AKIRA KUROSAWA EXPLAINS HIS MOVIES AND YOGURT

AKIRA KUROSAWA EXPLAINS HIS MOVIES AND YOGURT

(WITH LIVE & ACTIVE CULTURES!)

at Woolly Mammoth is produced in partnership with New Georges!

Tonight, renowned filmmaker Akira Kurosawa joins us for a lecture: a look into his iconic filmography, brilliant mind, the thrilling world of movies, and “culture.” But… why can’t he stop talking about yogurt? In this whimsical world premiere, playwright Julia Izumi weaves through media and memory to examine cultural imperialism, “healthy” consumption, and why we make art. 

AKIRA KUROSAWA EXPLAINS HIS MOVIES AND YOGURT (WITH LIVE & ACTIVE CULTURES!)
by Julia Izumi
directed by Aileen Wen McGroddy

sets Misha Kachman
costumes Camilla Dely
lights Venus Gulbranson
sound Tosin Olufolabi
video/projections Patrick W. Lord

IN PROCESS is still in process! check back soon…

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MAY 2 TO JUNE 4 2025

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Washington, DC

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Julia Izumi’s (playwright) works include Regretfully, So the Birds Are (Playwrights Horizons/WP Theater), miku, and the gods. (ArtsWest), Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea (Rorschach Theatre, Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Best New Play Adaptation), and others. Her work has been developed at MTC, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Berkeley Rep, Portland Center Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ojai Playwrights Conference, and more. Honors include the Kerry English Award and KCACTF’s Darrell Ayers Playwriting Award. Former Civilians R&D Group Member and Clubbed Thumb ECWG Member. Current New Dramatists Resident. Current commissions: True Love Productions, MTC/Sloan, Playwrights Horizons, Seattle Rep. MFA: Brown University. www.juliaizumi.com

Aileen Wen McGroddy (director) is a Chinese- and Irish-American theatre director, educator, and producer of live events. Her work is boldly imaginative, playfully experimental, and utterly alive. Currently, she is a co-artistic director of TUTA Theatre Chicago and Creative Producer for the Writing is Live Festival at Brown University. She is in the Roundabout Directors Group, has been a 2050 Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, and the BOLD Resident Director at Northern Stage. MFA Directing from Brown-Trinity. Past work includes: A Christmas Carol (Trinity Rep); The Chinese Lady (Kitchen Theatre and Geva Theatre Center); Sense and Sensibility (Northern Stage); Attempts on Her Life (TUTA); Airness (Breckenridge Backstage Theatre); The Late Wedding, The Dumb Waiter, Summer and Smoke, and The Tempest (Brown-Trinity); Cold War Choir Practice, Throwback Island, On The Y-Axis, Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (Writing is Live); Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play (Adelphi); The Glass Menagerie, Or,, Dani Girl (Winnipesaukee Playhouse); Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical and The Snowy Day (Emerald City Theatre); Montauciel Takes Flight (Lifeline Theatre); Ulysses (The Plagiarists); A Hero’s Journey, The Hunting of the Snark, Robin Hood, and The Pied Piper (The Forks & Hope Ensemble); The Whiskey Radio Hour, Wake: A Folk Opera, Kodachrome Telephone and Sign of Rain (The Whiskey Rebellion). She has directed readings for New York Theatre Workshop, The Bushwick Starr, Clubbed Thumb, NY Classical Theatre, The Yale Drama Prize, Northern Stage, and Babes with Blades. photo credit: Joe Mazza  https://aileenwenmcgroddy.com/

MEET WOOLLY MAMMOTH  The Tony Award®-winning Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company creates badass theatre that highlights the stunning, challenging, and tremendous complexity of our world. For over 40 years, Woolly has maintained a high standard of artistic rigor while simultaneously daring to take risks, innovate, and push beyond perceived boundaries. One of the few remaining theatres in the country to maintain a company of artists, Woolly serves an essential research and development role within the American theatre. Plays premiered here have gone on to productions at hundreds of theatres all over the world and have had lasting impacts on the field. Currently co-led by Artistic Director Maria Manuela Goyanes and Managing Director Kimberly E. Douglas, Woolly is located in Washington, DC, equidistant from the Capitol and the White House. This unique location influences Woolly’s investment in actively working towards an equitable, participatory, and creative democracy. www.woollymammoth.net