Showing results by narrator "Kurt Kanazawa" in All Categories

When a new kid comes to stay with his grandmother at the house next door, Shermy’s plans for a quiet, relaxing summer are completely upended. That’s because Shake is nothing like Shermy. And Shermy is nothing like Shake. Shermy likes to read quietly in the shade of a tree. He knows the proper way to do a puzzle. He collects treasures in the pouch he wears around his neck, and the books on his shelves are alphabetized by author. Shake likes to play street hockey or space explorers. He gobbles up rocket ice pops and Toaster Tarts.

Growing up, Wat Misaka wasn’t the tallest kid on the basketball court, but he was fast and he loved the game! In his Japanese American basketball league, Wat dribbled with speed and shared the ball as much as he scored. Encouraged by his father to always do his best, Wat applied this mindset to every challenge in his life. As Wat spent more time on the court, his passion for the game grew. He played in college at the University of Utah during WWII, a time when many Japanese Americans were stripped of their freedoms and incarcerated by the US government.

It’s been years since the fragmented Mayweather clan was all in one place, but the engagement of Addison and Mason’s mom to the dad of their future stepbrother, Theo, brings the whole family to sunny Cancún, Mexico, for winter break. Add cousin Natalia to the mix, and it doesn’t take long for tempers to fray and tensions to rise. A week of forced family “fun” reveals that everyone has something to hide, and as secrets bubble to the surface, no one is safe from the fallout.

In an alternate version of 1893 America, The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father. And in 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist's damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him - and solve the mystery of her husband's disappearances.

Before Guglielmo Marconi came along, there was no practical way to transmit telegraphic messages without wires. But when he harnessed the power of radio waves to send signals over long distances, what had once seemed impossible became a world-changing reality. In this original L.A. Theatre Works commission, we’ll get a firsthand, intimate view of the precocious Italian inventor, and what he had to overcome in his quest to revolutionize the way we communicate.

Garrett Song is this close to taking the reins of his family’s LA fashion empire...until the Song matriarch insists he marries her handpicked bride first. To block her matchmaking, he recruits Natalie Sobol to pose as his wife. She needs a fake spouse as badly as he does. But when passion burns down their chaste agreement, the flames could destroy them all....

Leif lives above his parents’ café, and his green thumb has turned his bedroom into a jungle. Begonias, ferns, ivy, peperomias—his plants twist and twine around the furniture and creep and crawl across the walls. Leif’s parents worry he’s gone overboard, but Leif knows he can never have too many houseplants. But then important things begin to go missing in the overgrowth, and Leif must find a way to make his plants a little less—and maybe share a little more.

Vinh Pham is a world-class physical therapist who has worked with a broad range of clients. Early in his career, he discovered a disappointing truth: most of his patients came to him already in pain. They had lifestyle habits that misaligned their joints and tightened their muscles. And the recent epidemic of prolonged sitting—which represents an all-day assault on the body—has only made things worse. A precise and simple toolkit for tweaking the way we move (or refuse to move), Sit Up Straight outlines a process that starts with a daily posture regimen.

It’s been twelve long years since Detective Kawika Wong was tasked with solving the brutal murder of the infamous real-estate developer Ralph Fortunato—a case that led to more bodies than answers and a slew of complicated and ancient secrets, a case that made his career. Now, the once-rookie detective is next in line to be Honolulu’s next Chief of Police. But all is not well on Oahu or the Big Island. For weeks, Kawika and his team have failed to catch an elusive serial killer known as the “Slasher.” He strikes quickly and efficiently, and he doesn’t make mistakes.

Tokyo, 1938. An amateur quartet, led by the compassionate Yu, gathers to practice. Suddenly, their rehearsal is brutally interrupted by military police. In the ensuing skirmish, Yu’s violin is smashed while his son, Rei, witnesses his father’s arrest. He will never see him again. Salvaging his father’s instrument, Rei escapes thanks to a mysterious lieutenant. Paris, 2003. Raised in France, Rei–now Jacques–has dedicated his life to the broken violin’s repair: studying music, becoming an apprentice, and, eventually, a luthier.

80-something Dan Yamada has been rendered speechless after a stroke, and as he lies in bed, he vividly recalls his life, from his days in the World War 2-era internment camps, to serving in the US Army, to his one true love. At his bedside in the present, his adult children fight over his care and legacy, all while Dan tries to communicate his poignant final wish.

Two men, unified by a string of disappearances and deaths, search for answers—and salvation—in the jungles of Kaua‘i. Together, they must navigate the overlapping and complicated lines between a close-knit community and the hated, but economically-necessary corporate farms—and the decades old secrets that bind them.

Tony Hsieh's first successful venture was in middle school, selling personalized buttons. At Harvard, he made a profit compiling and selling study guides. In 1998, Hsieh sold his first company to Microsoft for $265 million. About a decade later, he sold online shoe empire Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion. The secret to his success? Making his employees happy. At its peak, Zappos's employee-friendly culture was so famous across the tech industry that it became one of the hardest companies to get hired at, and CEOs from other companies regularly toured the headquarters.

Aspiring fashion designer Adelaide Song wants to prove she’s more than just a pampered heiress. All she needs is a little courage - and the help of deliciously sexy Michael Reynolds, her childhood crush and her brother’s best friend. But when her secret crush turns into an illicit liaison, Adelaide realizes mixing business with pleasure spells trouble for all her plans....

In a world gone wrong, heroes and villains are not always easy to distinguish and every individual has the ability to contribute something powerful. In this stunning collection of original and rediscovered stories of tragedy and hope, the stars are a diverse group of students, street kids, good girls, kidnappers, and child laborers pitted against their environments, their governments, differing cultures, and sometimes one another as they seek answers in their dystopian worlds.

This modern comic take on the American Revolution puts the spotlight on the relationship between the brilliant and domineering Ben Franklin and his son William. As Ben plants the seeds of a new republic, King George III appoints William as Royal Governor of New Jersey—a change in affairs that creates a revolutionary family rift.

Jihae Park’s icy heiress facade is quickly melting - all because of Colin Song. A fling with the sexy film producer could jeopardize her one shot at achieving her own success, as well as the movie they’re making together. But resistance to her searing attraction, and to Colin’s breathtaking bedroom skills, proves futile - even as Colin’s ulterior motives threaten to destroy their chance at a picture-perfect ending....

Secretly, a man welds steel to a bulldozer. Later, another watches a ghost walk along his dry-walled hallways. A woman raises her teenage son in a homeless encampment where the boy has to fight to survive with the help of a strange, lonely cop. In Mililani Mauka, the lives of two families, the Motts and the Krills, come together as they try to keep afloat in a changing Honolulu, a city with growing suburbs and homeless camps.

Kohei Fujiwara has never seen a big ryū in real life. Those dragons all disappeared from Japan after World War II, and 20 years later, they've become the stuff of legend. Their smaller cousins, who can fit in your palm, are all that remain. And Kohei loves his ryū, Yuharu, but...Kohei has a memory of the big ryū. He knows that's impossible, but still, it's there, in his mind. In it, he can see his grandpa—Ojiisan—gazing up at the big ryū with what looks to Kohei like total and absolute wonder.

When a mysterious customer tells Adam great things await him in the attic of his uncle’s bakery, he brushes off the exchange. It’s 1999 in New York City—and Adam has already met his fair share of oddballs and eccentrics. But days later, in the attic, Adam makes a discovery that quickly sets him off on a whirlwind adventure. And Adam soon suspects he may not be the only one aware of his extraordinary secret when a tall man with long eyebrows and a thin mustache appears to be following his every move. …