WHEN YURI
MET MALCOLM

Jeanne Sakata is honored to host the benefit premiere performance of WHEN YURI MET MALCOLM, having begun her career both as an actor and playwright with East West Players. Jeanne has enjoyed guest star/recurring roles on ABC-Shondaland's Station 19, Magnum P.I., NCIS Hawai’i, NCIS Los Angeles, Marvel/Hulu’s Hit Monkey, Disney Plus' High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and Disney's Big Hero 6. Onstage, she most recently performed with the 2025-26 national tour and world premiere of Moisés Kaufman & Amanda Gronich’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated HERE THERE ARE BLUEBERRIES at McCarter Theatre, Wallis Annenberg Center, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and La Jolla Playhouse, as well as the 2023 revival of Anna Deavere Smith’s TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum. Jeanne’s acclaimed solo play, HOLD THESE TRUTHS (Drama Desk Nomination, Outstanding Solo Performance; Theatre Bay Area Awards, Outstanding Production, Direction, and Lead Performance; San Diego Critics’ Circle Award), has been performed across the country in over two dozen productions after originally premiering at East West Players. She has been commissioned by LA TheatreWorks for her audio plays FOR US ALL and THE SECRET GARDEN, and recently workshopped her new play, SPRINGS, for Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commissions program. Her special honors include: Theatre LA Ovation Award for Outstanding Lead Actress, Chay Yew’s RED, East West Players; Trailblazer Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement, East West Players; Lee Melville Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Los Angeles Theatre Community, Playwrights’ Arena. JeanneSakata.com / HoldTheseTruths.info

May Lee is an award-winning, broadcast journalist/host who has been both a US-based and international anchor, host, correspondent, and producer and a former member of EWP’s Board of Directors. She currently co-hosts the vodcast "Shoes Off Inside with MKT" with iconic API actresses Kelly Hu and Tamlyn Tomita. 

May is a prominent voice in the effort to combat anti-Asian hate and has also led the charge in breaking down stereotypes of Asian women. She was named one of Forbes 50 Over 50 in 2021 and one of 50 Unsung Heroes by Asian Hustle Network in 2022. Along with her media projects, May has established herself as a respected educator and trainer in diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in education, the workplace, and non-profit.

In 2007, May founded Lotus Media House and produced original programs including the first iteration of “The May Lee Show,” the first pan-Asia talk show for women. May’s international experience as a broadcast journalist began in 1992 at Japan’s NHK network. From 1995 to 1999, May was CNN’s Tokyo Correspondent and then an anchor for CNN International in Hong Kong, becoming CNN’s first Korean American anchor. In 2000, May joined Oxygen Media, founded by Oprah Winfrey, as one of its main talk show hosts. She also has served as CNBC Asia’s primary anchor. 

Her books include MAY LEE, LIVE AND IN PERSON. It all begins with Passion, published by John Wiley & Sons and Random House Korea, and So You Want to be On Air? A Guide to Anchoring, Hosting and Voice-overs, based on her wildly popular workshops and published by Cognella.