“The Pitt” Actor Arun Storrs to Perform at the Reser in Beaverton

Storrs is in the lineup for the immigration storytelling event I Am an American Live.

(L-R) Arun Storrs and Tracy Ifeachor in "The Pitt" (Warrick Page/Max)
By Rachel Saslow

Prestige TV viewers might recognize Arun Storrs from her role on Max’s The Pitt, the emergency room drama starring Noah Wyle. Beaverton audiences are about to get to know Storrs, though, at a stage event this Saturday, May 24, called I Am an American Live.

The event is produced by nonprofit organization The Immigrant Story, in conjunction with Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The Immigrant Story was founded in 2017 by Sankar Raman with a mission to foster empathy by sharing stories of immigrants and refugees in the U.S.

Storrs will share her story of being adopted from Nepal as a baby and then growing up in Eugene, Ore. She then graduated from Yale University and moved to Hollywood to pursue her dream of acting. Along the way, she founded a nonprofit organization The Kumari Project, a group home for Nepalese orphans in Kathmandu.

In The Pitt, Storrs plays the character Minu, who comes to the hospital screaming in pain due to a leg injury. Nobody on staff can communicate with her about what happened because they cannot determine the language she speaks.

“To get to play a Nepali-speaking immigrant on The Pitt is this kismet coming together of my two passions, dovetailing in a way I could never have engineered,” she says, referring to her acting and her work in Nepal. “It showed to me that one needed the other in order to survive and thrive.”

The Pitt is the highest-profile role Storrs has booked, and shooting the show—which is garnering Emmy buzz— was a dream. Wyle, who stars but also executive produces and helps write the show, started the shoot by shaking everyone’s hand on set, looking them in the eye, and thanking them for being there. “It set everyone else up to give their best work,” Storrs says.

A childhood friend from Eugene connected her with The Immigrant Story last year.

This is the fourth edition of I Am an American Live, and will feature four storytellers from Vietnam, Nepal, Malaysia and Afghanistan. Shi Choong, Vu Pham and Zarmina Ahmadi will also be telling stories on the Reser stage. The event is free, but all the seats are now reserved.

SEE IT: I Am an American Live at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 12625 SW Crescent St., Beaverton. 971-501-7722, thereser.org/event/i-am-an-american-live-stories-of-exclusion-and-belonging. 7 pm Saturday, May 24. Sold out.

Arun Storrs of Max’s "The Pitt" (Courtesy Arun Storrs)

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