Experience
Soul of the City 2024
Photo Gallery
Photo by Mark Shigenaga
First Voice and Presidio Theatre present
Soul of The City 2024
PERFORMANCE & LIVE FILMING
Saturday, June 1st at 7PM
and
Sunday, June 2nd at 4PM
Presidio Theatre, San Francisco, CA
Photo by Mark Shigenaga
“TREMENDOUSLY MOVING...
Wong Aoki’s skill as a storyteller lies in navigating between the big and small stories to create a
TOPOGRAPHY OF EMOTIONS AND CONNECTIONS.””
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“Japanese taiko with Western drum set; Japanese sho with saxophone... always at the forefront of artistic voices, Brenda Wong Aoki and Mark Izu”
JOIN US FOR A PERFORMANCE & LIVE FILMING
OF
BRENDA WONG AOKI’S NEWEST WORK
Building on the success of the world premiere of Soul of the City in 2023, Brenda Wong Aoki and First Voice return to the Presidio Theatre for two more performances that will filmed by Emmy Award-winning filmmakers, Emiko Omori and Wendy Slick, to be released as a feature-length production documenting the experience.
Soul of the City transcends traditional performance boundaries, offering an audience-participatory exploration of San Francisco’s multifaceted history and identity. The audience follows a storyteller who embarks on a journey to find the soul of San Francisco, weaving a narrative through the city’s diverse cultural landscapes, including Chinatown, Japantown, and The Fillmore. The production showcases a rich blend of traditional Japanese theater, contemporary spoken word, pioneering Afro-Asian American Jazz, and digital visual technology. At the heart of the experience are stories that tell where we came from, who we are, and how we can reconnect with hope, unity, peace, and identity to restore the everyday magic, transformation, activism, and heart once and forever associated with San Francisco. New elements this year include Chinese Lion dancers, Japanese demons, and contemporary dance.
The audience experience begins with a communal celebration in the Presidio Theatre’s outdoor plaza. The Sacred Tree of San Francisco, an installation by Ikebana artist Hiroko Tsunetsugu, will stand in the plaza as a beacon for attendees to hang their composed prayers, hopes, and dreams. Audiences are encouraged to come dressed in celebratory attire, embodying the spirit of the event.
“Soul of the City is more than a show–it’s a communal ritual where every voice, every story, and every spirit contributes to the tapestry of our City’s soul,” – Brenda Wong-Aoki
“I like performers whose every measured gesture and struck attitude shows their training and polish. But I save my respect for people like Brenda Wong Aoki. An actor and dancer with great technical skill... she focuses tightly on the stories she tells. And her story - about her attempts to find herself in rootless America, the first-generation daughter of a Chinese mother and Japanese father - is one that any American searching for herself or himself (which is most of us, I think) will find fascinating and inspirational.”
Written by Brenda Wong Aoki
Original music by Masaru Koga, Mark Izu, and Derek Nakamoto
Directed by David Furumoto
Music Direction by Masaru Koga
Multimedia Direction by Wendy Slick
Performed by Brenda Wong Aoki, devorah major, Caroline Cabading, Shoko Hikage, Masaru Koga, Jimi Nakagawa, Shoko Hikage, Jimi Nakagawa, Kenneth Nash, and Sara Sithi-Amnuai.
Costumes by Lydia Tanji
Lighting by Kate Boyd
Multimedia by Olivia Ting, Andi Wong, and Mark Shigenaga
Learn About “Soul of the City”
“Soul of The City follows a storyteller who has no more stories to tell. Her husband is sick, her boy has moved away, and nobody is buying the stories she’s trying to tell. Pursued by demons and haunted by ghosts, the storyteller embarks on a journey to find the soul of San Francisco. This multimedia music drama is a ritual performance. Rooted in traditional Japanese theater and music and infused with contemporary spoken word and Asian American Jazz, Soul of The City reveals the divine in us all.
The audience is invited to dress in celebratory attire and will gather in the garden to put prayers, photographs or talisman on the Soul of The City sacred tree. A Buddhist priest will bless us with a purification ceremony and willing participants will be given temple bells to call the ancestors. We will then go inside the theater. The audience will witness a ritual performance of jazz, storytelling, and poetry that is accompanied by photographs and images of Brenda’s family in San Francisco since the 1800’s. At the conclusion of the performance we will return to the garden for refreshments, renewed, recharged and inspired to carry on.”
Notes from Brenda
Dear Friends,
These are maddening times - chaotic, hateful, frightening. Humankind seems to be teetering on the edge of a black hole. It’s possible we may even be sucked in. But there are choices: we can walk away or chose a different path, maybe even a different dimension. There’s an old Japanese saying which came from a Chinese proverb which probably came from Persia which most likely can be traced to Egypt: “the carp has leaped through the dragon’s gate at the top of the waterfall.” Carp - koi in Japanese - symbolizes perseverance in the face of adversity. The koi that makes it to the top of the waterfall is transformed into a Dragon that soars into the heavens. Soul of the City is sharing memories of how I got to now. My hope is my story encourages you to look at your own. Each of us has a story. Our stories connect us and over time, they become one big story. Our storytellers remind us, humans have been in dark times before and lived to tell the tale. We, the living, persevere, not to just keep on keepin’ on, but that one day our grandchildren’s grandchildren may take flight. For 48 years, Mark and I have been performing together, separately and sometimes with our son KK. Many of you have been with us for decades. We are grateful for your years of support. Those of you who have never experienced us - WELCOME.
— BRENDA WONG AOKI, San Francisco (2024)
Our Storyteller, Brenda Wong Aoki and Partner Center for Asian American Media
Winner (2018) of Theater, Musical Theater and Spoken Word
Receiving the Hewlett 50 Playwright Commission is the greatest honor of my life, and a responsibility to truth tell that I do not take lightly. I received this award prior to the pandemic and was going to create a very different work, but life intervened. My husband and I were stalked for miles in Golden Gate Park by a man calling us the “Virus!” Four of our friends were beaten up, one so badly he almost died. People were calling Mark and I from all over the country asking us here in San Francisco, the birthplace of Asia America, for guidance as assaults spiked nationally. The violence continued and spread to all old people, women and children in general. Covid continued and performing artists spent years without work. I got so stressed out that I ended up in the hospital.
That is where this work, Soul of The City, really began.
In the hospital I couldn’t talk, which is very distressing for a storyteller. It wasn’t that I couldn’t actually talk, it was that I didn’t know how to respond because people’s emotions were so much louder than their words. That’s when I realized that I could talk to anyone whose language I didn’t speak! It was wonderful! I’d look into their eyes (the windows of the soul) and use my face and hands to show them how I felt, and we understood each other perfectly.
Outside the window of my hospital room was a gigantic pine tree. One day when I was feeling blue I looked at her and realized she was trying to talk to me (Aoki means pine tree.) The tree’s long beautiful needles danced in the breeze as if soothing me and when I was depressed, they shook like pom-poms cheering me on.
I looked at this huge mama tree and understood that our roots connect us to the earth and the earth connects us to one another. The only thing that heals is love and the greatest love is mother’s love because we women are the creators of the next generation so God, The Creator, must be a Mother.
This work, Soul of The City, is presented to you with some of my dearest friends - masters of their crafts with nothing to prove but lots to share. We are warriors - but not soldiers. We are Soulgers. We know why we are here, on this planet, at this moment in time, and we know what we must do. We will do it ‘til we die. And even after because like all of us, our bodies return to the earth, our souls go back to Source and the actions we put into motion continue.
- Brenda Wong Aoki, San Francisco (2023)
Brenda’s Family Photos
The Making Of “Soul of The City” (2023)
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About the Artists
Brenda Wong Aoki (
Storyteller) and
Mark Izu (
First Voice Resident Composer)
Featuring the haunting eloquence of writer-performer Brenda Wong Aoki with the silk and iron tones of composer-contra bass player Mark Izu - artists in the vanguard of cultural metamorphosis. Their original story-dramas are rooted in Gagaku, Nohgaku, contemporary theater, personal story, history and legend. Izu is listed in The Grove Dictionary of Music as a seminal leader of Asian American Jazz. Aoki is the America’s first nationally recognized Asian American storyteller. Both Aoki and Izu come from founding families of San Francisco and San Jose J-towns, two of the three remaining Japantowns in the U.S. Their work has garnered multiple Hollywood-Dramalogue Awards, NEA Fellowships, Critic Circle Awards, INDIE Awards, Dramatist Guild, ASCAP awards and an Emmy. Shoko Hikage, Mark Izu, Brenda Wong Aoki are world-class artists who continue to teach, tour and perform.
devorah major (
MOTHER)
Born and raised in California, devorah major served as San Francisco's Third Poet Laureate (2002-2006). In 2022 she received Italy's Regina Coppola International Literary Award performing in Sardinia and Northern and Southern Italy. In 2019 her sixth book of poetry with open arms was released in a bilingual edition in Italy. A Willow Press Editor's Choice her seventh book of poetry Califia's Daughter was published by Willow Press in July 2020. She has worked with First Voice on several projects including Mark Izu's Song of the City. In June 2015 major premiered her poetry play Classic Black: Voices of 19th Century African-Americans in San Francisco, with music composed and performed by Destiny Muhammad, at the San Francisco International Arts Festival. Trade Routes, a commissioned symphony with devorah major's spoken word and chorus, premiered under Maestro Michael Morgan with the Oakland East Bay Symphony in 2006. She is on two CDs as a part of Daughters of Yam with Opal Palmer Adisa. devorah major performs her work nationally and internationally with and without musicians. She has been a participant in international poetry festivals in Italy, Belgium, Bosnia, Jamaica, and Venezuela, and performed her poetry in France, the Bahamas and Germany. http://www.devorahmajor.com
Kenneth Nash (
Musician)
Internationally renowned producer, arranger, musician, author, and teacher, Kenneth Nash is creating some of today's most rhythmically compelling music. Breaking out into a superbly syncopated realm all his own, his high energy innovative playing has earned him a reputation as one of the foremost percussionists in jazz and contemporary music. Fusing jazz, pop and world-music elements, he creates an effervescent style of music.
Kenneth Nash has composed and arranged percussion pieces for the Joffery Ballet, The San Francisco Opera & American Conservatory Theatre. He has written and performed music for films, television and theatre.
Nash received the Isadora Duncan Award, In the same year his book Rhythms Talk was released worldwide in three language’s.
Kenneth Nash has performed or recorded on hundreds of recordings and productions with such artist as : Herbie Hancock, Pointer Sisters, Weather Report, Sergio Mendes, Dizzy Gillespie, Ahmad Jamal, Freddie Hubbard, Grover Washington Jr., B.B.King, Andy Narrell, Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Bobby McFerrin, Roy Haynes, Ira Sullivan, Airto, Cannonball Adderly, John Handy, Kenny Burrell, Gary Bartz, Merle Saunders, Bobby Hutcherson, Andre Crouch, Walter and Edwin Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Art Pepper, Johnny Griffin, Michael White, Patrice Rushen, Raoul DeSouz, John Lee Hooker, J.J. Johnson, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Clark, Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Lionel Hampton, Sadao Watanabe, Joe Henderson, Azar Lawrence, Norman Connors, Streamlinetrio/ featuring Kenneth Nash, Lionel Hampton
Sara Sithi-Amnual (
Musician)
Sara Sithi-Amnuai is a multi-instrumentalist (on trumpet, sheng, and some handcrafted electronic instruments) based in Los Angeles. Her interest in the connection between culture and gesture has led her to build gesture-based musical interfaces - one of those is Nami, a custom built glove interface designed for live musical performance inspired by Nikkei community research. She has presented her work at the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, received the 2021 Nikkei Music Reclamation Fellowship with Sustainable Little Tokyo, 2019 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, and has performed with the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra.
Andi Wong
(Multi-Media Artist/Designer)
Fifth-generation Chinese American Andi Wong has designed graphics and multimedia for First Voice projects, including J-Town Culture Bearers (2019), Earth Dance Offerings (2020), Story Circle of the Japanese Diaspora (2021-2023), Song for J-Town (2022) and Soul of the City (2023). Her creative partners include Marcus Shelby, The Last Hoisan Poets (Genny Lim, Flo Oy Wong and Nellie Wong), Del Sol Quartet, and the Internet Archive. Her film, "Drawn from Life: The Creative Legacy of Flo Oy Wong," premiered at 2023 SVAP FilmFest. She curated the companion exhibit for Huang Ruo's Angel Island 2024 premiere at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music).
Ki' Shae Qetlah (Dancer)
Ki' Shae was called to express herself with movement in her formative years. She first began traditional African Dance and Martial Arts until she was accepted into Classen School of Advanced Studies where she majored in Ballet and Modern Dance. She trained with Derrick Minter of Ailey II, Denise Vale from the Martha Graham Dance Company and Mary Margaret Holt of Houston Ballet at the University of Oklahoma Summer Dance Intensive for many years. She went on to join the University of Oklahoma Ballet Performance and Pedagogy Program, where she danced with the Oklahoma Festival Ballet. Ki' Shae is a Faculty Member for the ODC Youth & Teen Dance Program and Company Manager for the teen Hip Hop Dance Company, SEEDS. She has danced with the Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble and is a company member for RammDance & Tim Rubel Human Shakes for their 2023-2024 home season. Ki' Shae's focus in her dance practice is inner peace and the advocacy of accessibility and equality.
Olivia Ting (
Video Designer)
Olivia Ting is a digital multimedia artist whose interest in visual communication as a storytelling vehicle about the human condition brought her to work in collaboration with movement-based performers. In addition to theater work, Olivia continues to work as a graphic and video media designer; her clients include the San Francisco Dance Center, San Francisco Performances, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the San Jose Children’s Discovery Museum, and the Oakland Museum of California. Olivia will serve as the Video Projection Designer for OurTown.
Wendy Slick (Filmmaker)
Wendy Slick is an established Bay Area film producer, director, writer, and editor. She has produced a wide range of films over the last decades, establishing herself as a talented and sensitive filmmaker who is effective in multiple roles and a variety of contexts. “Passion and Power — a women’s rights film” — garnered a successful run following a Lincoln Center premiere. Her work for American Playhouse, PBS, Lucasfilm, Disney, Showtime, and Apple has been honored with Emmy and ACE nominations. She recently produced and directed “A Love Poem to My Friend Ethel” — a portrait of a longtime activist in her 80’s that premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival.
Mark Shigenaga
(
Photographer)
Mark Shigenaga is a third-generation Japanese American with a passion for supporting community activities through photography. This pursuit has deepened an understanding of his heritage and enabled a connection to many cultures. A chance alignment at the 2013 San Jose Obon led to a commission from Mark and Brenda to photograph their work MU later that year, followed by continued documentation of many First Voice performances. While his photographic style continues to evolve, he is most inspired by images that portray the vibrancy and Soul of our collective communities, whether through the sharing of various art forms, celebrations, or remembrances.
Mas Koga
(Music Director, Composer)
New York City based wind instrumentalist and composer Mas Koga is a long time friend of First Voice who has also worked domestically and internationally with luminaries such as Akira Tana, Anthony Brown, Wayne Wallace, Kenny Endo, Art Hirahara, and the late Fred Ho, as well as his mentors Hafez Modirzadeh and royal hartigan.
As a composer he has been featured in various shows and projects including the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, when they premiered their newly-restored version of 1919 silent film “The Dragon Painter” accompanied by his original live score.
As a Shin-Issei who grew up as a Third Culture Kid, his music encompasses the many cultural traditions that he has been touched by, and the worldview developed though diverse life experiences.
His album as a band leader titled “Flower Fire” was released in 2018 and is available online on various platforms.
Jimi Nakagawa (
Musician)
Jimi Nakagawa started playing drums in high school in Japan. He studied Taiko at SF Taiko Dojo, Sukeroku Daiko and under renowned masters. He’s been performing worldwide with SF Taiko Dojo and Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble as well as Jazz musicians like a guitarist, Nguyen Le, and a drummer, Peter Erskine to name a few. Jimi's refined stick work has been featured in films, “Rising Sun” by Philip Kaufman and “Mifune the last Samurai” by Steven Okazaki. He is leading OH-IN TAIKO school in El Cerrito, CA.
Shoko Hikage (
Musician)
Koto (Japanese zither) player Shoko Hikage is grateful to have studied with wonderful teachers, Chizuga Kimura, Iemoto Seiga Adachi, Tadao and Kazue Sawai and more. Hikage graduated from Takasaki College in Japan with a major in koto music and received her master's certificate from the Sawai Koto Institute. In 1992, she moved to Honolulu, Hawaii to teach koto at the Sawai Koto Kai Hawaii and at the University of Hawaii. Hikage moved to San Francisco in 1997 and has continued her career as acclaimed koto performer and teacher. She, Mark, and Brenda have worked together on numerous amazing projects.
Hiroko Tsunetsugu (
Ikebana/Sacred Tree Installation Artist)
Artist/designer Hiroko Tsunetsugu creates elegant and refined installations, objects, and garments using textiles, flowers, and other natural materials. Whether functional and built to last or ephemeral and decorative, Hiroko's meticulously hand-crafted creations are guided by her Japanese roots and the unique attributes of the materials at hand.
Soon after arriving in the United States, Hiroko crafted stage elements for First Voice productions of Kuan Yin and Mermaid thanks to an introduction from her mentor Maria Vella. Nearly a quarter of a century later, she is pleased and proud to continue collaborating with First Voice's family of Asian-American creators.
Lydia Tanji
(Costume Designer)
Lydia Tanji is thrilled to be working with Brenda and Mark again. Past productions include: Kuan Yin, Mermaid, and Type O. Other theater credits: ACT, Berkeley Rep. Theater, Theatreworks, Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Syracuse Stage, Arena Stage, Huntington Theater, Guthrie, Indiana Rep., Dallas Theater, Children’s Theater, Seattle Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, and South Coast Rep. Film credits include: The Joy Luck Club, Hot Summer Winds, Dim Sum, Thousand Pieces of Gold, and The Wash. She also co-produced Vanishing Chinatown: The World of The May’s Photo Studio which aired on KQED and KVIE.
Claudine Naganuma (Choreographer)
Claudine Naganuma was born and raised in San Francisco and currently lives in Oakland where she directs her dance company, dNaga. Naganuma is the founder of the GIRL Project, a free art and empowerment workshop for girls living in East Oakland and is the Program Director for Dance for PD®, Oakland. After receiving her M.F.A. in Dance from Mills College, she served as the Artistic Director of Asian American Dance Performances and was a founding board member of the SF Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center. Her choreography was part of Dave Iverson's 2014 documentary Capturing Grace and the company recently performed in Barcelona at the World Parkinson's Congress. www.dNaga.org
Raychel Hatch (Dancer)
Raychel Hatch (she/her) is a Chinese-American dancer based in the Bay Area. Originally from South Bay, she grew up in a Chinese Immersion Program where she practiced Wushu, Kung fu and Chinese dance. She holds a B.A. in Performing Arts & Social Justice, with a concentration in dance, and a B.A. in Psychology from University of San Francisco. She has worked with the Dance Generators (an intergenerational dance company of ages 18-90), Robert Moses, Tracey Lindsay Chan in her Panels dance film, and ODC's production and choreography mentorship program: Pilot 74. She is interested in how emotions, identities, and social constructs can be understood through dance.
Emiko Omori (Filmmaker)
Emiko Omori began her career as a filmmaker and cinematographer in 1968, when there were few camerawomen and fewer still Asian American cinematographers. Her first job was as camera/editor on the KQED program, Newsroom, in San Francisco. She left KQED in 1972 and, since then, has freelanced as a producer, director, cinematographer, and editor on many award-winning films, taught, and traveled extensively with her work in addition to making her own films. Her Emmy award winning documentary Rabbit in the Moon premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kate Boyd (Lighting Designer)
Kate Boyd designs scenery and lighting in the Bay Area. She recently designed the lights for Justice at Marin Theatre Company and scenery for The Language of Wild Berries for Golden Thread. Recent Aurora shows include Born with Teeth, Hurricane Diane and Everything is Illuminated. She has also designed at Center Rep, Magic Theater, New Conservatory Theater, Merola Opera, the SF Conservatory of Music, Company C Ballet and Theaterworks. Kate is a resident artist with Golden Thread Productions and a recipient of the Gerbode Design Fellowship. Kate teaches stagecraft and design at Lick-Wilmerding High School.
Come Join Us
Commissioned By
With Additional Support From
For More Information
BRENDA WONG AOKI
wongaoki@firstvoice.org
TEXT (415) 992-2428
CALIFORNIA ARTISTS MANAGEMENT
DONALD E. OSBORNE
don.calartists@gmail.com
CALL (707) 980-6114
www.calartists.com