TEA

FEB 19, 2027 @ 7:30PM
FEB 21, 2027 @ 4PM

Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall

Based on the play, Tea, by Velina Hasu Houston
‍
Composer: Carla Lucero
Librettist: Velina Hasu Houston
‍
HOT Commission • World Premiere
Run-time: approximately 90 minutes with no intermission
‍
The play TEA by Velina Hasu Houston has become iconic in the American theatre, performed across the US as well as Japan. Set in Junction City, Kansas in the late 1960s, the story unfolds in the wake of a devastating loss. Five Japanese immigrant women, bound by friendship and circumstance, carry histories shaped by their varied experiences in the aftermath of World War II. When one of them unexpectedly takes her own life, the fragile fabric of their small community begins to unravel. As the remaining four gather to clean her home, grief gives way to confrontation — forcing each woman to face her own complexities of identity, displacement, and unspoken pain. The spirit of the deceased returns, guiding, provoking, and challenging them to reckon with what lies beneath the surface. What emerges is a haunting yet deeply human exploration of connection and release. In helping the living find common ground, the dead woman seeks her own passage onward — out of limbo and into peace — while illuminating a path forward for those she leaves behind.