A staged reading, directed by James Yaegashi

A hot summer day somewhere in nowhere Japan. A friend waits. A friend comes. A friend leaves. This simple story of two friends humorously and poignantly reminds us of the sweetness and pain of connecting with another human being.

Written early in his career by Toshiro Suzue, the forerunner in the “quiet theater” movement in Japan, this play won the OMS Drama Prize, the first of many prestigious awards the playwright has received. The play is expected to have its American premier in 2009.

Toshiro Suzue is a playwright/director/actor based in Kyoto, Japan. He is the recipient of numerous major Japanese theater awards including: The OMS Drama Prize for Tomodachi ga Kita (My Friend Has Come); The Kishida Kunio Drama Award for Kami o Kakiageru (Fireflies); and the Japanese government’s National Arts Festival Grand Prize for Uchu no Tabi, Semi ga Naite (Travel Through Space, the Cicadas Cry). He is also the co-founder and publisher of the playwriting magazine, LEAF, with fellow playwrights, Masataka Matsuda and Hideo Tsuchida. Suzue’s plays have been translated into English, German, Russian and Indonesian.

James Yaegashi is a classically-trained theater artist based in New York. His acting work has been seen on and off Broadway, including the original productions of John Guare’sA Few Stout Individuals, Julia Cho’s Durango, Richard Greenberg’s A Naked Girl on the Appian Way and Take Me Out (2003 Tony for Best Play). He has also worked in major regional theaters across the U.S. such as South Coast Repertory, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Long Wharf Theatre, among others. James is also a translator, and has translated several Japanese plays into English and American plays into Japanese, including My Friend Has Come, which he will direct in 2009.

$5 suggested donation