It’s May! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and it’s the perfect time to sit in your apartment and watch some theatre. Let’s get right to it!
🧑💻 watch anytime: ALL THE DIFFERENT WAYS COMMODORE MATTHEW PERRY COULD HAVE DIED BEFORE OPENING JAPAN BUT DIDN'T by Julia Izumi
presented by Theater in Quarantine & New Georges
I don’t want to tell you too much, because I don’t want to spoil the journey of the play. Let’s just say: funny, brilliant writing; beautiful animation; and one of the best theatrical uses of the digital medium that I’ve seen. It packs a real punch in just 35 minutes. Watch it here.
p.s. If this is your first introduction to Theater in Quarantine, get excited! They’ve been creating incredible work during the pandemic and they have some great plays in their archive. In their own words:
Theater in Quarantine is a digital performance laboratory live-streaming out of an East Village closet measuring only 8 sq. feet.
⏰ one night only: NAATCO’s OUR TOWN by Thornton Wilder, directed by Mia Katigbak
The National Asian American Theatre Company presents the American classic Our Town with an all-Asian American cast. One night only: May 19th @ 8pm EST. Get your tickets here.
There’s a very cool story to this production. From NAATCO’s website:
Yumi Iwama, who portrayed Emily Webb in NAATCO’s 1994 production of the play, proposed the reading to NAATCO, following her recent interview with The New York Times: “The idea that I was this Asian actress playing this iconic American role was just daunting. I remember being in kind of a high emotional state throughout the run, because I really wanted to do it well. And I loved Emily. She didn’t have these issues of ‘Do I belong here?’ She was part of this town, part of this community. She just lives her life with abandon in a way that I never felt I had the license to. I grew up in a very white town, Rumson, N.J., and I was one of maybe two or three Asians in my entire high school. It was hard. My career started doing The King and I. I played Tuptim in seven different productions over the years. Emily was that first opening to me, that ‘Oh! Maybe there’ll be more to my career than these stereotypical Asian characters.’”
For this reading, Yumi will be playing the role of Emily’s mother, Mrs. Webb, and suggested her niece, Midori Francis Iwama (Usual Girls – Roundabout, The Wolves – Lincoln Center Theater), for the role of Emily. NAATCO enthusiastically agreed.
I hope you join me in tuning in!
p.s.
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Honestly, I didn’t plan for this newsletter to recommend work specifically by members of the vast AAPI community - these are simply the plays I’m most excited by this month. Which is to say: there are many, many extraordinary plays created by AAPI theatre artists. I hope you support their work this month, and every month.