Tea at Inner-City Arts - Rosenthal Theater

On Stage Los Angeles - Highly Recommended

"...I highly recommend this production but with the caveat that 'getting' the names of the actors and the characters has been a challenge for me. The story evolves much like a dance with time slipping here and there back and forth with the help of Carlo Maghirang's simple 3/4 set. Azra King-Abadi's lights combine smoothly and effectively. The careful pace of the production reminded me a bit of the Tea Ceremony: The precise & thoughtful way traditional Japanese customs are presented. I might have added wood block in the tradition of Kabuki as a nod, but this is a modern play with modern intentions."

Gia on the Move - Recommended

"...Rebecca Wear directs Hasu’s deeply soulful tale of five Japanese women and the unfulfilling realities of prejudice, loneliness, and isolation of their post-World War II Kansas lives. Like Himiko’s spirit which is now walking restlessly between the living and the afterlife, they themselves are walking in the gray space, silent, unrecognized, and wondering what and who they have become."

Stage Raw - Somewhat Recommended

"...Tea, an intensely personal work that the playwright has called "a poem to my mother," has the makings of a powerful theatrical experience. (It certainly was for me when I saw it in 1991.) While its characters evolve from a specific time, place and culture, its message about the struggle of women for personal autonomy within marriage remains relevant and true, and a story about women who fail to secure that freedom is still a heartbreaking one."

Theatre Notes - Recommended

"...As the four women pack up and tidy the place revealing themselves and their personalities, the dead Himiko is reminiscent of a Shakespearean Chorus commenting on the action. Tea is filled with touching moments throughout that culminate with the ritual of the tea which makes a satisfying denoument that was touching enough to moisten my eyes. Himiko exits the way she came in, coming out of the three-sided set and regally ascending the stairs as the the lights slowly faded."