STAGED ZOOM READING
OCTOBER 3, 5PM
The Son (Musuko)
By Osanai Kaoru
Translated and with introductory remarks by David Jortner
Performed by LAUNCH PAD
Directed by Risa Brainin
Followed by comments from William Davies King
CAST
Fire Watchman Joe Spano
Kinjiro Ethan Kim
Constable Angel Villalobos
Stage Directions Violet Joy Hansen
Stage Manager Emily Coin
Realisms in East Asian Performing Arts will end with a staged reading of the first English-language translation of the early 20th century Japanese play The Son by pioneer of modern Japanese theater Osanai Kaoru (1881-1928). This one-act play tells the story of a vagabond son returning home to see his father. Written in the 1920s, it was one of the early attempts at shingeki, or “new theatre,” a genre formed through Japanese engagement with Western realism. Filled with pathos, longing, and missed opportunities, The Son illustrates how Japanese artists experimenting with modernism adapted and transformed Western styles of playwriting to fit their new paradigm.
OCTOBER 3, 5PM
The Son (Musuko)
By Osanai Kaoru
Translated and with introductory remarks by David Jortner
Performed by LAUNCH PAD
Directed by Risa Brainin
Followed by comments from William Davies King
CAST
Fire Watchman Joe Spano
Kinjiro Ethan Kim
Constable Angel Villalobos
Stage Directions Violet Joy Hansen
Stage Manager Emily Coin
Realisms in East Asian Performing Arts will end with a staged reading of the first English-language translation of the early 20th century Japanese play The Son by pioneer of modern Japanese theater Osanai Kaoru (1881-1928). This one-act play tells the story of a vagabond son returning home to see his father. Written in the 1920s, it was one of the early attempts at shingeki, or “new theatre,” a genre formed through Japanese engagement with Western realism. Filled with pathos, longing, and missed opportunities, The Son illustrates how Japanese artists experimenting with modernism adapted and transformed Western styles of playwriting to fit their new paradigm.
BIOS:
RISA BRAININ is a freelance director, Professor of theater, and Founder/Artistic Director of LAUNCH PAD (see below). She served as Artistic Director for Shakespeare Santa Cruz; Associate Artistic Director for Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Indiana Repertory Theatre; and Resident Director and Associate Company Director for the Guthrie Theater. Other regional theaters include: Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Clarence Brown Theatre, Great Lakes Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Portland Stage Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Syracuse Stage and many more. She is a member of the National Theatre Conference and College of Fellows of the American Theatre. www.risabrainin.com
WILLIAM DAVIES KING is Distinguished Professor of Theater at UC Santa Barbara. His critical edition of The Iceman Cometh recently came out from Yale UP. His multimedia edition of Long Day’s Journey Into Night won the 2017 PROSE Award in Literature. He has written several critical/biographical studies of Eugene O’Neill and is currently finishing a book about O’Neill’s Tao House. His first book, Henry Irving’s “Waterloo”: Theatrical Engagements with Late-Victorian Culture and History, won the Callaway Prize, and his memoir/essay about collecting, Collections of Nothing, was named one of Amazon’s best books of 2008. www.williamdaviesking.com
CAST BIOS:
EMILY “MIKE” COIN is a third-year Theatrical Design & Production student at UCSB. Santa Barbara stage management credits include Death of Kings: Seize the Crown (NAKED SHAKES), What Martha Did (UCSB LAUNCH PAD), Anima (FEMININE UNDERGROUND), Alone, Together (UCSB LAUNCH PAD), and Desperate Measures (IMPROV CO-OP). You may also find Mike wearing an electrician’s hat in various theater spaces around town.
VIOLET JOY HANSEN is an incoming Junior at UCSB in the BFA program for Acting, and the BM program for Voice. Previously she was in LAUNCH PAD’s Alone, Together, and Naked Shakes’ Immortal Longings. She is excited to be in this reading with such incredible artists, and Violet is honored to be a part of the experience.
ETHAN KIM is a nineteen-year-old Korean-American who grew up in Corona, CA. After being stuck at home with his crazy (but lovely) family during the pandemic, he is super excited to read as Kinjiro in THE SON. He recently acted in Launch Pad’s zoom show Alone, Together. Ethan studies acting and communications at UCSB and loves to spend time outdoors in his free time.
JOE SPANO is an Emmy Award-winning actor currently in his 17th season as Tobias Fornell on the series “NCIS.” Joe starred for 7 years as Lt. Henry Goldblume on “Hill Street Blues.” He also starred in the series “Mercy Point,” “Amazing Grace,” “Murder One” and “NYPD Blue.” Joe has starred in 20 films made for television and guest-starred on 38 television shows. He has appeared in 30 feature films. Stage credits include the Roundabout Theatre Company production of Arthur Miller’s The Price, ten seasons with Berkeley Rep, of which he is a founding member; American Buffalo, (L.A. Drama Critics’ Circle Award); School for Scandal, Speed the Plow and A Chorus of Disapproval for South Coast Rep; and Bill Cain’s Equivocation at the Geffen. At The Rubicon Theatre, where he is a company member, Joe has appeared in Sylvia, Waiting for Godot, R. Buckminster Fuller: The History…and MYSTERY of the Universe (Ovation Award), Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Cormac McCarthy’s Sunset Limited, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and, most recently, Simon Stephens’ Heisenberg. Pandemic work includes two zoom plays with JoBeth Williams for the Skylight Theater; A Song for the Rubicon and a reading of Insulted, a play by Belarus playwright, Andrei Kureichik, at the Rogue Machine. LAUNCH PAD audiences will remember Joe from the 2019 reading of Beth Lincks' Three Sisters Brontë.
ANGEL VILLALOBOS (he/him) is a BFA Acting and Sociology double major at UCSB. A transfer student from Los Angeles, he has found much joy and opportunity as an actor, writer, director, and teaching artist for youth. Some of his most recent acting credits include Orgon in Tartuffe, Harry in Black Flag, and Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night. A Spanish speaker and first-generation university student, Villalobos strives to utilize theatre and performance to support individuals and promote their growth. He hopes you all are staying safe during these times.
ABOUT LAUNCH PAD:
LAUNCH PAD is an artist residency and performance program for new plays housed in the Department of Theater and Dance at UCSB. As artists-in-residence, professional playwrights work with a team of undergraduate students and professional guest artists to provide the experiential ground for collaboration in the creative process. A Summer Reading Series: New Plays in Process provides four-day workshop intensives to visiting playwrights, guest artists, and students. Workshops continue throughout the year as part of LAUNCH PAD Pop Ups, for which professional playwrights are invited to “pop in” for a short workshop and reading of a new play. LAUNCH PAD also produces one fully designed and realized Preview Production of a new play each year, offering the playwright the opportunity to see the work in three dimensions.
Photo of Osanai Kaoru