ABOUT THE PLAY

July 2017 Performance, Rogue Machine Theatre, Hollywood, CA

“Not since Philip Kan Gotanda’s After the War (2007) has there been a production in The City depicting the Japanese American experience spawned by F.D.R.’s infamous Presidential Executive Order 9066, which required the internment of all continental Japanese Americans. Bits of Paradise places its footprint on the timeline of a much needed theatrical examination of the Asian American journey." --ASIAN WEEK

Bits of Paradise: Kochiyama's Crusaders

Staged reading at Rogue Machine Theatre (Hollywood, CA) and Founders Metropolitan Community Church  (2017)

Ariel Kayoko Labasan..........................Yuri Kochiyama (aka "Mary Nakahara")

Douglas N. Hachiya.............................Bill Kochiyama & Various Soldiers of 442nd Infantry

Jacky Jung...........................................Various Crusaders

Zoe Jean Kim.......................................Various Crusaders

Scott Shima..........................................Various Soldiers of 442nd Infantry

Mack Wei.............................................Various Soldiers of 442nd Infantry

Marlan Warren....................................Filmmaker
Written by Marlan Warren with Ariel Kayoko Labasan
Co-Produced by Marlan Warren and Ariel Kayoko Labasan
Directed by Marlan Warren


Bits of Paradise is a Readers Theater one-act play that celebrates a little-recognized war effort of “interned” Japanese American girls and women who were held behind the barbed wire of U.S. concentration camps during World War II (aka “The Japanese American Internment”) because of their Japanese heritage. Led by 20-year old budding activist, Mary Nakahara, and calling themselves “The Crusaders,” these “prisoners of war” mounted a morale-boosting letter-writing campaign that included fun circulars that went out to “any soldier in need of a letter.”

Their campaign began at the start of the “internment” and ended on D-Day. The play moves back and forth in time—from Japanese American soldiers’ letters reporting horrific battle details and their effect on the young women to the future, which includes Reparation Hearings and an interview with octogenarian Mary Nakahara (now renamed “Yuri Kochiyama”) that focuses on her nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize after a lifetime of tireless civil rights activism.

Bits of Paradise melds a collage of voices, dance, pantomime, and song. All text is verbatim from actual correspondence in The Crusaders Scrapbook in the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) archives; Reparation Hearing testimony; and interviews. It also features monologues adapted from The Diary of Hatsuye Egami.

Bits of Paradise: Kochiyama's Crusaders expanded the original content to include historic and personal moments from Yuri Kochiyama's amazing life and times. The celebrated and tireless human rights activist was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, years after her picture ended up on the cover of Life, holding Malcolm X's head after his assassination.

PRESS RELEASE

Rogue Machine Theatre Hosts Staged Reading: "Bits of Paradise: Kochiyama's Crusaders" by Marlan Warren with Ariel Kayoko Labasan

At the invitation of Rogue Machine Theatre in Hollywood, "Bits of Paradise: Kochiyama's Crusaders" will be presented as a staged reading on July 19 (3pm and 8pm) and July 20 (8pm). The play, by Marlan Warren in collaboration with Ariel Kayoko Labasan focuses on a women's movement founded by renowned human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama when she was known as 20-year old "Mary Nakahara" and incarcerated in U.S. concentration camps during World War II with her fellow Japanese Americans. Calling themselves "The Crusaders," the girls and women mobilized a morale-boosting letter-writing campaign that ensured that "any soldier missing a letter" would receive mail.

"The performances will be more 'staged' than 'reading,'" explained Warren, who co-produces with Labasan, and directs the play. "Some actors may not be holding scripts, and there will be action sequences, props and costumes."

Warren originally directed and produced "Bits of Paradise" as a Reader's Theater piece at The Marsh Theatre in San Francisco in 2008.

"Bits of Paradise places its footprint on the timeline of a much-needed theatrical examination of the Asian American journey."--Asian Week

Recently, the play was reworked and re-titled "Bits of Paradise: Kochiyama's Crusaders," after Warren joined forces with actor/playwright Ariel Kayoko Labasan, whose solo show, "Yuri Speaks Out!" played to packed houses at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Labasan will reprise her role as Yuri Kochiyama, portraying the activist from ages 20 to 84.

"My first encounter with Yuri Kochiyama was while I was in New York," said Labasan. "As an actor, I was seeking out roles that made me feel braver. I searched online for 'strong Asian American women in history'...and suddenly she popped up!"

"We wish to thank Rogue Machine Theatre for this amazing opportunity," said Warren. "They are currently featuring 'Les Blancs' by Lorraine Hansberry, and their set looks exactly like the interior of a Japanese American Internment barracks."

"Before she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and before she held Malcolm X while he lay dying and before she occupied the Statue of Liberty in protest of injustice, Yuri Kochiyama was a young woman in love named Mary Nakahara whose fiancé, Bill Kochiyama, had volunteered to fight in order to prove loyalty to the U.S. while the people he loved were held in an American concentration camp.

"It sounds like a very dark time, and in fact it was," said Warren. "But the contents of The Crusaders Scrapbook in the Japanese American National Museum are full of humor and cheer and flirtations." In 2001, Warren was granted permission by JANM to adapt the scrapbook into a play for educational purposes.

The cast members are a mix of Asian American heritage, including two--Douglas N. Hachiya and Scott Shima--who have family members who fought in the legendary 442nd Combat Team.

The play is an ensemble effort, as Warren notes: "Actor Mack Wei has outfitted the men with uniforms and rifles from a short film he made, and Progressive Rags print shop owner, Radical Jack, in Miami, Fla. has donated three 'Free Mumia Abul-Jamal' t-shirts for Yuri to wear."

The young women playing The Crusaders will also appear as octogenarians being interviewed for a documentary. In fact, Warren has been making a film with the elderly "Original Crusaders" since 2008 ("What did you do in the War, Mama?: Kochiyama's Crusaders").

"Working with this material has been a healing process," said Warren. "For those whose family history incurred these scars, it is very personal. And for those of us who feel empathetic with its story of loss and love, it is also very meaningful.

PHOTOS

Crusaders: Hello, boys! Are we bothering you for the 15th time or the 50th? Well, hello again! And hello some more!

Soldier: We're sorely in need of pinups if you can provide them.

Crusader: We're happy to give you a "close up" but some of you asked for a "clothes up"!

      Documentary Filmmaker: What keeps you going?
      Yuri Kochiyama: Racism still exists...oppression still exists...and that's what keeps you fighting.

Photos by Michael J. Labasan


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• Bits of Paradise by Marlan Warren
  Excerpts presented as Reader's Theater at The Marsh Theatre (San Francisco) (2008)

(Bits of Paradise Cast: Women L-R Linda Wang, Pisha Warden, Connie Kim and Chanelle Yang as Mary Nakahara/Yuri Kochiyama). Men L-R Wilton Yu, Wesley Cayabab, Jean Franco. Photo by Marlan Warren


Bits of Paradise Original Cast: San Francisco

Bits of Paradise was showcased at The Marsh Theater in San Francisco in 2008.
Playwright/Producer/Director: Marlan Warren

Chanelle Yang............Mary Nakahara (Young Yuri Kochiyama)
Pisha Warden.............Hatsuye Egami/Crusader
Linda Wang...............Older Yuri Kochiyama/Crusader
Connie Kim...............Crusader
Jean Franco.............Soldier
Wesley Cayabab........Soldier
Wilton Yu..................Soldier

Bits of Paradise Review: ASIAN WEEK [11/29/08]

L-R Marlan Warren, Yuri Kochiyama, Ruth Ishizaki

New play based on Japanese American WWII internment letters

 

With the commemoration of the bombing of Pearl Harbor fast approaching, local playwright Marlan Warren’s Bits of Paradise arrives at an appropriate time. Based on letters written between Japanese American girls and women in the U.S. internment camps and Japanese American soldiers during World War II, Bits of Paradise is a 20-minute piece that is slated to be a full production one day.

A culmination of eight years of researching and gathering on the subject, Warren takes on a little-known factoid in the history of the war at home. In the play, a cast of seven takes the audience back in time to the nadir of Japanese American morale. A young internee by the name of Yuri Kochiyama (born Mary Nakahara) inspired her friends to start a letter-writing campaign to the Japanese American 442nd regimental combat team to raise the boys’ spirits. The group of letter writers became known as “The Crusaders” and the play, an ode to Kochiyama, comes to fruition onstage as actors read verbatim excerpts from these missives.

The play was a lesson in history for the actors as much as a means to broaden their horizons. “I feel a sense of pride and a sense of identity,” said Jean Franco who portrayed one of the soldiers. “I wouldn’t have known about this part of history if I hadn’t done this project.”

Fifteen-year-old Chanelle Yang, who gives a spirited performance as the young Kochiyama, expressed her honor of playing this role and was inspired by the fact that Kochiyama was in the audience on opening night. (Kochiyama transitioned from writing letters to becoming a crusader of a different type — as an icon in the socio-political activist movement and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2005.)

Not since Philip Kan Gotanda’s After the War (2007) has there been a production in The City depicting the Japanese American experience spawned by F.D.R.’s infamous Presidential Executive Order 9066, which required the internment of all continental Japanese Americans. Bits of Paradise places its footprint on the timeline of a much needed theatrical examination of the Asian American journey.

VIDEO CLIP

Video clip from Bits of Paradise performance (amateur video).  The show ran for two nights. More clips are on YouTube on Marlan Warren's Channel.

This excerpt opens with a verbatim letter written by a Japanese American soldier to a Japanese American chaplain venting his anger and frustration.

Yuri Kochiyama and Ruth Ishizaki , Opening Night, San Francisco
Photo by Victoria Yang

Civil Rights, Women’s Rights and Anti-War Themes

Thematically, given these turbulent political times and talk of incarcerating Muslims in U.S. concentration camps, this play is more relevant than ever. In fact, when similar talk occurred in 2001 after 9/11, it was the Japanese American community that was the first to come forward to voice opposition. With Women’s Marches for women’s rights happening across the U.S., Bits of Paradise, serves as a beacon of hope for anyone who wonders how they can survive and transcend oppression.

Although The Crusaders supported their troops, they did not advocate war. In fact, the Japanese American soldiers were forced to fight to prove their “loyalty” while their families were behind held in camps, and many resisted this draft. When Mary Nakahara became Yuri Kochiyama, she said in a TV interview that her greatest wish was for all U.S.-involved wars to end.

Educational Value

Bits of Paradise is a learning experience on both sides of the footlights. In San Francisco production, the actors were ages 16 to early 20s. Only Pisha Warden had any Japanese heritage (an interned grandmother) and the rest were of various Asian extractions. In working with the material, they had deep revelations on historical and personal levels. A shocking number of people have never heard of the "Japanese American Internment," and if they have, some may be ignorant of the inhumane details (one audience member said after the show, "I thought it was like going to summer camp...").

Yuri Kochiyama had progressive views on women's roles and male/female relationships. These come through in her writing as a Crusader, and the soldiers wrote back their side of the "debate" about pre-marital sex in wartime.

Target Audiences

Target audiences: Teens, Women, Asian Americans, War Veterans, Asian American Studies and Women’s Studies students, and of course, those families who were directly affected by the Japanese American internment. Audience support in San Francisco ranged from Japanese Americans (who wept) to Korean Americans (Asian Week reviewer) to Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.

San Francisco audiences—regardless of race or cultural background—were moved by The Crusaders’ story of love and courage. Older people identify with the era, and the younger identify with the joys and sorrows of these brave young people who found a way to transcend oppression. (“It’s not your position in life that counts, it’s your disposition!”)

(L) Linda Wang (R) Wilton Yu (Photos by Marlan Warren)

More Photos from Bits of Paradise: Kochiyama's Crusaders
 (Los Angeles Version at Rogue Machine Theatre)

Below: Ariel Kayoko Labasan and Douglas N. Hachiya (Bottom Right) Jacky Jung and Scott Shima
Photos by Marlan Warren

Ariel Kayoko Labasan and Douglas N. Hachiya (Yuri and Bill Kochiyama)                                            Photo by Marlan Warren, copyright protected

(Top Left) Zoe Jean Kim and Mack Wei (Middle) Jacky Jung, Scott Shima 

(Bottom Right) Scott Shima
Photos by Marlan Warren