Did Yoko Ono really break up The Beatles? Was Gloria Abe Chapman somehow responsible for John Lennon’s murder? Why do all these egotistical white guys marry Asian women? That’s weird, right? These are the questions that keep Ruby Okamoto up at night. She needs answers, and she’s gonna find them—even if it means summoning Yoko, Gloria, and the rest of Asian America into her insomniatic fever dream.

In Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria, five Asian American women are pulled into Ruby’s fantastical dreamscape, where subconscious thoughts manifest as real-life rockstars and movie monsters. They journey, dream, and address the hard-to-define-but-definitely-there connection between Asians in America.

‍Development History

• Feb 2025 — awarded a NAMT Grant via the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals
• Jan-Feb 2025 — artist residency at the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Grove in East Haddam, CT

• November 2024 — workshop at Theatre Latté Da in Minneapolis, MN
• August 2024 — awarded a MAP Fund Artist Grant
• July 2024 — artist residency at the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat in Pine Plains, NY
• March 2024 — performance at the Maestra Amplify concert at Sony Hall in New York, NY
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• December 2023 — awarded the Vivace Award by the Bret Adams & Paul Reisch Foundation
• October 2023 — industry presentation at the NAMT Festival of New Musicals in New York, NY
• September 2023 — workshop at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, WA
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• July 2023 — workshop at the O'Neill National Music Theater Conference in Waterford, CT
• July 2023 — artist residency at the Orchard Project Performance Lab in Saratoga Springs, NY
• June 2023 — 29-hour reading at the National Opera Center in New York, NY, sponsored by the 5th Avenue Theatre, the Civilians' R&D Group, and NAMT via the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals
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• November 2022 — 29-hour reading at Playwright's Horizons in New York, NY, sponsored by the 5th Avenue Theatre
• October 2022 — joined the Civilians' R&D Group‍
• June 2022 — table reading at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, WA
• May 2021 — commissioned by the 5th Avenue Theatre
  

Script & demos available on request.

A few memories from our November 2022 reading below. Images by Eric Fernandez.

Cast: Ashley Chiu, Brooke Ishibashi, Emy Coligado, Lydia Gaston,
Minji Kim, Rheanna Atendido, U.J. Mangune.

Director: Sara Porkalob, Music Director: Steven Tran, Guitarist: Tonie Nguyen,
Stage Manager: Malie Fujii, Production Assistant: Non Kuramoto,
Associate Director of New Works: Neen Williams-Teramachi.

More photos and info here.