By Staff
Northwest Asian Weekly
Breaking the Silence, a play about the Japanese American experience in the United States over three generations, will be performing a benefit show on June 8 at the United Methodist Church to raise funds for the cast and crew to travel to Hiroshima to perform the play in late July and early August.
The play, written by Seattle-born Nisei actor and writer Nikki Nojima Louis, was originally performed in 1985 to benefit the Gordon Hirabayashi civil disobedience case, eventually raising over $10,000 for the defense fund. Louis spent her early childhood at the Japanese internment camp at Minidoka, Idaho. Herb Tsuchiya, a member of the cast, was also a child at Minidoka.
“We children of internment are the last generation alive to experience that injustice,” Tsuchiya said. “Nikki and I are bridges between people, cultures, and stories.”
Breaking the Silence will be celebrating its 28th anniversary with a performance in Japan sponsored by the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima. Funds raised from the benefit show will go toward travel expenses for the cast and crew, including actors Chisao Hata, Steve Sumida, Nikki Nojima Louis, Kim Louis, Michael Stern, Joyce Nakamura, Herb Tsuchiya, and guest performer Reverend Brooks Andrews. (end)
The Breaking the Silence Benefit show will take place June 8 at 7 p.m. at the United Methodist Church. Tax-deductible donations are being accepted. For more information, call 206-860-6005.
Northwest Asian Weekly staff can be contacted at info@nwasianweekly.com.