←Recommendations of SUPPOSED HOME

  • Wenke Coco Huang: SUPPOSED HOME by Sam Hamashima
    “

    A fantastical, cut-throat interrogation of Japanese Americans' identity formation. Plentiful alienation devices heighten multiple dualities: trauma vs its aftermath, memory vs amnesia, fantasy vs reality, American vs Japanese...These dichotomies concentrate on the central character of Grandma. While magical and heartening, the adventure of her younger self (who is also the doppelgänger of Grandson) is fundamentally fragile and cathartic. The fantastical past intertwines with and accentuates the futility and anguish in reality. I also appreciate the play's generous and specific use of Japanese...

    A fantastical, cut-throat interrogation of Japanese Americans' identity formation. Plentiful alienation devices heighten multiple dualities: trauma vs its aftermath, memory vs amnesia, fantasy vs reality, American vs Japanese...These dichotomies concentrate on the central character of Grandma. While magical and heartening, the adventure of her younger self (who is also the doppelgänger of Grandson) is fundamentally fragile and cathartic. The fantastical past intertwines with and accentuates the futility and anguish in reality. I also appreciate the play's generous and specific use of Japanese language, unveiling the exquisite tunes of Japanese culture that resist Americanization and transmute the hero's journey!

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  • Jordan Ramirez Puckett: SUPPOSED HOME by Sam Hamashima
    “

    I have loved SUPPOSED HOME from the moment I first read it and my adoration for it only grew when I saw the virtual stage reading at the 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. The legacy of Japanese Concentration Camps is pervasive to this day and Hamashima manages to tell a powerful and personal story about this time through a wholly theatrical lens. This play will make you laugh and cry and demands to be told on stage in front of a live audience as soon as possible.

    I have loved SUPPOSED HOME from the moment I first read it and my adoration for it only grew when I saw the virtual stage reading at the 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. The legacy of Japanese Concentration Camps is pervasive to this day and Hamashima manages to tell a powerful and personal story about this time through a wholly theatrical lens. This play will make you laugh and cry and demands to be told on stage in front of a live audience as soon as possible.

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  • Nick Malakhow: SUPPOSED HOME by Sam Hamashima
    “

    A genre-defying, fabulistic piece that navigates a variety of theatrical styles and motifs, and issues both micro and macro level in such a compelling and engaging way. Sam Hamashima creates a distinct theatrical world and their skill in bringing together a variety of threads into a cohesive, aesthetic whole is supreme. I loved the dual narrative focus, as well, on this humorous, heightened fable-like tale from the past and a grandmother and grandson's more immediate and intimate journey through the results of generational, cultural, and familial trauma. This play begs to be staged and soon I...

    A genre-defying, fabulistic piece that navigates a variety of theatrical styles and motifs, and issues both micro and macro level in such a compelling and engaging way. Sam Hamashima creates a distinct theatrical world and their skill in bringing together a variety of threads into a cohesive, aesthetic whole is supreme. I loved the dual narrative focus, as well, on this humorous, heightened fable-like tale from the past and a grandmother and grandson's more immediate and intimate journey through the results of generational, cultural, and familial trauma. This play begs to be staged and soon I hope!

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  • Playwrights Foundation: SUPPOSED HOME by Sam Hamashima
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    Playwrights Foundation highly recommends SUPPOSED HOME, which excelled to the Finalist round (top 35) for the 44th annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival out of 755 plays. Our community of readers felt this play best represented the mission of our festival. This work engaged us, inspired us, moved us, and was an outstanding example of transformative storytelling. Our local Bay Area Literary Council commends SUPPOSED HOME as a compelling, relevant, cathartic new work which should be produced now. Congratulations! #BAPF2021

    Playwrights Foundation highly recommends SUPPOSED HOME, which excelled to the Finalist round (top 35) for the 44th annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival out of 755 plays. Our community of readers felt this play best represented the mission of our festival. This work engaged us, inspired us, moved us, and was an outstanding example of transformative storytelling. Our local Bay Area Literary Council commends SUPPOSED HOME as a compelling, relevant, cathartic new work which should be produced now. Congratulations! #BAPF2021

    ”