Theatre

"Dawn’s Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi"

Two staged readings of “Dawn’s Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi,” by Jeanne Sakata will be presented at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian-Universalist Church at 7:30 PM on Thursday and Friday, January 15-16, 2009. 

This one-man show will star Ryun Yu, a Los Angeles-based actor who created the role and will be directed by Greg Congleton.  Tickets will be $15 for adults and $10 for students and will be sold at the door.  Anyone with a UT ID will be admitted free.

This event is part of the Performing Arts and Lecture Series at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

"Dawn's Light: The Journey of Gordon Hirabayashi" is a play inspired by the playwright's interviews with Dr.Hirabayashi, by letters he wrote during his imprisonment  in the 1940's, and by contemporary articles written by and about Mr Hirabayashi.

The play was originally commissioned by the Center Theatre Group’s Asian Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles. It received its world premiere in November 2007 at East West Players, produced in association with the Japanese American National Museum, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and the UCLA Department of Asian American Studies.  Following the premiere a public reading of "Dawn's Light" was co-produced in New York by Epic Theatre Ensemble and the Lark Play Development Center.

In April of 2009, "Dawn's Light" will be presented as part of the Performing Arts Series at the University of California, Riverside.

For photos from the November 2007 world premiere production of DAWN'S LIGHT at East West Players in Los Angeles, please watch the YouTube video below.

Listen to an audio clip from a KPFK radio interview with actor Ryun Yu and playwright Jeanne Sakata. On this clip, Ryun Yu performs a five-minute excerpt from the show about the moment when Gordon Hirabayashi decides to defy the curfew.