You are invited to a special event to honor, support, and uplift our amazing community of AAPI Theatre Artists.
Created in response to the sharp rise in hate directed toward the AAPI community over the past few years, Boston Court Pasadena, East West Players, and the Pasadena Playhouse have joined forces to share a virtual presentation of Jeanne Sakata’s wonderful play Hold These Truths.
This play tells the extraordinary true story of Gordon Hirabayashi, who stood against the racism inherent in Executive Order 9066, an order which resulted in the 1942 mass incarceration of all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast without due process of law. The event will be hosted by Tamlyn Tomita and Sean Miura and live-streamed* on Monday, February 28th at 6PM PT.
All proceeds raised through the event will go to the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists and the incredible work they do to promote AAPI artists and to contribute to our national theatre ecology.
*The livestream recording will be available for 48 hours after the live event has ended.
MEET THE ACTORS
Steven Eng is an actor and teacher. His recent acting credits include the Utah Shakespeare Festival (UT), People’s Light (PA), American Conservatory Theater (SF), and Classic Stage Company (NYC). He currently teaches in NYU’s Tisch BFA Drama and Columbia University’s MFA Acting Programs. He is also a co-founder of National Asian Artists Project (NAAP) in NYC.
Michael Hisamoto* (he/him/his) is an actor, playwright, director, and producer who has worked throughout the Greater Boston Area, including the Huntington Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory Company, Lyric Stage Company, SpeakEasy Stage, Wheelock Family Theatre, and many more. A strong proponent of new work, Michael has developed, workshopped, directed, and performed in readings of new plays for companies like The Huntington Theatre Company, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, HowlRound, ArtsEmerson, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Gloucester Stage, Company One, Plays in Place, Rhombus Writer’s Group, MIT’s Music and Theatre Arts, Harvard University’s Black Playwrights Festival, Boston University’s School of Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, The Pao Center For The Arts, Fresh Ink Theatre Company, Central Square Theatre, The Seven Devils New Play Foundry, Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company, Ojai Playwright’s Conference, and more. Michael believes in educating the next generation and happily offers career consultation free of charge to young historically excluded artists. Michael is a graduate of The Orange County High School of the Arts, BFA: Boston University. MFA Candidate ‘22: Brown/Trinity Rep. Proud member of AEA. michaelhisamoto.com
Jomar Tagatac is really excited to part of this event. Most recently he played Gordon Hirabayashi in Hold These Truths at San Francisco Playhouse and Capital Stage in Sacramento, which was the first show to reopen these theaters after 16 months. Other credits include Bob in Wintertime (Berkeley Rep), Mark in Art and Actor 1 in King of the Yees (San Francisco Playhouse) various roles in Today is My Birthday (Theater Mu), Quang in Vietgone (Capital Stage), Playwright in Vietgone and Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater), and George in The Language Archive (Theatreworks). Jomar holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theater from San Diego Stage University and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from American Conservatory Theater. Currently he is a teaching artist at ACT.
Hansel Tan reps the small island-state of Singapore, and is honored to celebrate and support the work of CAATA. Favorite collaborations — NEW YORK: The Public, Lincoln Center (Avery Fisher), Tectonic, The Flea, Barrow Group, Prospect, Urban Stages, Pan Asian, Ma-Yi, NAAP, Hudson Stage, St Clements, Harbor Lights, NAMT, NYMF. REGIONAL/INT’L: Quantum Theatre, Geva Theatre Centre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Pioneer Theatre, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Centre, North Shore Music Theater, Flat Rock Playhouse, The Village, Token Theatre, Live & In Color, Figurteatret i Nordland, Austin City Limits, Sharjah Water Festival, Aichi World Expo, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Wild Rice, Buds Theatre, Method Productions. TV/FILM: “Complete Unknown” (Amazon), “The Service” (Short), “The Blacklist: Redemption” (NBC), “Madam Secretary” (CBS), “In Game: The Webseries” (Man Powered Films). He is a proud member of Actor’s Equity and SAG-AFTRA, and is a Designated Meisner Teacher.
Greg Watanabe can currently be seen in Our Town, and The Great Leap at Asolo Rep. He made his Broadway debut in Allegiance. Other credits include Off-Broadway appearances in Ballad Of Yachiyo (Public Theater) and Golden Child (Signature Theater). Regionally, he performed in Romeo and Juliet (OSF), The Summer Moon (A Contemporary Theater, South Coast Rep), Extraordinary Chambers (The Geffen Playhouse), The Happy Ones (South Coast Rep), and most recently in Hold These Truths (Virginia Stage Company). Some television credits include “Madam Secretary”, “Criminal Minds”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, and “Reno 911”.
Ryun Yu originated the role of Gordon Hirabayashi in Hold These Truths at East West Players, and has since performed it at Arena Stage in Washington D.C., the Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, ACT (Seattle), and San Diego Rep, among others. He won the Craig Noel Award for best solo performance at the San Diego Rep. Other theater credits include How the Light Gets In (Boston Court), @TheSpeedofJake (Playwright’s Arena), and Take Me Out (Geffen Playhouse). In TV, Ryun played the recurring character of Pastor Daniel Kwon in the FX show “Baskets” (starring Zach Galifianakis and Louis Anderson), as well as Larry on the Netflix show Fuller House. He also played DHH in David Henry Hwang’s “Yellowface”: the first adaptation of a major play for YouTube (where it can still be viewed). Ryun has the first theater major ever awarded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MEET THE HOSTS
Tamlyn Tomita is perhaps best known for her role in “The Karate Kid, Part 2” which is enjoying its renaissance due to the popularity of “Cobra Kai” on Netflix. Other projects she is known for are the films: “The Joy Luck Club”; “The Day After Tomorrow”; “Come See the Paradise” and the TV shows: “The Good Doctor”; “Star Trek: Picard”; “The Man in the High Castle”; “Teen Wolf”; “Berlin Station”; “How to Get Away with Murder”; “Glee”; “True Blood”; “Eureka”; “Heroes”; “Criminal Minds”; and “24”. and will be seen in the upcoming live-action series, “Avatar: The Last Airbender”. A native Los Angeleno, specifically from the (818) and a proud AAPI embracing her Okinawan, Japanese, and Filipino heritages, she continually advocates for stories to be told from a ‘golden’ perspective. And most importantly, she is a proud and loyal UCLA Bruin.
Sean Miura is a writer, producer, and arts organizer. He produces and leads curation for Tuesday Night Cafe, the longest running Asian American public art series.
MEET THE DIRECTORS
Jessica Kubzansky (Co-director) is the Artistic Director of Boston Court Pasadena, and is also an award-winning director working nationally, specializing in risky, adventurous new works and reenvisioned classics. Jessica had the privilege of developing and directing the world premiere of Hold These Truths with Jeanne Sakata and Ryun Yu at East/West Players, and has directed many subsequent productions, including at the Pasadena Playhouse, Arena Stage, ACT (Seattle), Portland Center Stage, San Diego Rep and more. Recently for Boston Court: the world premieres of Kit Steinkellner’s Ladies, Sarah B. Mantell’s Everything That Never Happened, Stefanie Zadravec’s Colony Collapse, Luis Alfaro’s Mojada, A Medea in Los Angeles (a co-production at the Getty Villa), the New York and world premieres of Sheila Callaghan’s Everything You Touch, (a co-pro with Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre at the Cherry Lane), RII (her own three-person reenvisioning of Shakespeare’s Richard II), Michael Elyanow’s The Children, and many more. Recently elsewhere: The Father with Alfred Molina (Pasadena Playhouse), Othello (A Noise Within), Sofia Alvarez’s Amos & Boris, Aditi Kapil’s Orange (South Coast Rep), Aaron Posner’s Stupid Fucking Bird (ACT Theatre Seattle). Kubzansky has received numerous awards and honors, among them the Los Angeles’ Drama Critics’ Circle’s Margaret Harford Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatre.
Margaret Shigeko Starbuck (Co-Director) is an L.A.-based director and the Associate Artistic Director of Boston Court Pasadena Performing Arts Center. Directing credits include Measure for Measure, Richard II, and the world premiere Frankel & Bloom musical We Three Sisters with Method and Madness Theatre Company; Good As New by Matt Curtin with Reprise Performance Troupe; Dark Horse by Lindsay Partain with INKfest; and readings with Skypilot Theatre Company, Occidental College, and Actors Circle Ensemble. Margaret has also been fortunate to assistant direct on productions at Pasadena Playhouse, Boston Court Pasadena, A Noise Within, the Getty Villa, and the Geffen Playhouse. She finds Gordon’s story incredibly inspiring and is so happy to be co-directing this reading of Jeanne’s beautiful play.
MEET the Playwright
Jeanne Sakata‘s solo play Hold These Truths (2013 Drama Desk Nomination, Outstanding Solo Performance; 2019 San Diego Critics’ Circle Award, Outstanding Solo Performance; 2019 Theatre Bay Awards, Outstanding Production, Principal Performance and Direction) has won accolades in over twenty productions, most recently at San Francisco Playhouse, Capital Stage, and San Diego Rep, with extended runs at Barrington Stage, Arena Stage and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Winning raves from The New Yorker, New York Times, and other AP critics, it has also been produced at the Guthrie Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, ACT Seattle, PlayMakers Rep, Perseverance Theatre, Honolulu Theatre for Youth (Daniel Dae Kim, co-producer), Terra Nova Collective, Silk Road Rising, Coachella Valley Rep, New Century Theatre, Plays and Players. Premiering with the East West Players in Los Angeles, and then Off-Broadway with the Epic Theatre Ensemble, the play was originally commissioned by Chay Yew, former director of CTG’s Asian Theatre Workshop, and further developed with the Lark Play Development Center and the New York Theatre Workshop. It is also available as an audio play, produced by L.A. Theatre Works, as is Jeanne’s latest 2021 work, For Us All, commissioned by L.A. Theatre Works and inspired by the 1980’s coram nobis legal battle of Fred Korematsu.
Special honors: Theatre LA Ovation Award for Outstanding Lead Actress, Chay Yew’s Red, East West Players; 2019 Trailblazer Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement, East West Players; 2016 Lee Melville Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Los Angeles Theatre Community, Playwrights’ Arena; 2011 Outstanding Artist Award, Los Angeles’ Pacific American Friends of Theatre.
