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  4. May 26-June 4: Susan Soon He Stanton’s TAKARAZUKA!!! featuring Jennifer Ikeda, Brooke Ishibashi, Paul Juhn, Glenn Kubota, and Angela Lin kicks off Clubbed Thumb’s 17th annual SUMMERWORKS at Here

May 26-June 4: Susan Soon He Stanton’s TAKARAZUKA!!! featuring Jennifer Ikeda, Brooke Ishibashi, Paul Juhn, Glenn Kubota, and Angela Lin kicks off Clubbed Thumb’s 17th annual SUMMERWORKS at Here

Posted by Lia Chang on Saturday, 26 May 2012.

Clubbed Thumb’s 17th annual SUMMERWORKS season of new plays kicks off with Susan Soon He Stanton’s TAKARAZUKA!!!, directed by Lear deBessonet, about the real-life all-female Japanese theatre troupe from May 26-June 4 at HERE Arts Center, 145 6th Ave in New York.

Angela Lin

Angela Lin


The cast ofTAKARAZUKA!!!includes Jennifer Ikeda (TOP GIRLS, Manhattan Theater Club; TITUS ANDRONICUS, The Public), Brooke Ishibashi (THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G, Ma-Yi Theater Company in association with Vampire Cowboys Theater Company), Paul Juhn (“30 Rock”), Glenn Kubota (Pan Asian Rep) and Angela Lin (CHINGLISH). For tickets, priced $18, phone (212) 352-3101 or visitHERE.org. HERE Arts Center is located 145 Sixth Ave at Dominick. Showtime is at 8:30, there is no performance on May 30, 2012.

Part ghost story, part love story, TAKARAZUKA!!! tracks the career sunset of Yuko, the star of a Japanese theater that stages all-female Western style musical extravaganzas. But when you take away her partner, her fans, and her tux, who will she be?

SUSAN SOON HE STANTON’s plays include AMERICAN PIG PEN, CYGNUS, FURBALL, THE THINGS ARE AGAINST US, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JOHN BOY KIHANO?, THE UNDERNEATH, THE ART OF PRESERVATION and others. She is a member of The Public Theater’s Emerging Writer’s Group and Ma-Yi Playwrights Lab. Awards include the 2011 Van Lier Fellowship at The Lark, and The Sloan Foundation feature film development grant. MFA: Yale Playwriting. From Honolulu, Susan lives in New York City. This is Susan’s first NYC production.

LEAR deBESSONET Original works have been produced by Lincoln Center Theatre, the Old Globe Theatre, the Intiman Theatre, Joe’s Pub, and Performance Space 122. She has worked with writers Marcus Gardley, Naomi Iizuka, Todd Almond, Deborah Stein, and Lucy Thurber. She most recently conceived and directed ODYSSEY at the Old Globe, featuring a cast of nearly 200 performers including local choirs, marching bands, and park rangers.

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.