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A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Arm Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 NISEI THEATER: HISTORY, CONTEXT, AND PERSPECTIVE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Robert Russell Cooperman, B.A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1996 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Amy Shuman, Adviser Professor Jon Erickson /Aviser Professor Alan Woods Depanment of English UMI Number; 9630873 Copyright 1996 by Cooperman, Robert Russell All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9630873 Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Copyright by Robert Russell Cooperman 1996 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the heretofore unexamined subject of theater at the Japanese American Relocation Camps of World War Two. Using camp newspapers, interviews with internees, and the limited information about theater (or the arts in general) available from the numerous histories of the internments and oral narratives, this study looks at the Nisei (second generation American citizens of Japanese descent) theater groups vdiich existed at nearly all of the ten camps, and specifically investigates the theatrical practices at six camps: Gila River, Granada, Heart Mountain, Poston, Topaz, and Tule Lake. Productions are described with as much detail as possible and information about resources, acting, and performance space is offered vdien available. A brief liistory of the internments is offered to frame the entire discussion and to place the phenomenon of Nisei theater within the unique context of the internment camps. Two distinct types of Nisei theater are identified: High School and Barrack. Both varieties are defined and exemplified by one or more of the camps discussed. For example, the chapter on Heart Mountain identifies that camp as the quintessential High School theater venue. The chapter on Tule Lake, however, stresses its importance as Barrack theater. Tule Lake becomes the focus of this study since it distinguished itself theatrically and historically. Among the largest of the camps, Tule Lake also had the most extensive and successful repertory. Started, administered, and operated almost exclusively by Nisei internees, the Tule Lake Little Theater became not only an outlet for cultural advancement, but also a pulpit for the frustrations of a populace incarcerated against its will and for no feasible security reason. I contend that the Uttle Theater’s purposeful decision to produce Western one-act plays is paradigmatic of the internees’ need to demonstrate an American birthright denied them by their internment. Utiliang theories of cultural interpretation as well as textual analysis and studies of folk drama, audience, performance, and venue, I analyze not only the plays produced (a number of which contain apt metaphors for the conditions of confinement) but also the connections between text, performers, and spectators and how the specific milieu of an internment camp significantly modified those relationships. Following the six descriptive chapters providing the existing empirical evidence. Nisei theater is examined from a theoretical point of view. This study attempts to place Nisei theater within the larger context of theater and asks fundamental questions regarding the nature of ritual, theater, performance, spectatorship, and venue. Using the work of Victor Turner, the case is made that Nisei theater is a liminal (rather than liminoid) phenomenon, although it possesses a transitional quality which suggests the liminoid. Furthermore, Nisei theater is e?q)lored as a phenomenon of socially conscious art, and the argument is made that this unique form of theater is a fine example of this artform. Ironically, this variety of socially conscious art embraces rather than debunks the status quo, but the level of social consciousness which characterizes contemporary theater is equally present in Nisei theater. Ill Ultimately, this study looks at the various contexts into which one might place the phenomenon of Nisei theater. It is determined that it retains its distinctiveness no matter vriiat context it is put into. This is surely due in part to the uniqueness of the historical realities vriiich created the internment camps themselves. IV To Sandra, Matthew, GW, and Q ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are a great many people I wish to thank for their cooperation and support, starting with my Dissertation Committee. Professor Amy Shuman desen^es all the praise and genuine thanks I can offer for her tireless encouragement, the generosity of her time, and, above all, for taking an interesting but directionless project and molding it (through suggestions, advice, and a keen critical eye) into something I am proud of. I thank her also for being a friend and supporter in times of great trial. Professor Alan Woods has been a source of inspiration for the vastness of his knowledge of theater history and contexts, as well as for his good sense to keep me from writing hyperbolic prose. I thank Professor Woods also for being an invaluable liaison in the Theatre Department during my career at Ohio State. Professor Jon Erickson is to be thanked for asking the right questions about my work and for reading my drafts as an interested scholar and with respect for my efforts. I do appreciate that Professor Erickson has been involved with this project since its inception. Two professors have acted as unofiRcial advisers on this project and as such deserve special mention. Professor Roger Daniels, Department of History, the University of Cincinnati, has been a constant source of information, advice, and inspiration. I remain most thankful that this world-renowned scholar has been so energetic in support of my efforts. Similarly, Professor Katherine H. Burkman has been—for my entire career vi at Ohio State-a source of support, advice, and visdom. In her capacity as my adviser (until her retirement). Professor Burkman has been of incalculable assistance. I am delighted to count her among my friends. Because this project has allowed me the opportunity to correspond with so many people outside of academia—particularly the internees themselves—I must take the time to thank those who have been most valuable to my work at present. Two names stand out, however. Joyce Nako, a researcher from Los Angeles, was the first contact vdio actually knew of theater at the internment camps and graciously assisted me in contacting Hroshi Kashiwagi of San Francisco. It was Mr. Kashiwagi, an actor at Tule Lalce (and today a prominent actor and poet), who provided the all-important first set of information which made me realize that mine was a viable project for my dissertation. Thanks also go to Professor Morris Beja, then Chairman of the Ohio State Department of English, who provided the funds for me to travel to California to interview Mr. Kashiwagi. Other internees who have provided invaluable information are Pete Hironaka, Harry Honda, Mamoru Inouye, George Katagiri, Michi Kobi, Kiyochi Kumekawa, Katsumi Kunisugu, Frank Mouri, Morse Saito, Bacon Sakatani, Lili Yuri Sasaki, Jiro Shimoda, Mas Yamasaki, Ralph Yanari, and Georgette Yoshikai. Their willingness to discuss their internment, and their enthusiastic support of my project, has made my work all the more informative and enjoyable. Finally, I would like to thank Katy Dierlam for her graciousness in putting me in touch with her father, Robert Dierlam, Eleanor Gerard Sekerak for correspondence concerning her teaching career at Topaz; Professor Shelley Quinn for information and vn translations, and Dr. Garrett Starmer for being so informative about his years as a teacher/playwright/director at Tule Lake. Ylll VITA August 26, 1962 ...................................................... Born - Queens, New York 1985 .......................................................................... B.A., Queens College, CUNY 1989 .......................................................................... M.A., Queens College,