Greg Watanabe News

Asolo Repertory Theatre presents the third and final show of its 2022 winter repertory season - Lauren Yee's THE GREAT LEAP. Vanessa Stalling returns to direct the comedic drama, which was days away from its first performance when it was cancelled because of the pandemic in March of 2020.

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 Pasadena Playhouse have joined forces to share a virtual reading of Jeanne Sakata's timely solo play Hold These Truths. 

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) have announced finalists for the 2022 Audie Awards. Finalists include Cynthia Erivo for Best Female Narrator and Lin-Manuel Miranda for Best Male Narrator. Leslie Odom Jr., Annie Golden, Telly Leung, and Jason Tam are also featured on audiobooks that made the list. Check out the full list of nominations now!

Asolo Repertory Theatre proudly presents the third and final show of its 2022 winter repertory season – Lauren Yee's THE GREAT LEAP. Vanessa Stalling returns to direct the comedic drama, which was days away from its first performance when it was cancelled because of the pandemic in March of 2020.

Continuing its tradition of performing in true rotating repertory, Asolo Repertory Theatre will kick off its 2022 rep season with the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama OUR TOWN. Thornton Wilder’s magnificent play is, at its heart, about us, and perhaps no other play rings truer today.

In sync with Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, L.A. Theatre Works will be releasing two audio theater recordings about the horrific Japanese American experience during World War II - Jeanne Sakata’s FOR US ALL and Ken Narasaki’s NO-NO BOY. FOR US ALL’s available for purchase now, with NO-NO BOY on May 15, 2021. Anna Lyse Erikson directs both show’s large ensemble casts, with Greg Watanabe voicing the lead characters in both.

L.A. Theatre Works has announced two new state-of-the-art audio theater recordings about the Japanese-American experience.

BroadwayHD announced today that George Takei’s Allegiance, which also features Broadway stars Telly Leung (Godspell, Glee) and Tony Award-winner Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon, Mulan) will be available  on the platform exclusively around the globe except in Asia beginning on March 18th. 

Minnesota’s Theater Mu's first mainstage production since the pandemic lockdown - playwright Susan Soon He Stanton's TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY  - will be live broadcasted February 5 through February 14, 2021, with video-on-demand available February 15 through February 21, 2021. In support of Theatre Mu, East West Players is including BIRTHDAY in its 55th anniversary season as a part of an East West Passport membership.

East West Players presents Theater Mu in its production of Susan Soon He Stanton's comedy Today Is My Birthday, directed by Theater Mu Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal. The play stars Katie Bradley, China Brickey, Eric Sharp, Jomar Tagatac, and features East West Players' veteran actors Emily Kuroda and Greg Watanabe.

This week's Theater Stories features the Longacre Theatre! Learn about the shows to have graced the theater's stage including A Bronx Tale, The Prom, and The Lightning Thief, the next show that is set to open at the theater, Diana, and much more!

Theater M­u presents the TwentyPho Hour PlayFest, its first ever play festival featuring thirty theater artists creating brand new plays in under 24 hours.

This week's list features the novelization of West Side Story, as well as a graphic novel version of The Phantom of the Opera, and the audiobook of Vietgone. Plus, new music from Sophia Anne Caruso!

Check out this week's list of new and upcoming book, music, and film releases, including a Hadestown lyric book, new music from Telly Leung, Melissa Errico, and more!

Next up for L.A. Theatre Works will be Qui Nguyen's VIETGONE, set to be recorded live at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus for four performances beginning January 24, 2020. East West Players' Producing Artistic Director Emeritus Tim Dang will direct this semi-fictional tale of how Qui's parents met in an Arkansas relocation camp. The talented cast includes Will Dao, Desirée Mee Jung, Greg Watanabe, Paul Yen and Jeena Yi. I grabbed the opportunity, after all these years of knowing him, to interview the creative force behind the early development of the East West Players - Tim Dang.

Vietgone a?" East West Players producing artistic director emeritus Tim Dang directs Will Dao, Desirée Mee Jung, Greg Watanabe, Paul Yen and Jeena Yi in Qui Nguyen's hilarious, a?oeprobably-mostly-truea?? version of how his parents met and built a life for themselves in a new land. Set in 1975 a?" just after the fall of Saigon a?" this epic, award-winning play repurposes pop culture from the last 40 years to tell the story of two Vietnamese refugees who meet in an Arkansas relocation camp before setting out on a rip-roaring road trip across America. Equal parts buddy story, all-American romance and motorcycle adventure, Vietgone sizzles to a smart, sassy and raucous hip-hop soundtrack by Shane Rettig.

Vietgone - East West Players producing artistic director emeritus Tim Dang directs Desirée Mee Jung, Will Dao, Greg Watanabe and Jeena Yi in Qui Nguyen's hilarious, 'probably-mostly-true' version of how his parents met and built a life for themselves in a new land. Set in 1975 - just after the fall of Saigon - this epic, award-winning play repurposes pop culture from the last 40 years to tell the story of two Vietnamese refugees who meet in an Arkansas relocation camp before setting out on a rip-roaring road trip across America. Equal parts buddy story, all-American romance and motorcycle adventure, Vietgone sizzles to a smart, sassy and raucous hip-hop soundtrack by Shane Rettig.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago and City Theatre in Pittsburgh, presents Lauren Yee's CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND, a play that fuses history, family legacy, and rock concert to illustrate the power and importance of music. It focuses on a daughter's attempt to unearth family history by journeying to Cambodia, her father's homeland, and searching for a survivor from a brutal Khmer Rouge prison whose testimony could seal the fate of its tyrannical overseer.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) will present the East Coast Premiere of Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee, directed by Marti Lyons and featuring the songs of Dengue Fever, Sinn Sisamouth, Voy Ho, and Rose Serey Sothea, from October 16 to November 10 at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre, according to Executive Director Bonnie J. Butkas and Interim Artistic Director Terry Berliner. Cambodian Rock Band is a co-production with Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago and City Theatre in Pittsburgh.

City Theatre begins its 45th season with Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee.  Cambodian Rock Band is an epic tale of family, love, and heritage featuring the Cambodian surf rock music of Dengue Fever.