January 13, 2018 - February 3, 2018
A THOUSAND CRANES
By Kathryn Schultz Miller
The true and poignant story of Sadako Sasaki, who was 2 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on the small city of Hiroshima, where she lived. The star of her school's running team, Sadako is lively and athletic ... until the dizzy spells start. Then she must face the hardest race of her life - the race against time. A Thousand Cranes celebrates the courage that makes one young woman a heroine in Japan. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, completed in 1958, has a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane. At the base is a plaque that says: "This is our cry, this is our prayer: peace in the world." Photos by Michael Brunk | NWlens.com
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES
Aimee Hong (Sadako) is exciting to make her onstage debut at SSR! She's regularly seen as a music director (Goodnight Moon & How I Became a Pirate). Some of her other favorite onstage roles include Mary (The Secret Garden), Aunt Em (The Wiz), and The Fiddler (Fiddler on the Roof). Thanks to her family and Strongbad. Enjoy the show!
Tomoko Saito (Grandmother/Mother) is very excited to make her SecondStory Repertory debut! She was born and raised in Japan, then came to the US to study theater in 2004 to seek for more diversity in acting styles/training methods. She’s been loving her theatrical journey ever since, especially when given challenging roles like Komachi/Mary/Marsha in Three Poets (Outsiders Inn) or Birgito in The Abdication (Handwritten Productions). Taking a role in telling the tragic tale of Hiroshima is definitely another huge challenge (as it is so close to home for her), and she feels truly blessed for the opportunity to tackle this with such gifted cast and crew! She also thanks Rhys (her husband) and all her friends for their love and support.
Henry Vu (Kenji/Father) is thrilled to be working on A Thousand Cranes and hopes to spread the message of peace as far as possible in the world today. He has worked closely with Asian American theater in the Seattle area and enjoys bringing diversity to the arts. He studied drama at the University of Washington and has been in other projects with Director David Hsieh such as Yellow Face and Joy Luck Club. He pursued film acting for the past several years in Los Angeles and is proud to be back in his hometown doing theater again.