Barrington Stage Presents Return Engagement Of HOLD THESE TRUTHS

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in the Berkshires under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, presents by popular demand, an encore engagement of Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata.

Hold These Truths stars Joel de la Fuente (Amazon's The Man in the High Castle) reprising his Drama Desk-nominated role in this solo play inspired by the life of Gordon Hirabayashi.

Directed by Lisa Rothe (Irish Repertory Theatre's Wild Abandon), Hold These Truths will have eight performances September 20-26 at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street).

Unsung American hero Gordon Hirabayashi fights passionately for the Constitution against an unexpected adversary: his own country. During World War II, he defies the US government's orders to forcibly remove and mass incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry, launching a 50-year journey from college to courtroom and eventually to a Presidential Medal of Freedom. A story filled with hope, this play will leave you cheering for a man who stood up for the true meaning of patriotism.

Hold These Truths has scenic design by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, costume design by Margaret E. Weedon, lighting design by Cat Tate Starmer, sound design by Daniel Kluger. Production Stage Manager: Mary K. Botosan.

Joel de la Fuente (Gordon Hirabayashi) makes his debut for Barrington Stage Company in Hold These Truths. Most recently, the play was awarded three Theatre Bay Area Awards for its run in San Francisco, including Outstanding Principal Performance, as well as garnering a Drama Desk Nomination in New York City for Outstanding Solo Performance when it debuted in 2012. On television, Joel plays Chief Inspector Kido on The Man in the High Castle, one of Amazon Studios' most watched original series. He also portrays Dr. Johann Pryce on Netflix's second original series, Hemlock Grove, and can be seen in perpetual reruns on Law & Order: SVU, where he played TARU Tech Ruben Morales for 10 seasons. Currently, he appears as President Datu Andrada on Madam Secretary for CBS. Joel has performed in theaters all over the world, as both an avid classical theater actor and as a developer of new work. He is an alumnus of Brown University and the Graduate Acting Program at NYU.

Hold These Truths is sponsored in part by Carol and Alfred Maynard & Dick Ziter and Eric Reimer.

Performances: Friday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, September 21 at 3:00 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, September 22 at 3:00 p.m.; Tuesday, September 24 and Wednesday, September 25 at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, September 26 at 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). Tickets: $53 matinees and $58 evenings. Barrington Stage Box Office: 413-236-8888 or online at www.barringtonstageco.org.

Actress and playwright Jeanne Sakata, whose talents span across TV, film, voiceover and stage, is currently delighting New York audiences as struggling but spunky "Mom" in the Off Broadway premiere of the brilliant new comedy Do You Feel Anger? at the Vineyard Theatre, as well as TV audiences in the recurring roles of genius scientist Lenore Shimamoto/Mayor Saito on the animated TV series Big Hero 6, based on the Disney smash hit movie, and three national commercials. Jeanne's nationally acclaimed solo play Hold These Truths (2013 Drama Desk Nomination, Outstanding Solo Performance; 2019 Theatre Bay Awards, Outstanding Production, Principal Performance and Direction) has had over twenty productions across the country, and will be produced in the 2019-20 season at Barrington Stage, San Diego Rep, and People's Light and Theatre, after sold-out and extended runs last year at Arena Stage and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. In April 2019, Hold These Truths will also be available internationally as a special audio recording, produced by L.A. Theatre Works. The play has also been produced in recent years at Pasadena Playhouse, ACT Seattle, Portland Center Stage, Guthrie Theater, PlayMakers' Rep, Perseverance Theatre, Honolulu Theatre for Youth (Daniel Dae Kim, co-producer), Terra Nova Collective, Silk Road Rising, Coachella Valley Rep, Plays and Players, and New Century Theatre. Premiering with the East West Players in Los Angeles, and then Off Broadway with the Epic Theatre Ensemble, the play was workshopped by the Lark Play Development Center and the New York Theatre Workshop. Hold These Truths is now published by Ageloff Books and available on Amazon, and it is on display at the Library of Congress Playwrights Archive in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection in Washington DC, where the Jeanne Sakata Collection was established in July 2011.

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