No-No Boy
“An extraordinary and essential play...No-No Boy has been adapted into a tight, intense script by playwright and actor Ken Narasaki from the 1957 novel of the same name by John Okada.”
DC Metro Theater Arts
Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
Finalist for the Audie Award for Best Narration in Audio Drama
Ken Narasaki's adaptation of the novel by Japanese American author John Okada is set during the aftermath of the US government’s incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent during World War II and the resettlement of Japanese Americans to the West Coast. In the play, Ichiro returns to Seattle, where he struggles to transition into post-war life.
Recorded at The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood, in January 2021.
No-No Boy is sponsored in part by the California Civil Liberties Program from the California State Library. Directed by Anna Lyse Erikson. Producing director: Susan Albert Loewenberg.
Featuring:
Kurt Kanazawa as Taro
Emily Kuroda as Mrs. Kanno and Mrs. Kumasaka
John Miyasaki as Freddie and others
Ken Narasaki as Kenji, Kumasaka-san, and others
Sharon Omi as Ma
Joy Osmanski as Emi, 2A
Sab Shimono as Pa
Greg Watanabe as Ichiro
Paul Yen as Eto, Jun, and others
Senior producer: Anna Lyse Erikson. Prepared for audio by Mark Holden. Sound design by Mark Holden and Neil Wogenson. Recording engineers: Charles Carroll and Neil Wogenson. Mixed by Charles Carroll and Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood. Senior radio producer: Ronn Lipkin. Foley artist: Jeff Gardner. Editor: Neil Wogenson.
Praise