Ford’s Theatre Presents Washington Premiere of FLY by Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan, September 21 – October 21, 2012

Mark Hairston and Christopher Wilson in Fly. Photo by Scott Suchman

Eric Berryman, Mark Hairston, Damian Thompson and Christopher Wilson as Tuskegee Airmen W.W., Oscar, J. Allen and Chet are set for Ford’s Theatre’s Washington premiere of Fly, by Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan, September 21 through October 21, 2012. Ricardo Khan will helm the production. Beginning September 17, tickets may be reserved in person at the Ford’s Theatre Box Office, through Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787 or online at www.fords.org. Ticketmaster fees apply. Ford’s Theatre is located at 511 Tenth Street, NW in Washington, DC.

The centerpiece of this year’s programming for The Lincoln Legacy Project, Fly is based on the experiences of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. The play follows four courageous heroes hailing from Chicago, Harlem, rural Iowa and the Caribbean as they train to fly combat aircraft. In spite of the overt racism they encounter, the men form a lasting brotherhood and fly with distinction, paving the way for the desegregation of the American military and the later Civil Rights Movement. The production inventively combines live action, video footage and the inspirational “Tap Griot,” a dancing storyteller who expresses the anger, fear and triumph that the officers cannot.

The production also features Omar Edwards as the Tap Griot (Broadway’s Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk), and Matt Bassett, James Konicek (Ford’s 1776, Parade, Liberty Smith, State of the Union), Clark Young and Kahlil X. Daniel.

“Fly showcases the friendships gained and challenges faced by the Tuskegee Airmen during training and combat,” said director and co-author of Fly Ricardo Khan. “The story not only portrays the airmen’s significant achievements as they escorted bombers on vital military missions abroad, but also reminds us that positive outcomes await us when we work together in the pursuit of excellence and promote equal opportunity.”

“Though the Tuskegee Airmen served with distinction in conflicts on behalf of the United States, they returned home to encounter segregation and prejudice,” said Director of Ford’s Theatre Paul R. Tetreault. “We are honored to celebrate the perseverance and heroism of the Tuskegee Airmen with Fly and our connected Lincoln Legacy Project discussions and exhibitions this fall.”

Fly is made possible with support from Lead Sponsor Lockheed Martin Corporation and sponsors Southern Company and Rolls-Royce. The Washington Post is the Official Media Partner for Fly and The Lincoln Legacy Project.

Ricardo Kahn (Photo by Lia Chang)

RICARDO KAHN
Fly Co-author and Director Ricardo Khan returns to Ford’s Theatre for the first time since the 1991 production of Black Eagles. Khan was a member of the Broadway producing team for It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues (Tony nomination, 1999) and Associate Director for Hot Feet. His regional credits include productions for Hartford Stage, Oregon Shakespeare and the Kennedy Center. Khan is Founding Director of Crossroads Theatre Company (Tony for Outstanding Regional Theatre, 1999); Artist-In-Residence for the Lincoln Center Institute, Lincoln Center; and founder of the World Theatre Lab, an international writers-collective based in London, New York and Johannesburg. He also serves as an Associate Artist at the Vineyard Playhouse.

Scenic Designer Beowulf Boritt’s designs include large cloud-draped hanging panels that showcase multi-media projections including, among other things, historic images and World War II aerial footage. Projections are designed by Clint Allen (The Heavens Are Hung In Black). The Fly design team also includes Costume Design by Toni-Leslie James (Black Pearl Sings!), Lighting Design by Rui Rita (A Christmas Carol, Meet John Doe, Trying), Original Music and Sound Design by John Gromada (Necessary Sacrifices, Sabrina Fair), Choreography by Hope Clarke, Fight Direction by Rick Sordelet and Dialects by Leigh Wilson Smiley. The production team also includes Production Stage Manager Brandon Prendergast and Assistant Stage Manager Kate Kilbane.

Washington, D.C. native Dr. Roscoe Brown, Jr. serves as Production Advisor for Fly. As squadron commander of the 100th Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group during World War II, Brown flew 68 long-range missions from August of 1944 to March of 1945. For his service, Brown received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his extraordinary achievement in aerial flight as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen.

THE LINCOLN LEGACY PROJECT
The Lincoln Legacy Project is a multi-year effort to create dialogue in our nation’s capital around the issues of tolerance, equality and acceptance. Each fall, beginning with the Washington premiere of the musical Parade in 2011, town-hall-style meetings, panel discussions, scholar talkbacks, in-depth student workshops and staged readings will augment an evocative mainstage production. Through a diversity of programming, The Lincoln Legacy Project is designed to encourage people of differing viewpoints to engage in meaningful and respectful dialogue about tolerance and understanding.

Events for The Lincoln Legacy Project are presented in cooperation with several partner organizations including The Anti-Defamation League, East Coast Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., Jewish Film Festival, the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Operation Understanding D.C. The Lincoln Legacy Project is made possible with support from: Ronald O. Perelman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., Founding Sponsor; theAbraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, Harold Holzer, Chairman.

The Lincoln Legacy Project is funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Washington Post is the Official Media Partner of The Lincoln Legacy Project.

For more information on the 2012 programming schedule for The Lincoln Legacy Project, visit http://www.fords.org/lincoln-legacy-project

SPECIAL PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS
* There will be audio-described performances of Fly on Saturday, October 6, at 2:00 p.m. and Saturday, October 16, at 7:30 p.m. Sign-interpreted performances are Thursday, October 11, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, October 20, at 2:00 p.m.

* As part of The Lincoln Legacy Project, Ford’s Theatre offers facilitated discussions to interested audience members immediately following each evening performance of Fly (except September 26). These 20-minute discussions give audiences an opportunity to engage in a dialogue on the themes and issues raised in the performance.

* Patrons with tickets to Fly may visit the Center for Education and Leadership across from the Theatre for a special second floor exhibition about the Tuskegee Airmen titled The Test, through October 21. Featuring photographs and models, this exhibit follows the ground-breaking training and service of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. Visit http://www.fords.org/lincoln-legacy-project for more details. Patrons with tickets to an evening performance can visit the Petersen House and Center exhibits beginning at 5 p.m. The Petersen House closes at 5:30 p.m., and the Center remains open until 6:30 p.m. Matinee patrons can visit the Center’s exhibits before or after the performance.

In October, a series of free discussion events as part of The Lincoln Legacy Project will feature experts discussing the history behind Fly and how the Tuskegee Airmen influenced the American military, the Civil Rights Movement and related contemporary social issues. On October 1 at 7 p.m., Ford’s will host Dreaming of Skies to Conquer: A Conversation with Original Tuskegee Airmen. On October 8 at 7 p.m., veterans discuss diversity in the Armed Forces in a program titled Counting the Brave and the True: Military Veterans Discuss the Path to Diversity in the Armed Forces. The final conversation on October 15 at 7 p.m. will be Staying the Course: A Discussion of How to Ensure and Manage a Culturally Astute Military in the 21st Century. Beginning September 17, tickets may be reserved in person at the Ford’s Theatre Box Office, through Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787 or online at www.fords.org. Ticketmaster fees apply.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
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
Mu’s landmark 21st Season features a brand new Taiko Concert, Lauren Yee’s The Tiger Among Us, and Rick Shiomi’s Award-Winning comedy Yellow Fever
Manu Narayan, Johnny Wu, Peter Maloney, Jeff Marlow, Matt MacNelly, Kevin Skousen & Ray Anthony Thomas Set for La Jolla Playhouse’s Glengarry Glen Ross, September 18- October 21, 2012
Berkeley Rep’s Production Photos of David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish, Starring Michelle Krusiec and Alex Moggridge, Extends through October 21, 2012
The Old Globe Production Photos of George Takei, Lea Salonga, Telly Leung and Paolo Montalban in World Premiere of Allegiance – A New American Musical
Video: Academy Award Winner Chris Tashima Talks About His Roles in Lily Mariye’s Model Minority and Lil Tokyo Reporter
André De Shields Returns to The Laurie Beechman Theatre with I Put A Spell on You, October 5 and 12
Photos: Tonya Pinkins, André De Shields, S. Epatha Merkerson, Billy Porter and George C. Wolfe at 54 Below
Sean Dugan Set for West Coast Premiere of George C. Wolfe’s Tony Award-Winning Production of The Normal Heart at A.C.T., September 13 – October 7, 2012
Raul Aranas, Kate Baldwin, Brian d’Arcy James, P.J. Griffith, Bobby Steggert and Michele Pawk Set for New York Premiere of GIANT at The Public Theater, October 26-December 2, 2012
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
David Henry Hwang to Receive the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award at the 5th Annual Steinberg Playwright “Mimi” Awards on October 29, 2012
Photos: 4 Wedding Planners’ Illeana Douglas, Kimberly-Rose Wolter and Michael Kang at Screen Actors Guild Foundation Conversations Series in NY
MTC’s An Enemy of The People Starring Boyd Gaines and Richard Thomas Begin Previews at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Tony Award – winning Playwright Terrence McNally to be Honored at Westport Country Playhouse Annual Gala, September 24, 2012
Signature Theatre’s World Premiere of Sam Shepard’s Heartless Starring Lois Smith, Gary Cole, Jenny Bacon, Betty Gilpin, and Julianne Nicholson Extends through September 30, 2012
Photos: 4 Wedding Planners’ Illeana Douglas, Kimberly-Rose Wolter and Michael Kang at Screen Actors Guild Foundation Conversations Series in NY
10 minutes with Sullivan & Son’s Jodi Long, Award Winning Actor and Filmmaker
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: © 2000-2012 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

Transcending: the Wat Misaka Story,The 90th Minute, Jesse Owens, In Her Corner, Blind Ambition & Black Power Salute in 3rd Annual RightsFest at Tribeca Cinemas, September 6-8, 2012

The Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education brings its third annual RightsFest, a traveling, pan-ethnic, civil rights film festival, to New York City’s Tribeca Cinemas from September 6-8, 2012.
Inspired by the national dialogue about sports and equality during the height of “Linsanity” in February, the 40th anniversary of Title IX in June, and Oscar Pistorius’ historic participation in the London Olympics, RightsFest 2012 shines a spotlight on civil rights and sports. This year’s festival offers six documentary films about athletes who face equal challenges on and off the track, field or court, due to their race, gender or disability.

Opening night: Thursday, September 6
The 90th Minute (24 min) compels viewers to think about the way we value women’s sports. More than a decade after the 1999 Women’s World Cup, when players like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain inspired girls across the country to take up soccer, the Women’s Professional Soccer league still cannot survive. In May, just months after The 90th Minute’s release, the WPS folded completely.
* Director Jun Stinson will join a Q&A discussion following the screening.

Jesse Owens (56 min), a 2012 American Experience film produced by Firelight Media (Freedom Riders, The Murder of Emmett Till), delves beyond the sprinter’s stunning performance at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany to tell the story of the son of a sharecropper who becomes a world champion, only to be confronted by the harsh realities of celebrity.
* Director Laurens Grant will join a Q&A discussion following the screening.

Centerpiece presentations: Friday, September 7
Transcending: the Wat Misaka Story (50 min) chronicles the journey of the first minority basketball player in the NBA. Amidst a hostile racial climate that incarcerated 120,000 innocent Japanese Americans during World War II, Misaka prevails as a top college basketball player who is ultimately drafted by the New York Knicks in 1947.
* Co-directors Christine Toy Johnson and Bruce Alan Johnson will join a Q&A discussion following the screening.

In Her Corner (43 min) profiles 2012 Olympic bronze medal boxer Marlen Esparza. The 2012 Olympic Games were the first to allow women’s boxing, the last female sport to be included in the world’s most prestigious sporting competition. In Her Corner reflects the lives and many struggles of female boxers in this country.
* CNN host Soledad O’Brien will join a Q&A discussion following the screening.

Closing night: Saturday, September 8
Blind Ambition (12 min) introduces us to Simon Hill, a Paralympic soccer player who competes in England’s blind football league. In the world of professional soccer, celebrities and endorsements often drown out individual stories of struggle and sacrifice. Blind Ambition is a refreshingly beautiful portrait of one man’s pure love of the game.

Black Power Salute (58 min) examines one of the most iconic sports images ever captured: the raised fists of two sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, as they receive their medals during the 1968 Olympics. With the world watching, this single gesture of courage forces the spotlight onto the harsh reality faced by Black Americans.
* Olympic gold medalist Tommie Smith, along with director Geoff Small, will join a Q&A discussion following the screening.

***
Tickets
Screenings are at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $8.00 per night and available for purchase at www.rightsfest.org.

About RightsFest
RightsFest is a traveling, pan-ethnic, civil rights film festival sponsored by the Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education. The annual RightsFest brings audiences a diverse range of social justice films as well as panels to discuss civil rights, activism, filmmaking, and community-bridging solutions. RightsFest 2012 is made possible by funding from Open Society Foundations. 2012 Community Co-sponsors include the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Asian CineVision, Black Documentary Collective, DV Republic, Firelight Media, Metropolitan Black Bar Association, National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

About the Korematsu Institute
The Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education is a program of the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco. The Korematsu Institute is dedicated to advancing pan-ethnic civil and human rights through education. Founded in the name of the late civil rights hero Fred Korematsu, the Korematsu Institute develops and distributes free curriculum about Asian American history to teachers around the country. In 2010, the Institute led community efforts to pass California’s Fred Korematsu Day, the first day in US history named after an Asian American. Fred Korematsu is celebrated every January 30, on Mr. Korematsu’s birthday. For more information, visit www.KorematsuInstitute.org or www.FredKorematsuDay.org.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Epic Theatre Presents Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths, starring Joel de la Fuente, May 20-21, 2012
President Obama Names Asian American Civil Rights Hero Gordon Hirabayashi Recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Remembering Civil Rights Leader Gordon Hirabayashi,1918- 2012
Fred Korematsu, American Hero and Civil Rights Activist Dies at 86
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Fred Korematsu Becomes First Asian American in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Civil Rights Exhibition
Photos: A.B. Cruz III and Lillian Kimura Receive 2011 AALDEF Justice in Action Awards
Reverend Jesse Jackson & Beau Sia slated for 1st Annual Fred Korematsu Day Celebration at UC Berkeley
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Signs Fred Korematsu Day Bill, Bill Establishes January 30 as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution
Making the Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution Bill a Reality
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: © 2000-2012 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

President Obama Names Asian American Civil Rights Hero Gordon Hirabayashi Recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom

WASHINGTON – On Thursday, April 26, 2012, President Obama named the late Gordon Hirabayashi one of 13 recipients of this year’s Presidential Medal of Freedom awards. Members of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice (Advancing Justice)—Asian American Institute, Asian American Justice Center, Asian Law Caucus and Asian Pacific American Legal Center—and the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education applaud the president for awarding the nation’s highest civilian honor to Hirabayashi, who passed away earlier this year on January 2. The Medal of Freedom is presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. President Obama will present the awards at the White House in late spring.

“Gordon Hirabayashi was an American hero. We are thrilled to hear that he will receive a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honor which will help spread awareness of his courageous story,” said Ling Woo Liu, director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education, a program of the Asian Law Caucus.

In 1942, Hirabayashi was a 24-year-old student at the University of Washington when President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. Hirabayashi, an American citizen, refused to comply with the forced relocation order and instead turned himself in to the FBI in order to assert his belief that the internment order was racially discriminatory. He was convicted by a U.S. Federal District Court in Seattle of defying the exclusion order and violating curfew. Hirabayashi appealed his conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against him in 1943. Following World War II and his time in prison, Hirabayashi obtained his doctoral degree in sociology and became a professor at the University of Alberta in Canada. In 1987, his conviction was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In 1999, the former Catalina Honor Camp, where he was sentenced to hard labor in the 1940s, was renamed the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site. Since 2007, East West Players, an Asian American theater company, has produced stage productions based on his life, entitled, Hold These Truths (formerly Dawn’s Light: The Gordon Hirabayashi Story) by Jeanne Sakata. In May 2011, acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal released an unprecedented “confession of error,” on behalf of the Department of Justice, in both the Korematsu and Hirabayashi cases.

The Asian American Center for Advancing Justice (www.advancingjustice.org) works to promote a fair and equitable society for all by working for civil and human rights and empowering Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other underserved communities, and is comprised of the Asian American Justice Center (www.advancingequality.org), the Asian American Institute (www.aaichicago.org), the Asian Law Caucus (www.asianlawcaucus.org) and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (www.apalc.org).

Other Articles by Lia Chang
Coming to America through The Angel Island Immigration Station
Remembering Civil Rights Leader Gordon Hirabayashi,1918- 2012
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
Fred Korematsu, American Hero and Civil Rights Activist Dies at 86
Celebrating my mom – AN ACTIVE VISION: BEVERLY UMEHARA…LABOR ACTIVIST…1945-1999
Photos: AALDEF 2012 Justice in Action Honorees Parkin Lee, Jean Koh Peters and Fareed Zakaria
Fred Korematsu Becomes First Asian American in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Civil Rights Exhibition
OCA Awards Gala Photos: David Henry Hwang, Tamlyn Tomita, BD Wong, Dr. Bobby Fong & Tammy Duckworth
Photos: A.B. Cruz III and Lillian Kimura Receive 2011 AALDEF Justice in Action Awards
Reverend Jesse Jackson & Beau Sia slated for 1st Annual Fred Korematsu Day Celebration at UC Berkeley
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Signs Fred Korematsu Day Bill, Bill Establishes January 30 as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution
Making the Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution Bill a Reality
Juan Gonzalez and Larry Tu Received AALDEF 2010 Justice in Action Awards in New York
Multimedia: AALDEF Celebrates 35 Years of Protecting and Promoting the Civil Rights of Asian Americans
AALDEF Honors Dale Minami, Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl Wudunn and Sandra Leung with 2009 Justice in Action Awards
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang. Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.
All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2012 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 lia@backstagepasswithliachang.com.

Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto Celebrates 50 Years of Koto Music at Lakeside Theater in Oakland on March 20

Congratulations to Oakland native Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, who is celebrating 50 years of playing and performing koto, a traditional Japanese 13-stringed zither with an afternoon of music at Lakeside Theater in Oakland on Sunday, March 20, 2011 at 4pm. Muramoto, her students and friends will be joined by koto players from Japan, Canada and the U.S. for this festive occasion.

The roster of distinguished artists includes Shigeo Tachibana, shakuhachi master from Chiba, Japan; and Linda Kako Caplan, Canada’s premiere koto master. This unprecedented event also brings together masters from three of Japan’s koto traditions: Shoko Hikage (Sawai School), Tamie Kooyenga (Todo School) and Michiyo Koga (Miyagi School). A joint performance by koto masters from different traditional koto schools rarely occurs in Japan, because of social decorum and koto’s traditional rules.

The concert is a reunion for musicians who played in Muramoto’s Murasaki Ensemble some 20 years ago. They include Lita Kazuho Buttolph, Carol Kasumi Takao, Melinda Kazumari Nakagawa, and Michelle Kazuakimi Suwabe. Murasaki Ensemble alums will join current members of the ensemble — Jeff Massanari, Matt Eakle, Vince Delgado, and Alex Baum.

Muramoto has been instrumental in keeping alive a musical tradition with roots in the U.S. concentration camps of World War II. Her mother learned the koto as a young girl, while interned at Topaz camp (in Utah) from teacher Haruko Suwada, and at Tule Lake (in California) from Mitsuko Sanemitsu Oda. Beginning at age five, Muramoto learned koto from her mother, who ran a koto school with as many as 70 private students at its peak. Muramoto assisted in the school recitals — and achieved her own teaching “Shihan” credentials in 1976, with Yushusho honors, from the Chikushi Kai in Fukuoka, Japan.

Over the past half century, Muramoto has been privileged to work with and perform with many great musicians, artists and celebrities. She has taught hundreds of students and has trained new teachers, among them her son Brian Mitsuhiro Wong and Felicia Kazuou Bock. Both recently passed their teaching exams with special honors.

While continuing to teach and perform, Muramoto has been researching the story of traditional Japanese artists of the American concentration camps. As she notes, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 –which extended an apology and granted reparations to Japanese Americans incarcerated by the federal government during World War II — led to an outpouring of research about the internment. Muramoto was surprised to discover, however, that there was little documentation of the role of traditional Japanese arts (such as ikebana, Kabuki theater, and koto) in the camps, or of the artists who kept Japanese culture alive in the campus, despite potential accusations that these activities proved their disloyalty to the U.S. Muramoto has been conducting interviews and collecting artifacts of that era, hoping to shed light on an important and little-known aspect of the internment.

Each selection performed at the March 20 concert will represent an important juncture in Muramoto’s musical journey. In the process, she hopes to honor the teachers who came before her, sharing their knowledge and expertise. She also hopes that the celebration concert will help nurture the continuance of this musical and cultural legacy by her students, new teachers, and colleagues.

Special Guest Artists:
Shigeo Tachibana, shakuhachi, Chiba, Japan
Linda Kako Caplan, Chikushi Kai, Toronto, Canada

Koto teachers:
Shoko Hikage, Sawai Soukyokuin, San Francisco, CA
Tamie Kooyenga, Todo Kai, Walnut Creek, CA
Michiyo Koga, Miyagi Kai, Sacramento, CA
Kashihiro Ohzato (Debbie Barker Brune), Chikushi Kai, Roseville, CA
Brian Mitsuhiro Wong, Sawai Soukyokuin, Oakland, CA
Felicia Kazuou Bock, Chikushi Kai, Oakland, CA.

Murasaki Ensemble musicians:
Matt Eakle, flute
Vince Delgado, percussion
Jeff Massanari, guitar
Alex Baum, string bass
Koto teachers with Chikushi Kai:
Michelle Kazuakimi Suwabe (San Diego & San Mateo, CA)
Lita Kazuho Buttolph (Portland, OR)
Carol Kasumi Takao (Tempe, AZ)
Melinda Kazumari Nakagawa (Marina, CA)

When: 4 p.m., Sunday, March 20, 2011
Where: Lakeside Theater (in the Kaiser Center, near Lake Merritt
300 Lakeside Drive
Oakland, CA
Parking: Complimentary in the Kaiser Center garage
Tickets: $15 general, $10 students and seniors with ID

Co-Sponsor: J-Sei www.jaseb.org
Tickets can be obtained in the following ways:

1) PayPal: tickets can be obtained through Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto’s website www.skmkoto.com on PayPal. We will send an email confirmation.
2) If you would like to reserve a seat and pay at the door, please send an email to jseievents@gmail.com, and bring your printed confirmation to will-call.

About J-Sei – Serving Seniors Since 1971
J-Sei, formerly JASEB, is a community and cultural organization that brings generations and families together to nurture and pass on Nikkei values and tradition through a broad array of services and programs. Some of our senior programs include a nutrition program, stimulating and social classes and lectures, a pilot Transportation Program, and bilingual case management and referral services. Our resources, information and services are relevant to the entire continuum of care for seniors, as well as their families and all ages of the Nikkei community.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 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 liachang@hotmail.com.

Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

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

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space are now in the newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.

Other Articles by Lia Chang:
Koto Oyako don CD Release Concert, w/Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto & Brian Mitsuhiro Wong, Numi Tea Garden, Oakland,11/13
A night out with Gordana Rashovich, Flora Goforth in The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore
André De Shields stars in Chicago Premiere of Charles Smith’s The Gospel According to James at Victory Gardens, 5/14-6/12
Photos:The Working Theater’s Off-Broadway production of HONEY BROWN EYES by Stefanie Zadravec at The Clurman
Andy Warhol, Romare Bearden, Alexander Calder, Lia Chang in Art & Healing Exhibit at Snug Harbor on SI
Juicy Buns at Ollie’s
The Dish on Susur Lee and Shang
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.

Lia Chang: Keynote Speaker Reverend Jesse Jackson and Beau Sia slated for 1st Annual Fred Korematsu Day Celebration on January 30, 2011 at UC Berkeley campus

Kathryn and Fred Korematsu sit in a bench dedicated to JFK Jr. in a courtyard adjacent to the NYU Law School Auditorium in April, 2000. Photo by Lia Chang

The Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Rights and Education, a program of the Asian Law Caucus, is presenting the 1st annual Fred Korematsu Day Celebration, on Sunday, January 30, 2011 at the Wheeler auditorium, UC Berkeley campus, Berkeley, CA. from 1pm -5pm.

Reverend Jesse Jackson Photo by Lia Chang

In September 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Fred Korematsu Day bill into California law, making January 30 the first day in the US named after an Asian American. The day honors a national civil rights hero—the late Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native who bravely resisted the government’s incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.The program includes keynote speaker Reverend Jesse Jackson, spoken word artist Beau Sia, as well as tributes from Karen Korematsu, California Assembly Members Warren Furutani and Marty Block.

Schedule of the Day:
When: Sunday, January 30, 2011
1:00pm-2:00pm: VIP reception
2:00-3:00pm: Main Program
3:00-4:00pm: General reception
4:00-5:00pm: Screening of the Emmy Award-winning film
Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: the Fred Korematsu Story

Where: Wheeler auditorium
UC Berkeley campus, Berkeley, CA

Ticket information:
Program + VIP reception: $100
Program General Admission: $25
Program Teacher/Non-profit/Senior Citizen (65+) rate: $15
Program Student rate: $5
Purchase tickets at: tickets.berkeley.edu.
For more information: www.fredkorematsuday.org

Spoken Word Artist Beau Sia Photo by Lia Chang

Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117833281622710&num_event_invites=0
For questions, email info@korematsuinstitute.org or call (415) 848-7727.

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All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 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.

Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

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

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space will become part of newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, VIBE, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog. Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive.