photo by Sasha Arutyunova

suicide forest

Suicide Forest is a bilingual nightmare play excavating the Japanese-American consciousness and its looming relationship with sex, suicide, and identity. In 1990’s Japan, a teenage girl grapples with her sexuality in a nightmarish, male-defined society as a salaryman desperately tries to escape his masochistic psyche. Both are clawing for their self-worth. When their two journeys collide, they expose their darkest desires fueled by shame as they now confront life and death with the notorious Suicide Forest looming over their imagination. Performed by a Japanese heritage cast, Suicide Forest breaks through the silence and submissiveness often associated with Japanese and Japanese American identity, examining the role of community and the inner struggles of emotional, psychic and social suicide through the playwright’s lived stories and inner landscape. 

publication

Copies available at 53rd State Press

illustration by JP Kim

production history

Ma-Yi Theater Company presents The Bushwick Starr Production
February 25 - Mar 15, 2020 at A.R.T/NY
Tickets On Sale Now (Use code “FRIENDS” for $35 tickets now thru Jan 31)

World Premiere: The Bushwick Starr in association with Ma-Yi Theater Company February 2019

SUICIDE FOREST by Haruna Lee
Directed by Aya Ogawa
Produced by Denise Shu-Mei & John Del Gaudio
Scenic Design by Jian Jung
Lighting and Video Design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew
Sound Design by Fan Zhang
Music Composition by Jen Goma
Costume design by Alice Tavener

Featuring Akiko Aizawa, Keizo Kaji, Yuki Kawahisa, Toru Eddy Ohno, Aoi Lee, Dawn Akemi Saito, and Haruna Lee.

Prelude 2018 Festival Studio Visit, October 5, 2018.
NYU Gallatin & Dramatic Literature Reading, September 24, 2018.
Ars Nova Maker's Lab Residency Reading, May 4, 2017.
Bushwick Starr Reading Series, October 18, 2016.

ancillary series

Accompanying the 2020 Off-Broadway remount of Suicide Forest is the return of the ancillary series of relationship-based conversations and happenings centering folks who identify as part of the Asian American and Pacific Islander diaspora. Written by Haruna Lee and directed by Aya Ogawa, Suicide Forest is a bilingual nightmare play excavating the Japanese-American consciousness and the relationship between sex, suicide, and identity.

2020 Community Events

  • Jan 26, 2020, 1pm-4pm: The 4th Asian/Pacific Islander WTFNB (Women/Trans/Femme/NonBinary) Performance-makers Potluck in community partnership with Ma-Yi Theater Company, discussing Asian Leadership.

  • Mar 5, 2020: Post-Show Conversation with Suicide Forest designers Jian Jung, Alice Taverner and director Aya Ogawa, moderated by Nia Witherspoon.

  • Mar 14, 2020: **CANCELED DUE TO COVID** A Conversation about Asian Sexual Liberation lead by Yin Q & others. Asian Community Night-- discounted tickets for Asian/Pacific Islander identifying audience members (please contact us for codes!)

  • Mar 15, 2020: **CANCELED DUE TO COVID** Post-Show Learning & Action Space for Non-Asian audience members focusing on the following thoughts: “The centering of whiteness and the white experience has always been a measure for relevance-- how do we destabilize this notion? How do we, as audience, thoughtfully engage with work that doesn’t center our experience or perspective? How do we decenter white dominant narrative in our own lens?" Facilitated by Eli Nixon & others.

  • Mar 17, 2020: **CANCELED DUE TO COVID** Post-Show Conversation with creators Haruna Lee & Aya Ogawa, moderated by Mei Ann Teo.

2018/2019 Play-Related Events

  • Sept 24, 2018, 6:30pm: A reading of SUICIDE FOREST co-sponsored with NYU English Department's Program in Dramatic Literature and NYU Gallatin. Free and open to the public. Info here

  • Oct 5, 2018, 6:30pm: SUICIDE FOREST Studio Visit in the Prelude 2018 Festival at Elebash Hall, CUNY Grad Center.

  • Jan 23, 2019, 7:30pm: “Suicide Culture and its Influences on Artists” lecture at Japan Society

2018/2019 Community Conversations

  • Sept 30, 2018: The Asian WTFNB (Women/Trans/Femme/NonBinary) Performance-makers Potluck in community partnership with La MaMa

  • Jan 27, 2019: The Intergenerational Potluck

  • March 7, 2019: Post-Show Conversation: Transposing Japanese Tropes to the United States

Interested? email suicideforestplay@gmail.com or dm us on instagram @suicideforestplay to learn about the next potluck. 

funding

This project has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Map Fund Grant, and New York State Council on the Arts.