Jude Narita Tells of “Stories Waiting to be Told” Oct. 6

PULLMAN, Wash. — The Visual, Performing, and Literary Arts Committee at Washington State University will present actress, writer, producer and activist Jude Narita on Oct. 6 in “Stories Waiting to be Told.”

The event will be at 7:30 p.m. in Bryan Hall Theatre and is free and open to the public.
   

“Stories Waiting to be Told,” one of Naritas latest productions, sweeps audiences away from the comfort of national, cultural and gender related boundaries. Narita says that this play “celebrates Asian and Asian-American women redefining themselves within the American dream.” She creates an on-stage performance that is ultimately a statement about human compassion and understanding.

Narita is known for making waves and has become a 21^st century heroine for Asian and Asian-American women. She is best known for her award-winning original one-woman play “Coming into Passion/Song for a Sansei,” which ran for 24 months in Los Angeles. It earned her a Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle Award, the Drama-Logue Award for Creation and Performance, the James Wong Howe “JIMMIE” from the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists and the VESTA Award from the Woman’s Building of Los Angeles. The play was also featured in a PBS Smithsonian episode on gender.

All of Narita’s plays create honest portrayals of Asian and Asian-American characters who reflect different cultures and heritage.  Among her other one-woman plays are “Celebrate Me Home,” “The Wilderness Within” and “Walk the Mountain,” the creative result of Narita’s trip to Vietnam with a women’s delegation.

Narita is a past president and current board member of PAAWWW (Pacific Asian-American Women Writers West), an organization that supports and encourages other Asian-American women writers. She is also a member of the Filmmaker’s Alliance, a group of independent filmmakers.

This program is the second event in VPLAC’s 2004-05 program series “Crossing Boundaries.” VPLAC was established in 1982 by WSU as a student-faculty committee formed for the purpose of enriching the campus cultural environment. Programs are funded by student services and activities fees, with in-kind support from the Office of Campus Involvement and the School of Music and Theatre Arts.