Actor/ Singer / Mover / Maker

ALOHA E KOMO MAI (hello, welcome)

Eiko Moon-Yamamoto (she, they) is a Japanese-Korean-American, multi-hyphenate artist based in the Bay Area. Born in Tokyo, Eiko immigrated to Hawaii from Seoul at age six. 
Be it Shakespeare, Sondheim, Stoppard, or new works, they're passionate about empowering positive change one story at a time.
Eiko is committed to championing historically excluded voices in the American theatre canon and have developed new works with Playwrights Foundation, PlayOn Shakespeare, Magic Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Crowded Fire, Z Space, AlterTheater, The Ground Floor at BerkeleyRep Theatre, and Company One (Boston). 
Regional credits include FOLLIES, CLUE and TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS at San Francisco Playhouse, M’Lynn Eatenton in STEEL MAGNOLIAS at SierraRep, SLEEPING BEAUTY PANTO at The Presidio Theatre and DISENCHANTED! at San Jose Playhouse and CYMBELINE at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. 
Eiko is an Artistic Associate of Rainbow Zebra Productions at the Magic in San Francisco and a new member of PlayGround Company. They are a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and the Ring of Keys coalition. First in their family to graduate, Eiko holds degrees from UCLA and California College of Arts. Also as a contemporary visual artist, they have shown their paintings and installations in the Bay Area and abroad.
They say couples, who dance together, stay together. Eiko met her partner while dancing Lindy Hop, 7 days a week. They learned directly from the old timers who danced it in their heyday. They tell their son, that Jazz lead to his birth.  
Aloha Nui Loa!

  • Eiko Yamamoto is Jack's worried and prodding mother who brings her own winning voice that has the ability to pierce through the air with electrifying presence.

    - Eddie Reynolds (SFBATCC), Theatre Eddys review of INTO THE WOODS by Stephen Sondheim/ Mountain Play

  • Brilliant...Meiko (Eiko Yamamoto)...throughly committed. Actors are well-matched to characters and deliver a difficult script with utter believability so that you feel you know these people in real life. An absolute must see.

    -Jeannie K. Smith (SFBATCC), Sonoma County Gazette review of EUREKA DAY by Jonathan Spector/ Spreckels Theatre Company

  • Eiko's delivery is so well timed. Some of the lines were only funny because of the way they were delivered. She's a good actress.

    -Broadway with AJ and Sarah review of DISENCHANTED! by Dennis T. Giacino/ 3Below

  • It's definitely worth 90 minutes of anyone's time. Eiko Moon-Yamamoto plays Afong and Joseph Alvarado plays Atung. Both are excellent.

    - Joanne Engelhardt (SFBATCC), Aisle Seat Review of THE CHINESE LADY by Lloyd Suh/ The Pear Theatre

  • The Highlight may be a scene-stealing scene dance duet by Eiko yamamoto and REne Collins as the Whitmans.

    -Charles Lewis III, 48 Hills review FOLLIES by Stephen Sondheim/ San Francisco Playhouse

  • Some of the best acting comes from Eiko Yamamoto as Louise, the stage Manager who tries to keep everyone in line.

    -Judy Richter, The San Mateo Daily Journal review of THE 1940’s RADIO HOUR by Walton Jones/ Hillbarn Theatre

  • Eiko Yamamoto as Elizabeth Condell offer more polished performances. Yamamoto'S Elizabeth is the perfect combination of support and playfulness.

    -Otto Coelho (SFBATCC), TheatreStorm review of THE BOOK OF WILL by Lauren Gunderson/ Foothill Theatre Arts

  • A HIGHLIGHT IS A MELANCHOLY BALLAD "MILLWORK" AND PERORMED WITH SOULFUL FEELING BY EIKO YAMAMOTO. THE PASSIONATE YAMAMOTO'S WONDERFUL VOICE MAKES SKILLFUL USE OF TERRIFIC CHOREOGRAPHY TURNING THE MIND NUMBING MILLWORK IN TO A SKILLED ART.

    -Vince Mediaa (SFBATCC), VmediArts Theatre Arts Review of WORKING by Nina Faso and Stephen Schwartz/ Palo Alto Players

  • Pitch perfect cast give life to Spector's INFURIATING, MOVING AND COMPLETELY RECOGNIZABLE CHARACTERS. FIVE STARS.

    -Harry Duke, (SFBATCC) North Bay Stage and Screen review of EUREKA DAY/ Spreckels Theatre Company

  • IT'S AT ONCE HYSTERICAL AND EXASPERATING TO WATCH THESE PERFECTLY-CRAFTED, SUPERBLY-ACTED AND ALL TOO RECOGNIZABLE MODERN ARCHETYPES..MEIKO (EIKO YAMAMOTO).

    -Nicole Singley (SFBATCC), Aisle Seat Review of EUREKA DAY/ Spreckels Theatre Company

  • The Six-Person Cast features terrific individual voices, but their divinity is in their collective choral blend.

    David John Chávez - The Mercury News review of DISENCHANTED! by Dennis T. Giacino/ 3Below

  • “The folks who have seen or heard the play so far always comment that it is perfectly cast." -Jerry Lee, Dir. Three impressive and dazzling actresses making their SRT: Eiko Yamamoto as M’Lynn...

    Ledger Dispatch review of STEEL MAGNOLIAS by Robert Harling/ Sierra Repertory Theatre

  • The fairies who have to muster their strength against Hernia are a delight...Eiko yamamoto is pacifica.

    -Chad Jones, Theatre Dogs review of SLEEPING BEAUTY: PANTO by Stephanie Brown and Richard Ciccarone/ Presidio Theatre

  • EIKO YAMAMOTO AS THE INSANE ERNESTINA...SHE WAS OVER-THE-TOP FUNNY AND A REALLY AUDIENCE FAVORITE.

    -Janet Grant, Tri-City Voice review of HELLO DOLLY!/ Douglas Morrisson Theater

Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman (authors of Assassins) mix elements of Kabuki theatre with the conventions of the Broadway musical in Pacific Overtures, a highly original, inventive, powerful, educational and surprisingly humorous theatrical experience. Considered by many to be the artistic pinnacle of the legendary Sondheim/Prince collaborations, this exploration of culture and imperialism pushes the boundaries of musical theatre further than ever before.
Commodore Matthew Perry's 1853 mission to open trade relations with isolationist Japan through gunboat diplomacy forges an unlikely friendship between the samurai, Kayama, and the Americanized fisherman, Manjiro. Kayama and Manjiro – and all of Japanese society – must face the wave of Westernization that follows.
Pacific Overtures explores how structures of power are dislodged and replaced by one another, be it in the name of modernity, imperialism, or survival.  It presents a range of characters who see their lives upended in the face of global upheaval.  The grandiose aesthetics of kabuki embellish the story in larger-than-life scope as the characters struggle to reconcile tradition with modernity, the world around them rapidly transforming through the inevitable ebb and flow of history.
FEATURING
​Lawrence-Michael C. Arias as Abe
Faustino Cadiz III as Swing
Keiko Shimosato Carreiro as the Reciter
Edward Im as the Boy
Sarah Jiang as Tamate
Stephen Kanaski as the Warrior
Ryan Marchand as Perry
Eiko Moon-Yamamoto as the Shogun's Mother
Nick Nakashima as Kayama
Vinh G. Nguyen as Manjiro
Mayadevi Ross as the Madame
Julia Wright as Swing
This outstanding ensemble will play over 50 roles to bring this rarely-done Sondheim work to vibrant life.
​Directed by Nick Ishimaru
Music Direction by Diana Lee 
Choreography by Megan and Shannon Kurashige of Sharp & Fine
Cultural Advising by Ken Kanesaka
Preview: Thursday May 29, 2025
Opening: Friday May 30, 2025
Closing: Sunday June 15, 2025
Wednesday - Saturday 7:30, Sunday at 2 
Brava Theatre Center, 2781 24th St, San Francisco, CA.

The Truer history of the chan family

When SF playwright Eugenie Chan set out to find out more about her family’s involvement in San Francisco's Hip Yee Society, a once notorious gambling and prostitution tong, her discoveries surprised and inspired her to tell the story of a family chasing the American Dream in 1920s Chinatown – The Truer History of the Chan Family, our first feature film!

The Truer History of the Chan Family, a vaudeville musical film opens at Arts Emerson in Boston and the Tiger Tail Asian Film Festival in Tampa, FL both in May. In June, it will screen at the Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Festival. Opening May 30th, Eiko will perform in Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures at the Brava Theatre in San Francisco.

Afong Moy

The Chinese Lady

The Pear Theatre

(L) Joseph Alvarado as Atung

photo: Sinjin Jones

 

M’Lynn Eatenton

Steel Magnolias

Sierra Repertory Theatre

(L to R) Olivia Jones, Laurie Strawn, Emily Gatesman, Isabella Chang, Eiko Moon-Yamamoto

courtesy photo

Aviragus/ Posthumus’ mother/ Musician

Cymbeline

San francisco Shakespeare Festival

photo: Neal Ormond

Pacifica, the fairy

SLEEPING BEAUTY:Panto

Presidio Theatre

(L to R) Ryan Patrick Welsh, Ruby Day, Eiko Moon-Yamamoto

photo: Terry Lorant

Jack’s mother

Into the woods

Mountain Play

(L to R) Kevin Singer, Eiko Moon-Yamamoto, Chachi Delgado, Luke Hichman, Grace Margaret Craig

 

Emily Whitman

FOLLIES

San Francisco Playhouse

(L ro R) Cindy Goldfield, Maureen McVerry, Eiko Moon-Yamamoto, Rene Collins

photo: Jessica Palopoli

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