Daniel Akiyama

Daniel Akiyama

Daniel Akiyama is the author of the full-length plays A CAGE OF FIREFLIES (Sundance Institute Theatre Lab selection; O’Neill finalist) and GAMES FOR BOYS (Sundance and O’Neill finalist). His short plays include UDDER PARADISE, THE BITTER FURY AND MAGNIFICENT VENGEANCE OF DON CLOWN, and an adaptation of THE YELLOW WALLPAPER. Daniel has worked with members of the Keakalehua Playwrights Hui on SEARCHING FOR KEAKA...
Daniel Akiyama is the author of the full-length plays A CAGE OF FIREFLIES (Sundance Institute Theatre Lab selection; O’Neill finalist) and GAMES FOR BOYS (Sundance and O’Neill finalist). His short plays include UDDER PARADISE, THE BITTER FURY AND MAGNIFICENT VENGEANCE OF DON CLOWN, and an adaptation of THE YELLOW WALLPAPER. Daniel has worked with members of the Keakalehua Playwrights Hui on SEARCHING FOR KEAKA and WAIAU, two experiments in linked collaborative writing. A graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Daniel studied playwriting with Dennis Carroll, Y York, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, and Daniel A. Kelin II. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, New Play Exchange, and Tree Moss Playwrights, is honored to serve on the board of directors of Keakalehua and on the community advisory board for the Edward Sakamoto Collection at UH Manoa, and was a nominee for the 2023 United States Artists Fellowship.

Plays

  • Games for Boys by Daniel Akiyama
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    2
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    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: Hawaii, Honolulu + 7 more
    Genre: docudrama/historic, drama, period, tragedy
    Keyword: Hawaii, Honolulu, Japanese American, Asian American, History, Race, class, 1920s, children
    Honolulu, 1928. Between a kidnapping and its inescapable end, a young man and a boy explore the clash of race, class, and human need. Suggested by the case of Myles Fukunaga and Gill Jamieson, Daniel Akiyama's GAMES FOR BOYS examines the tensions that draw us together and those that keep us apart.
  • A Cage of Fireflies by Daniel Akiyama
    Recommendations: 2
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    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: Hawaii, Honolulu + 8 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: Hawaii, Honolulu, Okinawa, Asian American, Okinawan-American, Sisters, three sisters, Realism, family, Chekhov Adaptation
    Three elderly sisters of the Kibei generation - sent as children to be raised in Okinawa, then returned to live and work in Hawaii - are at the heart of A CAGE OF FIREFLIES. Two of the sisters confine themselves to their Honolulu apartment where they enact the rituals of daily life and dream of one day returning to Okinawa. The third, charged with running their family’s orchid nursery, embraces the modern world...
    Three elderly sisters of the Kibei generation - sent as children to be raised in Okinawa, then returned to live and work in Hawaii - are at the heart of A CAGE OF FIREFLIES. Two of the sisters confine themselves to their Honolulu apartment where they enact the rituals of daily life and dream of one day returning to Okinawa. The third, charged with running their family’s orchid nursery, embraces the modern world and disrupts her family's delicate traditions. A CAGE OF FIREFLIES explores the tug-of-war between preservation and progress, the selfish and the selfless. "One the most fragile, heartbreaking and quietly uplifting local plays to grace the islands in years." - Honolulu Star-Advertiser