From Feb. 1 to 3, Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT), CalArts’ center for contemporary arts in Downtown Los Angeles, in association with East West Players, presents the West Coast premiere of “The Nosebleed,” the 2022 Obie Award-winning show from innovative playwright, performer, translator, and director Aya Ogawa.
REDCAT is located at 631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles, within the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex.
Are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of our parents? Through a series of absurd, autobiographical vignettes, “The Nosebleed” irreverently and boldly delves into what it takes to forgive. A trip to Ogawa’s home country of Japan, a child’s nosebleed, and the reality TV show “The Bachelor” come together in this darkly comical and psychologically insightful theatrical tribute to Ogawa’s father.
Four actors play “Aya” while the playwright themself plays their 5-year-old son and father, as the play explores the seemingly insurmountable cultural and generational gap between Aya and their father, and the questions they face in their own parenthood today.
Part theatrical memorial performed by an ensemble of five, part healing ritual for the audience, this humorous, tender, and inventive play considers how we inherit and bequeath failure, and what it takes to forgive.
“The Nosebleed” had its world premiere in the fall of 2021, co-presented by Japan Society and The Chocolate Factory, in New York City. It was also presented at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater in 2022 and the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. in 2023. Ogawa was awarded a 2022 Obie Award for the creation, writing, and direction of “The Nosebleed,” and the ensemble was nominated for a 2023 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Ensemble.
As part of its 2024 national tour, “The Nosebleed” makes its West Coast premiere at REDCAT in English and Japanese without supertitles. Additional tour dates include the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minn., Jan. 25 to 27 (co-presented with Theater Mu and The Great Northern) and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 8 to 10.
On Friday, Feb. 2, the program at REDCAT will include a post-performance talk with Ogawa.
About the Artist
Aya Ogawa (they/them) is an award-winning Tokyo-born, Brooklyn-based writer, director, translator, and performer whose work centers women/non-binary perspectives and utilizes the stage as a space for exploring cultural identity and the immigrant experience. They have written and directed many plays, including: “A Girl of 16,” “oph3lia” (HERE), “Journey to the Ocean” (Foundry Theatre), and “Ludic Proxy” (The Play Company). Most recently, they received an Obie Award for “The Nosebleed” (Under the Radar; Japan Society and Chocolate Factory; Lincoln Center Theater; Woolly Mammoth Theatre). They directed Haruna Lee’s Obie Award-winning “Suicide Forest” (The Bushwick Starr and Ma-Yi Theatre Company), and Maiko Kikuchi and Spencer Lott’s “9000 Paper Balloons” (HERE and Japan Society).
They have translated numerous works of contemporary Japanese playwrights into English, including plays by Toshiki Okada and Satoko Ichihara. Ogawa is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship; Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting; Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity (Lincoln Center Theater); Foundation for Contemporary Arts’ Grants to Artists; Playwrights’ Center’s McKnight National Residency and Commission; President’s Award in Performing Arts (Lower Manhattan Cultural Council); and Resident Playwright (New Dramatists).
Creative Team
Created and directed by Aya Ogawa
Scenic and costume design: Jian Jung
Lighting design: Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew
Sound design: Megumi Katayama
Production stage manager: Alejandra Maldonado Morales*
Associate lighting designer/production coordinator: Vittoria Orlando
Production assistant: John Del Gaudio
Cast
Aya 0: Aya Ogawa
Aya 1: Ashil Lee *
Aya 2: Kaili Y. Turner *
Aya 3: Saori Tsukada
Aya 4: Drae Campbell *
White Guy: Miles Crawford
Understudy Aya 0~4: Manatsu Tanaka
* Appearing through an agreement between this theater, Hanaji LLC, and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Tickets and Information
Thursday, Feb. 1, at 8:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 2, at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 3, at 8:30 p.m.
$30 for general admission
$24 for REDCAT members and students
$15 for CalArts students, faculty and staff
Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.redcat.org/events/2024/aya-ogawa