Reading of ‘God Said This’ at JANM

A reading of “God Said This,” a new play by Leah Nanako Winkler, will be held on Tuesday, June 25, at 7:30 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum’s Tateuchi Democracy Forum, First and Central in Little Tokyo.

Leah Nanako Winkler

Developed during the award-winning playwright’s tenure as part of the Primary Stages Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, “God Said This,” winner of the Yale Drama Series Prize, is a provocative and surprisingly funny new drama about five Kentuckians facing mortality in very different ways.

With her mom undergoing chemotherapy, Hiro, a NYC transplant, returns home to Kentucky after years away, struggling to let go of the demons she inherited. Sophie, her born-again Christian sister, confronts her faith while tackling inevitable adversity. James, their recovering alcoholic father, wants to repair his fractured relationship with his daughters. And John, an old classmate and thirty-something single dad, worries about leaving a lasting legacy for his only son.

Wry and bittersweet, “God Said This” is a portrait of five godless and God-loving people finding that their struggles bring them together in unexpected ways. Vividly capturing the complexities of a familial reconciliation in the throes of a crisis, this play also looks deeply at the meaning of family — Japanese, Southern, and otherwise.

Winkler is from Kamakura, Japan and Lexington, Ky. Her plays include “Kentucky” (West Coast premiere at East West Players); “Two Mile Hollow” (simultaneous world premieres with Artists at Play in L.A., Mixed Blood/Theater Mu in Minneapolis, First Floor Theater in Chicago, and Ferocious Lotus in San Francisco), “Death for Sydney Black,” “Diversity Awareness Picnic,” and the upcoming “Hot Asian Doctor Husband.”

Directed by Deena Selenow. Presented by East West Players in partnership with JANM. Free but RSVPs recommended. Tickets: https://eastwestplayers.secure.force.com