SPF 12: Here Is Where
In the aftermath of 9/11, two sisters receive an unexpected package that brings them to the intersection of their uncertain present and their grandmother’s past in wartime Nanjing.
Development
Here Is Where had a private table reading in November 2020. SPF 12 is its very first public reading.
Vasanti Saxena is a writer whose work explores the fissures of family and relationships, memory, and historical legacy. Her plays have been produced/developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Chicago Dramatists, Silk Road Rising, Chalk Rep, Company of Angels, East West Players, and Santa Monica Rep. Her play Sun Sisters was the winner of East West Players Pacific Century Playwriting Competition, a finalist for Chicago Dramatists Many Voices Project, and a semi-finalist for both the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and the Princess Grace Award. It is published in Contemporary Plays by Women of Color (London, UK: Routledge 2017). Her short play “Closing Time” appears in The Best 10-Minute Plays 2011 (Smith and Kraus). Fellowships and commissions include: 2017 Outfest Screenwriting Lab (with the screen adaptation of Sun Sisters), NYTW Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship, and an EST/Sloan commission. A graduate of Brown University, Vasanti holds an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University.
Jully Lee is an actor, director and improvisor and is involved in a number of organizations which focus on promoting diversity throughout the community through education and performance.
She is the artistic director of Cold Tofu, a non-profit performing arts organization and the nation’s first and longest running Asian American comedy group founded in 1981 where she performs and teaches regularly. Jully is a resident director at Playground-LA and has also directed with Playground-SF, East West Players’ David Henry Hwang Writer’s Institute, Playwrights’ Arena, Artists At Play, Company of Angels, Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative, Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights, Road Theatre, Blank Theatre, Moving Arts, and Center Theatre Group in their Library Readings Series.
Her recent stage credits include Aubergine (South Coast Repertory), Ladies (Boston Court) and Hannah and the Dread Gazebo (Fountain Theatre/ East West Players) for which she received an Ovation nomination for Best Featured Actress. jullylee.com
“Here is Where”
Violet – Audrey Cain*
Kira/Sigh – traci kato-kiriyama
Lena – Jessica Andres*
Gloria – Andrea Lwin
Mei Zhu – Elaine Kao
Fran – Stephanie Michels*
Stage Directions – Jacqueline Misaye*
*Road Company Member