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APRIL 8 @ 5:30 PM PT
GEORGE TAKEI
ALLEGIANCE
with host JOHN SEMPER JR.

part two of a two-part interview

Although we posted Part Two of this interview as a podcast, this is our first opportunity to broadcast it to our radio audience. Please join us on Sunday, or listen to both parts of the interview now on our Experience Talks website.

Stage and screen star GEORGE TAKEI is well known for his founding role as “Mr. Sulu” in the acclaimed television series, Star Trek, and as an influential social media icon, but the creative effort closest to his heart is the Broadway musical, Allegiance.  This powerful play was inspired by his own family’s harrowing experiences during World War II when 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to abandon their homes and all of their possessions, and were incarcerated in camps simply because they were of Japanese descent. Takei, who was born in Boyle Heights, spent his childhood in the Rohwer Incarceration Camp in Arkansas and, later, at Tule Lake in Northern California.

With music and lyrics by Jay Kuo and a book by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo, and Lorenzo Thione, Allegiance tells the story of the Kimura family, whose lives are upended following the events of Pearl Harbor. Sam Kimura seeks to prove his patriotism by fighting for his country in the war, but his sister, Kei, fiercely protests the government’s treatment of her people. An uplifting testament to the power of the human spirit, Allegiance follows the Kimuras as they fight between duty and defiance, custom and change, family bonds and forbidden loves. In the musical, Mr. Takei plays the pivotal roles of “Sam Kimura” and “Ojii-Chan” that he originated on Broadway.

Join host John Semper Jr. as he talks with George Takei about his experiences in the camps, the enduring effect they had on his adult life, and, ultimately, how they led to the creation of Allegiance.

The cast performing “Gaman” in the Los Angeles premiere of Allegiance starring George Takei at the Aratani Theatre, co-produced by East West Players and Japanese American Cultural & Community Center. Photo by Michael Lamont.

George Takei is joined by Broadway cast members Elena Wang as Kei Kimura, Greg Watanabe as Mike Masaoka, Scott Watanabe as Tatsuo Kimura, and Janelle Dote as “Executor.” The cast also includes Ethan Le Phong as Sammy Kimura, Eymard Cabling as Frankie Suzuki, and Natalie Holt MacDonald as Hannah Campbell. The ensemble includes Cesar Cipriano, Jordan Goodsell, Sharline Liu, Miyuki Miyagi, Glenn Shiroma, Chad Takeda, and Grace Yoo.

This new production is directed by East West Players’ Producing Artistic Director Snehal Desai. Marc Macalintal is the Music Director, and Rumi Oyama is the Choreographer.

Allegiance in Los Angeles is co-produced by EWP and JACCC by special arrangement with Sing Out, Louise! Productions and ATA.

About East West Players

East West Players (EWP) is the nation’s longest-running professional theatre of color in the country and the largest producing organization of Asian American artistic work. Over its remarkable 52-year history, EWP has produced over 230 plays and musicals. EWP’s 2017-18 season, The Company We Keep, features notable artistic partnerships and co-productions that reflect on and refract a wide range of Asian Pacific Islander (API) experiences as seen through the lens of gender, race, and sexuality. EWP not only ensures that API stories are told, but works to increase access, inclusion, and representation in the economy.

About Japanese American Cultural & Community Center

Founded in 1971, Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) is one of the largest ethnic arts and cultural centers of its kind in the United States. A hub for Japanese and Japanese American arts and culture and a community gathering place for the diverse voices it inspires—JACCC connects traditional and contemporary; community participants and creative professionals; Southern California and the world beyond. JACCC also provides office space in its five-story complex to a wide variety of nonprofit cultural, educational, and community-based organizations in Los Angeles.

About Allegiance

The original Broadway production of Allegiance opened on November 8, 2015 at the Longacre Theater in New York City and was produced by Sing Out, Louise! Productions and ATA with Mark Mugiishi/Hawaii HUI, Hunter Arnold, Ken Davenport, Elliott Masie, Sandi Moran, Mabuhay Productions, Barbara Freitag/Eric & Marsi Gardiner, Valiant Ventures, Wendy Gillespie, David Hiatt Kraft, Norm & Diane Blumenthal, M. Bradley Calobrace, Karen Tanz, Gregory Rae/Mike Karns, in association with Jas Grewal, Peter Landin, and Ron Polson.