Walker Art Center, Theater Mu & The Great Northern Present
Aya Ogawa
The Nosebleed
As part of Walker Art Center's OUT THERE 2024
Thursday–Saturday, January 25–27, 2024
8:00 pm
McGuire Theater
THE NOSEBLEED
CAST
Aya 0
AYA OGAWA
Aya 1
ASHIL LEE*
Aya 2
KAILI Y. TURNER*
Aya 3
SAORI TSUKADA
Aya 4
DRAE CAMPBELL*
White Guy
CHRISTOPHER KEHOE
Understudy Aya 0-4
MANATSU TANAKA
PRODUCTION TEAM
Production Stage Manager
ALEJANDRA MALDONADO MORALES*
Costume & Scenic Designer
JIAN JUNG
Lighting Designer
JEANETTE OI-SUK YEW
Sound Designer
MEGUMI KATAYAMA
Assoc. Lighting Designer/Production Coordinator
VITTORIA ORLANDO
Production Assistant
JOHN DEL GAUDIO
SHOW INFO
Run time: 75 minutes, no intermission
Jan 26 Special Performance: The Friday night performance has audio description available for patrons and includes a post-show Q&A with creator/performer Aya Ogawa, moderated by Dr. Yuichiro Onishi.
The Nosebleed was co-presented by Japan Society and the Chocolate Factory Theater in October 2021. Produced by Lincoln Center Theater in New York City, 2022.
*appearing through an agreement between Hanaji LLC and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Accessibility Notes
Content and sensory notes: This production contains sudden loud sounds, fog, the depiction of a nosebleed, depiction of estrangement with a parent, depiction and mentions of death, use of profanity, microaggressions, and mentions of sexual harassment.
For more information about accessibility at the Walker, visit our Access page.
Reflection from Aya Ogawa
A couple days before the first rehearsal for this piece, the presidential election took place, the one where Trump got elected. So this idea of failure and the way it was resonating in my communities really shifted the lens through which I was approaching the piece. It was something that was weighing heavily on all of my collaborators over the first six months of the development of the piece. ... This project was born out of that particular moment in time when I felt that I needed—and my community needed—a place for healing and forgiveness because we were coming out of a moment with so much tension and mistrust and cultural fracture. ...
Throughout the exploratory devising process, I had been asking all my collaborators the same question—which was, “Can you share what you would consider to be a failure with the group?” Eventually, I turned that question on myself. And I was like, “Well, what do I consider the greatest failure, or one of the greatest failures of my life?” And it really unfolded the way it is represented in the play, which is that I was carrying this question around with me that summer [of 2017] like, “Well, what am I going to write about?”
I was in Japan with my kids. It was the first night we were there. We were completely jetlagged in the middle of the night. There was a massive catastrophic nosebleed where, you know, we were in this beautiful AirBnb where the walls and the sheets and everything was white. And then suddenly, I flip the lights on and everything is red. And I was like, “My God, what is happening?” It was like a horror movie. And in the kind of delirious, deranged, jetlagged moment as I was trying to scrub blood out of the white bedding and off of my child, I was like, “Why am I even here?”
What am I doing? What am I trying to prove? What even is “cultural heritage”? What even is the meaning of home country to someone who is Asian American? And what do I owe my ancestors to preserve that sense of identity? And what did my ancestors even do for me? You know? ...
Just as it is portrayed in the play, all of these elements kind of converge into a real question about not just identity, but about the shifting identity of a family line, right? Looking back and looking forward, what is the meaning of it? What do I owe the past? What do I owe the future? And that’s where I located my failure story.
Learn More
Read an interview with Aya Ogawa for the Walker Reader about the process of creating the show, being caught between cultures and generations, and about what their kids think of it all.
Cast Bios
AYA OGAWA (CREATOR, DIRECTOR, AYA 0)
Aya (they/them) is an award-winning Tokyo-born, Brooklyn-based playwright, director, and translator whose work centers women/nonbinary perspectives and explores cultural identity and the immigrant experience. They have written and directed many plays, including A Girl of 16 and oph3lia (HERE), Journey to the Ocean (Foundry Theatre), and Ludic Proxy (The Play Company). They received an Obie Award for The Nosebleed (Under the Radar, Japan Society/Chocolate Factory, Lincoln Center Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theatre). Other directing credits include Haruna Lee’s Obie Award-winning Suicide Forest (the Bushwick Starr/Ma-Yi Theatre Company), as well as Maiko Kikuchi and Spencer Lott’s 9000 Paper Balloons (HERE/Japan Society). Translation work includes plays by Toshiki Okada and Satoko Ichihara. Aya has received the 2023 Helen Merrill Award for playwriting, the 2023 Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant to artists, the Playwrights’ Center’s 2023 McKnight national residency and commission, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s President’s Award in performing arts, and New Dramatists’ playwright residency. | ayaogawa.com
DRAE CAMPBELL* (AYA 4)
Drae (she/they) had their first performance at age 5 in a San Francisco nightclub opening for a punk band. Drae has a BFA in theater from the University of Arts in Philadelphia. She’s performed all over NYC in all kinds of ways. Theater credits include: The Nosebleed (Lincoln Center Theater), Only You Can Prevent Wildfires (Ricochet Collective), Non-Consensual Relationships with Ghosts (La MaMa), My Old Man (Dixon Place), Oph3lia (HERE). TV includes New Amsterdam, Bull, and Dinette (web series, directed by Shaina Feinberg). Drae has been hosting and curating a queer storytelling show for nine years called TELL, which is now a silver Signal Award-winning podcast of the same name. | draecampbell.com
ASHIL LEE* (AYA 1)
Ashil (they/he/she) is an NYC-based actor, playwright, and sex educator. Korean American, trans nonbinary, child of immigrants. 2023 Lucille Lortel nominee (Outstanding Ensemble: The Nosebleed). Selected acting credits: The Nosebleed (LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater, Woolly Mammoth), world premiere of Gina Femia’s The Virtuous Fall... in rep with Measure for Measure (Spicy Witch Productions), Juliet+Romeo (Pocket Universe), theatrical premiere of Dogville (dir. Robert O’Hara). Playwriting credits: Clubbed Thumb’s 2023/24 Early Career Writer’s Group. Finalist: Playwright’s Realm fellowship (23/24). Semi-finalist: Princess Grace playwriting fellowship (23/24). Echoes Emerging Writer’s Group 2022/23 (Primary Stages) and Pataphysics 2020, led by Clare Barron. NYU Tisch: BFA in acting, minor in youth mental health. NYU Steinhardt: master’s candidate in mental health and wellness. | ashillee.com
SAORI TSUKADA (AYA 3)
Saori (she/her) is a creator/performer who harnesses her ability in theater, dance, and beyond. With Nikki Appino, Saori co-created Club Diamond in which she tells her immigrant tale utilizing silent film, Benshi, and Kamishibai. She has worked with Aya Ogawa on several of their projects including A Girl of 16, Pictures of the Drowned, and Ludic Proxy. Other collaborators include Yoshiko Chuma, Catherine Galasso, Joe Diebes, Shaun Irons, and Lauren Petty. She has been nominated twice for best actress at Dublin Fringe Festival for her performance with John Moran. Most recently she appeared in the opera Hanjo (NYU Skirball, dir. Luca Veggetti). Other venues include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, BAM, the Public Theater, La MaMa, Japan Society.
KAILI Y. TURNER* (AYA 2)
Kaili (she/her inclusive) is a Black Indigenous (Natick Nipmuc) comedian, writer, producer, puppeteer, and award-winning actress and director. Some of her favorite credits include: Fires in the Mirror (ASDS Rep), The Nosebleed (Lincoln Center), SNL/Second City sold-out showcase (Second City), 103 Within the Veil (Company One), and the HBO award-winning short film The Cycle. Kaili is a fellow of Collective Five showrunner’s program, Native American TV writers lab, and ABC/Disney Native American pilot program, as well as a member of Grown Ass Women, the first and only all-female maude group at Uprights Citizens Brigade. Kaili creates comedic content and believes “a spoonful of medicine helps the message go down.” | kailiyturner.com
CHRISTOPHER KEHOE (WHITE GUY)
Christopher (he/him) is thrilled to be working with Theater Mu for the first time and with these amazing artists, and absolutely can’t wait to start listing “White Guy” on his resume. He has performed onstage in over 50 productions with more than 20 theatre companies in Minnesota (Frank Theatre, Jungle Theater, Yellow Tree Theatre, Sandbox Theatre), as well as with theatres in California, Oregon, Washington, and Florida. He has a special interest in physical performance and ensemble-created theatre. Christopher has trained in game, clown, physical theatre, and devising with SITI Company, Sandbox Theatre, Odin Teatret, Philippe Gaulier, Giovanni Fusetti, and artists from the former Theatre de la Jeune Lune. He holds an MFA from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre.
MANATSU TANAKA (UNDERSTUDY AYA 0-4)
Manatsu (they/them) is a bicultural multi-disciplinary artist who grew up and have been performing in both Japan and the US. Having had that “always in between places” feeling, they utilize that sense as an opportunity to create a prism effect through their creative practices, hoping to offer new perspectives. They are drawn into illustrating humanness through their physical canvas. At the core of their heart, Manatsu is committed to use their creativity and artistry to join the frontline of trans and gender non-conforming artists in the dance and theater world. | @manatsu.tanaka
Company Bios
ALEJANDRA MALDONADO MORALES* (PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER)
Alejandra (she/her) is a well-rounded theatre person with experience in stage and production management, acting, designing, and—recently—working in the field of direction. Recent works include Awilda Rodriguez’s El Velorio de la Comay (BAAD-NY), Aravind Adyanthaya’s The Story of the Woman of the Sea (Casa Cruz de la Luna, Clemente Soto Vélez-NY), All That Dies and Rises (M-34, IATI Theater-NY), Hageografías (Casa Cruz de la Luna, Pregones-NY), Verano Verano (IATI Theater-NY), Venus y el Albañil (Loisaida Center-NY), The Maids (One-Eight, INTAR Theatre-NY), The Marquis De Sade is Afraid of the Sea (Casa Cruz de la Luna, INTAR Theatre-NY), Native Nation (Cornerstone Theater, ASU-AZ), La Mujer Maravilla (Hudson Church-NY), Fandango (La Jolla-CA), Zoetrope (Abrons-NY), and FUERZAfest (Hispanic Federation-NYC), among others.
JIAN JUNG (COSTUME & SCENIC DESIGNER)
Jian (she/her) is a New York-based set and costume designer from Korea. She collaborated with Aya Ogawa for Ludic Proxy, Haruna Lee’s Suicide Forest, and The Nosebleed. Recent theater credits include Ocean Filibuster at A.R.T. (Boston), Kiss at Wilma Theater (Philadelphia), Bodies They Ritual with Clubbed Thumb, and The Day You Begin at Kennedy Center (DC). She has designed Spanish and dual language productions in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and many Latinx theaters in NYC. Opera and musical credits include productions at Wolf Trap Opera (VA), Fisher Center at Bard (NY), Huntington Theater (Boston), Juilliard (NY), and Long Beach Opera (CA). Upcoming projects include Staff Meal at Playwrights Horizons and The Following Evening at PAC NYC’s inaugural season. MFAs in theater design (NYU) and environmental design (Ewha Women’s University, Korea). She teaches at NYU Tisch Design and Sarah Lawrence College. | jianjung.com
MEGUMI KATAYAMA (SOUND DESIGNER)
Megumi (she/her) is an NY-based designer originally from Japan. Off-Broadway/NYC credits include: The Nosebleed (LCT3); The Light in the Piazza and The Life (NYCC Encores!); Regretfully, So the Birds Are (Playwrights Horizons/WP); For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf (Public); Romeo and Juliet (NAATCO/Two River); Our Brother’s Son (Signature); Generation Rise (Ping Chong/New Victory); The Gett (Rattlestick). Regional credits include: Cambodian Rock Band (co-design, tour), Alley Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Studio Theatre, Arena Stage, Everyman Theater, Woolly Mammoth, Denver Center, the Old Globe, Berkley Rep, 5th Avenue/ACT, Cincinnati Playhouse, Kansas City Rep, Two River, Skylight Music Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Dorset Theatre Festival, and more. MFA Yale School of Drama. | megumikatayama.com
JEANETTE OI-SUK YEW (LIGHTING DESIGNER)
Jeanette (she/her) is an award-winning designer for theatre, dance, opera, musicals, music performances and large-scale immersive installation. NY Times described her designs as “clever” and “inventive”. Recent work includes: Kimberly Akimbo and The Thanksgiving Play (Broadway), An American Tail (Children’s Theatre Company), King Lear (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard (Ford’s Theatre), cullud wattah (The Public), Macbeth in Stride (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Your Own Personal Exegesis (LCT3), american (tele)visions (NYTW), Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth Theatre), Walden (Theaterworks), Golden Shield (MTC), Madame Butterfly (Boston Lyric Opera), and Wild: A Musical Becoming (A.R.T.). Immersive experience includes David Byrne’s Theater of the Mind. Awards include: Obie for sustained achievement in design, Henry Hewes Lighting Design Award, LIT Design Award (theater performance), NEA/TCG career development program recipient. | @jeanette_yew on Instagram, jeanetteyew.com
VITTORIA ORLANDO (ASSOC. LIGHTING DES. / PROD. COORDINATOR)
Vittoria (she/her) is a lighting and media designer based in New York. Select lighting design credits include Los Empeños (Repertorio Español), Iphigenia Among the Taurians (Mabou Mines), Holes in the Shape of My Father (the Public, UTR), Randy’s Dandy Coaster Castle (ART/NY, Gural), La Conducta De La Vida (Repertorio Español), Nine Studies for a Dance Opera (NYU), My Cousin Nelu Is Not Gay (Ars Nova, A.N.T. Fest), Saguaros (JACK), Dark Play or Stories for Boys (Edinburgh Fringe). Recent assistant credits to Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew include Rhythm Bath (Susan Marshall Dance), Wicked Bodies (Liz Lerman, tour), Snow in Midsummer (Classic Stage Company). BA: Fordham University. Wingspace Mentee 202/22. | vittoriaorlando.com
JOHN DEL GAUDIO (PRODUCTION ASSISTANT)
John (he/they) is a theater producer/maker. Collaborators have included William Burke, Jessica Almasy, Clare Barron, Agnes Borinsky, Kate Benson, Corinne Donly, Lee Sunday Evans, Julia Jarcho, Jeremy O. Harris, Haruna Lee, Carolyn Mraz, Daaimah Mubashshir, Aya Ogawa, Machel Ross, Sarah Cameron Sunde, and Jillian Walker. He is an associated artist (and former artistic producer) of Target Margin Theater (Brooklyn) and an ensemble member at-large, as well as the board chair, for A Host of People (Detroit). They are the former producing director of the Bushwick Starr and the current producer at the Mercury Store in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
Upcoming Events
THE GREAT NORTHERN FESTIVAL (now through Feb 4)
The Great Northern celebrates our cold, creative winters through 10 days of programming that invigorates mind and body. In an era of changing climate that threatens our signature season, we seek to create community, inspire action, and share the resilient spirit of the North with the world.
thegreatnorthernfestival.com | @thegreatnorthernfestival
THE MOOD ROOM (Feb 8-10) AND HONOR (Feb 22-24) AT THE WALKER ART CENTER
Big Dance Theater’s The Mood Room is an ingenious theatrical performance commissioned by the Walker and directed by Annie-B Parson. Heightening perceptions of class, privilege, and the new “me” generation, this piece dazzles through film, movement, music, puzzles, and dry wit.
Suzanne Bocangera’s Honor brings sly subversion to the state. Film actor Lily Taylor masquerades as a medieval art lecturer before transforming her talk into an irreverent and hilarious critique foregrounding the worldview of women.
walkerart.org | @walkerartcenter
HELLS CANYON AT THEATER MU (Feb 24-Mar 17)
Cue the horror music: We’re headed to a cabin in the woods. Five friends have arranged a weekend trip in Eastern Oregon. One is pregnant, two are married, and two have a decision to make. When tensions simmer to the surface, will the mysterious force trying to break in consume them all? Don’t miss this world premiere by one of our Mu Tang Clan playwrights, Keiko Green.
All tickets are Pay As You Are, starting at $10. Check the schedule for talkbacks, captioned performances, and more.
Living Land Acknowledgement
The McGuire Theater and Walker Art Center are located on the contemporary, traditional, and ancestral homelands of the Dakota people. Situated near Bde Maka Ska and Wíta Tópa Bde, or Lake of the Isles, on what was once an expanse of marshland and meadow, this site holds meaning for Dakota, Ojibwe, and Indigenous people from other Native nations, who still live in the community today.
We acknowledge the discrimination and violence inflicted on Indigenous peoples in Minnesota and the Americas, including forced removal from ancestral lands, the deliberate destruction of communities and culture, deceptive treaties, war, and genocide. We recognize that, as a museum in the United States, we have a colonial history and are beneficiaries of this land and its resources. We acknowledge the history of Native displacement that allowed for the founding of the Walker. By remembering this dark past, we recognize its continuing harm in the present and resolve to work toward reconciliation, systemic change, and healing in support of Dakota people and the land itself.
We honor Native people and their relatives, past, present, and future. As a cultural organization, the Walker works toward building relationships with Native communities through artistic and educational programs, curatorial and community partnerships, and the presentation of new work.
Thank you for attending this co-presentation by the Walker Art Center, Theater Mu, & The Great Northern!
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