By ELLEN ENDO
RAFU CONTRIBUTOR
Eighty years ago on Jan. 2, 1945, Maj. Gen. Henry C. Pratt signed Public Proclamation 21 and, with the stroke of his pen, Japanese Americans were allowed to return to their homes — at least theoretically.
It wasn’t until March 20, 1946, more than a year later, that the last of the incarceration camps finally closed.
The U.S. government’s construction of the 10 wartime camps, however, was accomplished with uncharacteristic speed. In the case of Manzanar, for example, “volunteer” Nisei crews arrived in Owens Valley on March 21, 1942, and by April 11, the hastily assembled barracks housed 3,300 incarcerees.
Composer Daniel Kessner and playwright Lionelle Hamanaka, whose parents were imprisoned at Jerome, Ark. during World War II, capture the incongruities and emotions of the Japanese American wartime experience in their contemporary opera, “The Camp.”
While there have been numerous books, plays, musical theatre, and other works centered on the WWII camps, this will be the first opera to tackle one of the darkest chapters in America’s history. “The Camp,” a full evening performance presented in two acts, tells the story of the Shimono family. Forced to leave their suburban home in Southern California after Executive Order 9066 is issued Feb. 19, 1942, they find them-selves struggling to overcome the emotional and physical toll of incarceration.
World premiere of “The Camp” will take place on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo, coinciding with the 83rd anniversary of the solemn Day of Remembrance. It is presented in partnership with the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center. There will be three subsequent performances on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2:30 p.m.; Saturday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, March 2, at 2:30 p.m.
The cast of 11 is headed by bass-baritone Roberto Perlas Gomez as Mas Shimono, mezzo-soprano Shu Tran as Haruko Shimono, and soprano Tiffany Ho as Suzy Shimono. Habin Kim, Patrick Tsoi-A-Sue, Krishna Raman, Sarah Wang, Steve Moritsugu, Dennis Rupp, Hisato Masuyama, and Jamie Sanderson round out the cast.
Diana Wyenn serves as the stage director and Steven Hofer leads the 22-piece chamber orchestra.
Los Angeles-born Kessner is of Ukrainian-Jewish heritage. He studied with Henri Lazar at UCLA, where he received his Ph.D. with distinction in composition in 1971. A flutist, he became interested in Japanese music in the mid-1970s and studied the shakuhachi.
An award-winning artist, he is currently emeritus professor of music at CSU Northridge. His works have received over 1,000 performances worldwide.
Hamanaka is a Sansei born in New York City. She credits her father, Conrad Yama, a character actor who pursued a Ph.D. in philosophy, with stimulating her interest in great literature and theatre.
She has won multiple writing awards and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. She has studied kabuki and noh with Benito Ortalani at Brooklyn College and in 2018 co-founded the Crossways Theatre to portray New York City’s racial and ethnic diversity.
Reservations may be made at: https://jaccc.org/events/the-camp-an-opera-in-two-acts/