Ako, or Ako Dachs, is a Japanese actress and founding Artistic Director of Amaterasu Za theatre company.

Early life and education

Ako was a child actress in Japan and she came to the United States to study at

Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Street, ...

. Ako worked the Takarazuka Revue Company, all-female theater company in Japan.

Acting career

Stage

Ako starred Off-Broadway in ''God Said This'' by Leah Nanako Winkler by Prospect Theatre at

Cherry Lane Theatre The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, ...

and at Humana Festival. She received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. Also, Kentucky by Leah Nanako Winkler by Ensemble Studio Theatre. Ako performed in repertory at the

Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and contemporary pla ...

in their 2010 and 2011 seasons. Notably, in '' Julius Caesar (play)'', Ako played Caius Ligarius as well as Soothsayer, speaking the nightmare scene in Japanese, from a 19th century translation. She played the Lady Macbeth character in Ping Chong's ''Throne of Blood'', a stage adaptation of Kurosawa’s film of the same name. She reprised the role later that year at Brooklyn Academy of Music and was lauded for moving "with a quiet grace, and her frequent use of stillness is equally potent." Ako performed in the world premiere of Tamar of the River with Prospect Theater. She has worked with Papermill Play House in their production of ''Sayonara: The Musical'', a stage version of the James A. Michener novel,''

Sayonara ''Sayonara'' is a 1957 American Technicolor drama film starring Marlon Brando in Technirama. It tells the story of an American Air Force fighter pilot during the Korean War who falls in love with a famous Japanese dancer. The picture won four Ac ...

'' (1954) and Mikado Inc. In 2020, Ako performed in ''Suicide Forest'' with

Ma-Yi Theater Company Ma-Yi Theater Company is a professional, not-for-profit, Obie Award and Drama Desk Award-winning theater company based in New York City that was founded in 1989. Ma-Yi Theater is headed by executive director Jorge Ortoll and artistic director Ral ...

. Play Anfisa in Moscow x6, by Williams Town Festival in 2018 and in2019 by MCC. In 2004, she performed as Chin/Suzuki in ''

M. Butterfly ''M. Butterfly'' is a play by David Henry Hwang. The story, while entwined with that of the opera ''Madama Butterfly'', is based most directly on the relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a Peking opera singer. T ...

'' at

Arena Stage Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C. and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. It is ...

. She was in

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre The Pan Asian Repertory Theatre is a New York City-based theatre group that explores the Asian-American experience and provides professional opportunities for Asian-American artists to collaborate. Pan-Asian was founded by Tisa Chang and Ernest A ...

2008 production of ''Shogun Macbeth'', ''Tea House of the August Moon'', and ''Sayonara: The Musical'', She played Atsuko for Velina Hasu Huston’s ''TEA'' at ATC at Seattle, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, and PanAsian Rep. She was in Molière's ''Dom Juan'' at Fisher Center at Bard 2022.

Film and television

Ako will be seen in SHOGUN (2023) with Hiroyuki Sanada by FX/Hulu. Film credits include: ''These Birds Don’t Fly South in the Winter'' (2019), '' I Origins'' (2014), ''Twelve'' (2010), '' No Reservations'' (2007), ''Shadowplay'' (short) (2002), ''

Snow Falling on Cedars ''Snow Falling on Cedars'' is a 1994 novel by David Guterson. Guterson, a teacher, wrote the book in the early morning hours over ten years then quit his job to write full-time. Plot Set on the fictional San Piedro Island in the Strait of Jua ...

'' (1999), '' Too Tired to Die'' (1998), ''Daitoryo No Christmas Tree'' (1996), ''Prisoners in Time'' (1995), and '' Sleepwalk'' (1986). Ako also appeared on an episode of '' 30 Rock'' in Season 3 (2008) and ''

Mercy (TV series) ''Mercy'' is an American medical drama television series created by Liz Heldens, which aired on NBC from September 23, 2009, to May 12, 2010. The series initially aired on Wednesday at 8:00 pm (ET), as part of the 2009 fall season, but was ...

'' (2010).

Directing, translation, and choreography

Ako adapted and translated three plays by

Chikamatsu Monzaemon was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' has written that he is "widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatis ...

'Courie of Love' and co-directed a staged reading, and she directed Yukio Mishima's Modern Noh Play 'Hanjo' and 'Aoi no Ue' in 2019. Ako choreographed for productions of ''Sayonara: The Musical'' at

Paper Mill Playhouse Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theater with approximately 1200 seats, located in Millburn, New Jersey on the Rahway River. Due to its relatively close location to Manhattan, it draws from the pool of actors (and audience members) who live i ...

and Pan Asian Rep. She also choreographed for ''Shogun Macbeth'' and ''

The Teahouse of the August Moon (play) ''The Teahouse of the August Moon'' is a 1953 play written by John Patrick adapted from the 1951 novel by Vern Sneider. The play was later adapted for film in 1956, and the 1970 Broadway musical '' Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen''. The play opened ...

'' at Pan Asian Rep.

Awards

*2019: Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play - nominated{{cite web , title=2019 Nominees , url=https://www.lortelaward.com/2019 , website=Lucille Lortel Awards , access-date=23 June 2022

References

{{Reflist

External links

* Ako-actres

(official website) * Amaterasu Z

(official website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ako Japanese actresses 1958 births Living people