Houston, Velina Hasu

Velina Hasu Houston is an award winning author of plays, screenplays, poetry, essays, and books. Her plays, which include the critically acclaimed Tea have been produced internationally. Some of her other works include Kokoro, Asa Ga Kimashita, Necessities, and As sometimes in a dead man's face. She is currently the head of the playwriting program at the University of Southern California.

Biographical Note

Velina Hasu Houston is a nationally recognized and award winning author of plays, screenplays, poetry, critical essays, and drama anthologies. Her signature play Tea, which chronicles the lives of Japanese "war brides"-women who married U.S. military personnel after WWII and moved to the United States-has been produced internationally. Other plays include Necessities, Kokoro, As Sometimes in a Dead Man's Face, Asa Ga Kimashita, and others. She is currently the head of the playwriting program at the University of Southern California.

The daughter of an African American/Blackfoot Indian soldier and a Japanese born "war bride," Houston grew up in Junction City, Kansas, near Ft. Riley, where her father was stationed. Beginning in her childhood, she was acutely aware of her multicultural identity. It is her multicultural background, along with the desire to help society learn about the cultural similarities and differences among people, that drives her work.