Actors� Equity Association and the Actors� Equity Foundation will bestow the 2025 Paul Robeson Award on Leslie Ishii.
Ishii—a director, dramaturg, performer, and the artistic director of Perseverance Theatre, a 45-year-old company dedicated to creating professional theatre by and for Alaskans—will receive the award at a ceremony later this year.
The Paul Robeson Award, given annually since the late Robeson received the first Citation in 1974, honors individuals who leverage theatre to go beyond the stage to enact their commitment to the freedom of expression and conscience.
In a statement Ishii said: “I have been a member of Equity since 1990, and I have my dear longtime friend and colleague, Mary Jo McConnell, a fellow Equity member, to thank for submitting me for this award. I have long admired the esteemed Paul Robeson for his brilliant artistry, impactful activism, and support of his family and many communities. He was truly a brilliant change-maker. I have always aspired to do the same. I am so deeply moved, humbled, and grateful to receive this prestigious Paul Robeson Award presented by the Paul Robeson Award Committee.�
“Leslie courageously advocates for and implements equity and inclusion of multiracial and BIPOC artists in every initiative, space, and creative process she curates and engages in,� added Mary Jo McConnell, who nominated Ishii for the award. “Leslie embodies integrity and is a seeker of truth and justice. Leslie has found and continues to develop support for decolonization and re-Indigienization as it is healing colonization at the root cause and brings collective liberation for all.�
Ishii, a Yonsei, fourth
generation Japanese American, debuted as an actor in Northwest Asian
American Theater’s Breaking The Silence that raised legal defense funds
for WWII US Concentration Camp Resister Gordon Hirabayashi and his
Supreme Court Case. As
a director, arts educator, activist, and community builder/organizer,
Ishii has also worked with legacy BIPOC
theatres including El Teatro Campesino, East West Players, National Black
Theatre, Penumbra Theatre, Theatre Mu, Native Voices, and emeritus, and Asian American Theatre Company.
Actors� Equity Association is the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, while the Actors� Equity Foundation, a tax-exempt organization, supports the professional theatre community.
Robeson, who passed away in 1976, was one of the most significant figures of the 20th century at the intersection of performance and politics. He played Joe on stage and screen in the groundbreaking musical Show Boat, and was one of the first Black performers to play the title role of Othello. As an activist, he protested injustice in the U.S. and abroad, including fighting segregation, apartheid, and fascism.
