Book-It Repertory Theatre has announced its staging of the popular bestseller, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. This hopeful journey of a Chinese American boy in 1940s Seattle will run Wednesday - Sunday, tonight, Sept 18 - October 21, 2012 at the Center Theatre at the Armory. Pay-what-you-will preview performances are tonight, Sept 18 and Wednesday, Sept 19; paid preview is Friday, Sept 21 and opening night is Saturday, Sept 22.
Jamie Ford’s debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet begins in the 1980s outside a boarded up Seattle hotel when protagonist
Henry Lee spots a parasol among the newly discovered belongings left by the Japanese Americans who had been exiled into internment camps. Recognizing this parasol launches a flood of memories, and he is swept 40 years back to a time when his world was dominated by a nationalistic father, school bullies, and a country in turmoil. In this time he had two allies: Sheldon, a local jazz saxophonist, and Keiko, the owner of the parasol who becomes his one true friend. Before their romance had a chance to blossom, Keiko and her family were evacuated to internment camps and Henry never knew what became of her. This book-club favorite is critically acclaimed for its touching plot and eye-opening portrayal of the effect of war and politics on the innocent.
Hotel on the Corner ofBitter and Sweet was first published in 2009 and, since then, has been translated into 32 languages. It was a New York Times bestseller, a Borders Original Voices Selection, a Barnes & Noble Selection, the 2009 recipient of the Montana Book Award, and the 2010 recipient of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet has been the selected book in more than a dozen “community reads” programs in the Puget Sound area alone including Vashon College, Kitsap Regional Library, One Book One Community at Bainbridge Public Library, Peirce County Library system, and this coming school year in Seattle Public Schools.
Mr. Ford’s other work consists of an award-winning collection of short fiction and Secret Identities (2009), a graphic novel. He plans to publish his second book in 2013.
The company leapt at the opportunity to highlight an historic but difficult time in Seattle. “Jamie’s novel gives us an unusual point of view into a situation that is not widely known in other parts of our country,” Co-Artistic Director Myra Platt explained. “We love our city, our country, and we own that our history isn’t perfect, but we also know we can be better—do better when we learn from our past.”
Director/Adaptor Annie Lareau is the director of touring at Book-It Repertory Theatre where her previous adaptations include My A?ntonia (in which she also played the title role) and over a dozen touring shows for Book-It’s education and outreach programs and Special Editions including Two Wheels North and Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices. Ms. Lareau makes her Book-It main-stage directorial debut with Hotel.... Lareau has appeared on stage in Book-It’s Persuasion, and at other Seattle-area theatres including Stone Soup Theatre, Theater Schmeater, Seattle Shakespeare Company, and ArtsWest. “I fell in love with this novel and got so excited when I thought of adapting it for Book-It. I am thrilled and honored to bring this project to Seattle and inaugurate our 23rd Season.” Lareau remarked, “There is so much to learn from this period and we are proud to play a small part in remembering and healing.”
The rest of the top-notch team taking on this poignant best-seller starts with Scenic Design Carey Wong, whose own family’s history parallels the story line; Gregory Award-winner Andrew D. Smith will be designing lighting; Sound Designer Kevin Heard is collecting period music recordings from Seattle jazz clubs of the 1940s; Costume Designer Jocelyn Fowler will dress the cast in 1940s and ’80s fashion.
The cast is a multi-ethnic blend of 26 Seattle actors and features Jose Abaoag and Stan Asis as the young and old
Henry Lee, respectively, with (alphabetically) Akoni ,
Sydney Andrews, Thomas Dang, Elizabeth Daruthayan,
Marcel Davis, Matt Fulbright, Julie Hoang, David Hsieh,
Kathy Hsieh, Laurence Hughes, Narea Kang, Stephanie Kim, Mariko Kita, Kevin Lin, Serin Ngai,
Marianne Owen,
William Poole, Nathan Pringle, Melissa Slaughter, Stephen Sumida, Shawn Vines, Rieko Wellington, Grace Xie, and Moses Yim.
Unique to this production, Book-It and several local cultural, art, and heritage organizations have joined forces to tell the story as authentically as possible, with sensitivity to the generations of Seattle residents who lived the events told in the book. They include Wing Luke Museum, the Japanese Cultural Community Center of Washington, Densho, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Northwest African American Museum, and 4Culture. On the first day of rehearsal for the production, the cast was guided on Wing Luke Museum’s “Bitter and Sweet Tour” of the International District, and the first rehearsal was held in the tea room of the historic Panama Hotel—the hotel of the book title—with author Jamie Ford in attendance.
Tickets for Hotel on the Corner ofBitter and Sweet range from $25 (preview, Sep 21) to $45 (opening night, Sep 22) for single tickets and can be purchased at
www.book-it.org or by calling 206.216.0833. There are also 4- and 5-Show subscriptions available. Performances are at 2pm for matinees, or 7:30pm for evening shows. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet will be performed in the Center Theatre at the Armory (Seattle Center).
A leader in the narrative theatre movement, Book-It is a non-profit organization that since 1990 has dedicated itself to transforming great literature into exciting, quality theatre experiences. Through an aesthetic of simple and sensitive production techniques, the company endeavors to spark imagination and inspire audiences to read. Book-It Repertory Theatre is a 2010 Mayor’s Arts Award-winner and recipient of a Founders Anniversary Grant from The Paul
G. Allen Family Foundation. The company’s prolific, flourishing education department reaches 70,000 young people annually.
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