Today is My Birthday

Theatre Mu, February 2021

streaming producer, leanna keyes smiling inside a green bordered circle

Leanna
Says .... ....

A gloriously ambitious project with some of my favorite collaborators, this play thrived in digital production. Most actors were on green screens, but we turned the lead actor’s house into a live set–she’d be in her real life kitchen at one live camera, then run to her living room while doing a quick change before flopping onto the couch for the next scene at a different live camera. Truly amazed we pulled this off live!

Today Is My Birthday

This “live movie” featured six actors around the country on a combination of green screen and physical sets; one of Transcend Streaming’s most innovative productions.

A comedy about loneliness in the age of connection. Emily, a 29-year-old would-be writer, retreats home to O’ahu after Manhattan finally gets the best of her. But trading one island for another doesn’t help. When she stumbles into a gig as an actor on a shock-jock radio dating show, she falls for her fake love interest and finds herself strangely determined to turn that fantasy into reality. Told through a playful combination of phone calls, voicemails, and live radio spots, Stanton’s quirky show illustrates life with a thousand friends on Facebook, but no one to talk to on a Saturday night.

Theater Mu produces great performances born of arts, equity, and justice from the heart of the Asian American experience. Theater Mu celebrates and empowers Asian Americans through theater.

Primary Artistic Values

  • To give voice and cultural profile to the Asian American community.
  • To offer opportunities for mainstream audiences to gain insight into and empathy for Asian American culture and heritage.
  • To provide professional development opportunities for emerging Asian American artists.
  • To promote awareness of and progressive action on issues of social justice and gender equality in society.
  • To move, provoke, and challenge our audiences to understand, embrace, and celebrate diversity.

The Meaning of Mu

Mu (pronounced MOO) is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese character for the shaman/artist/warrior who connects the heavens and the earth through the tree of life.Theater Mu produces great performances born of arts, equity, and justice from the heart of the Asian American experience. www.theatermu.org

Today Is My Birthday Creative Team:

Lily Tung Crystal – Director
Rich Remedios – Associate Director
Susan Soon He Stanton – Playwright
Lyndsey R. Harter* – Stage Manager
Kyla Moloney – Assistant Stage Manager
Transcend Streaming – Streaming Producer & Production Manager
Mina Kinukawa – Scenic Designer
Sara Ryung Clement – Costume Designer
Wu Chen Khoo – Lighting Designer
C. Andrew Mayer – Sound Designer
Abbee Warmboe – Props Designer
Annie Jim Wang – Dramaturg
Josh Dyrud – Camera & Tech Consultant

Today Is My Birthday featured the following performers:

Katie Bradley, China Brickey, Eric Sharp, Jomar Tagatac, Greg Wantabe, and Emily Kuroda.