‘Hapa Voices’ at JCCCNC

SF BATCO

SAN FRANCISCO — First Voice and J-town Task Force present J-Town Culture Bearers: Past, Present, Future, Infinity on Saturday, April 20, at 4 p.m. at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, 1840 Sutter St. in San Francisco Japantown.

The series concludes with “Hapa Voices,” featuring SF BATCO (San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company) with Hapa director Jamie Yuen-Shore and music by Othello Jefferson. Singers, dancers and musicians will perform excerpts from their sold-out Izzie-nominated musical “I, Too, Sing America,” which The Daily Californian described as “profoundly moving, awe-inspiring and thought provoking.”

Sponsors: J-town Task Force, J-town Foundation, GFTA, and William & Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Since 1976, Brenda Wong Aoki and Mark Izu have played a central role in the evolution of Asian American art. They founded First Voice in 1997, with a mission to create, present and contribute the stories and music of people living between worlds. Critical to this mission is “personal experience” or “voice” — essential to the authentic representation of the people of the United States. Aoki’s grandfather, Chojiro Peter Aoki, was one of the founders of Japantown in 1897.

The J-town Task Force’s mission is to preserve and develop Japantown, strengthen the ethnic diversity, and create an atmosphere of safety, beauty, vitality, and prosperity.

For tickets, go to www.firstvoice.org.