Meet the Director of 99 HISTORIES

Artists at Play is thrilled to announce that the director for our production of 99 Histories will be Leslie Ishii. 

Leslie Ishii, director

A stage director, actor, teaching artist, and writer, Leslie is a faculty member in the East West Players Asian AmericanTheatre Conservatory (EWP) bringing her commitment to develop liberation and alliance building curriculums in combination with acting and Fitzmaurice Voicework® to EWP as well as Center Theatre Group’s (CTG) education programs. She is in her fifth season as part of Project Faculty for CTG’s Young Audiences Program, where she creates and executes curriculum, teacher-conferences and in-school visits throughout greater Los Angeles. Leslie recently directed a student production of Kimber Lee’s different words for the same thing. In conjunction with the world premiere of the play at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, the project was for CTG’s pilot program Front And Center in a community partnership with Culver City High School’s Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. 

Leslie has performed on Broadway, in regional theatre, was seen recurring on Lost, and on Desperate Housewives, HawthoRNe, The New Generation FAME and more. She has worked in every genre including film, television, commercials, print and continues to perform her solo piece, Watashi Niwa Jishinga Aru: I Have a Spine. On their main stage, Leslie directed EWP’s critically acclaimed Crimes of The Heart and their educational-tour shows, Taking Flight: The Story of Katherine Cheung and Dawn’s Light: The Gordon Hirabayashi Story. She has also assistant directed under Christopher Liam Moore for two seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) as a FAIR participant and will return to produce/direct a new initiative around the development of Asian Pacific Islander new work later in 2014. 

Leslie co-organized the first and co-directed the 2nd Freedom and Focus International Fitzmaurice Voicework® Conference in Barcelona and Vancouver, respectively. She continues to be a part of their international organizing team. Leslie was a co-organizer of a Los Angeles diversity/inclusion task force that presented the breakout session "Allies Eliminating Racism in Theatre" at the Theatre Communication Group’s (TCG) National Conference at Boston in June 2012, which led her to co-facilitating the first ever TCG Fall Forum on Diversity and Inclusion in November 2012, and OSF’s diversity/inclusion training sessions under the guidance of Carmen Morgan, the Director of Leadership Development for Interethnic Relations in November-December 2012. She will be presenting another breakout session, "Establishing Asian Pacific Islander Visibility In American Theatre," at the TCG National Conference in San Diego this month (June 2014). Leslie has been a keynote and featured presenter at voice and qualitative research conferences in Vancouver, BC; Mexico City, Mexico; Barcelona, Spain; and Vienna, Austria. 

99 Histories will have its run in September 2014. With Leslie on board at the helm, Artists at Play is even more excited to be staging this play. Stay in touch through our blog, Facebook, or Twitter as we continue to work towards opening! 

$10 early-bird special available now for 99 Histories! Purchase tickets here.

Escaping to Small Town Midwest

by Artists at Play Producer and Cowboy Versus Samurai Director Peter J. Kuo

The Pacific Railroad

Currently, I’m staying the night in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The state’s most populated city containing about 60,000 residents. Later, I will be heading to Pine Bluffs, a small Wyoming town with a population of roughly 1,000 people. It lies along the first transcontinental railroad built by the Chinese. These are the traits of the fictional city of Breakneck, Wyoming, which is where Cowboy Versus Samurai playwright Michael Golamco has set his play. Two of the characters are native of the area, while the other two have moved in from the most populated cities in the U.S.; New York and Los Angeles.

When speaking to the playwright about why he selected Wyoming, he mentioned a couple of logistical reasons. One, he liked the idea of Veronica and Travis meeting in the middle of the U.S. from their respective cities of New York and Los Angeles. Second, the separation from a bigger population forces the issues of race which is addressed in hilarious and heart-felt ways for the play’s romantic triangle. Yet, I always felt there was something else about the setting that gave the play its special charm. I was trying to put my finger on the motivation the characters had that made them want to live in such an isolating situation. My personal road trip unexpectedly brought me to my answers.

A Photo of Wyoming from Peter's Travels

During the last six days, a large chunk of my time has been spent driving on the road past countless farms, forests and mountains. Upon crossing the state line from Utah to Wyoming I saw a fast change in the landscape. What started out as beautifully layered cliffs changed to vast open fields. Traveling from west to east of the state it became alarmingly clear that its towns and cities were few and far between. At first the thoughts rushing through my head were of concern. Concerns of breaking down and being stranded in the middle of nowhere, or being quickly faced by racism or other forms of bigotry. (Thankfully, upon pulling into a gas station, a van of older Asians arrived. They seemed like tourists but at least I felt I was not alone.) After the initial fear, I became flooded with a much more relieving feeling. The vast emptiness let me escape from my concerns. As I traveled father and farther from Los Angeles; personal, familial and professional issues seemed to be less pressing.

Suddenly, Travis and Veronica’s motivations to move to Breakneck became clear. For them, moving to Middle America--where they are the only Asians and don’t know anyone--is like hitting a reset button. You drop all your troubles, pick up your bags and just disappear. But as I was reminded of my many obligations (writing this blog being one of them) the characters of Cowboy Versus Samurai are unable to leave behind the issues of their past relationships. While the feeling of escaping life’s issues feels fantastic, it is fleeting. This play serves as a reminder that one shouldn’t simply escape their personal troubles by running away to a small town. It is in the challenge of facing our issues that grow us to be more complex and interesting people.

Join us for Artists at Play's third production, Cowboy Versus Samurai, beginning September 26 and running through October 20. For tickets: http://bit.ly/AAPCVsS

Taking a Step Forward with Three Steps Back

A Conversation Between 

Director Skyler Gray & Dramaturg Kimberly Colburn

KIMBERLY: It's great to be working with you, Skyler. We've had a lot of conversations about THREE STEPS BACK with Peter already, but it's great to have a chance to hear your thoughts. I'm curious, what were your first impressions when you read the play? What drew you in?  

SKYLER: It really is great to get to work with you and Peter on THREE STEPS BACK. When I first read Peter's play I was struck by his use of perspective. You might have heard that the most exciting parts of some plays happen offstage.  

KIMBERLY: Like in ancient Greek plays. 

SKYLER: Right! I love how Peter has turned that idea upside down and shown this story from three different angles. I found myself entranced with finding clues from one act that came to fruition in the following acts. I was also struck by Peter's ability to create revelations that surprised both me and the characters within his play through exciting plot twists.  It really is a play that keeps you guessing what will happen next. 

KIMBERLY: I agree, the structure of this play is unexpected--it's three acts, but the action isn't continuous. Each act covers the same period of time, but in a different location. I love the puzzle of putting the pieces together, and I think audiences will really respond to the challenge of figuring out how the characters relate to one another. It will be a challenge for you, as a director, to help communicate some complicated twists and turns with only a short rehearsal period and with actors confined to music stands. Peter is also a director--what's it like to work with a playwright who's also got a directing background?  

SKYLER:  It is a short rehearsal period isn't it?  I bet the Broadway production of Noises Off had a bit more time to fine tune all the entrances and exits.  Game on!  Peter is indeed a man of many talents.  I am finding that Peter's keen eye as a director only strengthens his work as a playwright.  Throughout the piece Peter has dropped clues about the way the staging works in his mind.  As a director, this is very helpful as I am able to piece together the playwright's intent and fill in the blanks along the way. The playwright is setting pen to paper and it is my job to bring that to life. 

KIMBERLY: Plus, this cast looks pretty great.  

SKYLER: They really do.  I hear they are pretty talented too. 

KIMBERLY: It's exciting to have so many talented people gathering together. I'm glad to get a chance to play with Artists at Play. This is a great play to help kick off their new reading series (along with Alice Tuan's IGGY WOO)--smart and funny but complicated. There's a lot of interesting themes Peter's grappling with: a dysfunctional family, a teenage girl exploring religion, parents navigating the balance of their own needs versus the needs of their offspring.  

SKYLER:  This play really does pack quite the punch. I am excited that we get to not only work on this play with Artists at Play, but we get a chance to work together again. This play also takes me back home as it is set in Fresno, which is where I was born and raised. 

KIMBERLY: That's right! You've got the Fresno connection! And just like you, many of these characters are trying to find their way OUT of Fresno.  

SKYLER: I mean, once you leave Fresno, the only thing left to do is direct a play about Fresno. But in all seriousness, I can't wait to jump into rehearsals and work with Peter to make this play come to life.    

KIMBERLY: Me too. Only one more week until we've got an audience. 

SKYLER: In that case, people should stop reading this enthralling interview and buy their tickets now!


Three Steps Back by Peter J. Kuo will be presented as part of Artists at Play's reading series day on Sunday, March 24th.  Get your meal tickets now!

EDITH's Filipino Connection

"I'm from a Filipino family... I tend to think that Filipino women are very outspoken.  But maybe it's just my mother and her family." (playwright A. Rey Pamatmat, NPR)

Our director Jennifer Chang was asked to write a "First Person" article for the LA Stage Times.  Here is an excerpt: 

"Over the past month, I have had the tremendous honor of helming the LA premiere of Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them by A. Rey Pamatmat, produced by Artists at Play.  I was approached at the beginning of the summer about my interest and availability to direct Edith... What an amazing opportunity for someone of Filipino heritage to direct a play by a Filipino-American about Filipino-Americans!

My parents were born and raised in the Philippines.  My father is ethnically Chinese with a splash of Malay-Arabian blood, and my mother is a typical Filipina of Spanish, Malay, and Chinese stock.  I grew up speaking Tagalog in a multi-generational household.  A life pursuing theater and art was definitely not what my family had imagined for me when they emigrated from the Philippines. Nonetheless, here I am, an Asian-American artist in Los Angeles –  ultimately very much like them, I might add, in pursuit of a dream."

Read "Chang’s Filipina American Connection to Edith" in its entirety here. 

Purchase tickets to the show (which runs until November 10) here.

Rodney To, Amielynn Abellera, Brian Hostenske. (photo credit: Michael C. Palma)