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Edward Sakamoto

EDWARD SAKAMOTO  (1970 - )

 Nationality:    Asian American
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a


Edward Sakamoto is the much-celebrated author of plays depicting Asian-Hawaiian experience. His vantage point is often the view from the islands. The characters in Sakamoto's plays face double relocation, first to Hawaii, then to the mainland. Whether imagined or real, moving to the mainland makes Sakamoto's characters confront haole (white) culture and the familial and community impact of abandoning their unique form of Pidgin English. Leaving is the thematic crisis that creates the fault line in Sakamoto's characters' lives.
- http://www.aatrevue.com

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below is a list of Edward Sakamoto's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

 Aala Park         Aloha Las Vegas         Chikamatsu's Forest         Dead Of Night         In The Alley         Life Of Land, The         Maholo Las Vegas         Manoa Valley         Obake         Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire         Stew Rice         Taste Of Kona Coffee, The         That's the Way the Fortune Cookie Crumbles         Voices In The Shadows         Yellow Is My Favorite Color

Aala Park

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
East West Players, L.A., CA    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Aloha Las Vegas

Synopsis:
Inspired by the rising phenomenon of migration from Hawai'i to Las Vegas, Aloha Las Vegas tells the story of widower Wally Fukada, a 65 year old retired baker, as he considers the drastic move from serene island living to the hustle and bustle of "sin city". Wally's family and friends are thrown into a tizzy of conflicting advice and emotions.
- http://www.aatrevue.com

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Pan Asian Repertory Theatre    1998

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Chikamatsu's Forest

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    1986

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Dead Of Night

Synopsis:
A little darker play, almost like a film noir, with the issue of unionization back in the 1950s set against a story of male bonding.
- http://www.aatrevue.com

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Kumu Kahua    2000

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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In The Alley

Synopsis:
A look at the disaffected local youth of early statehood days in Hawai'i.
- http://www.aatrevue.com

Notes:
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1st Produced:
University Of Hawaii    1961

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
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Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Life Of Land, The

Synopsis:
Part Three of the Hawaii No Ka Oi trilogy. Reunion and reconciliation are the themes as Sakamoto continues the exploration of how families keep their ethnic and cultural identity even though members move away from one another in many ways. The ambitious young man who left home for the mainland to seek a career at the end of 'manoa Valley' returns to Hawaii, and the Kamiya family gathers on a beach to celebrate the visit. His decision to stay at home and give up his career in California leads to shared memories of hopes and failures and makes them realize that, while they are all 20 years older, none are much wiser than before.
- http://www.aatrevue.com

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Pan Asian    1987

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Maholo Las Vegas

Synopsis:
A sequel to his Aloha Las Vegas, Edward Sakamoto's Mahalo Las Vegas follows the same cast of characters after the big move to Las Vegas. Wally Fukuda has left Hawaii and is living happily ever after in Vegas  until circumstances shift and new variables are introduced. Wally's son and daughter-in-law have moved out of his home, replaced by California Harry, a luckless gambler who is hiding out from his creditors. Wally's daughter and her husband visit from Hawaii, bringing some surprises. And a reluctant Wally and Harry are pursued by two tenacious women, one the widow of a mob boss.
- http://www.aatrevue.com

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Kumu Kahua    2006

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Manoa Valley

Synopsis:
Manoa Valley, second of Ed Sakamoto's Hawaii No Ka Oi trilogy which follows a Japanese Hawaiian family over a sixty-year period. In the summer of 1959, Elvis is king and optimism abounds as the Kamiya clan is assembling for a celebration of Hawaiian statehood. The two brothers Kamiya, first introduced as young men in The Taste of Kona Coffee, now have come into their own and raised their own respective families. Rascal Aki has a successful nursery business, but he and wife Tomi must cope with changes in family structure as their only son Nobu has married a haole (Caucasian) from the mainland. World War II was still vivid in the minds of Americans and such marriages were rare, unthinkable and in some states illegal. Younger brother Tosh has become a prosperous building contractor and has moved from Honolulu to the beautiful Manoa Valley. Tosh expects his son Spencer to take over the business. But Spencer has dreams of his own, big dreams that will take him to the mainland to build airplanes and rockets, and he must find the courage to tell his father. His sister Laura has married Toku, a good but unambitious man. If it were up to her, Toku would take over the family business, but if it were up to Toku, he'd be out fishing every day. Meanwhile, Laura and Toku have a secret of their own.
- http://www.aatrevue.com

Notes:
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1st Produced:
East West Players, L.A., CA    1993

Organisations:
Tenney Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama, full length

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Obake

Synopsis:
Sakamoto, whose comedies and dramas have been regularly produced by Kumu Kahua, turns his talents to a traditional Japanese ghost story set in plantation-day Hawai'i-a chilling tale of violence, betrayal and supernatural retribution. Tamotsu, who has been fired from his job on the plantation, ridicules his picture-bride wife Kazue and friend Hitoshi for their superstitious belief in obake. But he will soon become a believer. Drinking, gambling, whoring, stealing and abusing Kazue, Tamotsu sinks quickly into the depths of depravity. Always looking for the easy way out of this troubles, he eventually goes too far. An unseen black cat, which has been mysteriously appearing throughout the play to thwart Tamotsu's nefarious schemes, figures prominently in his frightening fate.
- http://www.aatrevue.com

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Kumu Kahua    2003

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire

Synopsis:
A dramatization of the all Nisei 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II.
- http://www.aatrevue.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Stew Rice

Synopsis:
Three friends in 1950s Hawaii vow eternal friendship on the eve of Hawaii statehood. Twenty years later, they come back for their 20th high school reunion. . .
- http://www.aatrevue.com

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    1987

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Taste Of Kona Coffee, The

Synopsis:
The first of the Hawaii No Ka Oi trilogy: his play by Hawaii-born Edward Sakamoto revolves around two American-born sons of Japanese immigrants fighting to free themselves from poverty. It captures the pidgin English spoken on the Hawaiian Islands and lovingly depicts the Japanese-American experience there, life on a Kona coffee plantation, and the struggle to preserve of a way of life in the face of Western society's expectations.
- http://www.aatrevue.com

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Tenney Theatre    1993

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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That's the Way the Fortune Cookie Crumbles

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
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1st Produced:
East West Players, L.A., CA    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Voices In The Shadows

Synopsis:
focuses on a Japanese-American family across three generations. The climax comes in the father's confrontation with his daughter's boyfriend and the circumstances behind the daughter's suicide.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
East West Players, L.A., CA    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama, full length

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Yellow Is My Favorite Color

Synopsis:
The comic mis-adventures of a third generation Japanese-American are explored from age eight to forty (by an adult actor) in a multi-media presentation of reality and fantasy.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
East West Players, L.A., CA    1972

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
full length Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  16 roles

Further Reference:
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