TEN THOUSAND YEARS
PLAY
AEA 99 Seat Plan El Portal Forum Theatre

Producers: John Ridley, Jennifer Aquino, Kipp Shiotani
Director: Alberto Isaac
Assistant Director: Kipp Shiotani
Writer: John Ridley
Casting Director: Caroline Liem
Auditions: week of 12/6/04
Rehearsal Begins: week of 1/9/05 in Los Angeles
Production Dates: 2/5 ˆ 2/27/05
Location: El Portal Forum Theatre in North Hollywood

WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS TO:
CAROLINE LIEM CASTING
4804 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Suite 367
Valley Village, CA 91607
tenkcasting@sbcglobal.net

Casting for Asian-American principals and understudies. Actors will be paid $150/week for three weeks of rehearsal, tech week, & four weeks of the run. Understudies will be guaranteed a performance, and will be paid $75/week for three weeks of rehearsal, tech week & four weeks of the run.

This is an ensemble piece that requires strong Asian-American actors for all roles, preferably Japanese-American. No Asian accents. All the young fliers are or should feel as if they are in their early 20s.

• [SATO] 20-35 to play 20s. Asian-American male. Quiet, stoic, but should have some charm. A man of honor, but his honor gives him a bit of arrogance.
• [KAGE] 20-35 to play 20s. Asian-American male. Warrior, but not hardened. The reasons for war are obvious to him, and he should be able to intelligently articulate them.
• [TANAKA] 20-35 to play 20s. Asian-American male. A bit of a playboy, has a quick wit. But his wit hides his edge.
• [MINAME] 18-30 to play early 20s. Asian-American male. Thoughtful, but a little too much so. A little distant, tends to over-intellectualize, but not with a cold intellect. Just not particularly warm.
• [HANAI] 18-30 to play early 20s. Asian-American male. The "baby" of the bunch. He wants to be a warrior badly. But wanting to be one, and being one are two different things.
• [YOSHIDA] 20-35 to play 20s. Asian-American male. He's hardly older than "the boys," but is in command of them. He seems like a ninety-day wonder, but has a greater understanding of war than his age would seem to allow.
• [IGAWA] 40s. Asian-American male. At least twice as old as "the boys." He is an NCO, has worked his way up the ranks. He is more of a father figure to the young men than a commander.
• [INN KEEPER] late 40s-60s. Asian-American male. A father. Not old, but worn from the years of war, the loss of
  his wife and boys.
• [CHIYOKO] 18-30 to play 20. Asian-American female. A very young girl, barely twenty years of age. if even. To say she is plain is a compliment. To say she is rather homely is honest. To say there is more to her than meets the eye is perceptive.

SUMMARY: Ten Thousand Years follows a group of young pilots that voluntarily train to fly specially designed airplane bombs on suicide missions for the Japanese government near the closing of World War II. As their training progresses, and defeat becomes more imminent, the physical and psychological toll begins to make them question their reasons, their honor, and their hearts.

John Ridley is the author of six published novels, the most recent, Those Who Walk in Darkness from Warner Books and The Drift From Knopf. His first novel, Stray Dogs, was made into the feature film U-TURN directed by Oliver Stone and starring Sean Penn and Jennifer Lopez. Additionally, Ridley wrote the screenplays for the films UNDERCOVER BROTHER, COLD AROUND THE HEART, and THREE KINGS. He was executive producer, writer, and director for the UPN television series Platinum. Currently, he is a producer of the NBC television series "Third Watch".

Alberto Isaac directed such East West Players productions as Yankee Dawg You Die, Woman From The Other Side Of The World, The Maids, Hughie, Performance Anxiety and Yellow Fever. Isaac also directed Claim to Faim (Lodestone Theatre Ensemble), Insomnia (Strasberg Institute), Ghosts And Baggage (Los Angeles Theatre Center), Performance Anxiety (East LA Actors Company), and Chickencoop Chinaman (Asian American Theatre Company), winning three DramaLogue awards and a L.A. Drama Critics Circle award for outstanding direction