Explore the history of the YWCA building—home to Nihonmachi Little Friends Preschool—in this sweeping story that stretches from 1800s Japan to the present day. Activists and community leaders from Yonako Tsuda Abiko to Bayard Rustin to Cathy Inamasu have a connection to this historic building. Read the script for a preview of the story.
This multimedia peformance will feature the artistry of Melody Takata and a cast of well-established musicians, dancers, and poets.
Performances in 2026 are scheduled for October 24-25. Ticket information coming Fall 2026.
CAST:
GenTaiko GenRyu Arts started as a taiko school for kids. After 30 years, GenTaiko has raised a generation of taiko performers. GenTaiko students were preschoolers at Nihonmachi Little Friends in the 1990s and they participated in protests to resist the sale of the YWCA building. Thanks to their activism, future generations of children continue to learn and grow in the historic Japantown building.
Hien Huynh has performed in and created works in the bay area for the last 9 years. Hien’s movement and artistic practices stem from the spirit of improvisation. He is honored to have performed in the works of Lenora Lee Dance, Kim Epifano, Robert Moses’ Kin, Kinetech Arts and among others to continue sharing, exchanging, and empowering through the arts to ignite dialogue and change.
Lewis Jordan is a San Francisco Bay Area-based saxophonist, poet, educator; improviser and composer. Originator and curator of the Music at Large performance series. As a performer, Lewis has been engaged in approaching the whole stage, engaging audiences as fully as possible. And, as a result, Lewis has brought a theatrical perspective to his work. In collaboration Lewis continues to work with artists in a range of disciplines—theater, visual, dance and poetics.
Genny Lim is the 9th San Francisco Poet Laureate, a recipient of two lifetime achievement awards from PEN Oakland and City of Berkeley and a former San Francisco Jazz Poet Laureate. She has collaborated with Gen Taiko for over 20 years and worked with past Jazz legend, Max Roach and local musicians, Jon Jang, Francis Wong, John Santos, Destiny Muhammad, Marcus Shelby and Del Sol Quartet.
Melody Takata, as an Asian American female deeply rooted in the arts, serving San Francisco for over 29 years, she is well attuned with the historically underserved community of Japanese Americans. The programs and services offered at GenRyu Arts reflect Takata’s dedication to bridging intergenerational Japanese American communities while introducing Japanese arts and culture to the wider SF audiences.
Suz Takeda (Writer/Performing Artist) has been involved in the Bay Area theater scene since 1991. SUZ has performed as a solo performer, an actress with Asian American Theater Company, and as her live cabaret act “Ginger Hashimoto” –a Las Vegas lounge diva singer via Tokyo, Japan. SUZ is a recipient of Asian American Arts Foundation –AT&T Theater Grant, The City of Oakland Cultural Arts for Individual Artists, and a CASH Grant from Theatre Bay Area in partnership with Dancer’s Group.
Francis Wong is a longtime musician, community worker, and educator. He has received local and national recognition for his work and has toured extensively. He is lecture faculty in Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University.
