The Working Actor's Journey

Ep #22: Jeanne Sakata on the Joy of Discovery, Eagerness, and Redemptive Writing

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Episode notes

Jeanne Sakata has had a 30+ year career spanning theater, film, television, and voiceover. She was in two different stage productions this past year, both with notable companies, jumping from Shakespeare to new plays: appearing in Othello at A Noise Within in Pasadena, CA and in Do You Feel Anger? at the Vineyard Theatre in NY.

For her first play, Jeanne wrote the celebrated and award-winning solo show Hold These Truths, based on the life of Gordon Hirabayashi, a Japanese-American student at the University of Washington who challenged the American Government during World War II.

Just a bit of what we cover in this episode with Jeanne:

  • Growing up on a lettuce farm right near the railroad tracks
  • Thinking she would be a journalist and majoring in English at UCLA
  • How acting and therapy both came into her life at the same time
  • How the Spanish language opened her eyes to working on Shakespeare
  • Her deep need to tell Gordon’s story based on her own family’s history
  • How her marriage and relationship has lasted over 40 years—and so much more!

 

Jeanne even shares how she worked on a monologue with a Cambodian accent for a TV show, so don’t miss that!

She has such a great attitude toward celebrating your successes, allowing for flow, and being open to multiple approaches!

 

Click here for full show notes and links.

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