In Spring 1942, the U.S. Army forcibly removed more than 110,000 Japanese Americans from their West Coast homes; over 11,000 of them came to Manzanar. Communities like Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles were abandoned literally overnight.
At the same time, Blacks from the Deep South headed west to work in defense industries. Prohibited from living in “white” neighborhoods by restrictive housing codes, many people moved into Little Tokyo, eventually renaming the area Bronzeville. The story of Bronzeville will come to life in the Manzanar Interpretive Center from May 20 through 23 as Robey Theatre Company, Inyo Council for the Arts, and Manzanar National Historic Site present the play Bronzeville.
Manzanar National Historic Site is located at 5001 Highway 395, Independence, CA 93526.
Co-written by Japanese American playwright Tim Toyama and African American playwright Aaron Woolfolk, and directed by Ben Guillory, Bronzeville explores the conflicting reactions of members of a Black family when they discover a Japanese American hiding in "their" attic to avoid being sent to Manzanar. Each person wants to “do the right thing” but they have differing ideas of what that means.
Performance Schedule:
Preview: Thursday, May 19th, 2011 at 7 p.m.
Student matinees: Friday, May 20 and Monday May 23 at 11 a.m.
Evening performances: Friday, May 20 and Saturday, May 21 at 7 p.m.
Sunday matinee: May 22 at 3 p.m.
Ticket prices:
General Admission: $15.
Student Matinees: free to Elementary & High School Students
Student at evening or Sunday matinee: $5 with an adult
Seniors: $10 (age 55 or older).
Tickets are available by calling (213) 489-7402 or (760) 873-8014, online at http://bronzeville.ticketleap.com, or at the door.
Robey Theatre Company premiered Bronzeville in Los Angeles in 2009. Co-founded by actors Danny Glover and Ben Guillory in 1994, Robey Theatre Company produces plays that, according to Guillory, “tell stories reflecting our relationships as human beings. It is also a medium through which we can explore how we behave towards each other and understand the social and political forces that bring us together or keep us apart.”
To learn more about the World War II transformation of Little Tokyo into Bronzeville, check out http://www.bronzeville-la.com. To learn more about Manzanar National Historic Site, visit www.nps.gov/manz or call (760) 878-2194.
