Art Meets Activism in ‘Breaking the Frame’: Solo Shows Take Aim at Harmful Stereotypes at the Japanese National Museum

“Breaking the Frame: Two Solo Shows on Art and Identity” (Photo – Laurel Hinton)

The Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) presents “Breaking the Frame: Two Solo Shows on Art and Identity,” August 21–23, 2025, in the Tateuchi Democracy Forum.

By News Desk

A post-show Q&A with the artists will follow the matinee performance on August 23. Tickets are $20 and available at janm.org/democracy.

“Breaking the Frame: Two Solo Shows on Art and Identity” explores what happens when two Asian American solo performers fall deeply in love with Western art forms, film and opera, only to realize they may be entangled in mediums that don’t fully love them back. In the wake of recent “yellowface” controversies on Broadway, Hmong American actor Bee Vang (of Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino) and local-born actor and opera singer Kurt Kanazawa present emotionally charged, satirical indictments of two Western artistic traditions that have long marginalized Asian Americans and BIPOC communities.

The performance is directed by Jeff Liu (East West Players) and co-directed by Kalina Ko (Hedgerow Theatre Company), with lighting design and assistant direction by Josh Bennett.

Opening the program is Vang’s solo piece, Your Movie Guide to Life (2025), in which the actor and lifelong cinephile explores the shaping power of cinema, Hmong history, anti-war activism, and his complicated legacy in Gran Torino. This 45-minute performance weaves existential horror in film with inherited personal and geopolitical histories.

Closing the program is Kanazawa’s solo show, L’OPERA! (2024), a funny and multilingual 52-minute journey following a Japanese and Filipino American opera singer who gets into The Juilliard School—only to lose his voice. Set across New York City, Southern Italy, Hollywood, and Beijing, and featuring live performances of both classic and original songs, L’OPERA! challenges the Eurocentric traditions of classical opera while embracing the artist’s multicultural identity.

Breaking the Frame: Two Solo Shows on Art and Identity
August 21-23, 2025
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Location
Japanese American National Museum
Democracy Center
100 North Central Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
To purchase tickets, click here.