SAM HAMASHIMA

American Spies

News travels across the Pacific on Dec. 7 resulting in foolhardy claims of Japanese sympathizers. As calls for war perpetrate a nation, The Ishii Family undertakes radical assimilation to calm the local police and fearful neighbors. Mixing family testimony and cartoon charm, the Japanese Americans’ response to national disaster develops
​into a sparkling fable on what it means to be family.


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World Premiere, The Hub Theatre:

"Hamashima is delving into the kinds of cultural rifts that still simmer in this country."
-Nelson Pressley, Washington Post 

Listed in Washington Post's  Best Theater Events of Summer 2019.

Production Profile:
​
Directed by Kathryn Chase Bryer.
Costume Designer: Grace Kang.
Set Designer: JD Madsen.
Lighting Designer: Kristin A. Thompson.
Sound Designer: Reid May.
Movement Director: Catherine Oh.
Props Designer: Amy Kellett.



​
​Featuring Toni Rae Salmi, Kramer Kwalick, Rae Venna, Phillip Reid,
Dylan Arrendondo, KyoSin Kang, and Carolyn Kashner. 

Stage Manager: Laura Hawk.
Assistant Director: Kylie Levy.
​Produced by The Hub Theatre.
Production Photography by Ryan Maxwell Photography.

Role for Initiative
A Dungeons and Dragons Party waits for the start of the Pokémon and Animal Rights Panel in their first trip to Comic Con when a Biblically Accurate Angel grants them their tabletop-game powers IRL and sends these Certified Nerds on a Crude and Quirky Quest(TM). Demons, Biblically Accurate Angels, and Sheet Monsters Oh My! (George Takei Voice) This raucous garage-theater piece leans into the absurd and invites you to adventure into the 7 Rings of Hell and back! 

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Workshop Production, Ars Nova:
Production Profile:

Directed by Emily Bubeck.
Curated by Untitled Queen.
Production Photography: Danny Bristoll

*Role for Initiative was curated by Untitled Queen for their Ars Nova Vision Residency.



Biblically Accurate Angel (and others): Georgia Kate Cohen
Hero (and others): Michael Ortiz

Nurse (and others): Christine Pollnow
Lucky (and others): Emily Oliveira 
Love Interest (and others): Sam Hamashima

Shoyu Tell
Shoyu Tell is a bite sized TYA piece looking at a young student's decision to bring "Family Food" to "School Lunch". Mixing the Japanese word for Soy-sauce and the Elementary School "Show and Tell", this script will let audiences in on the importance of food in Japanese American culture and the courage it takes to be different. Commissioned by Lexington Children's Theatre. 
​

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​World Premiere, Lexington Children's Theatre:

Production Profile:

​Directed by Jeremy Kisling.
Costume Designer: Audrey Reed.
Set Designer: Jennifer Hiyama.
Lighting Designer: Maranda DeBusk
Technical Director:​ Gabriel Slusser

​​
​Featuring
 Rusty Allen, Michelle Pokopac, Kim Dixon Luckey, Erica Dilworth, Zachary A. Myers.​

Stage Manager: Kate Tayler
​Produced by Lexington Children's Theatre
Production Photography by Sally Horowitz

Banana
Banana is a comic rollercoaster of a play that explores what is a-"peel"-ing in the eyes of others and to oneself. With examinations of what it means to be Asian-American, queer, and taking up space in the American Theater, all while dealing with societal and sexual objectification, peeling this Banana ain't exactly as easy as it seems.
​
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Supposed Home

​Shiyo left the Japanese American Concentration Camps a long time ago. Or so she thought. Faced with questions from a curious grandson, Shiyo's world becomes both what had happened and what was wanted. Past and present become one landscape for this anime adventure as enemies are revealed, companions are found, trauma is unpacked, and what was only thought becomes (un)spoken word.​

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Picture


​Supposed Home is the winner of the 2019 Emerald Prize. Following a week of workshop, Supposed Home was presented as a staged reading directed by Annie Lareau.

For more information about The Emerald Prize, click here.
For more information about Supposed Home, click here.

​
Commissioned by Seattle Public Theater.

Possessing the Resurrected

The family secrets have been spilled to the masses and the Dead want revenge. In this psychological thriller, the ethics of storytelling are investigated and a question is lobbed to the American Theater: What does it mean for a BIPOC Writer to spill secrets that were never meant for a White Audience?

​Commissioned by San Francisco Playhouse.
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