Ryun Yu News

Boston Court Pasadena continues their 2019 theatre season with the world premiere of E.M. Lewis's How The Light Gets In, directed by Emilie Pascale Beck, September 19 a?" October 27 (press opening: September 28). How The Light Gets In features Amy Sloan as Grace, Ryun Yu as Haruki, Chelsea Kurtz as Kat and Dieterich Gray as Tommy Z.

San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) Managing Director Larry Alldredge announced today that the theatre has been awarded a grant of $29,500 as part of the California Civil Liberties Public Education program at the California State Library. The grant, one of 30 awarded in 2019, will support the theatre's production of Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata.

San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) announced today the line-up for its 2019/2020 season at the Lyceum Theatre. For its 44th season, San Diego REP invites audiences to sing along to the top-40 hits made at Gold Star Recording Studios in the 1950s and 60s in the world premiere musical 33 1/3: House of Dreams by Jonathan Rosenberg and Brad Ross. Enjoy the om pa pa of Banda music from Mexico in Playwright-in-Residence Herbert Siguenza's new comedy Bad Hombres/Good Wives. Delve into powerful dramas with the tour-de-force solo performance of Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata and the 2016 Tony Award-winner for Best Play, The Humans by Stephan Karam. Get swept away in a mash-up of classical Indian music and contemporary hip-hop from India in the action-packed House of Joy by Madhuri Shekar; and relish in the genius of Hershey Felder, with A Paris Love Story, featuring the music of Claude Debussy. Season 44 tickets are currently available by subscription only and can be purchased by calling the box office at (619) 544-1000.

Babyboomers are familiar with the original 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore. Stewart played George Bailey who was trapped in his father's Savings and Loan establishment in Bedford Falls, unable to pursue his dreams. Now through December 23 only, the Pasadena Playhouse is presenting a radio play version live onstage adapted by Joe Landry from the 1946 screenplay.

The always in-demand Cameron Watson, a stalwart of the Los Angeles theatre community, will next be helming the holiday production of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY at the Pasadena Playhouse for a brief run December 12 to 23. Cameron managed to find some time between his many creative responsibilities to answer a few of my inquisitive inquiries.

Set in Stockton, California in 1946,Philip Kan Gotanda's acclaimed play about a Japanese-American family returning home after time in an Arkansas internment camp during World War II takes on renewed resonance as current government policies and rhetoric continue to inflame anti-immigrant sentiment. Starring Keiko Agena (Better Call Saul, 13 Reasons Why),June Angela (Tony and Drama Desk nominee forShogun on Broadway, The Electric Circus on PBS) and Suzy Nakamura (ABC's The Goldbergs, Blackish, Dr. Ken) as the sisters, with Greg Watanabe (Allegiance on Broadway, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Watch Over Me) and Ryun Yu (Hold These Truths at East West Players, Pasadena Playhouse), as their husbands. 

The Old Globe announces its inaugural New Voices in the Community series: free public performances at libraries across San Diego County, followed by conversations with the playwrights and experts in the community. The first New Voices in the Community features three solo shows by women: Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, "A" Train by Anne Torsiglieri, and Unveiled: A One-Woman Play by Rohina Malik.

Prejudice and Immigration are teachable moments in Arena Stage's HOLD THESE TRUTHS, a one-man play about a young man who stood alone against the injustice of WWII Japanese American internment camps. This interview features director, Jessica Kubzansky, and actor, Ryun Yu, discussing the parallels between 1940's racial issues and policies and today.

Jeanne Sakata's one-man drama Hold These Truths tells the true story of Gordon Hirabayashi, the American son of Japanese immigrants who defied an unjust court order when America placed its own citizens in internment camps during World War II. Midway through Arena Stage's 2017/18 season, Hold These Truths brings an untold story to the stage that represents the diversity of our country and examines what it means to be an American. Under the direction of Jessica Kubzansky, Hold These Truths runs February 23-April 8, 2018 in the Kogod Cradle.

This production is worthy of an audience based on the story alone.

Jeanne Sakata's one-man drama Hold These Truths tells the true story of Gordon Hirabayashi, the American son of Japanese immigrants who defied an unjust court order when America placed its own citizens in internment camps during World War II. Midway through Arena Stage's 2017/18 season, Hold These Truths brings an untold story to the stage that represents the diversity of our country and examines what it means to be an American. Under the direction of Jessica Kubzansky, Hold These Truths runs February 23-April 8, 2018 in the Kogod Cradle.

Jeanne Sakata's one-man drama Hold These Truths tells the true story of Gordon Hirabayashi, the American son of Japanese immigrants who defied an unjust court order when America placed its own citizens in internment camps during World War II. Midway through Arena Stage's 2017/18 season, Hold These Truths brings an untold story to the stage that represents the diversity of our country and examines what it means to be an American. Under the direction of Jessica Kubzansky, Hold These Truths runs February 23-April 8, 2018 in the Kogod Cradle.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces select cast members for upcoming productions as part of the company's 2017/18 programming as single tickets for the full season go on sale.

The expert artistry of words, direction, acting and tech marvelously converge into the current Pasadena Playhouse production of HOLD THESE TRUTHS. Ryun Yu, alone on stage, stunningly and authentically pulls off Jeanne Sakata's detailed depiction of American-born Japanese Gordon Hirabayashi's real-life incidents of standing up against the Executive Order 9066 of being sent to an internment camp in wartime 1942.

Ten years ago, actress/playwright Jeanne Sakata began writing down her various thoughts on her personal connections with the subject matter of her DAWN'S LIGHT: THE JOURNEY OF GORDON HIRABAYASHI. Through various reincarnations over the last decade, and a title change to HOLD THESE TRUTHS; Jeanne will be opening at The Pasadena Playhouse. I was most excited to get Jeanne's insight on this dark and deplorable episode of American history.

Pasadena Playhouse (Danny Feldman, Producing Artistic Director and Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director Emeritus) rounds up its 2016-2017 Season with three summer programs including HOLD THESE TRUTHS, a critically acclaimed play about the unsung American hero Gordon Hirabayashi, from May 30 - June 25, 2017; SHOUT SISTER SHOUT! The Gospel of Rock.

The Pasadena Playhouse (Danny Feldman, Producing Artistic Director) continues it FOUR BY TENN: A TENNESSEE WILLIAMS READING SERIES in celebration of Tennessee Williams with CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. Performed in association with East West Players and directed by Snehal Desai, the reading will feature Suzy Nakamura of ABC's DR. KEN as Mae Pollitt. Also joining Nakamura are Laura Kai Chen, Ryun Yu, C.S. Lee, Amy Hill, Dana Lee, Jenapher Zheng, Greg Watanabe and Anil Kumar Bhardwarj. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF will be read on Monday, March 13 at 8:00 PM at The Pasadena Playhouse (39 S. El Molino Avenue, Pasadena).

The Pasadena Playhouse (Danny Feldman, Producing Artistic Director and Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director Emeritus) announced today that they will present THE ORIGINALIST and HOLD THESE TRUTHS as part of the theater's 2016-2017 Season. THE ORIGINALIST, by John Strand (Charles MacArthur Award-winning Lovers and Executioners), directed by Molly Smith (Camp David and Artistic Director of Arena Stage), and starring four-time Helen Hayes Award-winner Edward Gero (Goodman Theatre's Red), tells the story about a liberal law student's nerve-wracking clerkship with Justice Antonin Scalia.

In this weird presidential campaign, where ideas like building a wall along our southern border and excluding entire groups of people from our country based on their religion are tossed around as if they were reasonable, it's important to look back at our shameful history -- in the hopes that we might avoid repeating it. Jeanne Sakata's HOLD THESE TRUTHS, now playing at Portland Center Stage, gives us that opportunity, and I urge as many people as possible to take it.

Portland Center Stage at The Armory debuts its new Northwest Stories series with Jeanne Sakata's Hold These Truths, a play inspired by the life of civil rights hero Gordon Hirabayashi, a Seattle native who was posthumously awarded the 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Hold These Truths opens in the Ellyn Bye Studio on October 7, with previews beginning October 1 and performances running through November 13. Hold These Truths will be directed by Jessica Kubzansky, who directed the world premiere at East West Players in Los Angeles. Actor Ryun Yu, who originated the role of Hirabayashi at East West Players, will once again play the role in Portland.