Velina Hasu Houston

The official website of Velina Hasu Houston
with regards to her literary career.

BIOGRAPHY

Velina Hasu Houston is an internationally celebrated writer with over 41 writing commissions. Houston's literary career began professionally Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club, expanding globally. Her play "Tea" was designated a theatre canon classic by HERO Theatre, Los Angeles, and Roundabout Theatre Company, New York, and is considered the most-produced play about the Japanese female experience in the U.S. Since its inception in 1982, the play has enjoyed ongoing production and given opportunities to countless Asian American actresses to play meaningful, non-stereotypical roles.

Ethnically non-binary, Houston is Japanese, African American, Blackfoot Native American, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Korean.

In New York, U.S. nationwide, and globally, her work is produced at notable institutions. In addition, her plays are studied around the globe, including the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Germany, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan, England, India, Japan, Egypt, Australia, and Algiers. While she experienced developmental work at two Asian American theatre companies early in her career and has had three full productions at those theatres (East West Players [Los Angeles], Pan Asian Repertory Theatre [New York]) and a workshop production (Asian American Theatre Company [San Francisco]), the majority of her productions have been at regional and international institutions such as Old Globe Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Whole Theatre (Olympia Dukakis), Syracuse Stage, TheatreWorks, A Contemporary Theatre, George Street Playhouse, and others. Her writing includes plays, musical theatre, opera, poetry, prose, film-television, and journalism.

A co-recipient of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, she also has been honored by the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institute, Rockefeller Foundation, Japan Foundation, Wallace Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Theatre Communications Group, and others. 

She founded graduate playwriting studies at the School of Dramatic Arts, University of Southern California, where she is a presidentially appointed USC Distinguished Professor of Theatre in Dramatic Writing and USC Resident Playwright. For thirty-one years, she served as Director of MFA Dramatic Writing and Head of Undergraduate Playwriting. She also is an Associated Faculty Member of the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture, Affiliated Faculty with East Asian Studies and American Studies & Ethnicity, and a member of the USC Asian Pacific Islander Faculty-Staff Association. Formerly, she has been a guest artist/scholar at the University of California at Los Angeles, Doshisha University (Kyoto), Aoyama Gakuin Daigaku (Tokyo), Osaka University (Osaka), and Kyoto University (Kyoto), Keio Daigaku (Tokyo [Research Cluster]); and numerous U.S. institutions.

For film and television, she has written work-for-hire for several independent producers as well as Columbia Pictures, PBS, Eleven Arts, Sidney Poitier, and others. She co-produced and penned the screenplay for the film short, Path of Dreams, directed by Tamara Ruppart, which has garnered awards nationwide and globally, including best screenplay at the London International Filmmakers’ Festival. Her documentary film with producers Frank Suffert and Lillemor Mallau, Desert Dreamers, narrated by Peter Fonda; was produced by PBS. Also for PBS, Houston wrote the adaptation of Journey Home, Yoshiko Uchida’s novel about Japanese American World War II forced incarceration; and wrote several episodes for Lancit Media/PBS’ Puzzle Place. 

She is on the Board of Trustees for Berklee College (Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory @ Berklee, Berklee NYC, Berklee Valencia Spain, Berklee Onine). 

At the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Los Angeles, she is Writers’ Odyssey Associate Artist. She is a member of The Writers Group, New York. Also in New York, she is an Associate Artist of New Circle Theatre Company.

A Fulbright Scholar (Fulbright Specialist Project, Aoyama Gakuin Daigaku, Tokyo, Japan) and Phi Beta Kappa, she served on the State Department's Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission for six years. Her archives are with The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens (https://catalog.huntington.org/record=b1553052). She is published by American Theatre, Los Angeles Times, Dramatists Play Service, The Dramatist, Smith & Kraus, and others. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Writers Guild of America-West, HERO Theatre Board of Advisors, Directors’ Lab West Advisory Council, Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights, League of Professional Theatre Women, International Centre for Women Playwrights, Honor Roll, and Silk Road's Polycultural Institute. Her blog, matchabook, focuses on multiethnicity, biculturalism, and BIPOC and female theatre-makers.   

REPRESENTATION:

Agent: Mr. Jack Tantleff, Paradigm Talent Agency, jtantleff@paradigmagency.com. 

Entertainment Attorney:  Mr. Michael C. Donaldson, Esq., Donaldson Callif Perez; MDonaldson@dcp.law.

Ichigo ichie... each encounter in life happens only once.