Dear Yoko at Whitefire Theatre

Based on Lawson's own life, DEAR YOKO unveils the personal history of multi-generational racism and non-acceptance as a young Asian girl growing up in white-washed America and patriarchal Japan. This emotionally-charged intimate story reveals how the iconic Japanese-American artist, singer and peace activist, Yoko Ono, lead Lawson to discover how to finally live her life authentically. In a child custody battle, Anzu was kidnapped by her tiger mom at 15 years old to Japan. Soon thereafter, Anzu worked from being a teen model to garnering her first #1 hit on the Japanese Billboard Charts as a J-POP singer-songwriter. After a dark family secret was revealed, Anzu fled to America, alone and soon discovers her fame in Japan does not follow her here. She pursues acting and lands a leading role opposite Viggo Mortensen in the film American Yakuza. But this was a time when Asian-American roles for Asian-American actresses, were few and far between, so she sustains herself with a succession of jobs: waitress gigs, then as a personal assistant to martial arts film star Steven Seagal. She exits after he attempts to take liberties with her. She inadvertently becomes a masseuse to the stars, literally rubbing the shoulders of Hollywood's biggest and brightest. And then, upon appearing in a television episode with Brad Garrett, he inspires her to try her hand at stand-up comedy.