This December, immerse yourself in a heartwarming holiday experience that intertwines American history with festive spirit.
“One Puka Puka Christmas,” a concert reading of the new holiday musical, will be presented on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 3 p.m. at Union Church of Los Angeles, 401 E. Third St. (at San Pedro Street) in Little Tokyo.
“One Puka Puka Christmas” tells the poignant story of three Japanese American soldiers during World War II — two from Hawaii and one Nisei mainlander — who, despite their differences, are united by duty. (One Puka Puka refers to Hawaii’s 100th Infantry Battalion).
Assigned to visit a Japanese American concentration camp, they confront personal conflicts and the harsh realities of internment. Through their involvement in a struggling camp talent show, they discover resilience, camaraderie, and the true spirit of the season.
The musical is a collaborative creation by Sachiko and Dom Magwili, co-authors of the book and lyrics, and Dan Taguchi, composer.
Sachiko Magwili, who was at Heart Mountain during the war, said, “We wanted to celebrate and honor the older Japanese Americans. We hope our audiences find healing and laughter as well. We are fortunate to have our actors tell this story. Many of them have had relatives in the camps, served in the 442nd, the Military Intelligence Service, and were resisters. Some of our cast had relatives in the camps in Germany. This show is a tribute to them. It is a personal statement for all of us.”
Taguchi, who had relatives in Manzanar and Rohwer, had this to say about this history: “As a child, I heard my parents and aunts and uncles talk about ‘camp’ very casually. It sounded like a fun thing — ‘I went to camp with Dickie.’ It was not until my sophomore year at UCLA that I found out the truth about the internment. Later on, I learned much more thanks to the redress movement. I am dedicated to spreading awareness about the internment in hopes that something like that never happens again.”
Dom Magwili, who is directing this concert, said, “This musical is an acknowledgment of the resilience and tenacity of Japanese Americans during one of our nation’s most challenging times. This story honors their spirit and celebrates the enduring power of hope and community. We need this more than ever. We need art and literature to humanize and sustain us. We need it to offer meaning, connection, and resilience. It is how we will survive.”
Tickets are $20 and are available at unionchurchla.org.
This event is co-sponsored by the George and Sakaye Aratani C.A.R.E. Award and UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center, with East West Players serving as the fiscal receiver.
The Creative Team
Sachiko Magwili had a lead role in the first Asian American dramatic feature film, “Hito Hata.” She received rave reviews for her part in the critically acclaimed show “The Golden Hour,” written by Phil Chung and produced by Lodestone Theatre.
Magwili has appeared on episodes of “M*A*S*H,” “Becker,” and “My Wife and Kids.” She has graced many stage productions such as “Three Sisters,” “Happy End,” and “Into the Woods” at East West Players and the world premiere of the Asian American opera “On Golden Mountain.”
Along with her husband, Dom Magwili, she wrote, directed, and produced the holiday musical “A Jive Bomber’s Christmas,” which has been produced from 1993 to 2004 at such venues as the Japanese American National Museum and community centers and churches throughout the Southland and Hawaii.
Dom Magwili is a distinguished actor, director, playwright, author, and educator with a career spanning decades. In 2008 he earned his MFA in acting from CSU Long Beach, where he later designed and taught innovative courses integrating Asian American studies and performance techniques.
Magwili has held academic positions at CSU Fullerton, where he taught “Asian American Film & Video” from 2021 to 2024, and at UCLA, where he served as a guest lecturer for courses such as “Somatic Pedagogies: Body and Voice Awareness for Teaching Artists and Facilitators” in 2023 and “Cultural Nights and Performance” in Winter 2020.
His creative accomplishments include the 2001 California Civil Liberties Public Education Program grant, awarded alongside his wife, to adapt their original stage play “A Jive Bomber’s Christmas” into a screenplay. His award-winning play “Christmas in Camp” received the Dramalogue Outstanding Musical award in 1981.
Dan Taguchi earned his teaching credential in music education at UCLA in 1979. He has served as musical director and/or pit conductor for school productions of “Cabaret,” “The Sound of Music,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “The Me Nobody Knows,” “Grease,” “Chicago,” “Into the Woods,” “Anything Goes,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Promises Promises,” and more.
He has worked with East West Players as musical director for “Nisei Widows Club: Holiday on Thin Ice” and “Manzanar: Story of an American Family.”
Taguchi serves as music director at Union Church of Los Angeles and is a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Hall of Fame.
Rehearsal of the finale, “On a Clear and Open Night.”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vsn1_Zt3Lp3vmrFzdgrtCKokUYBk9PE_/view?usp=sharing