NewNowNext caught up with  George Takei last weekend at the GLAAD Media Awards, where the actor-activist received the prestigious Vito Russo Award for LGBT advocacy. Takei talked to us on the red carpet about his upcoming Broadway show, Allegiance, based on his experiences as a child in a WWII Japanese internment camp in Arkansas.

Related: George Takei Was The Man Of The Hour At The GLAAD Media Awards

Directed by Stafford Arima and slated to star Takei, Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon) and Telly Leung (Godspell, Glee), Allegiance is on track to hit the Great White Way in the 2014-2015 season.

Below, Takei explains why the project is so important to him—and to the next generation: "We learn more from these chapters in history where we faltered than we do from the glorious chapters."