past projects
Young Writers of Color Collective, Berkeley Rep
PAST PRODUCTIONS/ EVENTS
A strong wind carries the dreaming Lani to a familiar beach where she receives an important message froM…A lizard?Directed by Kimberly Ridgeway
November 18, 2024, 7pm
PlayGround, San Francisco
SPOILED
by Ken Narasaki
Directed by Eiko Moon-Yamamoto
Spoiled is a dark comedy/drama about a dysfunctional Japanese American family, epigenetic trauma, a bad son, a bad mother, and badly misplaced anger.
casting by Eiko Moon-Yamamoto
Monday, October 14, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Magic Theatre
WINTER COLORS by Amy Merrill
Three lonely individuals- FRED, a recently retired and widowed Vietnam veteran, DONNA, his daughter, and HOA, the owner of a Vietnamese nail salon- want more out of their lives. When FRED begins hanging out with HOA at the nail salon, DONNA is unsettled by FRED’S new preoccupation. Isn’t Vietnam a thing of the past? FRED and HOA do travel to Vietnam. It's an imaginary trip, but when they return they know more about themselves and what they want back home. So, who gets to make that "real" trip to Vietnam?
October 14, 2024 at 4:00 pm PST/ 7:00 pm EST
Eiko appeared as Hoa
Transformation Theatre
Contemporary Asian Theater Scene (CATS), in collaboration with award-winning Director and Playwright Jeffrey Lo who serves as the Artistic Producer, presents the inaugural Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Playwright Festival on July 27th at 7:30 PM (PDT) at San Jose Stage Company (The Stage) in downtown San Jose.
Directed by Tasi Alabastro and Wynne Chan, this unique theatre arts experience showcases the talent of local Bay Area AAPI theatre artists.
The inaugural AAPI Playwright Festival features new original plays by the following playwrights:
Victoria Chong Der - In Memory
Anthony Doan - Projector Projector
Reed Flores - lotus lamps and baby teeth
Kausar Mohammed - Short, Little Green Men
Conrad Panganiban - RYCE (With a Y)
Christina Ying - Signs of Life
contemporary Asian Theatre Scene &
San Jose Stage
PANDORA by Laurel Ollstein
Eiko appeared as Dynah (the goddess - Dionysus)
directed by Andrea Gordon
What if a woman rethought, reshaped, rebooted and rewrote the Pandora’s Box myth? That’s the premise of the play Pandora. Ignorance killed the cat. Curiosity was framed.
What if a new adult female person—was suddenly created and dropped into the middle of the world now— someone with no preconceived notions of anything. What beauty is, what love is, what violence is. And what if the rest of humanity and gods could suddenly see the world through those clear eyes?
Sunday, July 21, 2024
staged reading
Magic Theatre
Rainbow Zebra Productions LLC is pleased to announce its new Rainbow Zebra/Magic Theatre Reading Extravaganza
CROWS LANDING, GENTLY, GENTLY by Michael Lynch
Eiko appeared as Juliene
directed by Andrea Gordon
Sally will do anything to prove her love for Charlie – even live in a bomb shelter for 20 years. But when she learns the truth of his lies, she has to make the greatest decision of her life – the kind that can break the human heart, or set it free.
June 16, 2024
staged reading
MAGIC THEATRE
Unfortunately BRIGHT STAR is canceled due t0 possible closure of 42nd Street Moon.
Music, Book, and Story by Steve Martin
Music, Lyrics, and Story by Edie Brickell
Directed by Cindy Goldfield
Inspired by a true story and featuring the Tony®-nominated score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Broadway’s BRIGHT STAR tells a sweeping tale of love and redemption set against the rich backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and ’40s. When literary editor Alice Murphy meets a young soldier just home from World War II, he awakens her longing for the child she once lost. Haunted by their unique connection, Alice sets out on a journey to understand her past—and what she finds has the power to transform both of their lives. With beautiful melodies and powerfully moving characters, the story unfolds as a rich tapestry of deep emotion. An uplifting theatrical journey that holds you tightly in its grasp, BRIGHT STAR is as refreshingly genuine as it is daringly hopeful.
42nd Street Moon
THE CHINESE LADY by Lloyd Suh
Eiko appeared as Afong Moy
LOVE LETTERS by A.R. Gurney
Eiko appeared as Melissa
directed by Wynne Chan
Inspired by the true story of Afong Moy’s life, The Chinese Lady is a dark, poetic, yet whimsical portrait of America through the eyes of a young Chinese woman.
Afong Moy is fourteen years old when she’s brought to the United States from Guangzhou Province in 1834. Allegedly the first Chinese woman to set foot on U.S. soil, she has been put on display for the American public as “The Chinese Lady.” For the next half-century, she performs for curious white people, showing them how she eats, what she wears, and the highlight of the event: how she walks with bound feet. Soon her celebrated sideshow comes to define and challenge her very sense of identity.
In Love Letters, Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner, both born to wealth and position, are childhood friends whose lifelong correspondence begins with birthday party thank-you notes and summer camp postcards. After exchanging letters through the years into adulthood, both lives marked by personal trials and tribulations, the two ultimately reconnect for a brief affair - only to realize it is too late for both of them. However, a final letter after one’s untimely death soon surfaces, illustrating how close they truly were to each other despite their physical distance - as close as only true lovers can be.
April 19- May 12, 2024
The pear theatre
NAN by Noa Gardner
46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival
Alice finds herself back in a place where she thought she would never return—home with her mother Nan, whom she has not spoken to in fourteen years. Unresolved tensions play out as Alice tries to raise her own teenage daughter while struggling to provide for the whole family. These three generations of Hawaiian women overcome the past and cultural dissonance between them while balancing a life-or-death decision that hangs over their heads.
April 12-21, 2024, May 6-12, 2024 On Demand
Playwrights foundation
What's wrong with teaching the Shakespeare controversy? Enter Delia Bacon.
See THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF DELIA BACON by Jennifer Le Blanc, directed by Jim Kleinmann. Featuring Eiko Yamamoto, Natalia Delgado, and Marjan Safa. Part of “Reclaiming Herstory,” March 18 at Freight & Salvage.
PlayGround, San Francisco
NOVEMBER 25 - DECEMBER 30, 2023
SLEEPING BEAUTY returns this 2023 Holiday Season, Back by popular demand! A wildly funny musical mashup of true love, talking dogs, singing chickens, dancing ghosts, and enough fairly magic for the entire family.
“Do you need a new annual holiday tradition? Look no further than Presidio Theatre’s pantomime production of Sleeping Beauty.” –San Francisco Examiner
PRESIDIO THEATRE
MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND “SURVIVING THE HOLIDAYS
The Negotiators
by Kimberly Ridgeway
Directed by Linda Amayo-Hassan
Adam Franklin………………….Ryan Tasker
Tina TurkeyTon.………….Miyoko Sakatani
Priscilla PigPen…………….Eiko Yamamoto
Ginger BreadMan…….. Emily M Keyishian
Decembr 18, 2023
PlayGround, San Francisco
DISENCHANTED!
Directed by Scott Guggenheim. Forget the princesses you think you know: these royal renegades are here to comically belt out the truth and bring their hilariously subversive, not-for-the-kiddies musical to you – and what you thought about princesses will never be the same! In DISENCHANTED!, ten of your favorite original storybook heroines are none-too-happy with the way they’ve been portrayed in today’s pop culture so they’ve tossed their tiaras and have come to life to set the record straight. And while Disenchanted! certainly rips Walt a new one and tells the princes exactly where they can stick their happily ever afters, it also celebrates individuality and promotes that beauty is from within smashing all stereotypes of what a traditional Disney princess should look and be like. Eiko appeared as Hua Mulan and Pocahontas.
October 12 - November 5, 2023
3 Below Theater
CYMBELINE
Directed by Maryssa Wanlass. Shakespeare’s epic romantic adventure, is believed to be one of his final plays and features a dazzling mix of comedy, tragedy, and fairy tale. King Cymbeline of Britain has banished Posthumus who has secretly married his daughter, Princess Imogen. A series of unimaginable misadventures ensue that test the strength of their commitment to each other and conclude with inventive scenes of revelation and joyous reconciliation. It toured Cupertino, Redwood City, San Francisco and made its final appearance on the CalShakes Stage in Orinda. Eiko appeared as Musician, Aviragus, Posthumus’ Mother, Lord, Lady
July 22 - September 24, 2023
San Francisco Shakespeare Festival
INTO THE WOODS
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by James Lapine. Directed and choreographed by Nicole Helfer, Music direction by Daniel Alley. Journey with Cinderella, the Baker, his Wife, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack, and more of everyone’s favorite fairytale characters as they navigate the woods in search of wishes fulfilled. But be careful what you wish for…Eiko appeared as Jack’s Mother.
May 21, 28, June 4, 10, 11, 18, 2023
Mountain Play
“I MAKE THEATER, IN PART, AS AN ATTEMPT TO LIBERATE MYSELF FROM CONFINEMENT, CONVENTIONAL RULES, NORMS, AND STRUCTURES, AN ATTEMPT TO IMAGINE FREEDOM.” - VIRGINIA GRISE
Join us for this first time event in the Bay Area with the one of kind mind and master storyteller, Virginia Grise.
This will be an invited talk led by Virginia discussing her vision and mission for making theatre NOW. She will be joined by a stellar group of all stars from this workshop - the all women and on binary team: Doctora Karina Gutierrez, Maria Frangos, Hana Kadoyama, and actors: Chibueze Crouch, Lauren Garcia, Livia Gomes Demarci, Kina Kantor, Ana Maria Luera, Lulu Matute, Nora el Samahy, Jeuneé Simon, Lauren Spencer, Mia Tagano, Eiko Yamamoto
Plays:
“All’s Well That Ends Well” (PlayOn commissioned translation)
“Their Dogs Came With Them” (adapted from the novel by Helena Maria Viramontes)
“Riding the Currents of the Wilding Winds” (a brand new piece that is still in the beginning stages)
We invite you to be a part of an open rehearsal, focusing on the incredible, incendiary work of incomparable Virginia Grise. Describing her work is tough: you gotta experience it. But, of course, she puts it best: “From panzas to prisons, from street theatre to large-scale multimedia performances, from princes to chafe — write plays that are set in bars without windows, barrio rooftops, and lesbian bedrooms.”
There will be readings of excerpts from Vicki’s translation of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well as well as some brand new text making its way into the word for the first time. Most importantly, Vicki invites you to engage not just in a process, but in an active talk that will explore the intersections of activism and theatre, and what it means to produce work in a post-pandemic world-on-fire.
Thursday June 1, 2023
Magic TheatrE
PLEASED AS PEACH
by Sky Kreuger
Directed by Rebecca Ennals
Obasan………….Eiko Yamamoto
Ojisan…………….Jomar Tagatac
Peach……………..………Isabel To
Georgia Peach/Stagehand……Carolina Morones
PlayGround
THE LAST TRAM
Directed by Nikki Meñez. Five strangers embark on the infamous Cannery Studios Tram Tour for one final time before the theme park officially closes. But nothing seems to be going right. Hallucinations, unruly animatronics, and a foreboding sense of doom accompany the riders in this horror play about the power and price of commercialized nostalgia.
Eiko appeared as Sunny
PLAYWRIGHTS FOUNDATION | CROWDED FIRE
CLUE
Directed by Susi Damilano. Based on the iconic 1985 film – which was inspired by the classic Hasbro board game – Clue is a hilarious farce-meets-murder mystery. At a remote mansion, six mysterious guests assemble for an unusual dinner party where murder and blackmail are on the menu. When their host turns up dead, they all become suspects. As the body count rises, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, Colonel Mustard, and Wadsworth, the butler, race to find the killer. Clue is the comedy whodunit that will leave both cult-fans and newcomers in stitches as they try to figure out WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT?!
March 9 - April 22, 2023
San Francisco Playhouse
GOLD STAR PARENTS HONOR & REMEMBRANCE MEMORIAL SERVICE
It was an honor to sing at the memorial service for Gold Star families. Service included singing The National Anthem, The Lord’s Prayer, and I’ll be Seeing You. Bill Keck, piano.
March 3, 2023
marines’ memorial theatre
SONS OF MAUI by Lee Cataluna
Directed by Jeffrey Lo. Workshop Reading, February 9, 2023
San Francisco Playhouse
Super Secret Society of Spectacled Spectators* welcomes you to a unique evening irreverently exploring classic literature, technology, art, and ideas that will be anything but the expected. The Tabard Theatre Company and StoryPunk present a one-of-a-kind evening exploring timeless literary classics and the inexorable march of progress. This irreverent comedy, inspired by contemporary comedy classics of the American stage like The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and The Regard of Flight, invites audience members to join Bay Area stage veteran, Bora “Max” Koknar, on a theatrical journey like no other.
Our mission: to honor and celebrate the work of a different legend from the literary canon with each performance. To this end, each night, Max will be joined by a celebrity guest from the local arts and culture sector to perform the show. Our guests choose the classic author of the night and share their experiences about the work of that literary giant. Except there is one catch: They must do this all while performing in a play they have never read or rehearsed!
The Tabard Theatre Company
Executive Producer Peggy Haas has assembled an all-star creative team including director Liam Vincent. The show will feature magnificent costumes by Alina Bokovikova and production design by Sean Riley. International music legend Mason Williams and musical director Bill Keck will create a whimsical score for the show featuring pop and classic rock songs with re-written lyrics. Writers are Stephanie Brown and Richard Ciccarone along with production dramaturgs Christine Nicholson and Luther Hanson. Technical director Jeff Gregory, production manager Patty Ann Farrell, choreographer Stacey Printz, assistant director Phoebe Angeni, and casting director Annie Stuart complete the team.
The cast includes Rotimi Agbabiaka, Curt Branom, Renée Lubin, Danny Scheie, Sharon Shao, Matthew Kropschot, Andre Amarotico, Jaime Miller Bardacke, Daniel Benitez, Phaedra Tillery Boughton, Jen Brooks, Maggie Connard, Ruby Day, Jeffrey Mercury Van Sciver, Merrill Grant, M. Javi Harnly, Kaylee Miltersen, Sarah Toby Moore, Scott Reardon, Gary Stanford Jr., Ryan Patrick Welsh, and Eiko Yamamoto.
Eiko originated the role of Pacifica in this world premiere
December 1-30, 2022
PRESIDIO THEATRE
FOLLIES
Book by James Goldman
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Bill English, director/ Dave Dobrusky, music director/ Nicole Helfer, Choreographer
Eiko appeared as Emily Whitman
It’s 1971, and theatrical impresario Dimitri Weismann is hosting a reunion of former Follies performers in his crumbling theatre, about to be demolished to make room for a parking lot. The artists gather for one last time, reminiscing about the past and contemplating their future, before the theater dims its lights for good. Surreal, sophisticated, compelling, heart wrenching and epic in scope, this legendary masterpiece uses the musical theatre as a metaphor for the collapse of American innocence and naiveté.
June 30-September 10, 2022
San Francisco Playhouse
STEEL MAGNOLIAS
Written by Robert Harling and directed by Jerry Lee. Truvy’s salon is Chinquapin, Louisiana’s go-to place for a beauty fix with a hearty side of gossip. Along with her overeager assistant Annelle, Truvy pampers her small-town clients with hairdos, manicures and all kinds of unsolicited advice. Anybody who’s anybody is a regular: There’s the doting M’Lynn and her soon-to-be-married daughter Shelby, the moody Ouiser and the well-to-do widow Clairee. Through witty banter and wisecracks, this hodgepodge group of women form friendships as strong as steel, which they are forced to lean on when tragedy strikes. Eiko appeared as M’Lynn Eatenton. April 14 - May 15, 2022
Sierra Repertory Theatre
BAKED! THE MUSICAL
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Jord Liu and Deepak Kumar. Directed by Yari Cervas. When she doesn’t receive the scholarship that would send her to her dream school, habitual overachiever Jane Huang, with the help of her best friend, joins forces with the class degenerate to build the greatest drug empire ever run by high schoolers. Kept in the dark are Jane’s parents, whose inability to cope with their daughter leaving for college while maintaining a profit at their struggling Chinese bakery drives them to pry and potentially unravel Jane’s web of lies. Baked! The Musical is a reflection on failure, self worth, and the question of what we owe the people we love. It features an all Asian American cast, and the themes are born out of the writers’ own experiences growing up as the children of immigrants in the US.-- Eiko appeared as Yunzhou. PianoFight, April 3, 2022
FaultLine Theater
WITCHCRAFT
Written by Joanna Baillie (1836) directed by Lesley Currier and presented as part of the Bay Area WTF MiniFestival: Classical Women Theatrical Reading Series. Eiko appeared as Lady Dungarren and first woman
Presented by Marin Shakespeare
Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival
NEVERMIND
Written by Ai Aida and directed by Keiko Shimosato Carreiro as part of the Bay Area WTF MiniFestival: BIWOC+ Series. Eiko appeared as Irene (Ai).
March 7, 21, 20221
Presented by Kunoichi Productions
Bay Area Women’s Theatre Fesival
MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND “KEEP MOVING FORWARD”
New Year
by Anne Yumi Kobori
Directed by Tessa Corrie
Hughes……………….Ron Chapman
Jude………………..Eiko Yamamoto
January 24, 2022
PlayGrounD
SHOSHANA IN DECEMBER
A stage reading of a new musical! Book by Rose Oser, lyrics by Weston Scott, music by Matt Grandy
Director: Maya Herbsman, Music Director: Jord Liu, Stage Manager: Jakob Bernardino, Graphic Designer Raisa Yavneh
The difference between a latke and a hash brown is obvious to Shoshana. It’s as obvious as the difference between being partnered with Danny or being single. But when Cecily invites Shoshana on a winter rendezvous, Shoshana leaps into a world that no longer feels straightforward. Shoshana in December is a new musical about Hanukkah, queerness, and the traditions we must create for ourselves.
Sara Felder as Rebecca; Michael O’Konis as Danny; John Mannion as Randy; Gabby Momah as Cecily; Marnina Schon* as Shoshana; Gary Stanford Jr. as Michael; Eiko Yamamoto as Elaine. *member, Actor’s Equity Association
December 15, 2021, 7:30 pm on the Steindler Stage
Z SpacE
THE 1940’s RADIO HOUR
Director and choreographer: Michelle Shannon; Music director: Rick Reynolds. Book by Walton Jones
Based on an idea by Walton Jones and Carol Lees
Music by various composers.
A different time is evoked in this marvelously theatrical and winning show, a live broadcast of a The Mutual Manhattan Variety Cavalcade from the Hotel Astor’s Algonquin Room on December 21, 1942. The spirit of that bygone era when the world was at war and pop music meant “Strike Up the Band” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (both are in this show) is accurately captured as the harassed producer copes with a drunk lead singer, the delivery boy who wants a chance in front of the mike, the second banana who dreams of singing a ballad, and the trumpet playing sound effects man who chooses a fighter plane over Glenn Miller. Eiko appeared as Louise Cohn.
December 2-19, 2021
Hillbarn Theatre
THE BOOK OF WILL
Written by Lauren Gunderson and directed by Bruce McLeod. Following the death of iconic actor Richard Burbage, and still reeling from Shakespeare’s death three years earlier, the surviving senior members of the King’s Men acting company realize that without a herculean effort to amass the various scraps of surviving manuscripts, sides and prompt books, the works of Shakespeare could be lost to time entirely except for the unauthorized and inferior printings of a handful of his plays. The story of this compilation is brought to life.… in Lauren Gunderson’s vibrant play, The Book of Will.” -John Geoffrion, DC Theatre Scene, 2017. Eiko appeared as Elizabeth Condell.
November 5 - 21, 2021
Lohman Theatre
WORKING
*First onstage production after Covid
“I hear America singing.” Based on Studs Terkel’s bestselling book, this unique, Tony-nominated musical has been recently updated for the modern age and features the real-life words of average working Americans, set to music by a diverse collection of extraordinary story-telling songwriters including Lin-Manuel Miranda (IN THE HEIGHTS, HAMILTON) and Stephen Schwartz (WICKED), as well as Craig Carnelia and James Taylor. WORKING is a brilliant, hilarious, and heartwarming examination of the “essential” worker. Palo Alto Players, Palo Alto. Director: Patrick Klein; Music Director: Dolores Duran Cefalu; Choreographer: Stacey Reed. Photo credit: Scott Lasky
San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominated “Working” as one of the best productions in South Peninsula for their 45th annual awards, for Theatre Year 2020/2021. Eiko appeared as Grace Clements: Millworker, Theresa Liu: Nanny, and Amanda McKenny: Project Manager
September 17 - October 3, 2021
Palo Alto Players
THE CRANE WIFE
Written and directed by Anne Yumi Kobori. Eiko appeared as the Crane wife.
August 13-19, 2021
Silicon Valley Shakespeare
THE APARTMENT
Written by Claire Strofield and directed by Wynne Chan. Eiko appeared as the real estate agent.
July 11, 18, 25, 2021
The Playwrights’ CTR of SF
KENTUCKY
Hiro is a self-made woman making it in New York. But she is also single, almost thirty, and estranged from her dysfunctional family who lives in Kentucky. When her little sister, a born-again Christian, decides to marry at twenty-two, Hiro takes it upon herself to do whatever she can to stop the wedding and salvage any shred of hope she had about her sister’s future. The themes of identity, religion, and love collide in this unique coming-of-age story. Eiko appeared as Masako.
May 24, 2021
Contra Costa Civic Theatre
LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE
Eiko was so excited to perform in this first live show of Love, Loss, And What I Wore by Nora since the pandemic closed stages. Directed by Lee Ann Payne. Play On the Grounds. Eiko appeared as Heather, Geralyn, Nancy (gang sweater), Alex’s Mother, and Older Sister.
May 12-15, 2021
Montalvo Arts Center
Program One: live stream reading of SOON by Tyler Paranoia, directed by Katie Hipol Garcia. Eiko appeared as Erin. Program Two: prerecorded digital production of SIMULATION by Anne Yumi Kobori, directed by Wynne Chan. Eiko appeared as Chiyo Ersa JX4571.
March 27 - April 4, 2021
Pear Theatre
FANTASTICLAND
A new adapted play by M. E. Ianiro based on the novel FANTASTICLAND by Mike Bockoven. Directed by Alysia Homminga. A digital world premiere. Town Hall Theatre, Lafayette, CA. Eiko appeared as Regina Fresno.
March 11-April 7, 2021
Streaming available until September, 2021
Town Hall Theatre
KIA ORAÑA, JOE
Written by Rex McGregor. Eiko performed, filmed, directed, and edited this work as part of THE COVID MONOLOGUES: A collection to honor those who have died due to Covid 19. Eiko appeared as Tabby. Streams 1/26/2021 @ https://www.youtube.com/BreathOfFireTheater/videos
BREATH OF FIRE
DOWNTOWN CROSSING
On Marathon Monday, seven undocumented Bostonians cross paths on the Orange Line. When their train is delayed due to police action at Downtown Crossing, they share their stories — both hopeful and heart wrenching — in intimate, intersecting monologues that spotlight what it’s like to build a life while holding your breath.
DOWNTOWN CROSSING is the culmination of C1’s two-year Boston (un)Documented Project, during which C1 PlayLab alum David Valdes — supported by a partnership between Company One and the Boston Public Library — interviewed current and former undocumented immigrants, DACA recipients, immigrant rights advocates, community organizers, and family members of the undocumented from the Greater Boston area. With this fully realized virtual production — rehearsed and performed entirely online — C1 brings its long commitment to the pioneering of new theatrical forms to the digital space.
Eiko appeared as Sarom
Company One, Boston, MA
CO-EXIST PEER PANEL – THEATRE ARTISTS - WOMEN OF COLOR
Panelists: Christina Diaz, AnJu Hyppolite, Amissa Miller, Kimberly Ridgeway, Eiko Yamamoto
Fuse Theatre & Dragon Productions, Redwood City, CA
Saturday, September 26, 2020 @ 5p PT
Fuse Theatre and The Dragon are introducing new and revised online events for the upcoming 2020 Redwood City Play Festival program titled, Co-EXIST: stories of unlikely connection. Committing to expand online platforms and extending the festival throughout the coming months in an effort to open space for important conversations around racism and to support BIPOC and Queer artists – a new Short Play Clinic, Play Studio events, and Rotating Peer Panel discussions are among the planned events.
Fuse Theatre | Dragon Productions
ALMOST, MAINE
A woman carries her heart, broken into nineteen pieces, in a small paper bag. A man shrinks to half his former size, after losing hope in love. A couple keep the love they have given each other in large red bags, or compress the mass into the size of a diamond. These playful and surreal experiences are commonplace in the world of John Cariani’s Almost, Maine, where on one deeply cold and magical Midwinter Night, the citizens of Almost -- not organized enough for a town, too populated for a wilderness -- experience the life-altering power of the human heart. Relationships end, begin, or change beyond recognition, as strangers become friends, friends become lovers, and lovers turn into strangers. Propelled by the mystical energy of the aurora borealis and populated with characters who are humorous, plain-spoken, thoughtful, and sincere, Almost, Maine is a series of loosely connected tales about love, each with a compelling couple at its center, each with its own touch of sorcery. Directed by Nicole Tung and presented by South Bay Musical Theatre as an online eStudio Readers’ Theatre production September 4, 2020.
Eiko appeared as Marci
South Bay Musical Theatre
Eiko was to appear as Escalus, Prince of Verona in ROMEO AND JULIET at their debut in Marin Shakespeare, directed by Robert Currier. August 28-September 27, 2020. The productions was cancelled due to COVID.
Marin Shakespeare
Eiko wrote poems and created artwork collectively with an ensemble of actors, performing AJ’S VIRTUAL PARTY. Directed by Nathanael Card.
Quotes from last night's audience:
Megan: "From an audience member's perspective, the chemistry of the group seemed so cohesive and solid-- amazing to think about how you were all working virtually, because the resulting products seem so unified."
Rich: "Amazing how it not only came together, but it was seamless and so engaging."
Jane: "Watching a group of people doing something they really loved was so amazing to watch right now. My heart is happy."
Jerome: "I loved that [spoiler] made me feel like we all participated in one large piece of art."
Kimberly: "Y'all are amazing. In your talents and your spirits. Thank you!"
July 31 - August 8, 2020.
The Dragon Productions Theatre Co
THE RE-EDUCATION OF FERNANDO MORALES
Written by Justin P. Lopez. Eiko played Beth.
July 10, 2020
DEVELOPMENTAL WORKSHOP
JUDICIAL PROCESS
An adaptation of Bertold Brecht, written and directed by Reg Clay as part of the online Play by Play series. Eiko appeared as Liang, the prosecuter.
May 31, 2020
Brooklyn Preserve
Eiko was thrilled to debut as Bloody Mary in SOUTH PACIFIC directed by Lee Ann Payne scheduled for May 16 - June 6, 2020. Unfortunately, the show was canceled due to the coronavirus.
South Bay Musical Theatre
STUPID FUCKING BIRD
Written by Aaron Posner and directed by Justin P. Lopez on an online reading on May 15, 2020. Eiko appeared as Emma.
BECAUSE I WENT THERE
Written by Hedvig Flores and directed by Stacey Ardelean as part of the Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival, 2020. Eiko appeared as Mother and Judge.
April 29, 2020
Fuse TheatrE
Eiko was set to debut as Cinderella’s mother and Grandmother in INTO THE WOODS directed by Gary Craig Schoenfeld Jr. scheduled for March 27-April 19, 2020. The production was cancelled due to COVID.
Coastal Repertory Theatre
TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS
Directed by Bill English. Adapted by Nia Vardalos based on The New York Times Bestseller “Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar.”
San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominated “Tiny Beautiful Things” as one of the best productions in San Francisco for their 45th annual awards, for Theatre Year 2020/2021. Eiko understudied as Sugar (u/s) and Letter Writer #2 (u/s).
January 28 - March 7, 2020
San Francisco Playhouse
PRISCILLA DREAMS THE ANSWER
By Walt McCough. A stage reading directed by Michael J. Hawkins. LaVal’s Subterraneean Theatre, Berkeley, CA. Eiko appeared as Zop, the alien.
January 20, 2020
Actors Ensemble of Berkeley
THE COSPLAY’S THE THING
From zero to new Shakespeare play in two days!
Written by Doll Piccotto directed by Cynthia Lagodzinski. Silicon Valley Shakespeare and Foothill College produced this 48-hour play festival. In one weekend (48 hours!), a wide array of local artists start with nothing, write, rehearse, and do a full public performance of eight new short plays! Lohman Theatre, Los Altos, CA, . Eiko appeared as Ubernerd.
January 5, 2020
Silicon Valley Shakespeare
HOLIDAY BONUS directed by Samantha Hunnam at PianoFight in San Francisco, an immersive holiday theatre experience. Eiko appeared as Brenda.
November 18, 25, December 2, 10, 16, 2019
PianoFight
HELLO DOLLY!
Directed by Sue Ellen Nelson at the Douglas Morrisson Theatre, Hayward, CA. Eiko debuted as Ernestina Money.
November 8-24, 2019
Douglas Morrisson Theatre
CU CHULAINN by Kyle McReddie, directed by Liz Baker as part of The San Francisco Olympians Festival X: You’ve Got Gaul, . The theme of the evening was Heroes of Fire during the week 2 of Hail Britannia. The SF Olympians is one of the largest new works festivals in the Bay Area and one of the largest in the country. Eiko appeared as Mave.
November 6-23, 2019
Exit Theatre
Julia Izumi’s new play MIKU, AND THE GODS had a staged reading at San Francisco Playhouse directed by Brittany Searles.
Miku wants to be a god. Ephraim wants to be an Olympian. Grandma wants to remember. And Shara wants people to just include him in the conversation, you know? MIKU, AND THE GODS is an epic and small adventure that braids together friendship, death, memory, time, rhythm and power beyond what one could ever desire.
Eiko appeared as One Who Is Wise/ Gods.
October 7, 2019
San Francisco Playhouse
EUREKA DAY
Directed by Elizabeth Craven. Written by Jonathan Spector, a playwright and theatre-maker based in Oakland, California. His play EUREKA DAY premiered at Aurora Theatre in Berkeley last year, and won all of the region’s new play awards: Will Glickman Award, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, Rella Lossy Award, and Theatre Bay Area Award.
San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominated “Eureka Day” as one of the best productions in the Bay Area for their 44th annual awards, 2020 for Theatre Year 2019. Eiko appeared as Meiko.
August 30 - September 22, 2019
Spreckels Performing Arts Center
Young Writers of Color Collective (YWoCC)
Young Writers of Color Collective aims to equip the next generation of playwrights with the tools necessary to give voice to their stories, struggles, and triumphs. Over the course of a year, selected high school students participated in an intense study of playwriting, being taught and mentored by a range of professional Bay Area artists. Excerpts of their final piece was performed in a special event during the 2019 Ground Floor Summer Residency Lab. Eiko appeared as *
*Mari - Mari's Search| by Ayumi Beeler, dir. May Liang
*Stephanie - Doing the Best We Can by Alex Parsino, dir. May Liang
*Mother - BBYG (Baby Girl) by Roan Pearl, dir. Nailah Harper-Malveaux
*Doctor/ Teacher - Twisted Reality by Emmanuel Hibbert, dir. Nailah Harper-Malveaux
June 14-19, 2019
Berkeley Repertory TheatrE
FLOWER DRUM SONG
This was the revised book version by David Henry Hwang and directed by Lily Tung Crystal, choreographed by Alex Hsu, and musical direction by Amanda Ku.
FLOWER DRUM SONG is a 2019 Theatre Bay Area Awards Finalist for outstanding production, direction, and choreography for a musical. It was also a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle “Go See” production.
San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominated “Flower Drum Song” as one of the best productions in the Bay Area for their 44th annual awards, 2020 for Theatre Year 2019. Eiko was featured as Lee and played several character ensemble roles at her debut of
April 26-May 12, 2019