East West Players and ?? ?? ???Coeurage Theatre Company will present a free reading of “After the War” by Philip Kan Gotanda on Monday, Aug. 26, at 7:30 p.m. at the David Henry Hwang Theater, 120 Judge John Aiso St. in Little Tokyo.
The play takes place in the aftermath of World War II in San Francisco’s Western Addition district, where some Japanese Americans returned from the camps. African Americans who came to San Francisco were seeking work, white Southern migrants were looking for economic opportunity, and Russian Jews were arriving to start new lives.
All the characters struggle to get along with limited resources while trying to find their place in this mix of cultures.
Central character Chet Monkawa is a jazz trumpeter who returns to his family’s rooming house after the internment, but his old neighborhood isn’t the same. The rooming house is now filled with new transplants, and Chet and his fellow boarders must find a new harmony amidst uncertain times.
Directed by Andy Lowe. Made possible by the support of the Aratani Foundation.
For more information, call (213) 625-7000 or visit www.eastwestplayers.org.