Did you know that Japanese Americans served in the U.S. Army as translators, interpreters, and interrogators during WWII, at the same time that their families were imprisoned in internment camps back home? I didn't either, but I do now thanks to
History Theatre's world premiere new play Secret Warriors. As always with History Theatre's original, often commissioned, plays and musicals,
Secret Warriors shines a light on a little known aspect of history, usually with a Minnesota connection, and draws a straight line from the past to the present. Today, the very law that was used to intern Japanese Americans (the Alien Enemies Act of 1798) is being used to justify mass deportations, and we're seeing a rise of division and hate crimes. Director Lily Tung Crystal sums up this parallel in the program and the questions that this excellent new play raises: "What lessons from the past must we carry forward to ensure history does not repeat itself? How do we reconcile patriotism with the injustices committed by our own government? And what does it truly mean to be American?" Remembering our history is so important, and what better way to do that than through an engaging and entertaining play? You can learn about and pay homage to these
Secret Warriors at the History Theatre in downtown St. Paul through April 19 (
click here for info and tickets).
From the
Attack on Pearl Harbor to the
Battle of Iwo Jima, the play takes us through the U.S. involvement in WWII from the point of view of Japanese American soldiers. This historical story is conveyed through a couple of fictional characters, whom playwright R.A. Shiomi created based on many stories he read and learned about, talking to several descendants of these soldiers. Our two main heroes are Koji Kimura, a hard-working young man raised on a farm in California who struggles with his studies but is determined to succeed, and Tamio Takahashi, a smart, confident, and wise-cracking young man. Both train at the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS), located at Camp Savage in Minnesota, because even though these students speak Japanese at various levels of proficiency, they need to learn the specific military lingo. They're taught by the stern
John Aiso, the one historical figure in the play, the highest ranking Japanese American in the U.S. Army who went on to become the first Japanese American judge in the contiguous U.S.
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a little R&R with the locals (Erik Ohno Dagoberg, Clay Man Soo,
Stephanie Anne Bertumen, and Kendall Kent, photo by Rick Spaulding) |
The first act takes us through Tamio and Koji's training, and in the second act we follow them as they're deployed overseas. Koji becomes an expert interrogator by making a human connection with the Japanese soldiers he's interviewing, and Tamio takes big risks for big rewards in reconnaissance missions with the famous "
Merrill's Marauders" in Burma. While overseas, both write letters to their girlfriends back home; Koji had begun dating a Japanese American woman studying at Macalester, and Tamio became engaged to a local White woman he met at a dance. The letters allow us to see a softer side of the soldiers amidst the difficulties of war. Eventually, the war ends and the soldiers return home, if they were lucky enough to survive.
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school is over, time to ship out (Erik Ohno Dagoberg, Josh Kwon,
Clay Man Soo, and Song Kim, photo by Rick Spaulding) |
Theater Mu's founding Artistic Director R.A. (Rick) Shiomi asked Mu's recent AD Lily Tung Crystal to come back to Minnesota from her new position as AD of
East West Players in L.A., the largest Asian American theater in the country, to direct this play. It's the first time the two former Mu ADs have worked together on a project, and it proves to be a successful partnership. Rick has been developing the play over several workshops at History Theatre, and with Lily's help has refined it into a dynamic, engaging, and cohesive story, well-staged on the multiple levels and locations provided by the set. The super talented cast includes Clay Man Soo as the sweet and earnest Koji; Erik Ohno Dagoberg portraying Tamio with youthful bravado that gives way to battle weariness; Stephanie Anne Bertumen and Kendall Kent as the girlfriends back home, bringing some femininity to this "very masculine" story (as Kendall noted in the talkback); Rich Remedios as Aiso in Act I and a Japanese Captain in Act II; Paul LaNave as the Lieutenant in charge of MISLS who becomes a friend to the men (and various other characters in Act II); and Song Kim, Josh Kwon, and Tony Larkin as multiple characters in the story.
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on the ship to Australia
(Erik Ohno Dagoberg, Tonky Larkin, and
Paul LaNave, photo by Rick Spaulding) |
The very cool and modular set includes barbed wire fences and platforms on either side of the stage, with staircases leading up to them that at intermission are moved to center stage to create a feeling of the battlefield, rotated on a turntable. A raised walkway across the back is visible only in the cutout center of the backdrop, upon which projections of various settings are displayed. Costumes include realistic WWII era soldiers' uniforms, both the formal khaki back home and the battle-worn camouflage, and lovely '40s dresses for the women. (Scenic design by Erik Paulson, projection design by Kathy Maxwell, costume design by Meghan Kent.)
Much like the recent Netflix film
The Six Triple Eight, which tells the previously unknown story of Black women who served in WWII, providing an important function that no one else was able to do,
Secret Warriors tells the story of the Japanese Americans who provided an invaluable service to the WWII war effort, risking their lives for a country that unjustly imprisoned their families. With the current administration trying to erase our history, maybe it's up to artists to keep these stories alive. When the history lesson is as well told as
Secret Warriors, it's a pleasure to learn.
