Thinking about it, this audition turned out to be the biggest, the most important of my life. Here’s why.
Before leaving Atlanta I had gotten a name and a number to call when I got to New York, Pan Asian Rep, Tisa Chang. I called as soon as I got to NY and was told to see Tisa at her apartment a few days later. Her apartment is on Riverside Drive, and when I walked in the first thing I saw was the view of the Hudson. A million dollar view. And then I looked at Tisa, who was carrying her infant son, Auric Abuba, born just a few months before. Okay, New York City, I thought. We talked for a few minutes as she fed Auric, and then it was time. I whipped out my Iago from Othello, which begins, “And what’s he then that says I play the villain, when this advice is free I give,…” and on and on, for a whole page or so. Tisa has Auric in her arms and is pacing around the entire time, rocking him, burping him, and Iago goes on and on, until finally, he’s finished. And so is Auric.
Well, I nailed it. I think. I couldn’t tell. She thanked me, I left, went home, went over the auditon. Ah, well.
She called me a couple of days later and offered me a role in a new play reading for Pan Asian, and the rest, as they say, is history. This was the beginning of a long, fruitful, relationship with Pan Asian Rep, which turned out to be a true artistic home for me. I wouldn’t be who, and where, I am today without Pan Asian and Tisa Chang. Yep, biggest and most important.
http://www.ronnakahara.com
Ron is a New York City based actor/director originally from Hawaii.
He studied at the University of Hawaii with Glenn Cannon from NY, Terry Knapp from The Royal Shakespeare Co. and with noted voice teacher Kristen Linklater. While there he also studied Kyogen theater with Japan National Treasure Nomura Mansaku and performed in Kabuki.
Selected acting:
NY–Man In Snow (LaMama,) Ping Pong (The Public Theatre,) Ching Chong Chinaman, Rashomon (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre,) Earth and Sky (Second Stage,) The Three Sisters (Pan Asian,) Romeo And Juliet (NYSF/Public Theatre,) As You Like It (NYSF/Public Theatre,) Danton’s Death (LaMama E.T.C.,) The School for Wives (NATCO,) Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pan Asian) REGIONAL– Wild Swans (debut), (Young Vic, London, and A.R.T., Boston,) Snow Falling on Cedars, The Merchant of Venice (Hartford Stage Co.,) Comedy of Errors (The Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.,) The Screens (The Guthrie Theatre,) Othello (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta,) The Empress of China (Cincinnati Playhouse,) Cyrano (ACT, San Francisco,) Taming of the Shrew (ACT,) Diary of a Scoundrel (Hawaii Public Theatre) FILM–Isn't It Romantic, The Wolf of Wall Street, Sleepwalk With Me, I Think I Love My Wife, College Road Trip. TV- can be seen currently recurring as Hirochi in Netflix's Daredevil Season 2; Madam Secretary, Elementary, NYC 22, The Good Wife, Fringe, 3 LBS., Whoopi, Cosby Mysteries, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, One Life to Live, As the World Turns, All My Children, Pearl, The Miniseries, Hawaii 5-O (the original).
As a director, Ron has worked at theatres and Universities around the country. He was one of the first 6 recipients of the NEA-TCG Director Fellowship Award in 1987.
