SDSU Theatre presents Miku, and the Gods

Epic and small origin story adventure is part of the Arts Alive SDSU Discovery Series

by Aleesia Benkey

October 15, 2021

Miku, and the Gods, opening Friday, Oct. 29 on the Don Powell Stage, tells a story of friendship, death, and power. Written by Julia Izumi and directed by Peter Cirino, the show runs through Sunday, Nov. 5.

Miku wants to be a god. Ephraim wants to be an Olympian. Grandma wants to remember. And Shara wants people to just include him in the conversation. But what do the gods want? What do beings who have everything in the world want? Miku and the Gods is an epic and small adventure that braids friendship, death, and power beyond what one could ever desire.

Set designer Mckenna Perry has a unique, creative perspective on the show. “Something so fascinating and exciting about Miku is the way in which the playwright has built a world without building a world. There are very tangible and relatable, everyday experiences that the characters encounter throughout the show (loss, pain, love, family, tradition, impatience, growing up), but there are also broad swaths of action and dialogue that are incredibly metaphorical, symbolic, and open-ended,” Perry said. “It’s been such an exhilarating challenge to illustrate and interpret the different ways to tell this story,” she said.

According to Director Peter Cirino, this cast is very special. “Eleven of the fifteen actors cast in this performance are first time actors to our SDSU stages. They have been in numerous productions in other outlets, but this will be their first SDSU production,” he said.

Miku, and the Gods will be performed live through Sunday, Nov. 5. Tickets are $17 and $20 and are available on the School of Theatre, Television, and Film website. Covid theater protocols will be in place.

Arts Alive Discovery Series Panel Conversation

Miku, and the Gods will be accompanied by an Arts Alive Discovery Series Interdisciplinary Panel Event held on zoom Tuesday, Oct. 26 from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The webinar will explore the themes of Miku, and the Gods; friendship, power, and death and how these themes relate to the representation of Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) representation. Register for the Zoom webinar here.

About Playwright Julia Izumi

Julia Izumi (she/her/hers) is a writer, performer, and educator who makes plays, musicals, theatrical nonsense, and everything in between. Her plays include miku, and the gods (O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist, Kilroys List Honorable Mention, KCACTF’s Darrell Ayers Award and Paul Stephen Lim Award Runner-Up), Meet Murasaki Shikibu Followed by Book-Signing, and Other Things (CAATA National Asian-American ConFest, FringeNYC, Great Plains Theatre Conference Playlab), and Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea (Brown University Mainstage), among others.

The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.

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