Kai is a young blacksmith in 14th Century Japan. He operates an armor repair shop. It would be a going concern, except for the fact that he focuses so much of his time and resources on his personal quest: to make the perfect Samaurai sword for the mighty and admired champion, Lord Ito. But Kai’s initial attempts to make the perfect sword fail. His widowed Mom, who manages a geisha house at night, would like him to devote more of himself to the more profitable pursuit of repairing armor.
Into their lives comes a beautiful fugitive, the lovely Fumi Tanaka, on the run from the menacing Lord Watanabe, who is also Lord Ito’s nemesis. Is it possible that Fumi may hold the solutions to all of Kai’s problems?
It may be that a super weapon is needed to save the day, as Lord Ito will face off against Lord Watanabe, sword against sword.
“Slice” has it all: Heroes, a menace, romance, laughs, and sword-wielding Samaurai action. How cool is that?
Paul Kikuchi is the playwright. Two of his previous plays, “Ixnay” and “Wrinkles,” were produced at East West Players.
Jeff Liu is director. The recipient of an MFA from UCLA, he is the literary manager for East West Players and was resident director for a decade with Lodestone Theatre Ensemble. His previous credits include “Ixnay,” “Wrinkles,” “Texus Americana,” “Grace Kim and the Spiders From Mars,” “The Golden Hour,” “Texas,” and “The Chinese Massacre (Annotated).” He is also an actor. He co wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed indie feature film “Charlotte Sometimes.”
The cast of “Slice” includes Scott Keiji Takeda, Elizabeth Ho, Emily Kuroda, Mike Hagiwara and Aaron Takahashi.
Stage manager: Jim Niedzialkowski. Set design: Marie Miller. Sound design: Dennis Yen. Costume design: Nicholas Hirata. Properties: Yuki Izumihara. Videos: Kyler Ernst.
“Slice” is presented by Metamorphosis Theatre Company, a resident company at Fremont Centre Theatre which has regularly presented comedy at the venue for a few years now.
Come see “Slice” at Fremont Centre Theatre. Don’t make us go looking for you. Kai’s got swords.
