Shoyu Tell
Family Weekend Performance Dates: October 2-3, 2021
School Day Matinee Dates: October 1-6, 2021
Public Streaming Dates: October 8-15 & December 19-31, 2021
School Streaming Dates: October 12 – December 17, 2021
Lucas loves his sushi lunch that his mom packs him every day for school. What he doesn’t love is his classmates’ constant questions about how “weird” it is. So now he’s faced with a difficult choice: bring sandwiches from now on to avoid attention, or eat what he wants and get stares and questions. With help from a magical cat guardian and an ancestor from the spirit world, Lucas learns to embrace his family history and proves to everyone that to be brave is to be yourself. Mixing the Japanese word for soy sauce and the elementary school “show and tell” activity, Shoyu Tell is an LCT World Premiere all about good food, best friends, and celebrating the differences that make you YOU.
By Sam Hamashima
Best enjoyed by ages 5 and up
Length of Show: 48 minutes
Funded by: 
Sponsored by: 
School Streaming Info
Weekly passes available NOW through December 17
School passes run from all day Monday through Friday at 4:00pm
Shoyu Tell is recommended for – Kindergarten – 5th grade
Curricular Connections – Assimilation, Friendship, Courage, Asian Culture
Learn More about School Streaming Book a School Streaming Pass
Family Streaming Passes:
Shoyu Tell is one of the shows in our Holiday Streaming library! You can purchase a pass to watch it any time between December 19-31, 2021. Learn more at the link below!
Things to Understand Before You Stream On Demand
Read the Playbill Educational Play Guide
About our Video Streaming Process
We are thrilled to offer this unique opportunity to see our 2016 production of The Snow Queen! The stream features video from one of our school performances of the show at The Lexington Opera House.
Remember, the video link and passwords can be found in your confirmation email! During the time period your pass is valid for, you can use this link and password combo to watch the show as many times as you would like. If you do not receive your confirmation email within one hour of purchase, please check your spam filter. If you experience technical difficulties, feel free to email Kathryn at khenriques@lctonstage.org! Thank you!
About LCT’s World Premiere Production
Shoyu Tell is a world premiere show written for LCT by Sam Hamashima. To learn more about Sam and the playwright’s process, we recommend watching one of the two talkbacks that come along with streaming video of this show! Additionally, Shoyu Tell is a show with professional actors in the cast, the type of prouction that typically performs at LCT and also at regional theatres we partner with across Kentucky. This year, in light of the continuing COVID19 pandemic, we have replaced traveling to different cities with filming the show and making it available for young people and families everywhere through our streaming performances!
About Shoyu Tell
Shoyu Tell by Sam Hamashima is a brand-new production premiering at LCT this season! The story follows Lucas, a Japanese American boy, through his first two days at a new school. At first, Lucas is worried when a classmate makes fun of the sushi he brings for lunch, but through a little bit of magic and learning more about his family’s history, Lucas finds the courage to be fully himself and share his differences proudly with the rest of his class at Show and Tell.
There is some mild, elementary-school-style language in the beginning of the play when Gary, one of Lucas’s new classmates, is mean to him and makes fun of his lunch. Gary calls Lucas a “loser” and his lunch “gross” and “stinky.” Lucas and his new friend Paula respond by agreeing that Gary was “being a butt,” which then becomes their insult of choice when talking about anyone being mean, so “butt” gets repeated several times.
Following this bullying episode, Lucas decides that he wants to blend in and not bring any attention to himself or his family’s culture. He asks his mom to pack him sandwiches from now on. Just when all seems hopeless, Lucas is whisked away to a magical world where he gets to learn important lessons, including fighting the embodiment of Fear video-game style with giant chopsticks and learning more about the importance of his family’s traditions. During this time, Lucas learns about the forced internment of Japanese and Japanese American citizens during World War II. It is told in age-appropriate format that resembles a “once upon a time” story using shadow puppets.
This play is a great way to spark conversations about learning from each other’s differences, especially as it pertains to different cultures. Lucas’s classmates are taught about Lucas’s Japanese traditions, which are quite different from what they experience every day. Throughout the production, Luna discusses how people fail to understand and disapprove. It is a great way to instruct a positive way to prepare for moments when we interact with someone who is different from us and how to be brave in sharing our differences with others. Luna also explains how hurt feelings can motivate reactions, words, and future fear. This production also covers the value of family traditions and how they impact who we are.
We love this story because it is a beautiful celebration of the differences that make us US and that make you YOU. It is also a really funny play, with jokes throughout that will keep you giggling through the entire story. We love this story because it is full of spunky, kind, and hilarious characters that aren’t so different from you and me. And we love this story because it helps us realize the everyday beauty of the world we live in and how magic is all around us.