Category: Events

Don’t miss an exciting reading of “Hannah and the Dread Gazebo” on October 17!

Esther Shin Leave a comment
An actress performing in Hannah and the Dreaded Gazebo © Playwrights Foundation
An actress performing in Hannah and the Dreaded Gazebo © Playwrights Foundation

 

East West Players and JANM proudly present the Writers Gallery Reading of the Jiehae Park’s award-winning play, Hannah and the Dread Gazebo.

Playwright and performer, Jiehae Park © Ma-Yi Theater Company
Playwright and performer, Jiehae Park © Ma-Yi Theater Company

In this play, Hannah receives a FedEx box with two things: a 100% bona-fide-heart’s-desire-level wish and a suicide note. Hannah tracks the package back to Seoul, where her grandmother recently jumped from the roof of her retirement home onto the wrong side of the Demilitarized Zone. They’ll need North Korea’s permission to retrieve the body, but Kim Jong Il just kicked the bucket, and things in the DMZ are even stranger then they seem.

 

If Hannah and the Dread Gazebo sounds like your kind of show, don’t miss this FREE reading at 7:30PM on Thursday, October 17th!

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About the Playwright: Jiehae Park is a playwright and performer in NYC. She is the 2013-14 Princess Grace Playwriting Fellow, as well as a current Dramatists Guild Fellow and member of the Soho Rep Writer-Director Lab. Her second full-length, HANNAH AND THE DREAD GAZEBO, won the 2013 Leah Ryan Prize for Emerging Women Writers and was developed at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and Ojai Playwrights Conference. The script was also a finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference and Abingdon’s Chris Wolk Award. Her first play (and undergraduate thesis), HAPPY MOON DAY, HOLLY WOO, was a finalist for the Wolk Award and placed third in the East West Players/Irvine Foundation’s GOT LAUGHS competition. She served two years as co-artistic director of title3, a Los Angeles company dedicated to new works by women, and has been a mentor for the O’Neill’s Young Playwrights Festival. Proud member: Ma Yi Writers Lab, AEA, SAG-AFTRA. As a performer: NYTW, La Jolla Playhouse, Collection of Shiny Objects, Studio Theatre 2ndStage (DC), Young Playwrights Theatre (DC), REDCAT (LA). MFA (acting), UCSD/La Jolla Playhouse and BA (general theater shenanigans), Amherst College.

About the Director: Jennifer Chang‘s recent work includes Lady Windermere’s Fan (LA Weekly Pick of the Week), Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (Ovation Nomination: Best Ensemble), and will be directing Fortinbras by Lee Blessing at the USC School of Dramatic Arts in the Spring of 2014. She is a founding member and Co-Artistic Director for the award-winning Chalk Repertory Theatre (Ovation Award, Best of LA 2013 – LA Weekly). As an actor, she has been on stages across the US, from our local EWP and South Coast Rep to theatres in New York City, Minneapolis, Philadelphia etc. She has appeared in numerous national commercials, Indie Films, and TV shows like Two and a Half Men, Parenthood, NCIS:LA, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, amongst others. Jennifer Chang received her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and her MFA from the UCSD/La Jolla Playhouse program.

For more information on this event, visit: janm.org/events

For more information on East West Players, visit: eastwestplayers.org

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Jennifer Chang is also the director for Our American Voice, the special two-person show exploring six diverse stories of Asian Pacific Americans. Performed within the I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story exhibition gallery space, it is presented in partnership with East West Players. Free with Museum admission.

Only 2 more chances to see this show: Saturday, October 19 & Saturday, October 26. Both begin at 1pm and are approximately 45 minutes.

For more details >>

Save the Date: Go for Broke!

Emily Leventhal Leave a comment
JANM-GoForBroke-img746_ltr
Young Nisei soldier who entered the Army before the war and his mother pose in their strawberry field in Northern California shortly before incarceration.
Image credit: National Archives

The Nisei soldiers who fought in World War II embodied a particular set of values, passed down from generation to generation. Giri—sense of duty. Gambare—perseverance. And of course, go for broke—give it your all.

When Go for Broke: Japanese American Soldiers Fighting on Two Fronts opens on November 12, 2014, look deeper into the lives of these Nisei who gave their all.

Go For Broke chronicles the resilience and bravery of these young men both on and off the battlefield. Japanese American soldiers fought in eight brutal campaigns across Europe, receiving thousands of medals for heroism even while suffering an astronomical casualty rate. Thousands more joined the Military Intelligence Service and operated throughout the Pacific Theater as language and intelligence specialists. Yet their battles were not finished when the war ended. The Nisei veterans returned to fight pervasive racism back home—and proved just as successful in this arena. With their help, hundreds of anti-Asian laws were struck down.

First displayed at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York, Go For Broke shows how instrumental these soldiers were in the Japanese American fight for justice both overseas and at home. The photographs in this exhibition are supplemented by a special Guide by Cell audio tour, with narration by curator Eric Saul and Nisei veterans.

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To celebrate the opening of this exhibition, we invite all JANM Members for a special preview of the exhibition before it opens to the public.

Member Preview
Sunday, November 10th • 2-4PM
Members are invited to join us for an exclusive preview of Go For Broke with curator Eric Saul. To RSVP, contact specialevents@janm.org or 213.625-0414 ext. 2222 by Wednesday, November 6.

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Join us also for this special public program on December 7th presented in partnership with the Go For Broke National Educational Center:

The Military Intelligence Service (M.I.S.) in Occupied Japan
Saturday, December 7th • 2PM

M.I.S. veterans, Edwin Nakasone, Bruce Kaji, and Hitoshi Sameshima, will discuss their roles in the rebuilding of Japan after the end of World War II. The MIS was a US military unit mostly comprised of Japanese American Nisei who provided translation, interpretation, and interrogation services during World War II. Presented as part of the Tateuchi Public Program Series.

Don’t miss our comics-themed Target Free Family Saturday!

Esther Shin Leave a comment

Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986

Zap! Pow! Bam! Sounds like our comics-themed Target Free Family Saturday is coming up!

Visit JANM on October 12th from 11AM – 4PM to celebrate the opening of the exhibition, Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986, with comics-themed crafts and activities!

Superhero cape & mask making
Make your own superhero cape and mask!

 

JANM has planned an action packed day!

From assembling your own popcorn snack with Kidding Around the Kitchen, to making your own superhero costume and capturing it in a photo booth, there are activities planned for kids of all ages and interests. You’ll even be able to watch vintage Japanese anime at its earliest roots from the 1920s and 1930s!

Make sure to catch a special Marvels & Monsters Gallery Talk at 11:30am by Jeff Yang, the curator of the exhibition. You won’t want to miss Jeff Yang share special insight into the creation of Marvels & Monsters!

 

jeff wnyc
Join curator, Jeff Yang, for a special Gallery Talk on the exhibition, Marvels & Monsters!

There will be an interactive activity shortly after the Gallery Talk where you can “Build a Hero” at 12PM, or “Build a Villain” at 2:30PM.

Jeff Yang will lead the audience in collaboratively creating an ORIGINAL comic book super-character who’ll be drawn in real time by comic artists from the Secret Identities and Shattered anthologies! There will also be a book signing after each of these sessions!

Batman Caricature by Cartoon Slinger
Batman Caricature by Cartoon Slinger

Don’t leave the Museum before getting a chance to turn yourself into a comic-book character with a caricature drawn by Cartoon Slinger! (*for children only, line ends at 2:30pm)

Make sure you top off your day by teaming up with your buddies to take down villains in superhero video games brought to you by Game Truck!

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I Want the Wide American Earth – Opening Party Photos

Esther Shin Leave a comment

On Friday, September 13, the Japanese American National Museum threw an opening party to welcome our newest exhibition, I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story. Created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, I Want the Wide American Earth explores the rich, and deep-rooted history of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States.

This event was open to the public and attracted hundreds of visitors, including locals, and travelers from different states. Free food from Aloha Cafe and drinks from Ito-en and the Mighty Boba Truck were served throughout the reception, while exciting performances filled the evening.

From previews of Our American Voice in the exhibition gallery presented in partnership with East West Players, to powerful numbers by YouTube stars, DANakaDAN + Crew Love, to the comical performances of The Fung Brothers, it was an evening of enlightenment, reflection, and entertainment.

The evening began by celebrating the opening of an exhibition, but it soon became a night to celebrate the history, accomplishments, and the exciting future of Asian Pacific Americans.

Check out these pictures from the opening party! (Click on the photos to see them larger)

Photos by: Tsuneo Takasugi, Richard Watanabe, and Richard Murakami.

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If you haven’t seen I Want the Wide American Earth yet, stop by the museum to view the exhibition before it closes on October 27th. If you didn’t get a chance to watch Our American Voice, East West Players will be performing every Saturday at 1:00PM throughout the run of the exhibition. For more information on the exhibition: janm.org/wide-american-earth

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marvels-monsters-signature-500pxMarvels & Monsters opening next week!

Don’t miss our next exhibition opening event! Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986 will be at JANM from October 12, 2013 – February 9, 2014, but we’ll be celebrating early on Thursday, October 10 from 6PM – 9:30PM. 

Traveling to JANM from the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, Marvels & Monsters will illustrate how evolving racial and cultural archetypes defined America’s perceptions of Asians through a selection of images from comic books representing four turbulent decades.

This preview reception will be hosted by the JANM Young Professionals Network and is free and open to the public! Get a sneak peek at the exhibition and check out readings of the winning short scenes from the “Marvels & Monsters: Unbound” Showcase!

For more information on the exhibition: janm.org/marvels-monsters

Kokoro Craft Boutique coming to JANM!

Esther Shin Leave a comment

Kokoro Craft Boutique 2013

On Saturday, October 5, 2013, the Friends of the Museum will host the Kokoro Craft Boutique at JANM from 10AM to 4PM. Proceeds will benefit JANM’s educational programs. Don’t miss this free showcase and sale of unique, artisan-quality items!

There will be 50 vendors in the craft boutique—including 3-D art, jewelry, kimono fabric fashions, woven & silk scarves, origami, handbags, cultural t-shirts, pottery, ceramics, bronze art, and more! This boutique will also feature crafts from Asian American pop culture juggernaut, Eric Nakamura of Giant Robot.

The Kokoro Craft Boutique will not only showcase and sell a wide variety of unique items, but there will also be taiko drumming by Yuujou Taiko at 1pm, and the Lomo Arigato Peruvian-Japanese Fusion Gourmet Truck will be selling their delicious food on the plaza.

A purchase of $10 or more at the boutique will provide you with free admission to the Museum’s exhibitions, and also with a 10% discount at participating Little Tokyo restaurants.

Check out these photos from last year’s Kokoro Craft Boutique held at JANM!

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Photos by Russel Kitagawa, Richard Murakami, and Richard Watanabe.

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For more information on the Kokoro Craft Boutique, email kokorocraft@gmail.com. For Museum hours, admission rates, and information, visit janm.org.

The Japanese American National Museum is located on the corner of 1st & Central. Public parking or transportation via the Metro Gold Line to “Little Tokyo/ Arts District” are available.

Winning selections for the “Marvels & Monsters: Unbound” Short Works Showcase

Vicky Murakami-Tsuda Leave a comment

marvels-monsters-signature-500pxWe were delighted to receive so many submissions to the “Marvels & Monsters: Unbound” showcase competition, and thank all the talented and imaginative artists and authors who sent us entries.

It was a challenge to pick the ones that were ideal for the showcase, but here they are!

Congratulations to:

Robert Allison, “Overwrite”
Mark Brown, “Evil Is a Yellow Face”
Carin Chea, “The Jumper”
Joey Damiano, “The Audition”
Raymond Hui, “X Wings of Defeat”
Deanna Myers, “Cute Asian Girl”
and
Maritess Zurbano, who submitted two winning entries, whose titles are yet to be determined!

Join JANM’s Young Professionals Network on October 10 for the Showcase, featuring staged readings of all eight winning entries and a Q&A with the winners, moderated by MARVELS & MONSTERS curator Jeff Yang—and get a sneak preview of the MARVELS & MONSTERS exhibition itself.

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Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986
October 12, 2013 – February 9, 2014
Through a selection of images from comic books representing four turbulent decades, Marvels & Monsters illustrates how evolving racial and cultural archetypes defined America’s perceptions of Asians.

Marvels & Monsters Preview Reception
Thursday, October 10, 2013
6 PM – 9:30 PM
Join us for the Showcase, a special preview of the exhibition, and reception to celebrate the opening of the Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986 exhibition. Hosted by the JANM Young Professionals Network. To RSVP, contact specialevents@janm.org or 213.625.0414, ext. 2222.

For more information about the exhibition, visit: janm.org/marvels-monsters.

Japanese Tea Ceremony Demonstration on Saturday

Esther Shin Leave a comment

la-tea-festivalOn Saturday, September 28th the Japanese American National Museum will be presenting a free Japanese Tea Ceremony demonstration as part of the 3rd Annual Los Angeles International Tea Festival.

The Japanese tea ceremony is called chanoyu or sado in Japanese. It is a choreographed ritual of preparing and serving Japanese green tea with traditional Japanese sweets to balance with the bitter taste of the tea. Preparing tea in this ceremony means pouring all of one’s attention into the predefined movements. The whole process is not about drinking tea, but it is about the aesthetics, and preparing a bowl of tea from one’s heart.

This Japanese Tea Ceremony demonstration is presented as part of the Tateuchi Public Programs Series, an organized partnership between the Atsuhiko and Ina Goodwin Tateuchi Foundation and the Japanese American National Museum. Tateuchi Public Programs develop presentations that explore the connections between Japan and the United States in the context of politics, art, music, and culture. The programs series aims to enhance understanding between the two countries.

The 3rd  Annual Los Angeles International Tea Festival is being presented by the Chado Tea Room at JANM on Saturday & Sunday, September 28-29, 2013. The  Tea Festival is an educational and entertaining event about the multifaceted world of tea that will bring together authors, industry experts, buyers, retailers, artists, educators, and tea-lovers from across the country. It will give you the opportunity to sample some of the world’s finest and most varied flavors of teas, attend presentations by leading tea authors and industry experts, and meet premier tea and tea-ware suppliers all at one place!

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn new facts and expand your enjoyment of this fascinating beverage!

For more information and to purchase tickets for the Los Angeles International Tea Festival, please visit www.teafestivalla.com.

Check out photos from a previous tea ceremony demonstration held at JANM. Click on the photos to see the full images.

Photo Credits: Amjadkhan Pathan

Stay updated on all of the museum’s events, including the tea ceremony by visiting www.janm.org/events.

Conference Recap—Seattle International District & Nihonmachi tours

Emily Leventhal Leave a comment
CIMG1250
Visitors pause in front of the George Tsutakawa Art Gallery at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience.

More photos from our 2013 National Conference in Seattle!

Our guests at the National Conference got to learn about Japanese American history both in and out of the Sheraton through two tours of Seattle! Tour-goers explored prominent landmarks, including the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience and the Panama Hotel.

In the International District bus tour, we were able to visit where the pioneers of the neighborhood lived and learned about the lives of the area’s first Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino immigrants and laborers. The second tour, of Seattle’s Nihonmachi, walked through the historic sites of Seattle’s Japantown. The tour introduced early life in Japantown and includes visits to the Panama Hotel, Kobo at Higo Store, Nippon Kan Theater, and Kobe Terrace Park. Both ended at the Wing Luke Museum.

Check out more photos from the Conference in our previous blog posts or on our Facebook page.

Tim Asamen wrote about his participation at the conference, including the International District bus tour. Read it on our Discover Nikkei site: Climbing Out of the Well: My Impressions of the JANM 2013 National Conference in Seattle 

Photos by: Bob Moriguchi, June Aoki, Midori Uyeda, and Richard Murakami. 

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We’ve already posted photos from the Bainbridge Island bus tour at the conference, but wanted to also share this blog post from our partner: Only What We Can Carry Project Helps Host National Tour of Historic Suyematsu Farm

MEMBERS GALLERY TALK – Marvels & Monsters Opening Night 10/10/13

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Jeff Yang at WNYC

Special insight into the creation of Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942 – 1986 will be shared by exhibition curator Jeff Yang during the Members Gallery Talk right before the Preview Reception on Thursday, October 10.

Jeff Yang, well known for his “Tao Jones” column in the Wall Street Journal, is the former “Asian Pop” columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle and publisher of A. Magazine. He began reading and collecting comics at the age of eight, and hasn’t allowed distractions like adulthood, marriage, and fatherhood to deter him since.  He’s even made comics a part of his professional life with the seminal graphic novel collection Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology and its follow-up Secret Identities: Volume 2 Shattered.

Join us for this unforgettable Members Gallery Talk.

Members Gallery Talk
Thursday, October 10th • 5:30 PM
JANM Members Only
Intimate gallery tour with curator Jeff Yang.

Preview Reception
Thursday, October 10th • 6PM – 9:30PM
FREE & open to the public!
Join us for a special preview of Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942 – 1986. Hosted by the JANM Young Professionals Network.

RSVP by October 9 to specialevents@janm.org or 213.625.0414 x 2222.

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If you’re not a current JANM member, join/renew now! In addition to special opportunities like this, members also receive free admission and discounts at our award-winning Museum Store and on workshops and tours. Your support enables us to continue to present exhibitions, public programs, educational workshops and tours, and much more!

Our American Voice

Emily Leventhal Leave a comment

Our American Voice program coverJoin us every Saturday at 1 p.m. for Our American Voice, a two-person show exploring six diverse stories of Asian Pacific Americans, held every Saturday at 1pm in the gallery.

Created in partnership with East West Players for our new exhibition I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story, the performance is directed by Jennifer Chang and features Traci Kato-Kiriyama and Johnny Kwon in the six pieces written by D’Lo, Vivian Keh-Hue, Giovanni Ortega, Jeanne Sakata and Ova Saopeng, and Judy Soo Hoo.

Each piece is a slice in the life of an Asian Pacific American. Overall, they come together to form a larger picture representing the worlds of vastly different people, spanning decades and ethnicities, but ultimately united by their experience of being Asian in America. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to see the work of talented writers and actors come alive in an intimate setting!

Here are brief synopsis for the 6 pieces:

TAKING FLIGHT (excerpt) by Judy Soo hoo
Katherine Cheung defied family tradition and crossed racial lines to become the first licensed Asian American female aviator in 1932. During the 1930s, Cheung barnstormed across California, and her fame as a stunt pilot led to an invitation to join Amelia Earhart’s Ninety-Nines, an all-female flying club.

FORGOTTEN HOMELAND by Ova Saopeng
Lao-American siblings Soukki and Joy, refugees from the Vietnam War Era, must confront each other about a return trip to their homeland of Laos. How will they reconnect with a homeland that has long been forgotten and is so far away?

ALLOS (excerpt) by Giovanni Ortega
When young ALLOS arrives in the United States we witness his journey to find employment as well as acceptance amid the hardships of the Great Depression and bigotry of our past.

DYING FOR LOVE by D’Lo
An immigrant Sri Lankan nurse shares her conclusions on love and loneliness in America.

HOLD THESE TRUTHS (excerpt) by Jeanne Sakata
At Seattle’s University of Washington during WWII, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a curfew is announced for all people of Japanese ancestry requiring them to be in their homes by 8PM. Gordon Hirabayashi, a Nisei student at the University, reluctantly obeys the order until one night when he rushes back to his YMCA dorm—and suddenly has an epiphany that stops him in his tracks.

DUTY AND DESIRE by Vivian Keh-Hue
In the midst of the trendy Koreatown club scene, an unexpected reunion occurs between childhood friends Penelope and Chester. While quick to judge one another regarding their choices in life, both characters find themselves driven by values common to the Korean American experience, having to navigate the rift between duty and desire.

Performance Dates:

Premiere at the I Want the Wide American Earth Opening Party
Friday, September 13, 2013 • 6:30PM – 10:30PM

Performances held in the exhibition gallery at 1PM each Saturday:
September 14 • September 21 • September 28
• October 5 • October 12 • October 19 • October 26

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I Want the Wide American Earth tells the story of Asian and Pacific islanders in America through a series of 30 evocative banners accompanied by a selection of artifacts chosen from the collections of the Japanese American National Museum and the Riverside Metropolitan Museum. I Want the Wide American Earth runs from September 14 to October 27, 2013.

For more information about the exhibition, visit janm.org/wide-american-earth