Throughout the year we organize free readings of new and established work that explore questions of alienation and reconciliation. After each performance, we set up a banquet table with food and wine for the sake of continuing the conversation. We are committed to hospitality as much as to excellent storytelling. Readings are suggested donation events, all donations go towards artist payments and hospitality costs. Our inaugural reading took place in April 2017.
SPRING '22
Friday, January 28th — Poetry + Conflict: An Evening with Pádraig Ó Tuama
Monday, March 14th — Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau
Friday, April 8th — Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Saturday, May 7th — Manzanar: Our Town by Hisashi Inoue
MANZANAR: OUR TOWN
BY Hisashi Inoue
SATURDAY, MAY 7TH, 2022
FEATURING
Directed and translated by James Yaegashi. Produced by Kimi’iro Playhouse (Akiko Fujiwara and Kaori Takada).
RESOURCES
Densho - an organization dedicated to documenting the stories of the Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II.
Social Science as a Tool for Surveillance, a new introduction to Impounded Peoples by Edward Spicer
Background on Community Analysis Section Analysts from Densho Encyclopedia
Video: Introduction of Rokyoku by Keiko Haruno, Rokyoku Artist
JAMES KAZUHIKO YAEGASHI (TRANSLATOR/DIRECTOR) is the son of an American mother and a Japanese father, James Yaegashi was born and raised in Japan. For the stage, James has directed My Friend Has Come for the Asian American Writers Workshop and many plays for the 52nd Street Project Playmaking series. He has also directed numerous play readings over the years, including an online reading of Clippy and Ms. U for the Ma-Yi Theater during the Covid pandemic shutdown. James was the conceiver of the theater benefit “SHINSAI: Theaters for Japan” which took place on March 11, 2012, the one-year anniversary of the disasters in Japan, with participation from nearly 100 theaters, internationally. He has also translated over 20 Japanese plays, many of which have been performed and published.
James also has a long resume as an actor. TV and film credits include Marvel’s Runaways, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, New Amsterdam, Man on a Ledge, 13 Conversations About One Thing, Lisa Picard is Famous, The Thomas Crown Affair, among others. He has originated many roles on and off Broadway including Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out (2003 Tony Award for Best Play), A Naked Girl on the Appian Way (costarring with Jill Clayburgh and Matthew Morrison), John Guare’s A Few Stout Individuals, and Julia Cho’s Durango. His stage credits also include characters in world-premiere stage adaptations of literary classics such as Yunioshi in Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s on Broadway and Toru in Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at the Edinburgh Int’l Festival and the Singapore Arts Festival.
AKIKO FUJIWARA (SOPHIA) Japanese / American bilingual actress based in NYC, who was born in New York, and grew up in Tokyo. After studying acting at UPS Academy in Tokyo, She returned to New York and received her MFA in Acting at the Actors Studio Drama School, and has performed in various productions in both theater and film since then.
Besides her fluency in Japanese and English, her special skills include Action and Japanese Sword Fighting which is a form of performing art called TATE. She has performed TATE regularly with TATE Hatoryu NY since it was founded in 2014, performing in places such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Japan Society, and Hunter College.
Recently, Akiko has been active in creating and producing contents as well. The web series JapaDori of New York which she created and acted in along with two other actors has been selected into five festivals, and the online reading of Manzana, Waga-Machi (Manzanar, Our Town) by Hisashi Inoue were watched by over 300 audience members. Credits include: Bashira (Dir: Nickson Fong), Maniac (Dir: Carey George Fukunaga), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Moth), Top Girls (Lady Nijo / Kit)
YOKKO (OTOME) is an actor, Butoh & Theatre artist from Japan. She has acted in, devised and choreographed a variety of local and international shows, films and music videos, having won several awards, including “Best One-Woman Show” “Best Physical Theatre” “Best Choreography” and “Best Actress” for Butoh Medea (United Solo 2014, 2015 at Theatre Row, Hollywood Fringe 2018). It has been touring nationally and internationally since 2015. Music videos including Ready To Let Go (2019) - Cage The Elephant, AUSENCIAS (2019) - NOIA. The artistic director of Ren Gyo Soh MFA in Acting (The Actors Studio). www.yokko-online.com
TINA CHILIP (SACHIKO) Off-Broadway: Mothers (Playwrights Realm); Fiasco’s Twelfth Night (Classic Stage Company); Golden Child (Signature Theater); House Rules, Flipzoids (Ma-Yi); A Dream Play (NAATCO). Regional: Old Globe, Huntington Theatre, Guthrie, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Portland Center Stage, Berkeley Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Trinity Rep, and others. TV: Law & Order: SVU, FBI: Most Wanted, Marvel's Jessica Jones, It’s Bruno, Good Fight, Elementary, Deception, Madam Secretary. Training: MFA, Brown/Trinity Rep. Company Member of Fiasco Theater and The Actors Center.
YUKA TAGA (LILLIAN) is a second generation Japanese American actor born and raised in New York City. Her parents immigrated from Tokyo in the early 80’s; her father was a musician and her mother was a painter. Their family of four lived in a small one bedroom apartment located on the northern edge of Central Park West. Growing up, Yuka closely witnessed her parents navigate the American system through foreign eyes. Amidst the untamed cultural melting pot of New York City, Yuka found herself existing in an undefined space between certain disparities of culture and society. Her upbringing inspires her work as an actor today. She wishes the characters she portrays to be as a mirror of the most human qualities of people, honoring each of their complexities and individualities. Yuka’s most recent work was showcased during the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival in the film Magic Hour; a gender bending retelling of a classic Frankenstein story; playing a romantic lead across Indya Moore (Pose, FX)
OLIVIA OGUMA (JOYCE) Broadway: Mamma Mia!, A Christmas Carol , Les Miserables . Off-Broadway: Letters of Suresh (Second Stage), Hello From… (Playwrights Realm), Luce (LCT3) Emotional Creature (Signature), BFE (Playwrights Horizons), The Dispute (NAATCO). Regional: LaJolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, Portland Center Stage, Long Wharf. Film: This is Where I Leave You, Strangers with Candy, Like Father Select TV: Recurring on “Instinct”; “FBI” "Odd Mom Out", "Younger","The Good Wife" "The Big C," "Great News”. Olivia has solo backpacked through 30 countries and has an etsy store called Kanojo Designs.
YUKO IKESHITA (Shamisen player) is from Kobe, Japan. She started learning dance and Okinawa-style Shamisen from her childhood. She has performed over 3000 times on stage with many talented dancers. Yuko moved to NYC in 2009. She joined the Japanese drumming company COBU in 2013 and has performed as a dancer, drummer and Shamisen player in many places such as the Beacon Theatre, the Lincoln Center, the Webster Hall, Times Square, Central Park, the United Nations and many more. She also has toured in Italy, Switzerland and Japan.
MILAI TAGUCHI (NARRATOR) is a Brooklyn based actor born and raised in Japan. After a ten plus year acting career mostly on stage in Japan, he has moved to NY to take his career to the next step. Aside from acting, his skills include Japanese Sword fighting which gave him an opportunity to perform in multiple festivals, including the cherry blossom festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. He has also recently made his film debut with his appearance in I Don’t Want to Drink Your Blood Anymore (DIr: Andrew Sullivan).
KAORI TAKADA (PRODUCER) Producer for Shiki Theatre Company (Japan. Disney’s The Little Mermaid, ALW’s production of The Sound Of Music), Gorgeous Entertainment (NY), Alkestis by Director Ines Braun and online reading of “Manzana, Waga-Machi (Manzanar, Our Town)” by Hisashi Inoue. Her other works include working for Broadway musical, Allegiance (Production Consultant), New York Theatre Workshop, Roundabout Theatre Company, “Purple Days” by Director Kevin Tseng (Script Consultant), XFLAG anime film “Itazura Majo to Nemuranai Machi” (Script Development Consultant), and Supervisor and lecturer for the ITEP Japan’s online e-learning video series for the Japanese theatre professionals. Graduate of Columbia University (MFA, Theatre Management & Producing) and Keio University.
Reading of “Manzanar, Our Town” by Hisashi Inoue is made possible in part with the support from Japan Foundation, New York, and public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by LMCC.
tUESDAYS WITH MORRIE
BY mitch albom
FRIDAY, APRIL 8TH, 2022
FEATURING
Directed by Erwin Maas. Cast includes Len Cariou as Morrie and Christopher Domig as Mitch.
LEN CARIOU (MORRIE) Len Cariou is The Tony® Award-winning veteran of the stage and screen with a career lasting more than five decades. Cariou made his Broadway debut in The House of Atreus, and starred in Henry V. Two years later, Cariou landed his first starring role opposite Lauren Bacall in Applause, a musical adaptation of the film All About Eve, which earned him a Tony® Award nomination as Best Actor in a Musical and won him the Theatre World Award. In 1973 he garnered his second Tony® nod for Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's musical A Little Night Music; he repeated the role of Fredrik for the 1977 film version opposite Elizabeth Taylor. Six years later he won both the Tony and a Drama Desk Award for his portrayal of the title character in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, another Stephen Sondheim musical in which he starred opposite Angela Lansbury. His other stage projects included the Alan Jay Lerner-Charles Strouse musical Dance A Little Closer, Arthur Miller's sole musical Up From The Paradise, Night Watch, Cold Storage, The Speed of Darkness, Neil Simon's The Dinner Party (with Henry Winkler and John Ritter) and Proof (with Anne Heche and Neil Patrick Harris). He worked as a director for Don't Call Back on Broadway. His off-Broadway appearances include Master Class, Papa (Ernest Hemingway one man show) and Mountain (Justice William O. Douglas). On the small screen, he is known for his role as Harry Regan, The Police Patriarch of The Regan Clan on hit CBS television series Blue Bloods, as well as appearing in multiple episodes of the popular television mystery series Murder She Wrote, where he united with Angela Lansbury. Cariou's film credits include Flags of Our Fathers, About Schmidt, Thirteen Days, The Four Seasons, Secret Window, in which he starred alongside Johnny Depp, and the Academy Award winner for Best Picture Spotlight. Cariou portrayed Franklin D. Roosevelt in the HBO movie Into the Storm, earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.
CHRISTOPHER DOMIG (MITCH) is an actor and director in New York City. Recent acting credits include: The Waste Land: A Performance/Installation at FringeNYC, English World Premiere of Dirt in New York (59E59, 4th Street Theater), Edinburgh (Gilded Balloon), Vancouver (Pacific Theatre), Berlin (ETB), and London (Arcola Theatre). Recent Film: Ava (dir. Tate Taylor, opposite Jessica Chastain) Recent TV: Blue Bloods, Boardwalk Empire, Black List, Law & Order: SVU and Blindspot. BFA: Wheaton College, MFA: Southern Methodist University. www.christopherdomig.com
MARTHA HARMS (STAGE DIRECTIONS) is a commercial, voice & stage actress living in Brooklyn, NY. Previous work with Sea Dog Theater includes Not From Here at the ACE Hotel, as well as the readings Awake And Sing (ft. Len Cariou), Red (ft. Vincent D’Onofrio), and the musical The (Almost) Unforgettable Edwin Booth. Recent acting credits: Constellations (River & Rail Theatre), Belle (GKids Films), Borderlands 3 (Gearbox Software). www.marthaharms.com
BARRY KLEINBORT (TALKBACK MODERATOR) has earned the prestigious Edward Kleban Foundation Award for Lyric Writing, two Gilman-Gonzalez Musical Theatre Awards, the Second Stage Theater Writers Award for Musicals, the Jamie deRoy/ ASCAP award, two Back Stage Bistro awards and twelve Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) awards for his directorial and songwriting efforts. He recently did the book for Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood at the YORK theater which is returning there in the fall. He has written music, book and lyrics for many musicals both regionally and off-Broadway including WAS (with Joseph Thalken) and 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti starring Penny Fuller at 59 E 59. Also off-Broadway and on tour, he co-conceived and directed Len Cariou in his one-man show, Broadway and the Bard. He provided scripts for eight PBS TV specials and was an artistic consultant for “Cathouse: The Musical” for HBO. He has directed and/or written special material for Brent Barrett, Petula Clark, Marvin Hamlisch, Kaye Ballard, Rita Gardner, Regis Philbin, John Barrowman, Lorna Dallas, Liz Robertson, John Epperson, Tony Roberts, Anita Gillette, Karen Mason, Sylvia McNair, Harolyn Blackwell, Heather MacRae, and many, many others.
PIPELINE
BY DOMINIQUE MORIsSEAU
MONDAY, MARCH 14TH, 2022
Nya, an inner-city public high school teacher, is committed to her students but desperate to give her only son Omari opportunities they’ll never have. When a controversial incident at his upstate private school threatens to get him expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent. But will she be able to reach him before a world beyond her control pulls him away?
With profound compassion and lyricism, Pipeline brings an urgent conversation powerfully to the fore. Morisseau pens a deeply moving story of a mother’s fight to give her son a future — without turning her back on the community that made him who he is.
FEATURING
Directed by Stori Ayers. Cast includes Cecil Blutcher as Omari, Joshua Boone as Dun, Courtney Burkett as Laurie, Jade Radford as Jasmine, Bjorn DuPaty as Xavier and featuring Dominique Morisseau in the role of Nya. Stage directions read by Sharina Martin.
DOMINIQUE MORISSEAU (NYA/PLAYWRIGHT) is the author of The Detroit Project (A 3-Play Cycle): Skeleton Crew (MTC/Broadway, Atlantic Theater Company), Paradise Blue (Signature Theatre), and Detroit ’67 (Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem and NBT). Additional plays include: Pipeline (Lincoln Center Theatre), Sunset Baby (LAByrinth Theatre), Blood at the Root (National Black Theatre), and Follow Me To Nellie’s (Premiere Stages). She is also the TONY nominated book writer on the Broadway musical Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations (Imperial Theatre). TV/Film projects: She has served as Co-Producer on the Showtime series “Shameless.” She’s currently developing projects with Netflix, HBO, and A24, and wrote the film adaptation of the documentary STEP for Fox Searchlight. Awards include: Spirit of Detroit Award, PoNY Fellowship, Sky-Cooper Prize, TEER Trailblazer Award, Steinberg Playwright Award, Audelco Awards, NBFT August Wilson Playwriting Award, Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama, OBIE Award (2), and the Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, named one of Variety’s Women of Impact for 2017-18 and a recipient of the 2018 MacArthur Genius Grant.
STORI AYERS (DIRECTOR) is a New York--based Actor, Director and Co-founder of [RARE] Lotus Productions. Originally from Washington, DC., she has a passion for stories that challenge social norms, create conversations in the community, and ignite within her generation a spirit of activism. This season Stori directed the world premiere of Confederates by Dominique Morisseau at Signature Theatre, NYC. She has also directed Ms. Morisseaus' Blood at the Root at Chautauqua Theatre Company, Paradise Blue at The Geffen Playhouse, and Associate Directed on Skeleton Crew on Broadway. Stori assistant directed the world premiere of August Wilson's one-man show, "How I Learned What I Learned," at the Signature Theatre (NYC). She was the 2018 & 2019 Directing Fellow at Chautauqua Theater Company where she assistant directed An Octoroon (Dir. Giovanna Sardelli), Into the Breeches (Dir. Laura Kepley), One Man Two Guvnors (Dir. Andrew Borba) and Amish Project (Dir. Sarah Wansley). Other directing credits include: Skeleton Crew (Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati); When Statues Fall (Cleveland Playhouse); Night Vision; Third Grade (Playing On Air); Blood at the Root (University of Michigan); Single Black Female (Penn State School of Theatre); Hip Hoperella; Here I Go, Boys. Wish Me Luck; and Fires in the Mirror (Fletcher Collins Theatre).
Stori is a proud member of SDC and Actors’ Equity, holds a B.A. from Mary Baldwin University, an MFA in Acting from Penn State University, and is the former Executive Assistant to writers Dominique Morisseau and Katori Hall.
CECIL BLUTCHER (OMARI) was recently seen in Katori Hall’s The Hot Wing King at Signature Theater. Cecil can be seen in Paramount’s new series "The Game”, Starz’s “Hightown” and Rashaad Ernesto Green’s 2019 “Premature” that played at Sundance.
JADE RADFORD (JASMINE) is a Brooklyn based actor born and raised in New Orleans, LA. Regional Theater includes Cadillac Crew (Yale Rep u/s), Pipeline (Cleveland Playhouse), Love's Labours Lost (The Acting Company), The Mecca Tales (Sheen Center). Film/TV: Orange is the New Black (Netflix), Chicago P.D., Hightown (STARZ), Queen of the Desert (Short Film). Education: BFA SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Theater Arts.
BJORN DUPATY (XAVIER) is a NYC based actor born and raised in Chicago, IL. Broadway: Thoughts of a Colored Man by Keenan Scott II. Off-Broadway Theater: Public Theater – MLIMA’S TALE. Off-Off-Broadway: Ensemble Studio Theater: Travisville. Other Regional Theater: Studio Theater (DC) – Pipeline, Cleveland Playhouse – Pipeline & Fairfield People’s Light Theater – MUDROW, Actors Theater of Louisville – Do You Feel Anger, Guthrie Theater: Julius Caesar/Comedy of Errors Pittsburgh Public Theater – Clybourne Park. Film/TV: Alpha House (Amazon), Sleepy Hollow (FOX), Blacklist (NBC), Demolition (Film) MFA: Mason Gross School of the Arts/Rutgers University, www.bjornduapty.com
JOSHUA BOONE (DUN) was last seen at MTC in Dominique Morriseau’s Skeleton Crew. He was previously on stage starring in MCC’s production of C.A. Johnson’s All The Natalie Portmans, and prior to that, Ivo van Hove’s acclaimed Broadway production of Network opposite Bryan Cranston. His other stage credits include Holler If Ya Hear Me (Broadway), Actually (MTC), Artney Jackson (Williamstown), Mother Courage and Her Children (Classic Stage Company), etc. Joshua stars as the lead of the upcoming Netflix film, A Jazzman’s Blues, written, directed, and produced by Tyler Perry. He previously starred in Premature for director Rashaad Ernesto Green opposite Zora Howard, which made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as the independent feature Wheels for writer/director Paul Starkman. He can also be seen on the series “Seven Seconds” for Netflix. Joshua received his BFA in Theatre Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University.
COURTNEY BURKETT (LAURIE) is a founder and producing artistic director at Detroit Public Theatre where she regularly directs and occasionally performs. Previously she was Director of Acting Programs at Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit.
SHARINA MARTIN (STAGE DIRECTIONS) is currently understudying Confederates at the Signature Theater, written by Dominique Morriseau and directed by Stori Ayers. She is a proud member of Ensemble Studio Theatre
“POETRY + CONFLICT”
AN EVENING WITH PADRAIG O TUAMA
FRIDAY, JANUARY 28TH, 2022
A special evening of poetry and discussion led by Pádraig Ó Tuama, poet, community leader, and host of On Being's Poetry Unbound. This evening does not entail our regular play reading, however, we wanted to take this rare opportunity to hear from Pádraig who is in town from Ireland for a residency at Columbia University. Pádraig is incredibly adept at facilitating the kind of communities and conversations around questions of alienation and reconciliation that Sea Dog Theater aspires to create. Since poetry and plays share so much common DNA, we couldn’t be happier to start our year this way!