09/05/2026
On Sat. 9/19 @ 2pm join for the live play: When Yuri Met Malcolm 📢
Told through the prism of her unlikely friendship with Malcolm X, this play explores the legacy of Yuri Kochiyama. We follow Yuri’s life from her “red, white, and blue” days in the Japanese American internment camps, to her rapid radicalization during the civil rights movement, to all her activism that followed through the decades. What does it mean to be a citizen of our flawed, flawed country? And how much can a single person do to change it?
Approximate Run Time: 38 minutes
Ages: 12-17 years old
Themes: Racism, Activism, Friendship
Historic Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II
Content: Conversations on police brutality, activism, racism, internment/concentration camps, JFK’s death, discussion of Malcolm X’s assassination, and abstract portrayal of his assassination. No gunshot sounds are used in the show.
Theatre for Youth is supported in part by Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, L.L. Foundation for Youth, Cathay Bank Foundation, Green Foundation, The Sun Family Foundation, The Tsao Family Foundation, The Walt Disney Company, and The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture. East West Players is a recipient of the 2026 THRIVE! Grant, funded by the Mark Edelman Theater Fund and administered by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for theatre leading for a just and thriving theatre ecology.
