Paper Flowers at Promenade Playhouse

PAPER FLOWERS: FROM TV PILOT SCRIPT TO STAGE PREMIERE

Alli Kiko Masloske’s drama to make its first stage run at Hollywood Fringe Festival

Adapted from her award-winning teleplay, PAPER FLOWERS by screenwriter/director Alli Kiko Masloske is making its stage premiere at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival. Set in 1970 Chicago, a Japanese-American family finds their seemingly peaceful routine upended by racial tensions over the Vietnam war.

With its ambitious 11-cast ensemble and nonlinear structure, PAPER FLOWERS examines the cycle of generational trauma and finding strength through community. Drawing parallels between 1970 and the World War II US incarceration camps, the show plays with the continuity of memory and what it means to survive. At its core, it’s about how love in all shapes and forms can be an active form of resistance.

With PAPER FLOWERS, Masloske aims to shine a spotlight on how the same hostilities and prejudices continue to get recycled throughout the decades, mirroring what many immigrant and Latino communities face today. A portion of all ticket sales will be donated to Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles and Nikkei Progressives, organizations dedicated to advocating for immigrant rights and justice.

CAST & CREATIVE TEAM

The cast includes Miley Yamamoto (Borderlands 3, Ghost of Tsushima, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III) in the lead role of “Nanami Nishiyama” with Miya Kodama, Hiro Matsunaga, and Thomas Winter as other Nishiyama family members. Rounding out the cast are Staci Ashley, Evan Dodgen, Tyler Huxtable, Melanie McNulty, Nataliia Pierina, Dennis Delsing, and Moimoi Gilmore.

Masloske is an award-winning queer, mixed-race Japanese screenwriter from Chicago. The original teleplay of PAPER FLOWERS earned recognition from the 2024 CAPE New Writers Fellowship and ISA’s Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch. She has worked with Netflix, Lionsgate, and Amazon Studios, and is currently developing a video game in China.

Tanya Giang initially came on board as Casting Director, and now also serves as Assistant Director and Co-Producer alongside Masloske. Set Design is by Dominique Jakowec, Hair & Makeup by Katie Lynn, Nyx Ciel is the Stunts Coordinator, with Brielle Biscocho serving as the Intimacy Coordinator and Meleane Havili as the Mental Health Coordinator.

TICKET INFORMATION

PAPER FLOWERS goes up June 7, 13, 20, 27, 28 at The Promenade Playhouse at LAPAC (1534 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90028) with a running time of 70 minutes with no intermission. Tickets and further information available here:

https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13651?tab=tickets