NAATCO’s benefit reading of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town debuts May 19 with an all–Asian American cast, including Amy Hill as the Stage Manager, Midori Francis Iwama as Emily Webb, and Yumi Iwama as Mrs. Webb. The stream begins at 8 PM ET.
Rounding out the cast are Cindy Cheung, Kassandra Cordova, Autumn Domingo, Connor Domingo, Ron Domingo, John D. Haggerty, Paul Juhn, Peter Kim, Glenn Kubota, Clara Haru Mulligan, Olivia Oguma, Trevor Salter, Jon Norman Schneider, Alok Tewari, CJ Uy, Izaac Wang, and Rita Wolf.
WATCH: Why NAATCO’s Upcoming All-Asian Our Town Is ‘a Balm’ for These Times
Mia Katigbak directs the performance with Sean Seau as assistant director, Alyssa K. Howard as production stage manager, and Miranda Cornell as production assistant. Virtual Design Collective helped create the project.
Special guests include Richard Eng, the co-founder of NAATCO and president of the board; Larry Schafer, NAATCO board member; Susan Bernfield, New Georges’ artistic director; Maria Striar, Clubbed Thumb’s artistic director; and Kate Katigbak, NAATCO’s graphic designer.
“The decision to do this reading came on the heels of the Georgia senate elections, when we thought an all-Asian American cast performing an American classic would be part of a celebration of hope and healing after the devastating events earlier in the month,” said Katigbak in an earlier statement. “Recent events of anti-Asian violence, however, have reframed our presentation. With this reading, we denounce the brutal and senseless attacks on Asian Americans as we underscore one of the basic tenets of NAATCO’s mission in the most affirmative way: to reflect and emphasize the kinship among people of disparate cultures.”
NAATCO previously presented Our Town at the Vineyard Theatre in 1994 with Yumi Iwama as Emily.
For more information about the virtual presentation, click here.
