www.CherryBlossomFestivalSoCal.org
Presents
A Touring Show
"CAMP STORIES”
This
Show gives ‘voice’ to images and impressions of life before, during, and after
the WWII Internment Camps of the Japanese Americans.
Third “Camp Stories” will be on:
When: Cherry Blossom "Fall" Festival– Sept 24th. & 25th.
Where: David Henry Hwang Theater - East West Players
What: Highlighting voices of “before– during – after” stories during WWII – Introduction by Art Hansen, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Cal State Fullerton-Plus Internment Photo Exhibit by Photographer Stone Ishimaru - Special Guests - Artist Chizuko Judy Sugita de Queiroz & Author Russell Shoho ("From The Battlefields to the Home Front the Kazuo Masuda Legacy") then it has the two guys from gardena - Johnny “Kiki” Pal & Kiyo Suzuki. AFTER the two guys from gardena - SPECIAL "Work-in-Progress" documentary presentation - THE MANZANAR FISHING CLUB: THE FIRST 20 MINUTES with Director/Producer Cory Shiozaki & Writer/Producer Richard Imamura.
Storytellers: Roberta Martinez, Co-founder/Executive Director Latino Heritage & Author "Latinos in Pasadena" and LaQuetta Shamblee, Founder/Executive Director of The Instrumental Women Project.
Cost: Free
If
you are or know of a Pasadena resident we may contact, please notify Wendy
Anderson at wowproductions2@earthlink.net or 626-683-8243.
This
will be a “free” public event. We are seeking sponsors, underwriters & donors so we can keep this a
free public event as it tours around Southern CA. We are also seeking volunteers who have ‘production’
experience that may be able to help with compiling stories, videos, and music.
From
Wendy Anderson as an example of what we are seeking: Both my parents have passed on. So my impressions of their life before, during, and after
are from what they have told me, or my memory of it.
-
My father was one of
the artists who carved and created the “Manzanar Sign”.
My mother attended Manzanar
High School and was Homecoming Queen the year the camp closed and there is
a beautiful photo of her in the Year Book.
-
My parents met in camp.
-
My mother was from
Terminal Island and Terminal Island was considered a bit rough, so as she
dated, she didn’t want “boys” knowing she was from those barracks and
would meet dates at her friend’s barracks.
-
My mother said she
thought the world hated them and the only ones who cared about them were
Christians who brought presents at Christmas.
-
My father was an artist
and hired by a firm after camp, but because he was of Japanese descent, he
could not work in the front room with the other artists and had to sit in
the back room and they would not let him sign his pieces (ceramics and
pottery plates, etc.).
-
Prior to camp, my Dad
attended Van Nuys High School, and from my recollection, Van Nuys High
School was not sure what would happen after the war, so they issued my
father a High School diploma early so he would have one.
-
Manzanar and the lack
of opportunity for an 18 year old when she was released affected my mother
deeply. It wasn’t until the
late 80’s that she would finally release and open her heart to her
experiences in camp.
-
After release from the
Internment Camps, it’s always ironic that then he becomes a soldier in the
United States Army.
Reading Sample from "Camp Stories 1"
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