Alan Muraoka

Alan Muraoka (born August 10, 1962 in Mission Hills, California) is an actor and theatre director who plays Alan, the current owner of Hooper's Store on the television show "Sesame Street".

infobox actor

---

birthdate=birth date and age|1962|8|10
birthplace= Mission Hills, California
occupation=actor
website=http://www.alanmuraoka.net

Early career

Muraoka's first experience as a performer came at the age of ten, where he appeared as "The Candy Man" at a movie theatre during the intermission of a double feature.Citation
last = James
first = Greg
last2 = Fletcher
first2 = Duane
publisher = The Muppet Newsflash
title = An Interview with Alan Muraoka
date = June 2007
url = http://articles.muppetnewsflash.com/2007/06/interview-with-alan-muraoka.html
accessdate = 2008-7-2] According to the biography on his official site, he performed throughout high school where he also had his first experience as a director - "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".

Muraoka studied at the Theater Department of UCLA and won the Carol Burnett Musical Theatre Award for performance. While at college, he performed in several Walt Disney World productions during sabbaticals and summer breaks. He received his B.A. in Theatre Arts from UCLA in 1985.

Muraoka then worked with East West Players in Los Angeles, and spent time as a performer on Princess Cruises.

He made his Broadway debut performing six roles in the musical "Mail". After "Mail" opened (and closed, after one month) in 1988, Muraoka remained in New York.

For the next ten years, Muraoka continued to act in theatrical productions, both on Broadway and in regional and touring productions. Most notably, he was a member of the original cast of "" on Broadway and had a long run in the lead role of "The Engineer" in "Miss Saigon".

1997-present

After auditioning several times through 1997, Muraoka won a part on "Sesame Street" after doing improv with Telly Monster. He joined the cast in 1998, playing Alan, the new owner of Hooper's Store. In his debut episode, Alan is introduced to the other characters on the street by Big Bird in a scene that ends with the song "Welcome to the Party".

While appearing in "Sesame Street", Muraoka has continued to perform in theater, most recently earning good reviews in the 2004 Broadway revival of "Pacific Overtures". He also appeared in the PBS Emmy nominated special, "Day of Independence" from Cedar Grove Productions in 2003. In 2007 he had a small part on Showtime's series "Brotherhood" as Li Fang, the owner of a Rhode Island brothel.

As a director, Muraoka was highly praised for his work on the seemingly-incongruous, non-traditional (all-Asian) version of William Finn and James Lapine's largely-Jewish musical "Falsettoland" for the National Asian American Theater Company in New York in 1998. Peter Marks of "The New York Times" wrote about the production "Does the gambit work? Let's put it this way: You should be so talented." [Marks, Peter. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E2D61730F934A25754C0A96E958260 THEATER REVIEW; It's Family That Matters, No Matter What Family] , "The New York Times", July 17, 1997. Retrieved June 8, 2008.]

In 2004 he directed veteran "Sesame Street" and "Avenue Q" puppeteers John Tartaglia, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, and Jennifer Barnhart in "Empty Handed" and "John Tartaglia AD-LIBerty". He also directed Ann Harada, of "Avenue Q" and also his 1998 "Falsettoland", in her 2004 one-woman show.

In 2007, he directed the stage production of "High School Musical" at the Lyric Theatre in Oklahoma City. [Asian Americans on Broadway: Profiles [http://www.hokubeinews.com/articles/article/4929001/86601.htm] ,"Hokubei News", 8 Sep 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2008.] He also directed The Muny's 2008 production of "High School Musical" in St. Louis winning praise for drawing "appealing performances from his attractive young leads.". [Citation
last = Newmark
first = Judith
title = High School Musical
publisher = "St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
date = 24 June 2008
url = http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/reviews.nsf/stage/story/0C8E0FDC6EE3BF0D86257472004EC089?OpenDocument
accessdate = 2008-7-3]

In 2007, Muraoka joined the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

Charity work

Alan Muraoka is active with many Asian American organizations. In 2004 he was honored with the Inspiration Award from APEX, a mentoring organization in New York City.

References

External links

* [http://www.alanmuraoka.net/ alanmuraoka.net | Official Site]
* [http://www.aarising.com/aprofiler/alanmuraoka.htm AArisings A-Profiler Interview Published October 29, 2006]