Tim Toyama
Encyclopedia
Tim Toyama is a playwright and producer. He is Sansei
(third-generation Japanese American
) presently living in Los Angeles, CA. He is co-founder of the Asian American
media company Cedar Grove Productions
, and its sister Asian American theatre
company, Cedar Grove OnStage
. He attended C.S.U.N.
as an English major.
. Among them his best-known work is Visas and Virtue
, depicting Holocaust rescuer Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara
- known as "The Japanese Schindler
." Adapted into a short film by actor/director Chris Tashima
, the 26-minute drama received the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film
in 1998.
In addition to serving as the film's executive producer, he co-founded Cedar Grove Productions
, along with Tashima and producer Chris Donahue
. By producing professional dramatic films, intended as entertainment and for educational use, Cedar Grove Productions has brought forth Asian American
stories, history and issues either glossed over in textbooks or omitted by the mainstream media. Cedar Grove Productions "remains dedicated to developing and producing projects that boldly defy mainstream Hollywood by giving Asian Americans the spotlight on stage, and the close-up on screen."
Toyama partnered with Aaron Woolfolk
to write the play, Bronzeville, about Little Tokyo
during World War II
, when African Americans became the primary residents after Japanese Americans were relocated to internment camps. The play received its world premiere in April 2009, with the Robey Theatre Company
producing, in association with The LATC, in downtown Los Angeles. The play received a nomination for an Ovation Award
for Original Playwriting in October 2009.
Toyama's play, Independence Day, was also adapted to the screen by Cedar Grove Productions, as a half-our television special
for PBS. Inspired by his own father "Zip" Toyama's World War II experience in a U.S. internment camp for Japanese Americans
, Day of Independence
received a Regional Emmy Nomination in 2006, from the NATAS Northern California Chapter, in the category of Historical/Cultural - Program/Special. He co-wrote the screenplay, and again served as executive producer on the program, which in addition to its PBS broadcast, has been shown at over sixty international film and video festivals, and has garnered twenty-five awards.
Presently he is working on several new plays, including Memorial Day, about the 100th/442nd
, the segregated Japanese American fighting unit of World War II, and Yuri and Malcolm X, about the life of Nisei
civil rights
activist, Yuri Kochiyama
, and her friendship with Malcolm X
.
theatre. He has been honored with awards from various community organizations, including the "Japanese American of the Biennium," awarded by the National JACL
, a Community Award from the Japanese American Service Committee, of Chicago, Special Recognition from the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, of Los Angeles, a Visionary Award from East West Players, and a Humanitarian Award from The "1939" Club, a Holocaust Survivors' organization. Toyama received the Ruby Yoshino Schaar Playwright Award – presented by the New York/National JACL, in July 2008, for his play, Yuri and Malcolm X.
Sansei
Sansei is a Japanese language term used in countries in South America, North America and Australia to specify the children of children born to Japanese people in the new country. The Nisei are considered the second generation, grandchildren of the Japanese-born immigrants are called Sansei and...
(third-generation Japanese American
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
) presently living in Los Angeles, CA. He is co-founder of the Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
media company Cedar Grove Productions
Cedar Grove Productions
Cedar Grove Productions is an independent production company based in Los Angeles, CA., specializing in media and theatre arts representing the Asian Pacific American community...
, and its sister Asian American theatre
Asian American theatre
Asian American theater is theater written, directed or acted by Asian Americans.- Background :Asian American theater emerged in the 1960s and the 1970s with the foundation of four theatre companies: East West Players in Los Angeles, Asian American Theatre Workshop in San Francisco, Theatrical...
company, Cedar Grove OnStage
Cedar Grove OnStage
Cedar Grove OnStage is an Asian Pacific American theatre arts organization established in 2006, based in Los Angeles, co-founded by playwright Tim Toyama and actor/director Chris Tashima who serves as Artistic Director...
. He attended C.S.U.N.
California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge is a public university in Northridge, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California, United States....
as an English major.
Productions
His plays have been produced at The Complex, in Los Angeles, and The Road Theatre Company, at the Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood, CaliforniaNorth Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
North Hollywood is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, along the Tujunga Wash. It is bounded on the south by Moorpark Street and the Ventura Freeway, on the southwest by Burbank Blvd...
. Among them his best-known work is Visas and Virtue
Visas and Virtue
Visas and Virtue is a 1997 narrative short film inspired by the true story of Holocaust rescuer Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara, who is known as "The Japanese Schindler"...
, depicting Holocaust rescuer Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara
Chiune Sugihara
was a Japanese diplomat who served as Vice-Consul for the Japanese Empire in Lithuania. During World War II, he helped several thousand Jews leave the country by issuing transit visas to Jewish refugees so that they could travel to Japan. Most of the Jews who escaped were refugees from...
- known as "The Japanese Schindler
Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler was an ethnic German industrialist born in Moravia. He is credited with saving over 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories, which were located in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.He is the subject of the...
." Adapted into a short film by actor/director Chris Tashima
Chris Tashima
Chris Tashima is a Japanese American actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and Artistic Director of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. He is the son of U.S. Circuit Judge A. Wallace Tashima...
, the 26-minute drama received the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film
Academy Award for Live Action Short Film
This name for the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film was introduced in 1974. For the three preceding years it was known as "Short Subjects, Live Action Films." The term "Short Subjects, Live Action Subjects" was used from 1957 until 1970. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate...
in 1998.
In addition to serving as the film's executive producer, he co-founded Cedar Grove Productions
Cedar Grove Productions
Cedar Grove Productions is an independent production company based in Los Angeles, CA., specializing in media and theatre arts representing the Asian Pacific American community...
, along with Tashima and producer Chris Donahue
Chris Donahue
Chris Donahue is an American film and television producer. He was born in Dallas, Texas, attended Jesuit College Preparatory, and currently resides in Los Angeles. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America...
. By producing professional dramatic films, intended as entertainment and for educational use, Cedar Grove Productions has brought forth Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
stories, history and issues either glossed over in textbooks or omitted by the mainstream media. Cedar Grove Productions "remains dedicated to developing and producing projects that boldly defy mainstream Hollywood by giving Asian Americans the spotlight on stage, and the close-up on screen."
Toyama partnered with Aaron Woolfolk
Aaron Woolfolk
Aaron Woolfolk is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He shot his first feature film The Harimaya Bridge in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan and San Francisco...
to write the play, Bronzeville, about Little Tokyo
Little Tokyo
Little Tokyo may refer to:* Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California* Little Tokyo, Vancouver* Little Tokyo, U.S.A., a 1942 American film* Another term for a Japantown* Shigeri Akabane , Japanese professional wrestler...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when African Americans became the primary residents after Japanese Americans were relocated to internment camps. The play received its world premiere in April 2009, with the Robey Theatre Company
Robey Theatre Company
Robey Theatre Company is a Los Angeles-based non-profit theatre company.- History :Robey Theatre Company was founded in 1994 by Danny Glover and Ben Guillory. It takes its name from the pioneering Black actor and activist, Paul Robeson...
producing, in association with The LATC, in downtown Los Angeles. The play received a nomination for an Ovation Award
Ovation Awards
The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the Los Angeles Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. They have been called the "...highest-profile contest for local theatre..." by the Los...
for Original Playwriting in October 2009.
Toyama's play, Independence Day, was also adapted to the screen by Cedar Grove Productions, as a half-our television special
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
for PBS. Inspired by his own father "Zip" Toyama's World War II experience in a U.S. internment camp for Japanese Americans
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
, Day of Independence
Day of Independence
Day of Independence is a short film, broadcast as a half-hour PBS television special. It is a drama, set during the Japanese American internment of World War II, produced by Cedar Grove Productions with Visual Communications as fiscal sponsor....
received a Regional Emmy Nomination in 2006, from the NATAS Northern California Chapter, in the category of Historical/Cultural - Program/Special. He co-wrote the screenplay, and again served as executive producer on the program, which in addition to its PBS broadcast, has been shown at over sixty international film and video festivals, and has garnered twenty-five awards.
Presently he is working on several new plays, including Memorial Day, about the 100th/442nd
442nd Regimental Combat Team
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, was composed of Japanese-American enlisted men and mostly Caucasian officers. They fought primarily in Europe during World War II, beginning in 1944. The families of many of its soldiers were subject to internment...
, the segregated Japanese American fighting unit of World War II, and Yuri and Malcolm X, about the life of Nisei
Nisei
During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...
civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
activist, Yuri Kochiyama
Yuri Kochiyama
Yuri Kochiyama is a Japanese American human rights activist.Kochiyama was born Mary Yuriko Nakahara in San Pedro, California. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Kochiyama's father was imprisoned the same day...
, and her friendship with Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
.
Achievements
He has served on the Artistic Board at The Road Theatre Company as well as the Literary Committee at East West PlayersEast West Players
East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1965. As one of the nation's first Asian American theatre organizations, East West Players today continues to produce works and educational programs that give voice to the Asian Pacific American...
theatre. He has been honored with awards from various community organizations, including the "Japanese American of the Biennium," awarded by the National JACL
Japanese American Citizens League
The was formed in 1929 to protect the rights of Japanese Americans from the state and federal governments. It fought for civil rights for Japanese Americans, assisted those in internment camps during World War II, and led a successful campaign for redress for internment from the U.S...
, a Community Award from the Japanese American Service Committee, of Chicago, Special Recognition from the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, of Los Angeles, a Visionary Award from East West Players, and a Humanitarian Award from The "1939" Club, a Holocaust Survivors' organization. Toyama received the Ruby Yoshino Schaar Playwright Award – presented by the New York/National JACL, in July 2008, for his play, Yuri and Malcolm X.
Trivia
- He has made cameo appearanceCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s in several independent films including Day of IndependenceDay of IndependenceDay of Independence is a short film, broadcast as a half-hour PBS television special. It is a drama, set during the Japanese American internment of World War II, produced by Cedar Grove Productions with Visual Communications as fiscal sponsor....
, Stand Up for Justice, The First Battle, AmericaneseAmericaneseAmericanese is a 2006 American independent film acquired by IFC Films but not yet released. It is a romantic drama about the break-up of a couple, about love and memory, and how race plays into the lives of contemporary Asian Americans and Hapa/mixed-race Americans.- Background :The film was...
, American Zombie and Mamo's Weeds.
External links
- Interview with Toyama and Tashima by Lynda Lin, Pacific Citizen - 5/19/06
- Day of Independence PBS broadcast coverage in Honolulu Star-BulletinHonolulu Star-BulletinThe Honolulu Star-Bulletin was a daily newspaper based in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawaii...