

“Jeanne Sakata’s eloquent one-man drama about civil rights giant Gordon Hirabayashi provides a concise examination of a fascinating chapter in American history….Joel de la Fuente plays Hirabayashi wtih buoyant, magnetic enthusiasm, under the direction of Lisa Rothe.”
The Washington Post/API, October 2012

“The astounding performance that Joel de la Fuente delivers as Gordon Hirabayashi is reason enough to recommend Hold These Truths…with Jeanne Sakata at the helm, we are treated to a dazzling, literary script that’s full of humor.”
New York Times Readers’ Review, October 2012

“Moving, instructive, thrilling….Travel downtown to be inspired by script, actor, and history in equal measure….Culled to its human and emotional essence, we hold Hirabayashi’s story as we must all ‘hold these truths.’”
Urban Excavations, October 2012

“Resonates with vitality and power….This is what living, breathing theater is about. Unforgettable.”
Technorati, October 2012

Joel de la Fuente (Photo by Lia Chang)

Joel de la Fuente’s (Gordon Hirabayashi) NY theatre credits include: Ivanov in Ivanov; The Downtown Plays; Claudio in Beatrice and Benedict, with the NY Philharmonic; The Square; America Dreaming and Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. In 2005, Joel served as the Artistic Associate of the National Asian American Theater Company and also appeared in their world premiere of Cowboy v. Samurai, among others. Other theatrical credits include Vershinin in The Three Sisters; Ariel in The Tempest; Florizel in The Winter’s Tale; Chay Yew’s Red and Liu Mengmei in The Peony Pavilion. On television, Joel has spent ten seasons in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” He was a series regular on the Fox drama, “Space: Above & Beyond;” and is recurring in the upcoming series “Hemlock Grove,” exclusively available on Netflix. On screen, he stars in Brief Reunion (Audience Choice Award Winner) and in the upcoming film, Forgetting The Girl. Additional film credits include: Personal Velocity; The Adjustment Bureau; The Happening; Heights; Return to Paradise and From Other Worlds. Joel’s essay on his experiences as an Asian American actor is published in Pyong Gap Min’s “Struggle for Ethnic Identity.”

Lisa Rothe

Lisa Rothe (Director). Recent Credits: Penelope (Playmakers Repertory Theatre); Ada (Center for Contemporary Opera). Directed and/or developed in NY: The Foundry, New Georges, Epic Theatre Ensemble, Lark Play Development Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST), 52nd Street Project, Naked Angels, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, BAM, Summer Play Festival (SPF), NYMF, Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival (Best Director), The Women’s Project, National Actors Theater, Keen Company (Keen Teens), Orchard Project, Voice & Vision, HERE, Dixon Place. Regionally: Synchronicity Theatre, Chautauqua Theatre, Vermont Stage Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Shakespeare Theatre, The New Harmony Project, Riverside Theatre, Seaside Shakespeare (Nantucket), among others. Director of Offsite Programs and Partnerships at the Lark Play Development Center.

Jeanne Sakata (Photo by Lia Chang)

Jeanne Sakata’s HOLD THESE TRUTHS has its world premiere in 2007 at East West Players under the title of DAWN’S LIGHT: THE JOURNEY OF GORDON HIRABAYASHI, co-presented by the Japanese American National Museum, UCLA Department of Asian American Studies, and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and was subsequently chosen by the Epic Theatre Ensemble and the Lark Play Development Center for their first joint presentation, as well as by the New York Theatre Workshop to be showcased at their 2009 Dartmouth Residency. In its New York premiere with the Epic in October 2012, HOLD THESE TRUTHS opened to unanimous rave reviews from The New Yorker, The Washington Post/API, and many other critics. It has also been performed at Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion with Silk Road Rising/Millennium Park as part of the Park’s 2011 IN THE WORKS New Plays Series; the Epic’s 2010 Passion Play Festival with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice; the University of California at Riverside; the 16th Annual Conference of the Japan Studies Association in Honolulu; at Japanese American Citizens League Day of Remembrance events in Sacramento and Salinas, California; and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where it served as the inspiration and theatrical centerpiece of the civil rights symposium “Civil Liberties, National Security and the Legacies of the Japanese Removal and Incarceration.” With the East West Players Theatre For Youth program in 2008 and 2010, the play has twice toured high schools and junior high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. HOLD THESE TRUTHS is now part of the Library of Congress Playwrights Archive in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection in Washington DC, where Sakata’s working script was recently on view in the Thomas Jefferson Building in conjunction with the Library of Congress celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. (www.facebook.com/holdthesetruths, www.holdthesetruths.info)

Jeanne is also a renowned actress whose many accolades include an LA Ovation Award for Best Lead Actress for Chay Yew’s RED at East West Players in Los Angeles. In the 2011-2012 season she performed in A CAGE OF FIREFLIES at the 2012 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, in the title role of George Bernard Shaw’s MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION at the Antaeus Company’s Classics Fest, SEVEN at USC, THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE at East West Players, and RED FLAMBOYANT at Ojai Playwrights Festival. Regionally, she has performed with The Public Theater, Lincoln Center Theater, Kennedy Center, Mark Taper Forum, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Rep, American Conservatory Theater, Northlight Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Berkeley Rep, A Contemporary Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Syracuse Stage and the Arizona Theatre Company. Screen credits include playing Mom Wanda to Olivia Munn in the recent feature film comedy THE BABYMAKERS, “NCIS LOS ANGELES,” “TYLER PERRY’S MEET THE BROWNS,” “DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES,” “ER,” “THREAT MATRIX,” “LINE OF FIRE,” “PRESIDIO MED,” “AMERICAN FAMILY,” “NUMB3RS,” John Ridley’s “I GOT YOU,” the MOW’s “THE READING ROOM,” “HIROSHIMA,” “CONSENSUAL RELATIONS,” and the feature films XXX2: STATE OF THE UNION and AMERICAN FUSION.

In December 2011, Jeanne was honored with an Outstanding Artist Award for her career achievements by Los Angeles’ Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theatre. (www.jeannesakata.com)

Below are interviews with Hold These Truths‘ playwright Jeanne Sakata, star Joel de la Fuente and director Lisa Rothe.

Hold These Truths‘ playwright Jeanne Sakata talks about her inspiration to write Gordon Hirabayashi’s life story, how she did her research, why she chose the solo show format and what she hopes audiences will take away from de la Fuente’s performance.

Hold These Truths‘ star Joel de la Fuente talks about the challenges of playing 30+ characters and the impact playing Gordon Hirabayashi has had for him.

Director Lisa Rothe discusses how she first became involved with Hold These Truths, her history with Joel de la Fuente, how attending a Quaker meeting influenced her design and concept of the set, her prior knowledge of Gordon Hirabayashi, and her exposure to the internment camps.

For more information and tickets, visit www.terranovacollective.org. Tickets are $30 and may also be purchased in-person at the box office ½ hour in advance of the performances.

Other Hold These Truths Articles:
Hold These Truths Opening Night at Honolulu Theatre for Youth’s Tenney Theatre with Daniel Dae Kim, Joel de la Fuente and Jeanne Sakata
Brief Reunion Starring Joel de la Fuente, Alexie Gilmore and Scott Shepherd, Opens in NY & L.A. on January 18, 2013
Hold These Truths Video Feature: Playwright Jeanne Sakata, Star Joel de la Fuente and Director Lisa Rothe
Video: Interview with Lisa Rothe, Director of Critically Acclaimed Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, starring Joel de la Fuente
Video: Q & A with Jeanne Sakata, Award Winning Actress Makes Playwrighting Debut Telling Story of Gordon Hirabayashi with Hold These Truths
Photos and Video: Daniel Dae Kim, Ann Harada, Greg Watanabe and More at Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths starring Joel de la Fuente
Photos: Opening Night with Hold These Truths’ Playwright Jeanne Sakata and Star Joel de la Fuente, a Revelation as Gordon Hirabayashi; Performances Extended through November 25, 2012
Epic Theatre Ensemble Presents New York Premiere of Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths Starring Joel de la Fuente at the Theatre at the 14th Street Y, October 12-November 18, 2012
Remembering Civil Rights Leader Gordon Hirabayashi,1918- 2012
President Obama Names Asian American Civil Rights Hero Gordon Hirabayashi Recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom
Reading of Jeanne Sakata’s Dawn’s Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi Starring Joel de la Fuente in New York
Thom Sesma Stars in Jeanne Sakata’s Dawn’s Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Lorey Hayes’ Power Play Set for National Black Theatre Festival 7/29-8/3
Christine Toy Johnson, Thom Sesma, Ali Ewoldt, Jose Llana, Ann Harada, Telly Leung and More Set for The Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre on May 19, 2013
Photos & Video: Frank London’s Klezmer Brass All-Stars, Manu Narayan, Deep Singh and More
Photos: Working Theater’s World Premiere of Ed Cardona, Jr.’s La Ruta through May 12, 2013
Christine Toy Johnson and Raul Aranas Lead the Cast of the National Asian Artists Project’s (NAAP) Benefit Presentation of Hello Dolly!, at The Pershing Square Signature Center on April 29 and May 6
Photos: All-Access Pass to August Wilson’s Two Trains Running with John Earl Jelks, Harvy Blanks, Chuck Cooper, Anthony Chisholm, Owiso Odera, Roslyn Ruff and James A. Williams
Keith David, January LaVoy, John Douglas Thompson, Glynn Turman, Lillias White and More Set for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the CTG/Mark Taper Forum, April 24 – June 9, 2013
Multimedia: Manu Narayan Dazzles as Richard Roma in La Jolla Playhouse’s Revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross
Albee, Hwang, Enos, Taylor, Wilson, Clarke and Jacobs-Jenkins Set for Signature Theatre’s 2013-14 Season
Photos: David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and The Railroad Opening Night at Signature Theatre
Photos: Partying with the Cast of David Henry Hwang’s Golden Child
Photos: All-Access Pass to Disney’s Aladdin at The Muny with Thom Sesma, Francis Jue, Robin De Jesus, John Tartaglia, Jason Graae, Curtis Holbrook, Eddie Korbich, Samantha Massell and Ken Page
Performing Arts Images from the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection on Display at the Library of Congress to Celebrate APA Heritage Month
Photos: Yellow Fever Playwright Rick Shiomi Explores New Territory with An All-Female Cast
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2013 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com

Happy Birthday Meshach Taylor

Happy birthday to my pal Meshach Taylor, the Emmy Award-nominated actor best known for his roles as Anthony Bouvier on “Designing Women”, and for his portrayal of Hollywood Montrose, a flamboyant window dresser, in the box office hit and cult classic romantic comedy film Mannequin.

Meshach Taylor (Lia Chang)

Last year, Taylor appeared in a compelling episode of CBS’s “Criminal Minds,” guest starring opposite Joe Mantegna (FBI Special Agent David Rossi) as Harrison Scott, Rossi’s former Marine sergeant with whom he served with in Vietnam on the episode, “The Fallen”, and appeared onstage at Ensemble STudio Theater-LA in Keliher Walsh’s Year of the Rabbit, playing Vietnam vet JC Bridges, who upon returning from his first tour in Vietnam in 1967, experienced hatred and racism in the turbulent States. The play examined wartime experiences from Vietnam and Afghanistan. Click here to read more about the play.

Taylor’s first professional gig was in a National tour of Hair. He honed his craft in repertory theater as a member of Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, and the Organic Theater Company alongside Mantegna, André De Shields, Dennis Franz, Keith Szarabajka, Jack Wallace, and director Stuart Gordon. While in Chicago, he received the Joseph Jefferson Award for Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, and an Emmy Award for his role as Jim in the WTTV production of “Huckleberry Finn.” In 1998, Taylor made his Broadway debut as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, starring alongside Toni Braxton.

In 1979, Taylor moved to Los Angeles, where he has crafted a gallery of memorable characters in film and on television, including his Emmy nominated turn in the long-running CBS hit sitcom “Designing Women” as Anthony Bouvier, the assistant at the fictitious Sugarbaker interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia, starring Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Jean Smart. He was a series regular on “Dave’s World” (CBS), and has had recurring guest starring appearances on Nickelodeon’s “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” and “Buffalo Bill” (NBC) with Dabney Coleman. He has appeared on “The Unit” (CBS), “Jessie” (Disney Channel),”“Hannah Montana” (Disney Channel), “The Drew Carey Show” (ABC), “Static Shock” (Kids WB!), “Caroline in the City” (NBC), “Aaahh!!! Real Monsters” (Nickelodeon), “Women of the House” (CBS), “In the Heat of the Night” (NBC), “Punky Brewster” (NBC), “What’s Happening Now!”, “Hill Street Blues” (NBC), “ALF” (NBC), “Melba” (CBS), “The Golden Girls” (NBC), “Cagney & Lacey” (CBS), “Barney Miller” (ABC), “M*A*S*H” (CBS), “Lou Grant” (CBS), “The White Shadow” (CBS), “The Incredible Hulk” (CBS), and “Barnaby Jones”(CBS). His made-for-TV movies include The Right Connections with MC Hammer, Sidney Sheldon’s Nothing Lasts Forever with Brooke Shields, Virtual Seduction, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child and Double, Double, Toil and Trouble with the Olsen Twins. Taylor also hosted his own series on HGTV, The Urban Gardener with Meshach Taylor and was a regular panelist on the 2000 revival of the television game show To Tell the Truth. He co-hosted Living Live! with Florence Henderson on Retirement Living TV; in 2008, the program was revamped as The Florence Henderson Show.

Taylor has appeared in the feature films Wigger, Damien: Omen II, The Howling, Jacks or Better, Kid ‘N Play’s Class Act, How to Murder a Millionaire, David Mamet’s House of Games, The Allnighter, Mannequin, Mannequin Two On the Move, The Last Innocent Man with Ed Harris, Explorers, Friends and Family, The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue, One More Saturday Night, Warning Sign, and Inside Out with Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason. He appears in the short films Silencio as Mr. Black, and He Knows My Heart as Bishop Alexander Jameson Sr.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Emmy Award-Nominated Actor Meshach Taylor (“Designing Women”) Guest Stars on Criminal Minds as Rossi’s Former Marine Sergeant, Harrison Scott on November 14, 2012
Meshach Taylor talks Wigger on Wendy Williams Show
Signature Theatre’s Revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson Leads 28th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards Nominations
Photos: All-Access Pass to August Wilson’s Two Trains Running with John Earl Jelks, Harvy Blanks, Chuck Cooper, Anthony Chisholm, Owiso Odera, Roslyn Ruff and James A. Williams
Keith David, January LaVoy, John Douglas Thompson, Glynn Turman, Lillias White and More Set for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the CTG/Mark Taper Forum, April 24 – June 9, 2013
Chuck Cooper, Austin Pendleton, Nicholas L. Ashe, Kyle Beltran, Grantham Coleman, Jeremy Pope, and Wallace Smith Set for MTC’s World Premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy, June 18- July 21, 2013
Albee, Hwang, Enos, Taylor, Wilson, Clarke and Jacobs-Jenkins Set for Signature Theatre’s 2013-14 Season
Signature Theatre’s Revival of David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and The Railroad Set for Wuzhen Theatre Festival in Wuzhen, China, May 9-12, 2013
Photos: David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and The Railroad Opening Night at Signature Theatre
Photos: Partying with the Cast of David Henry Hwang’s Golden Child
Photos: All-Access Pass to Disney’s Aladdin at The Muny with Thom Sesma, Francis Jue, Robin De Jesus, John Tartaglia, Jason Graae, Curtis Holbrook, Eddie Korbich, Samantha Massell and Ken Page
Performing Arts Images from the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection on Display at the Library of Congress to Celebrate APA Heritage Month
Photos: Yellow Fever Playwright Rick Shiomi Explores New Territory with An All-Female Cast
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. She is a Signature Theatre alumni who was in the cast of Sam Shepard’s Chicago, during his Signature 1996-1997 Playwright-in-Residence Season.
All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2013 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com

Chris Tashima Stars in Lil Tokyo Reporter, Set to Screen at Film Festivals in Eugene, Or., Sacramento, and LA

Lil Tokyo Reporter, starring Academy award winner Chris Tashima (Visas and Virtue, Day of Independence, Model Minority), Keiko Agena (“Gilmore Girls”) and Eijiro Ozaki (Letters From Iwo Jima), is screening at the 8th Annual DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon Bijou Arts Cinemas, 492 E 13th Ave., Eugene, OR, on Saturday, April 27th at 5pm; the 9th Annual Sacramento International Film Festival at the Delta King Hotel, 1000 Front St., Sacramento, CA, on Sunday, April 28th at 2:30pm; and the 29th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival CGV Cinemas, Theatre 2, 621 S. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, May 12th at 3pm.

Chris Tashima as Sei Fujii in Lil Tokyo Reporter. Photo courtesy of Lil Tokyo Reporter

Tashima portrays the title character in Lil Tokyo Reporter, a narrative short film based on the true life struggles of Sei Fujii, immigrant pioneer, leader, and publisher.

Jeffrey Gee Chin directed Lil Tokyo Reporter, with a screenplay written by Guinevere Turner (American Psycho), based on the research of executive producer Fumiko Carole Fujita and the Little Tokyo Historical Society.

Chris Tashima as Sei Fujii in Lil Tokyo Reporter. Photo courtesy of Lil Tokyo Reporter

Filmed in downtown Los Angeles, Lil Tokyo Reporter is a narrative short film inspired by the life and major community contributions of historic newspaper publisher, Sei Fujii. The story takes place in 1935 Little Tokyo, where Fujii confronts the corruption that threatens the livelihood of his community.

“The purpose of this film is to help open minds to the early historical contributions of Asian American pioneers,” said the film’s director, Jeffrey Gee Chin.

Although Sei Fujii was one of the most pinnacle civil rights leaders in the early 20th century, Lil Tokyo Reporter highlights his journey away from his political contributions, and delves into his interpersonal journey to defend and promote his deteriorating community during the Great Depression.

Chin and Executive Producer Fumiko Carole Fujita have created this moving tribute to the remarkable life achievements of Sei Fujii who came from Japan in 1903 and graduated from USC Law School in 1911, but could not become a lawyer because he was not allowed to become a citizen. He teamed with classmate and civil rights attorney J. Marion Wright to assist the Japanese community on racially discriminatory legal problems and issues for over 40 years. In 1931, Fujii began publishing The Kashu Mainichi (California Daily News), a Japanese/English bilingual newspaper, founded to inform, unite and celebrate the Japanese American community.

8th Annual DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon
The 8th Annual DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, held at Bijou Arts Cinemas, 492 E 13th Ave., Eugene, OR 97401. Lil Tokyo Reporter’s film festival premiere will be on Sat, April 27, 5pm. www.disorientfilm.org

9th Annual The Sacramento International Film Festival
The 9th Annual Sacramento International Film Festival at the Delta King Hotel in Old Sacramento, 1000 Front St., Sacramento, CA 95814, will have a double feature of Chris Tashima, who will be on hand to represent Lil Tokyo Reporter, which screens on Sunday, April 28, 2:30pm; and followed by Lily Mariye’s multiple award-winning Model Minority. www.sacramentofilmfestival.com

Lily Mariye’s Model Minority (photo courtesy of Nice Girl Films)

The film stars Nichole Bloom as Kayla, an underprivileged Japanese American girl with a drug addict mom (Jessica Tuck) and an alcoholic dad (Tashima), who endangers her promising future as an artist when she becomes involved with a drug dealer (Delon De Metz). Laura Innes, Helen Slater, Takayo Fisher, Courtney Mun and Marc Anthony Samuel are also featured, along with music by three-time Grammy nominee, saxophonist Boney James.

29th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
The 29th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival at the Directors Guild of America, CGV Cinemas, and The Art Theatre of Long Beach. The film festival, produced by Visual Communications, the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts center, continues to be the largest festival of its kind in Southern California and is the premier showcase for the best and brightest of Asian American and Asian international cinema. Lil Tokyo Reporter screening is on Sun, May 12, 3pm, CGV Cinemas, Theatre 2, 621 S. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90005; includes Q&A session with actors and filmmakers. www.asianfilmfestla.org/2013/

Lil Tokyo Reporter was produced by Mayon Denton and Michael Iinuma in association with Visual Communications and the Little Tokyo Historical Society. The team was also sponsored by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program and the Terasaki Foundation.

Chris Tashima (Photo by Lia Chang)

About Chris Tashima:
Academy award winning director and actor Chris Tashima can currently be seen in Jeffrey Gee Chin’s narrative short Lil Tokyo Reporter as Sei Fujii, an immigrant pioneer, leader and publisher and in Lily Mariye’s impressive debut feature Model Minority, in which he gives a rich multi-layered performance as the Sansei alcoholic father.

He has appeared in several noted independent features including Rea Tajiri’s Strawberry Fields, starring Suzy Nakamura, and Sherwood X. Hu’s Lani Loa -The Passage (from executive producers Francis Ford Coppola and Wayne Wang), as well as Hu’s ensemble drama, On the Roof.

Tashima received an Academy Award® for the dramatic short film, Visas and Virtue, which he directed, co-wrote and starred as Holocaust rescuer Chiune Sugihara. For television, he directed, co-wrote and acted in the PBS Special, Day of Independence, receiving an EMMY® nomination. Visas and Virtue and Day of Independence is available on DVD and can be found here.

Directorial stage credits include world premiere’s of Dan Kwong’s Be Like Water at EWP, and Nihonmachi: The Place to Be, a musical tribute to the history of Japantowns, produced by the Grateful Crane Ensemble.

Below are excerpts of a chat I had with Chris, last year in New York at the Asian American International Film Festival.

Chris gives the 411 on Jeffrey Gee Chin’s Lil Tokyo Reporter
Jeffrey Gee Chin directed Lil Tokyo Reporter, with a screenplay written by Guinevere Turner (American Psycho), based on the research of executive producer Fumiko Carole Fujita and the Little Tokyo Historical Society. In addition to Tashima, Lil Tokyo Reporter stars Eijiro Ozaki, Ikuma Ando, Keiko Agena, and Sewell Whitney.

Chris Tashima as Sei Fujii in Lil Tokyo Reporter. Photo courtesy of Lil Tokyo Reporter

Chris: Lil Tokyo Reporter is a wonderful narrative short film that I’m really excited to be a part of. It’s right now in post-production. We filmed it over a week last year. Now it’s getting the score and visual effects.

It’s about a real life Issei pioneer named Sei Fujii. He was very active in the Japanese American community in the 20’s and 30’s, all the way up to the 50’s. I knew nothing of him, in fact, I had not heard of him until the filmmaker Jeffrey Gee Chin, came to me and said, ‘I’m making this film that I want you to be in.’ It’s amazing how many stories we don’t know about. But a person of this significance.

The reason he was discovered by the filmmaker, was because the Little Tokyo Historical Society did a story on the Japanese Hospital, which I believe was founded in 1929 for the local Japanese community to get medical needs fulfilled because of either language differences, cultural differences, dietary, all these needs that they weren’t getting from regular hospitals. Sei Fujii was part of the original founders of the Japanese Hospital. Pretty much everybody in Southern California has family that was there at some point. It’s in East L.A. which had a large Japanese American community. Sei Fujii founded the Kashu Mainichi, which was the bilingual California Japanese Daily News, now no longer around, but it was a fairly large publication in California, as a means of bringing the community together, helping them, keeping them informed. He also was the individual who sued the state of California in 1952, to overturn the Alien Land Law which prohibited the Issei, or Japanese immigrants who could not become citizens, from owning land. And he won. And that opened the door to eventually winning citizenship for Japanese immigrants. There’s all these things that he did in between. To learn all of this, and to learn that there was this one man who had done so much and that I had never heard of him, was again, a great need to tell the story.

Although Sei Fujii was one of the most pinnacle civil rights leaders in the early 20th century, Lil Tokyo Reporter highlights his journey away from his political contributions, and delves into his interpersonal journey to defend and promote his deteriorating community during the Great Depression. Fujii vowed to protect his people, defending them in legal cases with Attorney Wright. During the Great Depression, the community united at their first annual pageant parade while Fujii promoted their accomplishments through his new radio program and newspaper.

Chris: So Jeffrey came to me. I had met him several times at different film festivals. He said, ‘Well I have this story that I wrote and I want you to be in it. I immediately said yes. I’ve been consulting with him a lot. It’s his first large narrative work. It’s very ambitious. It’s going to be about half an hour. It’s a period piece, set in 1935 in Little Tokyo, so to recreate that era. To tell a very good dramatic story even though it has got all of this history in it, you still want to do a good story. It’s basically about Fujii in the mid 30’s as a newspaper editor, confronting those challenges about, ‘Do you write about negative things about your own community. If you think in the long run it will help. But if it makes your community look bad or makes individuals look bad. In fact, somebody tried to assassinate Sei Fujii. He was discovered lying in the street with a gun shot wound and was sent to a Japanese hospital. Of course, he didn’t die. But that’s how controversial he was. These kind of things happened back in the 30’s.

Director Jeffrey Gee Chin with his cast on the set of Lil Tokyo Reporter. Photo by Reece Carter

In the narrative that we’re telling, he discovers a gambling den in Little Tokyo and how it is sort of swindling the farmers that are coming to town to drink and gamble. Taking their money, a little bit of extortion, the dark seeder side of Little Tokyo that people didn’t talk about. We met a lot of Nisei, that knew Issei, like their dads who used to go to this gambling joints. And none of them would talk about it. That’s what the film is about.

About The Little Tokyo Historical Society
The Little Tokyo Historical Society (LTHS) focuses on researching and discovering the historical resources, stories, and connections of sites, buildings, and events related to Little Tokyo as an ethnic heritage neighborhood. LTHS is committed to documenting and verifying history of locales, sites, and buildings, as well as preserving and sharing the history and personal stories of Little Tokyo and its residents.

LTHS was formed in 2006 by members of the Little Tokyo community to commemorate the Nikkei history and heritage through various means such as: archival collections, photos, exhibits, lectures and workshops, and gallery. Although other organizations documenting Japanese American history exist, LTHS narrows its focus by concentrating on the history of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, rather than the larger scope of Japanese Americans nationwide.

LTHS operates as a volunteer organization, comprised of members from the Little Tokyo community including nonprofit employees, business owners, and residents.

Other Articles by Lia Chang
World Premiere Screening of Lil Tokyo Reporter Starring Chris Tashima at Laemmle Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, September 14-16, 2012
Video: Academy Award Winner Chris Tashima Talks About His Roles in Lily Mariye’s Model Minority and Lil Tokyo Reporter
Meet Lil Tokyo Reporter’s Star Chris Tashima and Director Jeffrey Gee Chin at the Little Tokyo Historical Society’s Booth at the 72nd Annual LA Nisei Week Japanese Festival on August 18, 2012
Lily Mariye’s Model Minority, Jayshree Janu Kharpade’s Fire in Our Hearts, Eliaichi Kimaro’s A Lot Like You, Vincent Sandoval’s Señorita, and Liang Cheng’s My Spiritual Medicine among AAIFF’12 Award Winners
AAIFF’12: Lily Mariye’s Model Minority, starring Jessica Tuck, Nichole Bloom, Chris Tashima, Helen Slater, Laura Innes and Takayo Fisher, screens at Clearview Chelsea Cinemas on August 4, 2012
35th Asian American International Film Festival Line-up in New York
Two-Time Grammy Nominated Hiroshima Kicks off 2013 Spring Tour at The Laguna Playhouse, with Special Guest Taiko Master Kenny Endo on April 15, 2013
Photos: All-Access Pass to Disney’s Aladdin at The Muny with Thom Sesma, Francis Jue, Robin De Jesus, John Tartaglia, Jason Graae, Curtis Holbrook, Eddie Korbich, Samantha Massell and Ken Page
Performing Arts Images from the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection on Display at the Library of Congress to Celebrate APA Heritage Month
Photos: Yellow Fever Playwright Rick Shiomi Explores New Territory with An All-Female Cast
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.
Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.
All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2013 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com

Michelle Krusiec and Alex Moggridge Star in David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish at South Coast Repertory, January 25 – February 24, 2013

South Coast Repertory is presenting David Henry Hwang’s Broadway hit play Chinglish, directed by Leigh Silverman, from January 25-February 24, 2013 on the Segerstrom Stage, 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. Opening night is February 1, 2013. Chinglish explores language and cultural missteps made by visitors to China, both in business and, unexpectedly, in romance. TIME named Chinglish one of its Top 10 Plays, and New York Magazine called it “sexy, fun and hilarious.”

Michelle Krusiec (left) and Alex Moggridge (right) in South Coast Repertory’s production of Chinglish, a new comedy from David Henry Hwang. This co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre – the West Coast premiere — heads to the Hong Kong Arts Festival after the show closes at SCR. Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com

The cast includes Vivian Chiu, Celeste Den, Austin Ku, Michelle Krusiec, Alex Moggridge, Brian Nishii and Raymond Ma. Approximately 25 percent of the play’s dialogue is in Mandarin, with English translations projected on a screen onstage.

Playwright Hwang traveled in China in 2008 as that country geared up for the Summer Olympics. What he saw helped inspire the idea for the play.

“I went to a brand-new cultural center,” Hwang related. “It was made out of beautiful Italian woods and had a Japanese sound system—but all I noticed were the mistranslated signs and how ridiculous they were. It seemed like it would be fun to use that as the jumping-off point for a play about doing business in China.”

Chinglish is the story of Daniel, who has a great idea for his family’s sign company: score a fat contract in China, where signs for English-speaking tourists are mangled by their mistranslations. But he forgets the first rule: always bring your own translator. And when Daniel falls in love with a beautiful bureaucrat, even romance takes on a different meaning.

“It’s not even an America-versus-China difference, as much as it is a new world-versus-old world difference,” said Hwang. “The play is a comedy and seems to strike audiences as one small step toward greater cultural understanding.”

David Henry Hwang. Photo by Lia Chang

David Henry Hwang was awarded the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award which comes with a $200,000 prize. Hwang’s plays include Bondage, Chinglish (2012 Drama Desk Award nomination), The Dance and the Railroad (1982 Drama Desk Award nomination), Family Devotions (1982 Drama Desk Award nomination), FOB (1981 Obie Award), Golden Child (1997 Obie Award, 1998 Tony Award nomination), M. Butterfly (1988 Tony Award, 1989 Pulitzer Prize finalist), and Yellow Face (2008 Obie Award, 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalist). He also wrote the libretti for three Broadway musicals: Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida (co-author), Disney’s Tarzan, and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song (revival, 2002 Tony Award nomination). In opera, his libretti include four works with composer Philip Glass – 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, Icarus at the Edge of Time, Sound and Beauty, and The Voyage – as well as Howard Shore’s The Fly, Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar (two 2007 Grammy Awards), and Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland (Opernwelt 2007 World Premiere of the Year). Hwang penned the feature films Golden Gate, M. Butterfly, and Possession (co-author), and co-wrote the song “Solo” with Prince. He sits on the Council of the Dramatists Guild, and served on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities by appointment of President Clinton.

On Broadway, Leigh Silverman directed Chinglish and Lisa Kron’s Well. Among many other shows, she directed the world premiere of Kron’s In the Wake, which earned an Obie Award and a Lucille Lortel Award nomination.

The design and creative team includes David Korins, sets; Nancy A. Palmatier, costumes, based on original designs by Anita Yavich; Brian MacDevitt, lighting; Darron L. West, sound; Jeff Sugg and Shawn Duan, projection design; Candace Chong, Mandarin Chinese translations; Oanh X. Nguyen, associate director; Joshua Marchesi, production manager; artistic associate Lily Fan; and Michael Suenkel, stage manager.

Following its run at South Coast Repertory, the production will be staged at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in March.

Chinglish at SCR is generously supported by Honorary Producers Yvonne and Damien Jordan and S.L. and Betty Huang/Huang Family Foundation. The play is a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Tickets range from $20-70. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 25 years of age and under, fulltime educators, seniors and groups of 10 or more. For complete information, visit: www.scr.org.

Related Information for Chinglish
Tickets: May be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or by visiting the box office at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. Performances run Jan. 25-Feb. 24. Ticket prices range from $20 to $70. Low-priced preview performances run Jan. 25-31.

Performance Dates, Times:
Previews:
Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25-26, at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 27, at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 29-30, at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 31, at 8 p.m.
Regular performances:
Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 5-6; Feb. 10, 12-13; and Feb. 17, 19-20, at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 2; Feb. 7-9; Feb. 14-16; and Feb. 21-23, at 8 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, matinees at 2:30 p.m., Feb. 2-3, Feb. 9-10, Feb. 16-17 and Feb. 23-24.
Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 3, 10 and 17. Note: there is no evening performance on Sunday, Feb. 24.
ASL-interpreted: Saturday, Feb. 23, at 2:30 p.m.

Special Events:
Post-Show Discussions: Wednesday, Feb. 6, and Tuesday, Feb. 12. Discuss the play with cast members of the Chinglish during free post-show discussions led by South Coast Repertory’s literary team. Segerstrom Stage.

Inside the Season: Saturday, Feb. 9, from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Led by members of SCR’s literary staff, this lively two-hour session features in-depth interviews with cast members and artists from SCR’s production staff, revealing secrets and offering insights into SCR’s production of Chinglish. The event includes an in-depth interview with an actor from the show, insight from a member of the production team, plus a guided tour of the set.. Segerstrom Stage. Tickets are $12 and may be purchased in advance or at the door.

Location: South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Folino Theater Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available on Park Center Drive, off Anton Blvd.

ABOUT SOUTH COAST REPERTORY
Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely recognized as one of the leading professional theatres in the United States. SCR is committed to theatre that illuminates the compelling personal and social issues of our time, not only on its stages but through its wide array of education and outreach programs. While its productions represent a balance of classic and modern theatre, SCR is renowned for its extensive new-play development program, which includes the nation’s largest commissioning program for emerging and established writers and composers. Each year, it showcases some of country’s best new plays in the Pacific Playwrights Festival, which attracts theatre professionals from across the country. Of SCR’s more than 460 productions, one-quarter have been world premieres, whose subsequent stagings achieved enormous success throughout America and around the world. Two SCR-developed works have won Pulitzer Prizes, and another eight were named Pulitzer finalists. In addition, SCR works have won several OBIE Awards and scores of major new-play awards. Located in Costa Mesa, California, SCR’s Folino Theater Center is home to the 507-seat Segerstrom Stage, the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage and the 94-seat Nicholas Studio. Today, SCR produces 13 shows and eight public readings each season. More information is available at www.scr.org.

Articles by Lia Chang:
Ruy Iskandar and Yuekun Wu Set for Signature Theatre’s Production of David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and The Railroad, February 5 – March 17, 2013
Photos: Partying with the Cast of David Henry Hwang’s Golden Child; Extended Run Ends December 16, 2012
Signature Theatre’s Production of Golden Child by David Henry Hwang has been extended through December 16, 2012
Greg Watanabe, Julyana Soelistyo and Jennifer Lim Lead the Cast of Signature Theatre’s Production of David Henry Hwang’s Golden Child, October 23-December 2, 2012
David Henry Hwang to Receive the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award at the 5th Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards on October 29, 2012
Berkeley Rep’s Production Photos of David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish, Starring Michelle Krusiec and Alex Moggridge, Extends through October 21, 2012
Photos: David Henry Hwang, Oskar Eustis, BD Wong, Brian d’Arcy James, Francis Jue, Jennifer Lim and Leigh Silverman at WNYC’s The Greene Space
Click here for other articles on David Henry Hwang.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Ron Domingo, Francis Jue and Jon Norman Schneider Join the Cast of the World Premiere of Paper Dolls at the Tricycle Theatre, February 28 – April 13, 2013
Manu Narayan, Mark Bennett, Lea Salonga, Michael K. Lee and Stafford Arima Among 2012 Craig Noel Award Nominees
Harlem Nights with Lorey Hayes, Actress, Director and Award-Winning Playwright of Power Play and Massinissa
Manu Narayan Dazzles as Richard Roma in La Jolla Playhouse’s Revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross
Photos: All-Access Pass to Disney’s Aladdin at The Muny with Thom Sesma, Francis Jue, Robin De Jesus, John Tartaglia, Jason Graae, Curtis Holbrook, Eddie Korbich, Samantha Massell and Ken Page
Performing Arts Images from the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection on Display at the Library of Congress to Celebrate APA Heritage Month
Photos: Yellow Fever Playwright Rick Shiomi Explores New Territory with An All-Female Cast
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.

Lia Chang: Jelks, Blanks, Chisholm, Cooper, Odera, Ruff and Williams Set for Two Trains Running, Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson at Two River Theater Company, February 2 – March 3, 2013

John Earl Jelks. Photo by Lia Chang

Tony award nominee John Earl Jelks is featured as Wolf in the Ruben Santiago-Hudson helmed production of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running at Two River Theater Company, along with seasoned award-winning August Wilson vets – Harvy Blanks as West, Anthony Chisholm as Hambone, Chuck Cooper as Memphis, Owiso Odera as Sterling, Rosalyn Ruff as Risa and James A. Williams as Holloway. Preview performances begin February 2, 2013,and the production has been extended through March 3, 2013 in the Joan and Robert Rechnitz Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue in Red Bank, NJ. The opening night performance is Friday, February 15, 2013 at 8pm.

Part of Wilson’s 10-play cycle about the African-American experience in the 20th century, Two Trains Running is set against the backdrop of social change and political upheaval in the 1960s. It is the seventh in Wilson’s 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle chronicling the lives of African-Americans in each decade of the 20th century.

The creative team includes scenic designer Michael Carnahan; costume designer Karen Perry; lighting designer Xavier Pierce; sound designer Robert Kaplowitz; and composer Bill Sims Jr. The casting is by Heidi Griffiths and the stage manager is Amanda Michaels.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Last season, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, a Tony Award-winning actor, director, and writer, directed Wilson’s Jitney to critical acclaim and an extended run at Two River. Santiago-Hudson recently directed the Off-Broadway revivals of Athol Fugard’s My Children!, My Africa! and August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson at Signature Theatre Company. He made his directorial debut with Gem of the Ocean (McCarter Theatre and American Conservatory Theater). His directing credits include Things of Dry Hours (New York Theatre Workshop), Radio Golf (Kennedy Center), Seven Guitars and The First Breeze of Summer (for Signature Theatre Company, where he was an Associate Artist 2008-2009). Santiago-Hudson made his Broadway acting debut in Jelly’s Last Jam. His performance in Seven Guitars earned him the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. won an Obie Award and critical acclaim for his solo show Lackawanna Blues, and his screenplay for the HBO adaptation received the Humanitas Prize, Christopher Award, National Board of Review Honors, and NAACP Image Award; and Emmy, Golden Globe, and Writers Guild of America nominations. His most recent theater performances include Stick Fly (Broadway) A Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare in the Park) and Gem of the Ocean (Broadway). His film credits include Their Eyes Were Watching God, American Gangster, Mr. Brooks, Shaft, Devil’s Advocate, Domestic Disturbance, and The Invention of Lying. He was most recently seen on TV in the ABC show “Castle” as Captain Roy Montgomery; his other TV credits include: “Person of Interest,” “Forgotten Genius,” “The Red Sneakers,” “American Tragedy,” “Solomon and Sheba,” “Rear Window,” “Michael Hayes,” “The West Wing,” and “Law & Order.” He has been honored with numerous awards, including an Obie, Outer Critics Circle, Dramalogue, Clarence Derwent, Glen G. Bartle, and Helen Hayes Awards, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Wayne State University, two AUDELCO Awards, a Black Filmmaker’s Award, a NAMIC Award, and an HBO Comedy Arts Festival Theater Award. Santiago-Hudson was honored with an NAACP Lifetime Achievement Theatre Award in 2009. He is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Buffalo State College.

August Wilson grew up in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, the setting for all but one of his plays. His work has been seen across the United States, as well as on Broadway and all over the world. Two Trains Running -for which Wilson was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Tony Award nominee-had its debut at Yale Repertory Theatre in 1990 and opened on Broadway in 1992. The other plays in the Pittsburgh Cycle (also known as the Century Cycle) are Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes (for Fences and The Piano Lesson), a Tony Award for Fences, and Great Britain’s Olivier Award for Jitney.

John Earl Jelks was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance as Sterling in August Wilson’s Radio Golf, which he also toured to the McCarter, Goodman, CENTERSTAGE, SeattleRep., Mark Taper and Yale Rep. Jelks also appeared with Phylicia Rashad on Broadway in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean as Citizen (after runs at the Goodman, Huntington and Mark Taper, where he won an NAACP Theatre Award and an L.A. Ovation Award). In 2008, Jelks won an AUDELCO Award for his work in the Off-Broadway revival of The First Breeze of Summer. Jelks also appeared Off-Broadway in MCC’s production of Neil LaBute’s The Break of Noon with David Duchovny, Amanda Peet and Tracee Chimo. Regional theatre: Fetch Clay, Make Man at the McCarter Theatre; the world stage premiere of The Shawshank Redemption at the Gaiety Theatre in Ireland; Magnolia at the Goodman Theatre; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the Penumbra Theatre Company and Missouri Repertory Theatre. Recently, Jelks appeared as Lt. Ike Murray in the film Snap, as the Man in the Desert in The Miraculous, a short film co-directed and co-written by Laurel Nakadate and Brent Stewart; as Jermaine Dansby Sr. in the Spike Lee helmed TV movie Da Brick. On TV, his guest starring roles include Mr. Achok on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and as Ray Bell on “Blue Bloods”.

Karen Perry, who recently designed the costumes for Signature Theatre Company’s critically acclaimed revival of The Piano Lesson starring Two Trains Running castmembers Roslyn Ruff, Chuck Cooper, James A. Williams, is on board for Two Trains Running. Her recent credits include the 10th Anniversary production of Crowns, written and directed by Regina Taylor (Goodman); Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky, dir. Sheldon Epps (Pasadena Playhouse); John Grisham’s A Time to Kill, dir. Ethan McSweeny (Arena); Regina Taylor’s Trinity River Plays, dir. McSweeny (Dallas Theater Center, Goodman); Walter Mosley’s The Fall of Heaven, dir. Marion McClinton (Cincinnati Playhouse); The Brother/Sister Plays by Pulitzer nominee Tarell McCraney, dir. Tina Landau (The Public) and Landau and Robert O’Hara (McCarter); Things of Dry Hours by Naomi Wallace, dir. Ruben Santiago-Hudson (NYTW); Having Our Say, written and directed by Emily Mann (McCarter); and Resurrection by Daniel Beaty, dir. Oz Scott (Arena). Her regional credits include six August Wilson productions: Gem of the Ocean, The Piano Lesson, King Hedley II, Radio Golf, Two Trains Running, and Seven Guitars. Honors include 2008 and 2006 AUDELCO Awards; the 2007 San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award; the 2006 “Woodie” Award; and the 2005 National Black Theatre Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award; as well as AUDELCO, Henry Hewes, and Lortel nominations. Select film/TV credits include: “Saturday Night Live” and The Brother from Another Planet by director John Sayles.

Harvy Blanks

Harvy Blanks has been a member of the Denver Center Theater Company since 1985. Some of his credits at the Denver Center include Fences, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Gem of the Ocean, King Hedley II, Jitney and The Piano Lesson (all by August Wilson), and A Streetcar Named Desire. In New York, Harvy received a Drama Desk Award for his performance as Oscar in Tabletop. Other noted New York productions include The First Breeze of Summer (Signature Theatre), The Guest of Central Park West (WorkShop Theater Company), and A Prophet Among Them (Blue Heron Theatre). Harvy was recently nominated for an Ovation award for a regional theater production of Driving Miss Daisy.

Anthony Chisholm

Anthony Chisholm won Obie and Drama Desk Awards for his performance as Fielding in the original Off-Broadway production of Jitney; he also played the role at the Mark Taper Forum and in London at the Royal National Theatre (Olivier Award for Best Play). He received a Tony nomination for his performance as Elder Joseph Barlow in August Wilson’s Radio Golf; his other Broadway credits include Wilson’s Two Trains Running and Gem of the Ocean. He is the recipient of NAACP, AUDELCO, Ovation, and IRNE Awards; he has also received nominations for Drama Desk, Drama League, Joseph Jefferson, Ovation, NAACP, and AUDELCO Awards. Mr. Chisholm appeared in The Tracers, Ice Bridge, and King Lear for The Public/NYSF. Other theater credits include The Mighty Gents, Back in the World, Melvin Van Peebles’ Ain’t Supposed To Die a Natural Death (first national tour), and Charles Gordone’s No Place to Be Somebody, as well as Tracers at London’s Royal Court and in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. Regional credits include The Train Driver (Long Wharf), I Am a Man (Goodman), I Just Stopped By to See the Man (Steppenwolf), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Denver Center Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House), Fences (Indiana Rep) and Driving Miss Daisy (Portland Stage). His film/TV credits include 13, Blackout, Reign Over Me, Langhorne in Beloved, “100 Center Street” (Emmy consideration), “Hack” (recurring role), “Law & Order: SVU”, “Vietnam War Stories” (Cable Ace nomination), “Third Watch,” and HBO’s “Oz” as series regular Burr Redding.

Chuck Cooper

Chuck Cooper is a veteran of 10 Broadway plays and musicals, and numerous television and film guest lead appearances over the span of his 30 years as a professional actor. He won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a musical for his portrayal of Memphis in The Life. Other Broadway credits include: Finian’s Rainbow; Lennon; Caroline, or Change (AUDELCO Award, Best Featured Actor); Chicago; Passion; Someone to Watch Over Me; Rumors; Amen Corner; Getting Away With Murder. Off-Broadway: Lost In the Stars (Encores); On the Levee (LCT3); Thunder Knocking on the Door (Minetta Lane, AUDELCO nomination); Colored People’s Time (Negro Ensemble Co.); and more. Regional credits include: All My Sons (Intiman); Dance of the Holy Ghosts (Yale Rep); Robeson (Passage Theatre); Othello (New Jersey Shakespeare Festival); Julius Caesar (Philadelphia Drama Guild); Hamlet, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare Theatre, DC); Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, Two Trains Running (San Diego Critics Circle Award, The Old Globe); and more. Television: “Gossip Girl”; “Nurse Jackie”; “Hack”; 1″00 Centre Street”; “Law & Order SVU”; “Oz”;” NYPD Blue”; “Cosby”; “New York Undercover”; “I’ll Fly Away”; and more. Film credits: Boy Wonder; Noise; Evening; American Gangster; Find Me Guilty; Three Days of Rain; The Hurricane; The Opportunists; Gloria; The Juror; North. Mr. Cooper is a Beinecke Fellow at the Yale School of Drama. Favorite role: Eddie, Alex, and Lilli’s father. www.chuckcooper.net.

Owiso Odera

Owiso Odera Off-Broadway: US premiere of The Overwhelming (Roundabout Theatre Company), Romeo and Juliet (the Public Theater / New York Shakespeare Festival). Regional theater credits include, August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean (A.C.T, San Francisco), Directed by Mr. Santiago-Hudson; The title role in Othello (Folger Theatre, Washington DC); the world premiere of Samuel J. & K. at the Williamstown Theatre Festival (Williamstown, MA); Groundswell, Titus Andronicus, Romeo & Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merry Wives of Windsor (The Old Globe, San Diego); Love of Three Oranges (La Jolla Playhouse); Macbeth (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Boston). Television: “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “Numb3rs” (CBS), “The Unit” (CBS), “FlashForward” (ABC), recurring roles on “Three Rivers” (CBS) and “DIRT” (FX). Film: The Thirst (Blood Wars), Relative Obscurity, Acholiland and the upcoming Orenthal, the Musical and H4. Training: The Acting Studio, New York. MFA; University of California – San Diego

Roslyn Ruff

Roslyn Ruff Broadway: Fences (standby). Off-Broadway: The Piano Lesson (Signature Theatre Company); Love, Loss, and What I Wore; Macbeth (TFANA); The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter; Things of Dry Hours; Seven Guitars; Killa Dilla; The Cherry Orchard; Macbeth (Classical Theatre of Harlem); Pudd’nhead Wilson; The Taming of the Shrew. Regional work includes: Berkeley Rep, Long Wharf, The Kennedy Center, Indiana Rep, Geva Theatre, Old Globe, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Alliance Theatre, McCarter Theatre, ACT, Yale Rep, People’s Light & Theatre Co. International: 2004 Bonn Biennale Festival and Shakespeare Festival of Neuss; 2003 Athens Festival. Film: Detachment, The Help, Salt, Life During Wartime, Rachel Getting Married, In the Blood. TV: “A Gifted Man” (Nurse Sulla), “The Big C,” “The Good Wife,” “The Jury,” “The Sopranos.” Awards: 2010 Drama League nomination for Distinguished Performance, 2007 Obie Award for Performance, 2003 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play. MFA: IATT at Harvard University.

James A. Williams. Photo by Lia Chang

James A. Williams has worked in regional theaters across the country as an actor and educator. Nationally, he has an extensive performing history with Center Stage, Goodman Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, McCarter, Seattle Rep, and Yale Rep culminating on Broadway in August Wilson’s Radio Golf. Williams performed multiple roles in The Kennedy Center’s August Wilson’s Century Cycle, and Off-Broadway in August Wilson’s Jitney, The Piano Lesson, Athol Fugard’s My Children!, My Africa!, and Marion McClinton’s Walkers. A founding company member of Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, he is Director of Teen Programming at Pillsbury House Theatre. He is also Artistic Director for the Hennepin County Home School Theatre Project and a teaching artist with the International Theatre and Literacy Project. He has led performance workshops at University of Minnesota, Brown University, Macalester College, Colby College, the International School of Kenya, and Akeri and Nshupu Secondary Schools in Tanzania. A 2005 NAACP Image Award nominee, he was awarded the St. Paul Companies Leadership Initiative in the Neighborhoods Grant. He was named Actor of the Year by City Pages Magazine and Artist of the Year by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He is a TCG New Generations Fellow.

New this season, Two River has introduced a limited number of $20 tickets for every performance throughout the season, with no restrictions on when or by whom the tickets can be purchased. Patrons are encouraged to buy early in order to take advantage of this price point. Patrons 30 and under can purchase $24 tickets for every performance, with no restrictions on seating. Other tickets range from $37 to $65. Click here for tickets or call 732.345.1400.

Celebration of August Wilson with Cast Members from Two Trains Running
Tuesday, February 12 at 7pm at the Middletown Township Public Library, 55 New Monmouth Road
Two River Theater will present its second annual tribute to the great writer August Wilson, as cast members from Two Trains Running share stories and memories of working with him, and talk about the enduring legacy of his plays. This event is free to the public at the Middletown Township Public Library; call 732.671.3700 ext. 320 or visit http://hip.mtpl.org/evanced/lib/eventcalendar.asp for reservations or more information.

TwiNight at the River, in partnership with BLACKNJ
Thursday, January 24 from 6pm-8pm at Two River Theater
This special networking event will include an opportunity to meet artists from Two Trains Running, live music, light appetizers, and a cash bar. Tickets are $10 in advance, available from www.blacknj.org, or $20 at the door.

AUDIENCE EXTRAS
Before Play
Awoye Timpo, the Assistant Director of Two Trains Running, will discuss the culture and politics of the 1960s as the host of Two River’s Before Play series. This free lecture will take place in the lobby 45 minutes before the start of every performance.

Lobby Display
Words and images will illuminate the work of August Wilson and the world of this production.

Post-Play Discussions
Audiences are invited to share their questions and responses to the play with members of the cast after the following performances: Wednesday, February 13 at 7pm; Sunday, February 17 at 3pm; and Wednesday, February 20 at 1pm.

Accessibility
Two River Theater is fully wheelchair accessible and offers assisted-listening devices and large-print programs at every performance. Audio-described performances are scheduled for Wednesday, February 20 at 1pm and Saturday, February 23 at 8pm. Tickets to this performance are offered at the discounted rate of $25 for patrons needing audio description. An open-captioned performance is scheduled for Saturday, February 23 at 3pm. Tickets to this performance are offered at the discounted rate of $25 for patrons needing open captions. To reserve wheelchair-accessible seating or tickets for a performance listed above, patrons should call 732.345.1400.

Calendar
Saturday, February 2 at 8pm
Sunday, February 3 at 3pm
Tuesday, February 5 at 8pm
Wednesday, February 6 at 7pm
Thursday, February 7 at 8pm
Friday, February 8 at 8pm
Saturday, February 9 at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, February 10 at 3pm
Wednesday, February 13 at 1pm and 7pm
Thursday, February 14 at 8pm
Friday, February 15 at 10am (student matinee) and 8pm (Press Opening)
Saturday, February 16 at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, February 17 at 3pm
Wednesday, February 20 at 1pm and 7pm
Thursday, February 21 at 10am (student matinee) and at 8pm
Friday, February 22 at 8pm
Saturday, February 23 at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, February 24 at 3pm
Thursday, February 28 at 10am (student matinee) and at 8pm
Friday, March 1 at 8pm
Saturday, March 2 at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, March 3 at 3pm

TWO RIVER THEATER COMPANY, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, is dedicated to producing great classics from the American and world stage, creating new plays and musicals for the American theater, and serving its diverse and multigenerational community through unique partnerships and education programs. Founded in 1994 by Joan and Dr. Robert M. Rechnitz, the theater supports the most exceptional and adventurous artists in the American theater and provides opportunities for its audiences to be part of the creative process. Two River Theater is a member of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT), Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, and ArtPride New Jersey, and has been designated a “Major Arts Institution” by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Other articles by Lia Chang:
Signature’s Off-Broadway Revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, helmed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, runs October 30 -December 9, 2012
Geffen Playhouse Production Photos of Neil LaBute’s The Break of Noon starring Kevin Anderson, Tracee Chimo, Catherine Dent and John Earl Jelks, 1/25-3/6/11
Kevin Anderson, Catherine Dent, Tracee Chimo, John Earl Jelks in Neil La Bute’s The Break of Noon at the Geffen 1/25-3/6
Photos: David Duchovny, John Earl Jelks, Amanda Peet,Tracee Chimo opening night of Neil LaBute’s The Break of Noon
John Earl Jelks is featured in MCC Theater’s world premiere of Neil LaBute’s The Break of Noon at the Lucille Lortel
Denise Burse, Rocky Carroll, Anthony Chisholm, John Earl Jelks and James A. Williams in Radio Golf by August Wilson at The Pearlstone Theater in Baltimore
Costume Designer Karen Perry- Audelco Nod for The Public Theatre’s Brother/Sister Trilogy by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Good Night | Good Morning starring Manu Narayan and Seema Rahmani on J. Hurtado’s Top Ten Indian Films of 2012
Ruy Iskandar and Yuekun Wu Set for Signature Theatre’s Production of David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and The Railroad, February 5 – March 17, 2013
Manu Narayan, Mark Bennett, Lea Salonga, Michael K. Lee and Stafford Arima Among 2012 Craig Noel Award Nominees
Harlem Nights with Lorey Hayes, Actress, Director and Award-Winning Playwright of Power Play and Massinissa
Manu Narayan Dazzles as Richard Roma in La Jolla Playhouse’s Revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross
Photos: All-Access Pass to Disney’s Aladdin at The Muny with Thom Sesma, Francis Jue, Robin De Jesus, John Tartaglia, Jason Graae, Curtis Holbrook, Eddie Korbich, Samantha Massell and Ken Page
Performing Arts Images from the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection on Display at the Library of Congress to Celebrate APA Heritage Month
Photos: Yellow Fever Playwright Rick Shiomi Explores New Territory with An All-Female Cast
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John Earl Jelks, Lia Chang and Ruben Santiago-Hudson at the opening night party for MCC's Break of Noon in New York on November 22, 2010. Photo by Charles Richard Barboza

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.
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