Dear Friends, 

I am directing a reading of Ken Ludwig's play Dear Jack, Dear Louise, on board the USS Wisconsin, an Iowa-class battleship which first launched on December 7, 1943, served in WWII, the Korean War, and Desert Storm, was decommissioned in 1991, and now functions as a museum in Norfolk, VA. It's been a meaningful experience stepping back into a rehearsal room and collaborating with actors Larissa Klinger, Dan Fenaughty, Stage Manager Brittany Sandford, and Virginia Stage Company Artistic Director Tom Quaintance. This battleship reading runs May 18-23, 2021. The team will return in the fall to stage the full production of this play, on land, in the theater, and in rep with another profound WWII story, Jeanne Sakata's Hold These Truths, starring Greg Watanabe. These two productions will run October 17-November 7, 2021, with the design team of Scenic Designer Alan E. Muraoka, Lighting Designer Lynne Hartman, Sound Designer Andre Pluess, and Costume Designer Jeni Schaefer. 

The real life narratives at the center of these two plays -- of Gordon Hirabayashi, Jacob Ludwig, and Louise Rabiner -- are all disrupted in the same year, 1942. Yet their experiences are extremely disparate, demonstrating the multifaceted nature of life in the United States. Love and victory coexist with hate and the painful, important and ongoing pursuit of liberty and justice for all. Then as today. Directing these two stories in rep I hope will widen the lens so we see and embrace more of America, this complex, complicated, and beautiful country.

Seema