BROADWAY’S EMY COLIGADO, DORCAS LEUNG, LIANAH STA. ANA, AND LILI THOMAS JOIN “GAME-CHANGER” MUSICALYOKO’S HUSBAND’S KILLER’S JAPANESE WIFE, GLORIA
TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY AT JOE’S PUB
New York, NY-March 19, 2026: Neen Williams-Teramachi is pleased to announce the concert performance of Brandy Hoang Collier (book), Clare Fuyuko Bierman (lyrics), and Erika Ji’s (composer) YOKO’S HUSBAND’S KILLER’S JAPANESE WIFE, GLORIA, music direction by Lily Ling, directed by Jess McLeod. The show will play a two-performance limited engagement at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY). Performances will take place on Monday, April 13, and Tuesday, April 14. Tickets are $36 and available at PublicTheater.org
Did Yoko Ono really break up The Beatles? Was Gloria Abe Chapman somehow responsible for John Lennon’s murder? Why do all these egotistical white guys marry Asian women? That’s weird, right? These questions keep Ruby Okamoto up at night. She‘s getting answers—even if she has to summon all of Asian America into her insomniatic fever dream.
"This show had the Festival Committee buzzing with excitement. Its genre-defying narrative and avant-garde approach are not only refreshing, but capture the spirit of what makes live theater magical. This show promises to be a game-changer, offering audiences a complex but enthralling puzzle that challenges and delights." –– National Alliance for Musical Theater
YOKO'S HUSBAND'S KILLER'S JAPANESE WIFE, GLORIA is the Vivace Award-winning musical commissioned by the 5th Avenue Theatre, developed at the O’Neill National Music Theatre Conference, and presented at the National Festival of New Musicals by the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. GLORIA has been developed with support from the Civilians, the Johnny Mercer Writers Grove, the MAP Fund, the NAMT Frank Young Fund, the Orchard Project, the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, and Theatre Latté Da. GLORIA was most recently named one of three finalists for the American Playwriting Foundation's Relentless Award, the largest annual cash prize in American theater, in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Adam Schlesinger.
The production stars Emy Coligado (Broadway: Miss Saigon; TV: Malcolm in the Middle), Aury Krebs (Off-Broadway: Darling Grenadine; TV: Brilliant Minds), Emily Kuroda (TV: Gilmore Girls), Dorcas Leung (Broadway: The Notebook, Miss Saigon; 1st Nat’l Tour: Hamilton), Lianah Sta. Ana (Broadway: Miss Saigon, Tour: Waitress), and Lili Thomas (Broadway: Gypsy, Chicago, National Tour: Dear Evan Hansen), with additional vocals by Anne Fraser Thomas (Broadway: Queen of Versailles) and Jen Sese (Broadway: Hamilton, Hair).
Erika Ji and Steven Tran are the orchestrators. Nina Schatell is the stage manager. Publicity by Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR.
YOKO’S HUSBAND’S KILLER’S JAPANESE WIFE, GLORIA plays two performances only: Monday, April 13 at 7 p.m. | Tuesday, April 14 at 9:30 p.m.
Tickets are $36 (A minimum of two drinks or one food item per person applies) and are now available online at PublicTheater.org. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater, open 5 p.m. to 10 p.m Monday - Saturday, and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays.
Running Time: 75 minutes
Website: https://www.yokogloriamusical.com/
BIOGRAPHIES
CLARE FUYUKO BIERMAN (Lyricist) is a librettist and lyricist raised in a Japanese-Jewish home with some rabbits, a snake, and a bunch of finches. Recent projects include Cry, Wolf (Washington National Opera), Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria (5th Avenue Theater commission, O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference, Vivace Award winner, Relentless Award finalist), and The People vs American Cheese (American Opera Projects). She was a finalist for the 2025 Kleban Prize for lyrics and has participated in the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project, the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Play Festival, the Workshop Fellowship for Jews of Color, and Broadway’s Future Songbook Series. MFA New York University.
BRANDY HOANG COLLIER (Bookwriter) is a Manhattan-based playwright, poet, and problem-solver from deep in the heart of Texas. She did her book learning at Texas A&M and NYU Tisch and has worked on marketing campaigns, construction sites, Off-Broadway stages, sales floors, sidewalks and more. In some ways, Collier identifies as mixed race, Asian-American, disabled, and queer. In other ways, she identifies as a noncorporeal entity with no identifying features and also no flaws. She is currently a part of the Sống Collective’s 2026 Việt Writers Lab. Selected works include book for Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria (5th Avenue Theatre Commission, O’Neill NMTC, NAMT Festival, Vivace Award, Relentless Award Finalist) and book and lyrics for The Blazing World (Polyphone Festival). On top of writing music and making theatre, Collier also works for the New York Yankees.
ERIKA JI (Composer) is a cross-genre composer-storyteller who loves soaring melodies, dream worlds, and stories that challenge our preconceptions about what is true, good, or worth wanting. In addition to Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria, her works include VISARE (Winner of the New Voices Project, Tokyo International Songwriters’ Showcase), four; interwoven (New Music Theatre Project, DiMenna Center), Starsong (Rattlestick Theater, Kaufman Music Center), Passage to My Parents (NYSCA, Johnny Mercer Writers Grove), and Space (Broadway’s Future Songbook Series at Lincoln Center). Erika is a 2026 Greenwich House Elebash Artist and Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus Artist, and has been artist-in-residence at Jentel, Millay, VCCA, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. She has performed as a pianist, accordionist, and vocalist on Broadway (Cabaret, Kimberly Akimbo) and national TV (CBS Sunday Morning). BS Stanford, MFA NYU. erikaji.com
LILY LING (Music Director) is a Chinese Canadian music director, conductor, and educator. She was the first female Music Director for Hamilton and currently serves as the Associate Music Supervisor of Hell's Kitchen. Other theatrical credits include Broadway: Hell's Kitchen, How To Dance In Ohio, Moulin Rouge, Hamilton. National Tours: Hamilton (And Peggy & Philip). Off-Broadway: john & jen (20th anniversary revival), Regional: Nine (Kennedy Center). International: The Lion King (Shanghai - Chinese Premiere). Lily holds an MFA in Music Direction from Penn State University. She is currently pursuing an EdD CT in Music and Music Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
JESS MCLEOD (Director) is a director & social justice advocate specializing in risky new work about America. Recent credits include Young Dragon: A Bruce Lee Story at Seattle Children’s Theatre, On the Evolutionary Function of Shame at 2ST and new plays & musicals at Roundabout, Little Island, MTC, P73, Atlantic; and regionally at Steppenwolf, Goodman, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Alliance, Woolly Mammoth, Long Wharf and Berkeley Rep. Former Woolly Mammoth BOLD Resident Director; Resident Director, Hamilton Chicago; Artist-In-Residence at the NYCLU (Creatives Rebuild NY); and Co-Chair (with Michael Korie) of DGF’s Musical Theatre Fellows. 2nd Gen Korean/Filipina/Scottish American. M.F.A., Northwestern. Next up: the world premiere of The Family Album at La Jolla Playhouse. www.jess-mcleod.com | @mcjessmc
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Listings Information:
What: Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria
Where: Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette St., New York, NY)
When: Monday, April 13, 7 pm - Tuesday, April 14, 9:30 pm
How: Tickets are $36 (A minimum of two drinks or one food item per person applies) and are now available online at PublicTheater.org.
Did Yoko Ono really break up The Beatles? Was Gloria Abe Chapman somehow responsible for John Lennon’s murder? Why do all these egotistical white guys marry Asian women? That’s weird, right? These questions keep Ruby Okamoto up at night. She‘s getting answers—even if she has to summon all of Asian America into her insomniatic fever dream.
