Silk Road Theatre Project

Pundits spend a great deal of time discussing the friction between live performance and mass media.  Yet framing this relationship as adversarial ignores the fact that all culture exists in relation to other culture.

This is my fancy way of saying that many people who work in theatre, just like many people elsewhere, spend their rehearsal breaks talking about the Olympics, and go home to watch political convention coverage at the end of the night.

The character of James in Yohen loves boxing, as does the Ernest Perry, Jr., the actor who plays him in our production.  Ernest talking about boxing sounds like talk about the Olympics–respect and awe of the excellence of athletes at their best, of witnessing moments in history where large groups of people watch a great move, of the pride of feeling connected to that greatness.  Both James and his wife Sumi (played by Cheryl Hamada) negotiate their relationship with each other in balance with their relationship to their culture(s).

Meanwhile, national attention has been focused on race through the candidacy of Barack Obama.  The terminology of “multiracial” or “mixed race” has been expanded and critiqued.  In Obama’s words,  “it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.”  As the Democratic and Republican conventions continue, we’ll hear a number of stories redefining how we define ourselves as a nation.  Yohen is one part of this larger conversation.

We’d still love to hear your stories of multiracial or cross-cultural (or whatever word you choose) relationships.  To contribute photos or stories to our exhibit, email litmanage@srtp.org or post here.

Last night at the first rehearsal for Yohen, our tenth show, playwright Philip Kan Gotanda described the play as “a love story that acknowledges that love and living in the real world are really really hard.”

First rehearsal is like a potluck of ideas.

Set designer Lee Keenan talked about the play’s setting in Southern California, in one of the neighborhoods where the military mass-settled Japanese/African-American postwar couples. Lee said he grew up around so many children of these unions that he didn’t think about the difficulties they must have had. (In the play, James recalls his father warning “baby’s gonna have both your troubles and then some…”) One of Lee’s research images shows a row of houses all alike, except that one yard is lushly green, while the neighbor’s yard is wilted brown. He talked about the details of Sumi and James’ house and its history-that a spot on the carpet would show where the TV USED to be.

Gardenia Street

Lighting designer Becca Barrett described lighting inspirations in terms of the moods of Sumi and James’ longterm relationship: the fire of intimacy v. the cooler deeper waters of the unspoken.

Carol Blanchard envisioned the clothes of two people working to express who they are, 40 years after the postwar American 1940s, when they had to wipe clean their stories to fit in. In the case of this couple, they’re moving in opposite directions, and Carol’s costume sketches express this in colors.

Meanwhile, Galen Pejeau has a particularly exciting props task on this production, since he gets to develop Sumi’s artistic vision through the pots she “makes” throughout the play. He’s working with Japanese-inspired potters in the Bloomington area to get original pieces.

And dramaturg Lavina Jadhwani posted some fascinating images of “war brides” and Black GIs in Japan. She also recommends the following, for those looking for some educational end-of-summer reading:

Tsuchino: My Japanese War Bride by Michael J. Forrester

Michi’s Memories:The Story of a Japanese War Bride by Keiko Tamura

An Absent Presence: Japanese Americans in Postwar American Culture by Caroline Chung Simpson
Sayonara by James A. Michener

“I don’t think any play changes the world,” Philip said, “but I do believe a good play can make you feel and think deeply… and enlarge the world we live in.”

In anticipation of Philip Kan Gotanda’s play Yohen, we invite you to share YOUR photos and stories of relationships and families that bring cultures together:

According to the 2000 Census, almost 7 million Americans identify as multiracial, and the number of interracial couples quadrupled between 1970 and 1995.

Yohen depicts the marriage of an African-American veteran and a Japanese woman who met after World War II, who learn surprising things about themselves and each other after years together.

What are the cultures that make us? Our country, state, city, neighborhood? Race? School? Religion? Political party? Our secret dreams? We all live in hybrid worlds, and cross boundaries every day.

The SRTP family began with a cross-culture alliance: our founders, Malik Gillani and Jamil Khoury.

Now we’d like to see and hear your stories and photos of cross-cultural families and relationships. Selected entries will be part of an exhibit during the production of Yohen, and will be displayed here on our blog.

To submit your stories, add a “comment” to this post. To submit photos, create an account to make a new post. Or, if you prefer, simply email your photos and stories to litmanage@srtp.org.

We look forward to hearing from you!