Amaterasu Za to Present New York Premiere of FROM TRINITY TO TRINITY
Performances will run from September 25 to October 5.
Amaterasu Za, New York’s only bilingual Japanese-English theater company, will present the New York premiere of From Trinity to Trinity, a one-woman play based on the autobiographical writings of Kyoko Hayashi, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The production, performed by acclaimed actress Ako (Shogun, God Said This (Lucille Lortel Leading Actress Award nominee), Snow Falling on Cedars), will run from September 25 to October 5, 2025, with opening night set for September 28. This production is part of HERE HOSTS, a curated rental program that provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as a technical liaison.
At 14 years old, Hayashi was working at the Mitsubishi Munitions Factory in Nagasaki when she survived the bombing on August 9, 1945. Decades later, in 1999, she traveled to the Trinity Site in New Mexico, where the first atomic bomb had been tested. That pilgrimage became the foundation of her autobiographical narrative, From Trinity to Trinity, a meditation on memory, survival, and how history is remembered across cultures.
August 9, 2025, marked the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. In this milestone year, the world remembers not only the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but also the liberation of Nazi death camps—twin reminders of humanity’s capacity for cruelty and survival. From Trinity to Trinity amplifies Kyoko Hayashi’s powerful voice, urging audiences to reckon with the chasm between national myths of “heroism” and the lived reality of indiscriminate violence.
Translated into English by Eiko Otake (of the legendary performance duo Eiko & Koma), the work interlaces Hayashi’s recollections with history and reflection. Ako’s performance—supported by projected imagery and soundscape—renders an intimate yet universal story of trauma, resilience, and the urgent need for remembrance.
This production marks only the third staging of From Trinity to Trinity, following workshop presentations at New York Theatre Workshop (2009) and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Midnight Project (2010). Ako, who is also the founding artistic director of Amaterasu Za, brings decades of stage, film, and television experience in both Japan and the U.S., most recently winning acclaim as Daiyoin/Iyo no Kata in FX/Hulu’s Shogun.
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