‘Snow Falling on Cedars’ opens CATS 16th season on March 18

Vann Dart plays Nels, the defense counsel, and Jed Dixon plays Alvin Hooks, the prosecutor, in “Snow Falling on Cedars,” which opens this month at the Nevada Theatre in Nevada City.

The cast, which plays 44 roles, includes: Tucker Braga, Lyra Dominguez, Vann Dart, Ron Sasaki, Tucker Braga, Jed Dixon, Scott Young, Darryl Stines, Andrew Kerr, Diane Fetterly, Lisa Moon, Kerri Fulton, Allison Chan, Jez Freeman, John Bush and Virgil Wong.

 The Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra (CATS) opens its 16^th season with “Snow Falling on Cedars,” a play adapted by Kevin McKeon and based on the best-selling novel by David Guterson.

The play opens on March 18 and continues through April 20 at the Nevada Theatre at 401 Broad Street in Nevada City.

This compelling drama begins with the discovery of the body of a local fisherman tangled in his net, and a Japanese-American fisherman is arrested for his murder.

For the residents of an island in the Pacific Northwest, the wartime internment of the Japanese has left a bitter legacy, and the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto polarizes the community even further.

A white newspaperman may hold the key to the accused man's guilt or innocence. But Ishmael Chambers’ sense of right and wrong is clouded by his enduring love for Kabuo's wife, Hatsue.

 Their biracial romance as children had been destroyed by fear and cultural prejudices. Still wounded, Ishmael must conquer his feelings before simmering pressures from all sides upend the scales of justice and tear the community apart.

Based on the 1994 best-selling novel and winner of the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, “Snow Falling on Cedars,” the play, premiered at Book-it Repertory Theatre in Seattle in 2007.

 Prior to the stage adaptation, it was made into a movie in 1999, which was directed by Scott Hicks and starred Ethan Hawke and Youki Kudoh. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

 CATS is the premier theatre company in California to produce this show on the Nevada Theatre stage, and McKeon, the playwright, will be the director.

The Nevada County Superintendent of Schools has chosen the book as its “Nevada County Reads” for 2010 for high school students and festivities and events are being planned by the superintendent’s office to promote the book.

The Friday, March 26, show starts at 8 p.m. and is a benefit for Friends of the Nevada County Libraries. Tickets may be purchased at any western Nevada County library branch or by calling 530-265-1407.  For more information on the benefit, please contact friends@ncfol.org.

The cast

The cast features 16 actors who play a total of 44 roles. The cast includes: Tucker Braga, Lyra Dominguez, Vann Dart, Ron Sasaki, Tucker Braga, Jed Dixon, Scott Young, Darryl Stines, Andrew Kerr, Diane Fetterly, Lisa Moon, Kerri Fulton, Allison Chan, Jez Freeman, John Bush and Virgil Wong.

Ticket information

Tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets.com and at the Book Seller and the Briar Patch Coop in Grass Valley and at Gold Mountain and at the Nevada City Postal Company in Nevada City. Contact info@catsweb.org or 530-265-2990 for gift certificates and groups of 10 or more. Visit www.catsweb.org for a listing of detailed performance dates and times.