PlayCo: Toshiki Okada's TIME'S JOURNEY THROUGH A ROOM Opens 5/20

The U.S. Premiere of Toshiki Okada's Time's Journey Through a Room opens this Sunday, May 20, at the Mezzanine Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres. Presented by The Play Company (PlayCo), led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald and Managing Director Robert G. Bradshaw, Time's Journey Through a Room is PlayCo's third collaboration with Okada, translator Aya Ogawa and director Dan Rothenberg. This haunting play, set in Japan after the Fukushima disaster, stars the Japanese-born, New York based performers Yuki Kawahisa (Honoka), Maho Honda (Arisa) and Kensaku Shinohara (Kazuki). The play is both an intimate examination of how we move forward from life-altering events, and a study of how we experience time, asking whether we can ever be alive to the present moment.

Having previously presented the U.S. premieres of Okada's Enjoy in 2010 and The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise in 2014, PlayCo continues its exploration of the playwright's body of work with Time's Journey Through a Room, the third of his plays to meditate on the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear accident in Japan. This play reflects the impact the disaster had on the evolution of Okada's work, mining the event's transformative effect through his singular vision. While it can be read as a commentary on post-Fukushima Japan, this production also brings the universality of trauma and hope to the fore, resonating deeply with how each of us copes with change.

PlayCo is unique in its commitment to producing an international program of new plays, from both the U.S. and around the world, to advance a dynamic, global experience of contemporary theater and expand the American repertoire. In their continued engagement with Okada's work, PlayCo has seen the consistent deepening of variations on a theme: Enjoy explored the plight of young workers trying to live with economic and social uncertainty; in The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise he probed the everyday lives of 30-something professionals who enjoy good jobs and relationships but are still in an emotional limbo. In Time's Journey Through a Room, the lives of his characters have been jolted and altered.

The Time's Journey Through a Room creative team includes Anna Kiraly (Set Design), Maiko Matsushima (Costume Design), Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design), and Mikaal Sulaiman (Sound Design).

Performance Schedule and Ticketing

Tickets are $35 general/$45 premium, and can be purchased by visiting playco.org or calling 866 811 4111. $15 student tickets can be purchased in advance with a valid school ID presented at will call. A limited number of $15 general rush tickets (cash only) may be available for purchase at the box office. Sign-up will begin 45 minutes prior to the show and sold as they become available. PlayCo is launching a new ticketing initiative with multiple pricing levels to increase accessibility, including discounts for teachers, librarians, first responders, and active duty personnel - call 212.398.2977 for details. On this new initiative, Kate Loewald says, '"PlayCo is committed to maintaining affordable access as part of our mission. We always maintain modest ticket prices, and our new OpenHouse Access Program will advance our efforts to remove price as a barrier."

About the Cast

Yuki Kawahisa (Honoka) was described by The New York Times as "simple and brutal as a knife to the throat." Kawahisa has performed at Performance Space 122 (Temporary Distortion's Americana Kamikaze); Creteil Maison des Arts in Paris; VIA Festival International in Maubeuge, France; Brisbane Powerhouse; The Public Theater (Andrew Ondrejcak's FEAST). Other credits include Robert Wilson's KOOL: Dancing in my Mind (Guggenheim Museum, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Akademie der Kunste Berlin); Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2.0 by Wang Chong (Tokyo Metropolitan Theater); Ondrejcak's Elijah Green (The Kitchen); WONDER/LUST (HERE Arts Center); Buran Theatre's TB Sheets (A.R.T New York) and Aya Ogawa's Ludic Proxy with PlayCo.

Maho Honda (Arisa) is making her off-broadway debut. Originally from Japan, Honda is an HB Studio alumni; one of the founders of Derrrrruq!!!; producer and actor in the web-series, 2nd Avenue; is trained as a Tate Japanese sword fight performer and produced and acted in the short film, First Samurai in New York. Film & TV includes: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and The Newsroom. Honda writes columns for The Huffpost Japan, ELLE online, and enjoys volunteering at animal rescues for wild birds and pet rabbits. IG: @mahohondanyc. URL: http://www.mahohonda.com/

Kensaku Shinohara (Kazuki) was born in Sapporo, Japan. Shinohara discovered dance in 2004 while studying in Tokyo. After touring with dance companies Nomades, Grinderman, and his own company Team Punchinello, he moved to New York City. His works have been presented at the Queens Museum, St. Mark's Church, LaMaMa Experimental Theater, Brooklyn Studios for Dance; elsewhere in the USA (Tucson, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh); and internationally in Toronto, Kuala Lumpur, Tainan, and major cities in Japan. Shinohara is a recipient of a 92Y Harkness Dance Center AIR, Exploring the Metropolis AIR, Queens Arts Fund New Work Grant, Japan Foundation New York Grant for Arts & Culture.

About the Artists

Toshiki Okada (Playwright) was born in Yokohama in 1973. He formed the theater company chelfitsch in 1997, developing a methodology that combines hyper-colloquial language and unique choreography. chelfitsch regularly tours the world and the company has appeared in New York at Japan Society and Under the Radar Festival. His play Five Days in March (2004) won the prestigious Kishida Kunio Drama Award. Other works include Air Conditioner (2005), and God Loves Baseball (2015). In response to the 2011 earthquake, Okada shifted his focus to explore the validity of fiction, which led to Current Location (2012) and Ground and Floor (2013), which allegorically portrayed the tension and isolation in Japanese society in the wake of the disaster. The third work in this series, Time's Journey Through a Room, premiered at Kyoto Experiment in March 2016. Okada has also recently expanded his work into other disciplines. His 2007 collection of short stories The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed, received the Oe Kenzaburo Prize. The video installation Four Unremarkable Things You See at Train Stations was seen at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. In 2016 he began a commission to direct works in repertory at the Munich Kammerspiele for three consecutive seasons.

Dan Rothenberg (Director) is a co-founder and co-artistic director of Pig Iron Theatre Company. He has directed almost all of Pig Iron's 30 original performance works, including the OBIE Award-winning Chekhov Lizardbrain and Hell Meets Henry Halfway. For The Play Company, Dan directed two previous works by Toshiki Okada: Enjoy (2010) and The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise (2014). Rothenberg teaches physical theater at the UArts/Pig Iron MFA program. He is the recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts (2002) and a USA Artists Knight Fellowship (2010).

Aya Ogawa (Translator) is a Tokyo-born, Brooklyn-based playwright, director, and translator for the theater. She challenges traditional notions of the American aesthetic and identity by creating plays infused with a multiplicity of perspectives and languages, and experimenting with form. She wrote and directed oph3lia at HERE (hailed by The New York Times as "great theater"); Journey to the Ocean, commissioned by The Foundry Theatre; and Ludic Proxy, commissioned by The Play Company, which NY Theatre Review described as "enchanting and poetic, deeply in tune with the spirit of many different cultures." She is currently developing a new project titled FAILURE SANDWICH. She has translated numerous Japanese plays into English, including works by Toshiki Okada, Yudai Kamisato, and Takeshi Kawamura. Her translations, described as "fluid and delicious" by American Theatre Magazine, have been published by Samuel French among others and produced in the U.S. and U.K. She is a current resident playwright at New Dramatists and artist in residence at BAX, also NYTW's Usual Suspects; Recipient: LMCC President's Award, MAP grant, HERE Artist Residency.

Anna Kiraly (Set Designer) is a set and video designer based in NYC. Recent and past projects include set and environment for The Garden of Forking Paths (Nichole Canuso Dance Co.), set and video for Burnished by Grief, The Golden Toad, Marcellus Shale and Flip Side with the Talking Band, set design for Walk Across America (with Taylor Mac/The Talking Band). Other past productions include Terrible Things (Pearl/D'Amour at PS 122/COIL), Dog and Wolf (J. Randich at 59E59), costumes for Kafka Fragments (P. Sellars/Zankell Hall) and set design for Chekhov Lizardbrain, Isabella, and Pay Up with the Pig Iron Theatre Company (Philadelphia). She is a recipient of the Arts Link Grant, the NEA/TCG Program for Designers and the TCG New Generations (with the Talking Band). Her "noir" multimedia pieces The Quake (at Ideal Glass), Slow Ascent and UFO (St. Ann's Warehouse) won the Jim Henson Foundation's support.

Maiko Matsushima (Costume Design) is a costume designer, production designer and member of Bryn Mawr College Theater faculty. Matsushima has designed for theatre, dance, opera and film. Costume Designer: Enjoy (PlayCo, English language premiere,); Zero Cost House (world premiere, Pig Iron Theater Company). Has designed for: International House (Tokyo); Wilma Theater, BalletX, Headlong (Philadelphia); La Jolla Playhouse (L.A.); Children's Theater (MN); Playwrights Horizons, Ohio Theatre, CSC, Soho Rep (NYC). Associate Costume Designer Broadway: Spring Awakening; Radio Golf; Lestat; Assassins; Good Body; Pacific Overtures; Wicked (Japan). She was a lead collaborator on the public art project The Quiet Circus with her husband, David Brick.

Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design); Theater: Cardinal (2ST); Twelfth Night (Public); Her Requiem (LCT3); This is Reading, FADE (Primary Stages); [PORTO] (Bushwick Starr); Alligator (New Georges/ Sol Project), Seven Spots on the Sun (Rattlestick), Platonov (Kitchen), The Hatmaker's Wife (Playwrights Realm); Book of Disquiet (Peak Performances). Opera: The Flying Dutchman (Atlanta Opera); Scarlet Letter (Opera Colorado); Abduction from the Seraglio (Atlanta Opera). Dance: Alexander Ekman, Aszure Barton, Liz Gerring, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Rennie Harris Pure Movement, Staatstheater Nürnberg, The National Dance Company of Wales, & The Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Mikaal Sulaiman (Sound Design) began his artistic career as an actor receiving his BFA and post-graduate studies in the Jacque Lecoq approach to physical theatre in London. As a sound designer and audio engineer, Mikaal has designed for notable companies such as The Arden (The Bluest Eye, Two Trains Running), Trinity Rep (Othello), Playwrights Realm (Rape of the Sabine Women), Early Morning Opera (TIMe, Holoscenes), Ars Nova (Underground Railroad Game), CalShakes (Fences), Pig Iron (Zero Cost House) among others. He has upcoming design projects at New York Theatre Workshop (Light Shinning in Buckinghamshire), and Soho Rep (Fairview). Mikaal currently resides in Los Angeles. www.mikaal.com

Calleri Casting (James Calleri, Paul Davis, Erica Jensen) Select Theatre: Casting for The Long Wharf Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, The Flea, Keen Company, The Playwrights Realm, Williamstown Theater Festival (4 seasons), Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Alliance, Playwrights Horizons (10 seasons). Broadway: Fool for Love, Hughie, The Elephant Man (also West End), Hedwig and The Angry Inch, The Visit, Of Mice and Men, Venus in Fur, Living on Love, 33 Variations, A Raisin in the Sun, Chicago, James Joyce's The Dead. National Tour: Hedwig and The Angry Inch, Bright Star (NY Casting), Select Off-Broadway: Buyer & Cellar, Murder for Two, All in the Timing, Passion, Fuerza Bruta Television: The Path for Hulu, Army Wives, Lipstick Jungle, Monk, Hope & Faith, Ed. Film: Mike Cahill's Sundance winners Another Earth and I Origins. Additional Credits: Calleri Casting has been awarded 13 Artios Awards for Outstanding Casting Achievement. They are members of the Casting Society of America. callericasting.com.

About The A.R.T./New York Theatres

The A.R.T./New York Theatres are a project of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York), which provide state-of-the-art, accessible venues at subsidized rental rates, plus free access to top-line technical equipment, so that the city's small and emerging theatre companies can continue to experiment, grow, and produce new works. Founded in 1972, A.R.T./New York is the leading service and advocacy organization for New York City's 380+ nonprofit theatres, with a mission to assist member theatres in managing their companies effectively so that they may realize their rich artistic visions and serve their diverse audiences well. We accomplish this through a comprehensive roster of real estate, financial, educational, and community-building programs, as well as research, advocacy, and field-wide initiatives that seek to improve the long-term health and sustainability of the industry. Over the years, A.R.T./New York has received numerous honors, including an Obie Award, an Innovative Theatre Award, a New York City Mayor's Award for Arts & Culture, and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. For more information, please visit www.art-newyork.org.

About The Play Company (PlayCo)

The Play Company is an OBIE Award-winning Off-Broadway theater Production Company. Since launching in 1999, PlayCo has produced 33 new plays from the United States, Palestine, Germany, Romania, Poland, Sweden, Japan, India, Russia, Chile, Mexico, France, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England. PlayCo develops and produces adventurous new plays from the U.S. and around the world, advancing a dynamic global experience of contemporary theater and expanding the American theater repertoire.

As the only New York company regularly producing outstanding contemporary plays from around the world alongside new American work, PlayCo's distinctive international programming links American theatre with world theater, American artists with the global creative community, and American audiences with a whole world of plays.

Previous productions by PlayCo include the sold-out run of Amir Nizar Zuabi's critically-acclaimed Oh My Sweet Land, Guillermo Calderón's Villa, Christopher Chen's Caught (Obie award for Playwriting, 2017), Maria Milisavljevic's Abyss, Kyle Jarrow & Lauren Worsham's The Wildness, Naomi Iizuka's adaptation of Haruki Murakami's short story Haruki Murakami's Sleep (Studio production), Debbie Tucker Green's generations, Aya Ogawa's Ludic Proxy, Antonio Vega's The Duchamp Syndrome, and more.

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