WRITING

 

CHECKING OUT

short film - surreal dramedy - 12 minutes

written & co-produced by Ames Miyako, directed by Ariel Zucker, produced by Crystal Collins.

When a date in the present resembles a traumatic moment from the past, dissociated personal trainer “Alex” must find their way through their own wry psyche to get back into their body, as long as a past version of themselves "Cool Alex" stays on their side...

  • World Premiere at Academy Award & BAFTA-Qualifying 2025 LA Shorts International Film Festival

  • Unproduced screenplay nominated for Best Short Screenplay at 2024 Seattle Film Festival

  • Proof of concept for feature film

CURRENTLY MAKING THE FESTIVAL CIRCUIT!







 

GRANDPA COMEDY SHOW

Ames Miyako performing Grandpa Comedy Show at Highways Performance Space

short play - comedy

What parts of our ancestors’ stories do we rely on to define ourselves? Can comedy make pain funny, or is it just painful to watch? And does Ames REALLY laugh like Seth Rogan? Grandpa Comedy Show is a Japanese-American stand-up, sit-down, story time about intergenerational joy despite intergenerational trauma, and how we tend the gardens that came before us.

  • Premiere at Crossing Pride x Sorority Theatre at Highways performance space - Fall 2023

  • Festival run with Leo Rising Theatre Company’s “2023 Short Play Festival” - Winter 2023

  • In development for 60-minute one act.





 

UNGROOMED

 

pilot script (unproduced) - action dramedy - 30 minutes

A freshly fired Seattle social worker assembles a squad of unskilled misfits to take down the man who ruined her life.

  • Contact for more info.

 

PARTNERSHIP WITH A THEATRE COMPANY TO AMPLIFY UNDERREPRESENTED-IN-MEDICINE STUDENTS

academic journal article (co-author) - published in Voices in Bioethics by Columbia University Libraries

“This paper describes how the medical students partnered with a theater company that applied elements of verbatim theater to anonymously present student narratives and engage their medical school community around issues of racism and discrimination.”

In a collaboration with Squeaky Wheelz Productions (of which Ames is a co-founding former company member) Ames worked with medical students of Quinnipiac University to create a short film featuring professional actors reading students’ verbatim stories.

 

ROOTBOUND

short dramatic stage scene

When husband Dale returns home from the Middle East with the U.S. Army, wife Amina digs deep to find their once-simple love as inextricable ancestral truths unearth themselves.

  • performed at The Signature Theatre in New York City with Columbia University’s 2018 Acting MFA Showcase.