"Unique Is Fantastique: Puppet Play Creatively Brings JA Experience to Light"
The story about the Japanese American experience has been told many times before, but never quite like this.
Lunatique Fantastique’s “E.O. 9066” is a performance about the forcible removement of persons of Japanese descent to concentration camps during World War II.
Using puppets.
When she approached organizers of the 60th anniversary of the closing of the Topaz concentration camp this year, Artistic Director Liebe Wetzel was met with a puzzled, somewhat skeptical reaction.
“You wanna do a puppet show for our reunion?”was the initial response, she said.
“E.O. 9066” is the story of a Japanese American familyís experience during World War II, from a samurai’s journey to America to the post-war effects and of course, the Topaz (Central Utah) concentration camp in between.
The Lunatique Fantastique puppeteers skillfully utilize their six pairs of hands and everyday household objects to create characters, settings, scenery and the story itself. The self-described “manipulators,” dressed completely in black ó including black masks and gloves ó quickly disappear into the background, bringing the show to life using “found objects.” In this case, objects that include teapots, hashi, sand and even an actual metal mess hall plate used in the Topaz concentration camp.
Each object, though simple, is put to use in a variety of creative ways and allows scenes to seamlessly merge, one into the next. From part of the background to part of a character to itself, many of the objects play several roles. Hashi are first a samurai’s sword, become a seagull during the samurai’s trip across the ocean to America, then are used in their traditional sense as part of a table setting. This table setting also includes a Japanese teapot and two teacups, which become a mother and her two sons...and so on. In this way, individual scenes become one continuous story that leaves one afraid to blink for fear of missing out on yet another impressively fluid change of scenes.
The objects, as used to compose the characters, are delightfully surprising in their versatility. While some of the characters could be considered “detailed,” such as President Franklin Roosevelt, who is represented only by a pair of hands, glasses and actual plates from the Topaz camp as wheelchair wheels, the main characters are even simpler. A Japanese mother and her two sons are only a tea set and three pieces of cloth.
Wetzel, artistic director and “object choreographer,” founded the Lunatique Fantastique troupe in 2000. One of Wetzel’s close friends was Donna Nomura Dobkin, a fellow puppeteer whose parents had been forcibly removed to Topaz.
After hearing about what happened to Dobkin’s parents and the thousands of other people of Japanese descent, Wetzel realized that this part of American history “was not something I’d known about because I grew up in Texas, where history is a selective subject.”
When Dobkin passed away from cancer in 2001, Wetzel decided to do a piece about the incarceration experience in memory of her friend.
To better educate themselves, Wetzel and her company researched the history of the Japanese American experience, interviewing about 35 people. She estimates that approximately 75 percent of the information and details included in the “E.O. 9066” performance is based on interviews, with the remainder coming from written sources, including books like Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s “Farewell to Manzanar.”
It is difficult to describe in words and even photographs the life and range of emotions that the manipulators are capable of breathing into the characters, from the love between and the childish playfulness of two brothers, to sadness and despair. Despite the simplicity of the settings and physical make-up of the characters, even topics such as the loyalty oath are clearly and effectively portrayed. The elder son’s thought process as he struggles with the impossible question of having to decide if he was Japanese “or” American is represented by his consideration of his samurai ancestor on one “shoulder” and his white American friend (who, in contrast to the Japanese teacup-head that represents the Nisei son, has a head made of the sugar holder from a western-style tea set).
Even more impressive is that all of these events are conveyed using a minimum number of words during the entire 60-minute performance.
Despite the initial reaction, “E.O. 9066” was performed in June of this year at the Topaz Museum and received a “wonderful” response, said Wetzel, particularly from the younger generation whose parents and grandparents who had been in the camp were previously unable to talk about it. After the show, however, they were more open about their experience.
“We use our performances to give voice to populations that do not have a voice.”
Lunatique Fantastique’s “E.O. 9066” is showing on Oct. 13, 14, 15, 20 and 21, 7 p.m., at the Marsh Berkeley Theatre, 2120 Allston Way. $5 of each ticket sold will be donated to the Topaz Museum Board toward buying 92 acres of the former Topaz (Central Utah) concentration camp site. Ticket purchasers must mention “Topaz” when ordering. Tickets are on a sliding scale for Thursday and Friday shows and $22 for Saturday shows. For more info, call (415) 826-5750 or visit www.themarsh.org.