Miss Minidoka 1943
Book by Gary Iwamoto
Music & Lyrics by Gary Iwamoto, Richard Lewis, Lisa Pan, Erin Flory, Diane Wong, Ken Kubota, Stan Asis and Masaye Okano Nakagawa
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November 2 - 12, 2000
Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center
July 15, 2001
Seattle University
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Richard Nguyen Sloniker as Guts, Drew
Dalire as Skibo, Leilani Berinobis-
Wollam as Eppie and Audrey Fan as
Amy in a scene from ReAct's
Miss Minidoka 1943.
Photo: David Hsieh.
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Moi as Takako, Kathy Hsieh as
Amy, Maydene Pang as Kathy,
Masaye Okano Nakagawa as Sensei
and Bob Lee as Matsutake Man in
ReAct's Miss Minidoka 1943.
Photo: David Hsieh.
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The Program
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The Setting
Minidoka Internment Camp, Idaho, Winter 1943.
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Musical Numbers
ACT 1
Nothing To Do Blues - The Company
Miss Minidoka - Eppie, Skibo, Guts
Shifty's Song - Shifty
Guilt Makes Me Go - Amy, Kathy, Takako, Sensei, Matsutake Man
Don't Enryo - Chieko
Nisei Blues - Eppie
On King Street - Guts, Skibo, The Company
ACT 2
Matsutake Man Song - Matsutake Man, Guts
Matsutake Man Song (Reprise) - Guts
Nisei Girl in Hollywood - Amy, The Company
Don't Enryo (Reprise) - Guts, Chieko
Sensei's Song - Sensei
Miss Minidoka (Reprise) - The Company
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Bob Lee with Masaye Okano
Nakagawa, Leilani Berinobis-
Wollam, Drew Dalire and Ivan
Dinh in ReAct's Miss Minidoka 1943.
Photo: David Hsieh.
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Marc delaCruz, Leilani Berinobis-
Wollam, Masaye Okano Nakagawa,
Ivan Dinh and Kathy Hsieh in
ReAct's Miss Minidoka 1943.
Photo: David Hsieh.
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Miss Minidoka 1943
originally opened on January 27, 1987 as the first play produced in the newly
opened Theatre Off Jackson in Seattle by the Northwest Asian American Theatre.
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Production Notes
Director's Notes
(with excerpts from an interview with Gary Iwamoto by Masaye Okano Nakagawa)
In 1942, over 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry living in the United States, were forced to leave their homes and live in relocation centers set up in desolate areas of the country. Though suspected as spies, there has never been a single shred of evidence found, that any of the people incarcerated were spies or had ever planned on being spies for Japan. In fact, two-thirds of the people imprisoned were American citizens, born and raised in this country. Even FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt stood up against having these camps. And despite the courageous efforts of the all-Japanese American battalion, the camps remained in existence throughout the war until the Supreme Court finally ordered that they be shut down.
Many have wondered how one can possibly do a musical comedy based on the Internment Camps and still have an authentic show. Amazingly enough, Gary Iwamoto was able to accomplish such a feat. Iwamoto was working on Gordon Hirabayashi’s coram nobis case when he was inspired to write a play about the internment camps. But rather than focusing on the negative aspects of camp life, he focused instead on the Issei (first-generation Japanese) trait of enduring and making the best of the situation (gaman) and their feelings of "it can’t be helped" (shikata ga nai). He wanted to concentrate on the fun times people had experienced in camp without losing sight of the many injustices.
Bob Lee as Matsutake Man in
ReAct's Miss Minidoka 1943
Photo: David Hsieh.
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Though he was concerned that by looking at the internment experience in a lighter tone, he might offend those who felt more serious about the subject. However those fears were put aside at soon as the show originally opened. Response to the show was overwhelmingly positive, especially from those who had been incarcerated themselves. Many loved the humor in the play and felt that Iwamoto had accurately portrayed life in camp and issues of importance. The play follows the timeline of the real competition in Camp Minidoka, which was to select the camp "Sweetheart." The contest was announced on January 27, 1943 and the actual pageant held on February 13, 1943.
Meanwhile on January 29, 1943 the War Department did announce that they were seeking Japanese Americans volunteers from the camps and Hawaii to form an all-Japanese-American regimental combat unit. Iwamoto pulled many of his storyline details directly from the camp newspaper headlines. In addition to the pageant and the military recruitment, the ptomaine poisoning, rendezvous in the laundry room, and the nine women in camp recruited to be fire wardens, are just some of the other details. Over the last three years, my "day" job has been touring a play about the Japanese American internment for Living Voices. And one of the most common questions I receive is, how did the Japanese American community respond to their incarceration? Were they angry? Are they bitter? and amazingly enough, the Japanese American community as a whole was and are not angry or bitter about what had happened to them. They decided to make the best of the situation. Usually the best wa
y to get through the darkest times in our lives is not to view ourselves as the victims of the situation, but to look on the bright side and know that with hope in hand, we can get through any situation. And in a sense, that is what this play is about.
Miss Minidoka 1943 is an example of - if we must live with it, then let’s do what we can to "keep the spirits up." In each of the ten camps for families of Japanese descent set up by the government, the internees found ways to make their days more passable -- rather than allow themselves to be the victims of the situation, they came up with ways to make the best of the situation -- they started baseball teams and bands, they set up classes and libraries, they formed choirs and drama clubs, they published newspapers and yearbooks, they had dances and Christmas parties, and yes in Minidoka they even put on a beauty pageant! So this musical is a tribute to all the people who still managed to find the hope and appreciate the beauty that exists in life, despite the tragic circumstances they were placed in.
A very special thanks to Bea Kiyohara who directed the wold premiere of Miss Minidoka 1943 and gave me my first opportunity to work on this show. To Al Chang, Lisa Pan, Susan Mayeno, Stan Asis, Blaise Cordero, Nina Escadero, Nora Rebusit, Lee Ann Yabuki, and Eddie Zuniga who were cast with me and helped to develop the show. To Ken Katsumoto, Kerry Kumasaka, Audrey Fan, and Masaye Okano Nakagawa who joined in for the first production and helped to develop the script and their characters further. And to David Kobayashi, Nancy Calos Nakano, Nancy Griffiths, Deirdre delaCruz, Antonio del Rosario, Winston Rocha, Tim Gojio, Tiffany Hanako Saito, David Hsieh and Manuel Cawaling, who all have played roles in subsequent runs and contributed ideas that helped make the script what it is today. Also thanks to all the previous musicians, composers, designers, production crews, Bengie Santos and Uncle Bob Santos for all of your generous support of the show. And
especially to Gary Iwamoto, who got the whole ball rolling in the first place.
--Kathy Hsieh, Director of Miss Minidoka 1943
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ReAct's presentation of Miss Minidoka 1943
was presented with permission from GARY IWAMOTO.
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Special Thanks To...
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Bank of America for rehearsal space
The Cast & Crew for production support
Manuel R. Cawaling for production support
Ron Choi for production support
Civic Light Opera for loaned costumes
Driftwood Players for loaned costumes
The Elliott Bay Book Company for promotional support
Freeholf Studio/Theatre Lab for rehearsal space
Justus George for production support
George Paul Glanzman for production support
Daniel Gonzalez for production support
Lorna Hee for production support
David Kobayashi for production support
The Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center for production support
Living Voices for production support
Charlene Mano for production support
Jim Nakamura for production support
Northwest Asian American Theatre for loaned props
Lisa Pan for production support
Colleen Parker for production support
Mayumi Tsutakawa for production support
Patti West for production support
The Wing Luke Asian Museum for production support
Craig Wollam for production support
Rick Wong & Rk Productions for videography
Kim Anh Yanda for production support
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