INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN, a Story Of a Young Vietnamese Refugee, Premieres at Bay Area Children's Theatre

"Today is Tet, the first day of the lunar calendar."

With these words, 10-year-old Hà begins her story of escaping war-ravaged Saigon with her mother and brothers and starting a new life as a refugee in Alabama.

She, who excelled at school, struggles to express herself in a new language. She, who is neither Black nor White like the other students, hides at lunchtime, not knowing where to sit. She, who nurtured her papaya tree from a seed, longs for the foods she loved in Vietnam. But she knows she must be grateful for what she has, and strong, like her mother.

With its world premiere of Inside Out & Back Again, Bay Area Children's Theatre (BACT) brings to the stage the New York Times bestselling book of the same name by award-winning author Thanhha Lai, whose own life experience inspired Hà's poignant story.

Inside Out & Back Again, opens Saturday, March 31, at 11 a.m. at The Second Stage at Bay Area Children's Theatre, 2055 Center Street, Berkeley, CA 94704. The production plays Fridays at 7 p.m. and weekends at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. through Sunday, May 27.

Adapted for the stage by Min Kahng (The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga) and directed by May Liang, Inside Out & Back Again tells Hà's story of loss, change, hope, and resilience using the poetry from the book. Recommended for age 8 and up.

"Thanhha Lai's moving story about a year in Hà's life offers a rare, first-person perspective on the ideas, emotions and experience of a young Vietnamese immigrant," said BACT Executive Artistic Director Nina Meehan. "We are proud to bring Hà's story to life onstage for Bay Area children and their families to see."

TICKETS: $15 - $27

BOX OFFICE: www.bactheatre.org or call (510) 296-4433

Min Kahng is an award-winning Bay Area playwright and composer whose world premiere works include The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga (recipient of the Theatre Bay Area Award for Outstanding Original Musical, the Edgerton New Play Award, and a NAMT Production Grant), The Song of the Nightingale, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Bad Kitty On Stage!, and Tales of Olympus. Kahng also wrote the NEA-funded project Story Explorers, an original musical for young audiences with autism. He received the 2014 Titan Award for Playwrights and was recognized in American Theatre magazine as one of "9 Musical Theatre Writers You Should Know." Kahng is a Resident Playwright at Playwrights Foundation and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. www.minkahng.com

Established in 2004, Bay Area Children's Theatre, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, serves 115,000 children and adults throughout the Bay Area, with main stage performances in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco and Sunnyvale; programs and productions in local schools; and classes and summer camps in the East Bay, South Bay, and San Francisco.