“The Camp” – an opera about the incarceration of Japanese American citizens during WWII
by Bondo Wyszpolski
Somewhat overshadowed by the plethora of art fairs this past weekend, there was also fine theater to be savored, and among the works that premiered on Saturday was “The Camp” (an opera in two acts), composed by Daniel Kessner with a libretto by Lionelle Hamanaka. It was performed at the Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo and will be reprised again this Saturday and Sunday, March 1 and 2.
This fictional story of the Shimono family is straightforward and informative, engaging and emotionally moving throughout. In the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt ordered those of Japanese descent living on the West Coast to be relocated (forcibly removed might be a better word) to what were hastily built, large-scale prisons, situated in mostly inhospitable areas. It was feared or simply assumed that their allegiance would be to Japan and Hirohito and not to the United States.
The executive order was clearly unmerited, an overreaction, and an everlasting stain on our country’s history: Most of those ordered to leave their homes were American citizens and law abiding. Nonetheless, some 120,000 Japanese Americans gave up their homes and livelihoods.
Mas Shimono (Roberto Perlas Gómez) is the head of his household, husband to Haruko (Alexandra Bass) and father to elder daughter Suzuko/Suzy (Tiffany Ho) and younger daughter Rebecca (Habin Kim). Mas is a fisherman and is arrested on suspicion of aiding the enemy; the rest of the family is taken to the Santa Anita Racetrack for processing and then sent to one of the detainment facilities.
Several months later, Mas is allowed to reunite with his family, who have in the meantime made the best of their makeshift cabin, which is unable to ward off the extremes of summer or winter.
The incidents that follow are drawn from various sources, and the camp is unnamed, but could well be based on Manzanar in Central California.
There are several storylines at work, including the budding romance between Suzy and Nobu (Patrick Tsoi-A-Sue), a young man who, in the eyes of family patriarch Mas, has no redeemable future. Mas forbids his daughter to associate with him, and then later tells her that she’s too young to be a widow. Another storyline is that of Rebecca’s perpetual cough, the result of pneumonia contracted while the family was at Santa Anita. We also witness the bonds that hold the Mas family together and the strains that tug at it, as when Haruko changes her hairstyle and Mas violently objects. What we really sense as the opera progresses is the frustration that mounts as Mas realizes that his former role as protector and provider has been taken from him, and also that he can’t uphold or impose traditional beliefs on his family when life for all of them has changed so drastically.
“The Camp” has its moments of euphoria as well as those of despair. When Rebecca has her 12th birthday it is a wistful occasion, because we know that her illness is fatal. Somewhat later, seeing Mas linger over a child’s kite that was given to Rebecca, a kite that she never had the chance to fly, may induce a tear.
There are also troubles with the camp authorities, and when an unscrupulous supervisor, Edwards (Dennis Rupp), is caught by Mas stealing sugar, it’s Mas who finds himself accused. However, we know that Mas is an honest man, albeit a strict husband and father, and Gómez conveys his many moods and internal conflicts.
While the libretto is at times reserved and spare (the characters are not exactly fleshed out), the music is uniformly impressive, fluid rather than harsh although with an innovative use of Japanese-sounding percussion. It is also, like Wagner’s music, rather continuous, and so, after the fine duet by Suzy and Nobu, where in a Verdi or Puccini number there’d be a pause and the audience would applaud, the music continues unabated. And that’s how it should be here, for this is predominantly a somber, thought-provoking, and intimate work.
Especially noteworthy is the percussive introduction in which the cast participates, and which ends the opera as well, which is performed live by a thoroughly capable midsize orchestra conducted by Steven F. Hofer.
Set changes consist of repositioning what mostly serves as the Mas household, quickly assembled wooden shacks. Nothing complex, and yet it effectively conveys the hardscrabble existence that the family had to survive. The lighting is primarily lowkey, in keeping with the largely restrained presentation and mood of the story.
The singers do an excellent job, the four members of the Shimono family in particular, with additional performances, in addition to those mentioned, by Krishna Raman, Sarah Z. Wang, Steve Moritsugu, Hisato Masuyama, and Jamie Sanderson. I believe that everyone in the cast is L.A. based; Gómez is a South Bay resident.
To reiterate, the opera is engaging and eye-opening, a window onto an unnecessary tragedy, but without hammering a message. We’re free to take from it what we want. But I will say that it seems especially timely at the moment when we have a loose cannon for a president who appears capable of making draconian decisions that could parallel what was done to the Japanese American community in 1942. Somehow or other, such men gain power but wield it without regard for the consequences.
This fine, must-see production is directed by Diana Wyenn. Scenic design is by Yuri Okahan-Benson, lighting is by Pablo Santiago, and Kathleen Qui designed the costumes.
The Camp is being performed Saturday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 2, at the JACCC Aratani Theatre, 244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles (in Little Tokyo). Running time is two hours, 15 minutes, including intermission. Tickets, $20 to $85 (with added fees), available at jaccc.org. ER
