Featuring:
Akiko Aizawa* (Miho /  Celeb#2 / Company Member#2 / Kamiya-san)
Yuki Kawahisa* (Office Lady / Celeb#1 / Company Member#1 / Guriko)
Keizo Kaji (Friend / Celeb#3 / Company Member#3 / Gobo)
Aoi Lee (Mad Mad)
Kristine Haruna Lee* (Azusa)
Eddy Toru Ohno (Salaryman)
Dawn Akemi Saito* (Chiho / Go)

Creative Team: Jian Jung (Scenic Design), Alice Tavener (Costume Design), Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (Lighting & Video Design), Fan Zhang (Original Music & Sound Design), Jen Goma (Song Composition & Arrangement), Brian Bernhard (Assistant Scenic Design & Props Master), Jiaying Zhang & Honami Wakabayashi (Assistant Scenic Design), Raphael Regan (Assistant Costume Design), Christina Tang (Assistant Lighting Design & Master Electrician), Mariko Takizawa (Production Stage Manager), Kiyo Kamisawa (Assistant Director/Run Crew), Patrick Murphy (Production Manager), Jay Maury (Technical Director), Padra Crisafulli (Production Intern/Boss Ken**), Denise Shu Mei & John Del Gaudio (Co-Producers)

*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors’ Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production.
**The voice of Boss Ken courtesy of Yoshi Amao

BIOS:

Kristine Haruna Lee* (Writer/Azusa/Co-Producer) is a Brooklyn-based theater maker whose work navigates non-linear playwriting, auto-theoretical performance text, and promoting arts activism and emergent strategies for the theater through ethical and process-based collaborations. With her theater company harunalee, she has produced six original works in New York, including Memory Retrograde (The Public’s Under The Radar Festival), Sugar Shack (La MaMa Club) and War Lesbian (Dixon Place TONY LGBT Critic’s Pick). Lee is a recipient of the Map Fund Grant, Lotos Foundation Prize for Directing, and the New Dramatist Van Lier Fellowship. Her play Suicide Forest is published by 53rd State Press. She teaches playwriting and performance at NYU. harunalee.com

Aya Ogawa (Director/Co-Producer) is a Tokyo-born, Brooklyn-based playwright, director, and translator. She has written and directed many plays including A Girl of 16, oph3lia (HERE) and Ludic Proxy (The Play Company). Most recently she wrote, directed and performed in The Nosebleed at the Incoming! Series at the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival. She has translated numerous Japanese plays into English including over a dozen plays by Toshiki Okada; many have been published by Samuel French among others, and produced in the U.S. and U.K. She is a current resident playwright at New Dramatists, Artist-in-Residence at BAX, and a Usual Suspect at NYTW. ayaogawa.com

Akiko Aizawa* (Miho/Celeb#2/Company Member#2/Kamiya-san) Member of SITI company. Credits include; Bacchae (BAM), Steel Hammer (music by Julia Wolfe), A Rite (with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company), American Document (with Martha Graham Dance Company), the theater is a blank page (with Ann Hamilton), Trojan Women (Getty Villa), bobrauschenbergamerica (American Repertory Theatre), Radio Macbeth (Public Theater) and Culture of Desire (NYTW), all directed by Anne Bogart; Hanjo (Japan Society) directed by Leon Ingulsrud. Other credits: Sleep (directed by Rachel Dickstein); The Trojan Women, Three Sisters and Dionysus (as a member of SCOT, directed by Tadashi Suzuki). Akiko is originally from Akita, Japan.

Aoi Lee (Mad Mad) is a Butoh performer and Butoh-Fu Researcher. She draws her performance style from Japanese artist Yukio Waguri, having studied under him from 2014 to 2017 at both Keio University and University of Cambridge. She researched Butoh-Fu at Keio University in 2016. She is currently performing in Seattle, New York and Akita, in Japan.

Keizo Kaji (Friend/Celeb#3/Company Member#3/Gobo) is a Japanese-native actor, director, writer, translator and composer. His past credits as a performer include Cherry Orchard (at Chekhov's estate in Melikhovo, Russia), Island (created by David Brick), La Marea Yokohama (directed by Mariano Pensotti), and Schweik in the Second World War (directed by Manfred Karge). He also served as an assistant director/translator to Fabien Prioville for a contemporary dance production, The Soma Project.

Yuki Kawahisa* (Office Lady/Celeb#1/Company Member#1/Guriko) is a performing artist. The New York Times hailed her as “dynamite” (Andrew Ondrejcak’s FEAST, The Public Theatre), “simple and brutal as a knife to the throat.” (Temporary Distortion’s Americana Kamikaze, PS122; Creteil Maison des Arts, Paris; VIA Festival International, Maubeuge; Birsbane Powerhouse). Other credits include Aya Ogawa’s Ludic Proxy (The Play Company); Time’s Journey Through a Room (Dan Rothenberg/Toshiki Okada, The Play Company), Robert Wilson’s KOOL: Dancing in my Mind (Guggenheim Museum, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Akademie der Kunste Berlin); Wang Chong’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2.0 (Tokyo Metropolitan Theater); Ondrejcak’s Elijah Green (The KITCHEN).

Eddy Toru Ohno (Salaryman). The Bushwick Starr debut. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (BAM), Twelves Night (BBS), Heisei Nakamuraza’s Naniwa Kagami (Lincoln Center), Yoko Ono’s HIROSHIMA (TNC), NY Premiere Yuko Mishima’s Lady Aoi (TSS) and Fool For Love (TKO). Films/televisions: Iron Fist, Gotham, Pan Am,13, Pistol Whipped, Bashira (2020). Eddy wrote/directed/produced Tokyo Desert Staged reading (Gibney Dance) in 2017 because he was inspired by Suicide Forest staged reading.

Dawn Akemi Saito* (Chiho/Go). Multi-disciplinary works include: Suns Are Suns and Ha directed by Maria Mileaf; Knock on the Sky and A Face of Our Own with composer Myra Melford; Blood Cherries directed by Jonathan Rosenberg and Sabrina Peck. Other performances include: Kristine Haruna Lee’s Memory Retrograde; Life Is a Dream, conceived and directed by Charles Mee; John Jesurun’s Stopped Bridge of Dreams; Dan Hurlin’s Hiroshima Maiden; Fred Ho and Ruth Margraff’s She Wolf; Roman Paska’s Arden/Ardennes; Bill T. Jones' Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Ping Chong's Deshima and Elephant Memories. Currently Dawn is an Artist-in-Residence at Fordham Theatre Dept., Co-Director of the Theatre Devising Intensive at Bard College Berlin and guest teacher at Juilliard, Princeton and NTI.

Jian Jung (Scenic Design) is a New York based set designer for theater and opera. Jung's work has been in numerous downtown NYC theaters including Classic Stage Company, The Kitchen, Abrons Arts Center, Theater Row, and Soho Rep, as well as outside of NYC, in Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Korea, and Los Angeles. Her opera works have been in Lincoln Center Juilliard School, Long Beach Opera (CA), Huntington Theatre (Boston), among many venues. Jung received a 2015 Edith Lutyens & Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Award for Aya Ogawa’s play Ludic Proxy. Her design was exhibited in Prague Quadrennial, the world’s largest scenography exhibition. Jung received an MFA in Theater Design from NYU and an MFA in Environmental Design from Ewha Women’s University in Korea. www.jianjung.com

Alice Tavener (Costume Design). Selected credits include Eugene Onegin (Spoleto USA); Minor Character (Public Theater Under the Radar/New Saloon); This in the Color as Described by the Time (Door 10/New Georges); Skeleton Crew (Dorset Theater Festival); Music Man (Sharon Playhouse); My Name is Gideon (All for One); The Tens and Many Deaths of Nathan Stubblefield (Actor’s Theater of Louisville); I’m Bleeding All Over the Place (La MaMa); Iceman Act 1 (HERE/Target Margin); PIONEERS#goforth (JACK); Camp Kappawanna (Atlantic Theater); so go the ghosts of mexico, pt 1 (La Mama); You, My Mother (La MaMa’ Two Headed Calf). MFA in Theater Design from CalArts. @TavenerCostume

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (Lighting & Video Design). Recent: KPOP! (Henry Hewes Award, LIT Design Award, Lortel and Drama Desk noms), Gloria: A Life with Diane Paulus, Eve Ensler’s Fruit Trilogy, Relevance, Top Girls, and Informed Consent with Liesl Tommy, Aya Ogawa’s Ludic Proxy (Bel Geddes Design Award), Oneohtrix Point Never’s MYRIAD, Kamala Sankaram’s Thumbprint, Company XIV’s Rococo Rouge and Nutcracker Rouge (various Drama Desk noms), The Civilians’ Paris Commune and In the Footprint, Matthew Paul Olmos’ So Go the Ghosts of Mexico Part One (NYIT Best Lighting Design nomination), Elizabeth Swados and Cecilia Rubino’s From the Fire (2011 MTM: UK Musical Theatre Awards for Best New Production), Erik Ehn’s Soulographie: Our Genocides, and NPR’s WATER +/- with Kenny Leon. NEA/TCG Career Development Program recipient. www.jeanetteyew.com

Fan Zhang (Original Music & Sound Design). Off-Broadway: Behind the Sheet (Ensemble Studio Theatre), The Trail of the Catonsville Nine (Transport Group), Beautiful Day Without You (West End Theatre), Calling: A Dance with Faith (Ping Chong & La Mama), Scissoring (INTAR).  NYC: Tania In the Gateway Van (New Georges), The Mecca's Tale (The Sheen Center), The Ideal Obituary (The Tank), Interstate (Theatre Row). Regional: Seven Guitars at Yale Repertory Theatre (CT Critics Circle, Outstanding Sound Design), Redeem (Cincinnati Ballet), Pittsburgh City Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre. Member of Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association. Training: MFA, Sound Design, Yale School of Drama. fanzhangsound.com

Jen Goma (Song Composition & Arrangement) is a writer, performer and maker of music, videos and live shows. A self-propelled multi-media artist with "serious chops... (and) undeniable charm"-Pitchfork Music, whose debut album, Smiley Face, "shows how she can cause – and helm – a commotion while working with beats borrowed from R&B and pop."- Rolling Stone. Goma is a member of the bands A Sunny Day in Glasgow and Roman à Clef, as well as a co-creator, alongside Kristine Haruna Lee and Morgan Green, of plural (love). Haruna Lee and Goma recently completed the Soho Rep. Writer/Director Lab.

Brian Bernhard (Assistant Scenic Design & Props Master) is proud to be working with The Bushwick Starr for the first time. Previous scenic design credits include Macbeth, Cabaret, [title of show], and Urinetown, all at Stony Brook University. He is currently completing a BA in Theatre Arts and a BE in Mechanical Engineering. Find more of his work at brian-bernhard.com.

Raphael Regan (Assistant Costume Design) is proud to be part of the Suicide Forest team! He first met Alice working on The Lifespan of a Fact on Broadway followed by True West. He most recently designed Stella Adler’s production of Escape from Happiness. He is a graduate from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) where he studied Costume Design and Production. He is happy to be doing what he loves and grateful for every opportunity he’s been given.

Christina Tang (Assistant Lighting Design & Master Electrician) is a lighting designer based in NYC. Select recent credits: A Modest Proposal (Cherry Lane Studio), Juliet + Romeo (Pocket Universe), Hitler’s Tasters (New Light Theater Project), Madame Lynch (The Drunkard’s Wife). christinaftang.com

Mariko Takizawa (Production Stage Manager) is currently a resident stage manager at Japan Performing Arts, Inc. Off Broadway: A Comfort Women: A New Musical (Playwrights Horizons), Rakugo (Soho Playhouse). Her some other credits include: Ages of Enchantment:JPA cultural Repertoires 2017 (Symphony Space), The Arsonists (Tribeca Performing Arts Center), RASHOMON (Japan Performing Arts, Inc.), SONG (HERE Arts Center), Science Fair: an Opera with Experiments (HERE Arts Center), The Fairy Tale Project (Tribeca Performing Arts Center). Education: AS degree in Theatre, BMCC.

Kiyo Kamisawa (Assistant Director/Run Crew), originally from Tokyo, has recently graduated from SUNY Purchase College with a Theater and Performance degree specializing in directing and playwriting. She has been involved in the past reiterations of Suicide Forest including workshop productions and a reading. Her past credits include: Favonia’s Fruitless Fable (dramaturg/assistant director) directed by Kristine Haruna Lee at CUNY Graduate School, The Nosebleed (assistant stage manager) directed by Aya Ogawa at The Public Theater, Yuya for NYWinterfest Theater Festival (playwright/director) at Hudson Guild Theater. Contact: kiyo0725kblw@gmail.com

Patrick Murphy (Production Manager)

Jay Maury (Technical Director) is a sound, lighting, video, and scenery designer & TD working out of Brooklyn. He is a designer and Technical Director at the Bushwick Starr. Recent design credits include Superhero Clubhouse’s Jupiter (Solar Lighting Design) and Pluto, Saratoga Opera (Sound Design, Lighting Design), BAWeaselOAPOYOB (Lighting Design) at Jack, Yackez (Video Design), and BWS annual puppet festival (Lights & Media).

Padra Crisafulli (Production Intern) cannot express how deeply grateful they are to have been welcomed into the Suicide Forest family. But it's really deep. Padra is currently pursuing their BFA in Directing at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama.

Denise Shu Mei (Co-Producer) is a mover, arts and cultural worker, and project manager. shumeidenise.com

John Del Gaudio (Co-Producer) works at The Bushwick Starr and has worked with an amazing roster of artists independently (William Burke, Carolyn Mraz, Kate Benson, Lee Sunday Evans, Kristine Haruna Lee, Aya Ogawa, Clare Barron, Jessica Almasy, Daaimah Mubashshir, Sarah Cameron Sunde, Julia Jarcho, Sherrine Azab, Jake Hooker). Proud company member of Target Margin Theater (Brooklyn) and A Host of People (Detroit).

SPECIAL THANKS:

Ars Nova and Jason Eagan, Emily Shooltz, and Eric Shethar; BAX / Brooklyn Arts Exchange and Marya Warshaw; Esther Bermann; Andrew Butler; Atsuro Hirota; Japan Society, Yoko Shioya and Amanda Waddell; JP Kim; Matt Romein; La MaMa, Mia Yoo and Kiku Sakai; Materials for the Arts; NYU Gallatin School and Julia Jarcho; PRELUDE / CUNY, Andrew Kircher and Frank Hentschker

And to the many incredible actors who lent their voices to this process: Ako, Yoshi Amao, Saori Goda, Kana Hatakeyama, Tatsuo Ichikawa, Dai Ishiguro, Kiyoko Kashiwagi, Sonoko Kawahara, Tsukasa Kondo, Jiro Nagahara, Diana Oh, Masaya Okubo, Kuniko Shoji, Yasu Suzuki, Jonathan Tanigaki, and James Yaegashi.

DONORS:

Suicide Forest is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and The MAP Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Suicide Forest is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

We couldn’t have done this without our Kickstarter donors: Anonymous, Benjamin Abraham, AceArtemis7, Jessica Almasy, Froso Apostolide, Stephen Arnoczy, Sasha Arutyunova, Chelsea Barker, Clare Barron, Andrew Bartels, Randi Berry, Alfred Bie, Lisa Bierman, Alexander Borinsky, Teri-Ann Carryl, Shane Chapman, Irwin Chen, Perry Chen, Lisa Cheong, Lisa Clair, Ellie Covan, Milo Cramer, The Creative Fund, Alexis Danzig, Corrie Davidson, Cristine Davis, MaryBeth DelGaudio, Corinne Donly, Ann Marie Dorr, Ryan Edwards, Elinor, Elizabeth, Eric Farber, Jordan Fein, Brittany Fowler, Kate Freer, Lani Fu, Sandra Garner (Lingua Franca Arts), John K. Gillespie, Peter Gil-Sheridan, Dan Gitlin, Jill Goma, Ben Gullard, Trish Harnetiaux, Katie Hathaway, David Herskovits, Patton Hindle, Alex Hubbell, Chris Ignacio, Lucy Jackson, Jill & Bob Jaffe, Julia Jarcho, Rachel Karpf, Li Kennedy, Kedian Keohan, John-Paul Kim, Courtney Knight, John Kurzynowski, Gregory Laffey, Alexandra Lalonde, Erika Lee, Peter Lettre, Viveca Licata, Mari Maeda, Elizabeth Mak, Clare Marie, Eric Marlin, Jessica Massart, Valerie McCann, Madeline McCray, Bobby McElver, Michael and Liz,, Hannah Mitchell, Mio Nakamura, Caitlin O'Connell, Toru Ohno, Wolf Owczarek, Meropi Peponides,  Michéle Piesche, Mei Mei Pollitt, Jessica Reed, Sasha Richardson, Jon Riddleberger, Risa Shoup, Matt Romein, Raine Rönnholm, Mayadevi Ross, Ed Rutter, Paul Ryan, Eugene M. Santiago, Cara Scarmack, Clay Schudel, Jaclyn Backhaus Scoville, Jen Xi Seow, Daniel Sharp, Zarina Shea, Yoko Shioya, Jay Stull, Lauren Swan-Potras, Cherry Lou Sy, Ryan Szelong, Jaynie Saunders Tiller, Niko Tsocanos, Saori Tsukada, Johnnie Utah, Dax Valdes, Amanda Waddell, Marisa Wallin, T.J. Wiley, Phoebe Wong, Guy Yedwab, Greg Young, Noriko Yoshida-Dubins, Andre Zadrazil, Eric Zimmerman, Leah Zoller

ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION
(“Equity”), founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 50,000 actors and stage managers. Equity seeks to foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actors’ Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. #EquityWorks