IN ADDITION TO READINGS OF FOUR PLAYS FROM THE REFOCUS PROJECT YEAR THREE, ROUNDABOUT IS UPLIFTING FOUR MORE PLAYS IN AN ESSAY SERIES TITLED LITERARY ANCESTRY SERIES: RESPONSES FROM MA-YI WRITERS LAB.
Essays will be available at the end of May. In the meantime, learn more about the plays and find out where you can read them below.
THE MUSIC LESSONS
by Wakako Yamauchi (1980)
Set in California’s Imperial Valley in the year 1935, The Music Lessons encounters Chizuko Sakata, a widowed mother of three, struggling to raise her children and make ends meet. When Chizuko hires Kaoru Kawaguchi, a young itinerant worker, to help her on the farm, his presence disrupts the family’s stasis and sparks Chizuko’s and her daughter Aki’s dreams of a better life. Wakako Yamauchi’s play transforms the people and places from her own childhood into a compelling family drama following first generation Japanese immigrants in California.
The Music Lessons was originally written as a short story entitled “In Heaven and Earth,” and was adapted into a play in 1977. It premiered at The Public Theatre in 1980 and was subsequently produced by East West Players in 1985.
To read the play: Unbroken Thread: An Anthology of Plays by Asian American Women edited by Roberta Uno
THE LIFE OF THE LAND
by Edward Sakamoto (1987)
Spencer has returned home to O’ahu, Hawai’i for a family reunion after building a successful life for himself in LA since leaving 20 years ago. The family gathers to catch him up on all that has changed and Spencer starts to wonder what he sacrificed when he decided to leave the island. Can Hawai’i ever feel like home again after so many years away?
The Life of the Land is the third play in Edward Sakamoto’s Kamiya Family Trilogy, a trilogy that follows multiple generations of the same family over 60 years. The play was first produced by Pan Asian Repertory in New York City in 1987. The play as well as Sakamoto’s other work has been seen at theatres across the country.
To read the play: Hawaii No Ka Oi: The Kamiya Family Trilogy by Edward Sakamoto
Seeing Our Lives in Sakomoto’s The Life of the Land Essay
YANKEE DAWG YOU DIE
by Philip Kan Gotanda (1988)
Vincent Chang is a Japanese American actor in his 60s, who has been working steadily for years, taking any part he can get to earn a living and increase Asian American representation onscreen. Bradley Yamashita is a Japanese American actor in his 20s who is in the early stages of his career, trying to carve out an existence for himself in roles that aren’t just stereotypes. Despite appearances, when Vincent and Bradley meet, they find that they have less in common than expected. This lively two-hander explores the industry-wide mistreatment of Asian American actors in film, TV, and theatre, showing how different generations tackle the same, complicated questions about what authentic representation really means.
The world premiere of Yankee Dawg You Die was produced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 1988 and moved to Los Angeles Theatre Center shortly after. Playwrights Horizons produced the New York premiere in 1989. It is one of playwright Philip Kan Gotanda’s earlier works.
To read the play: Yankee Dawg You Die Acting Edition by Philip Kan Gotanda
WALLS
by Jeannie Barroga (1989)
In Walls, prolific playwright Jeannie Barroga weaves a rich tapestry of stories surrounding the competition to design the Vietnam War Memorial (“The Wall”) in Washington D.C. Set in the early ‘80s, and mainly at The Wall, the piece explores the war’s legacy and the memorial’s construction – including the convergence of politics and art – from the viewpoint of a wide array of characters. How do the racial and political tensions of an inherently contentious war affect our AAPI communities and a healing nation at large?
Walls premiered at the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco, California, in 1989 and was subsequently awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Access to Artistic Excellence Award.
To read the play: Unbroken Thread: An Anthology of Plays by Asian American Women edited by Roberta Uno
The Refocus Project is made possible by the Champions for Inclusive Theatre and Roundabout’s Forward Fund. We acknowledge the generous friends who support our many efforts to increase representation and inclusion in all aspects of theatre: Elizabeth Armstrong, Bank of America, Eugene and Joann Bissell and the Lillian Lincoln Foundation, Kevin Brown, Barbara and Peter Bye, Ginger McKnight Chavers, Ford Foundation, Jill and Barry Lafer, Gina Maria Leonetti, Iva Mills, Beryl Snyder, and Denise Littlefield Sobel.
