Uncovering the dark history of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the Second World War in concentration camps, the powerful opera uncovers a haunting legacy of oppression and trauma.
By John Lavitt
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 02-26-2025
Presented in partnership with the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC), The Camp is a rare English opera that uses a traditional formula to tell a jarring historical truth. With a composition by Daniel Kessner, a Ukrainian-Jewish composer, from a libretto by Lionelle Hamanaka, a Japanese-American woman whose parents were imprisoned in the American concentration camp in Jerome, the opera reveals a hard pill for many Americans to swallow. Indeed, our country perpetuated a great injustice during the Second World War.
During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated about 120,000 people of Japanese descent to ten concentration camps. Operated by the War Relocation Authority, the camps were located mainly in the country’s Western interior. Disturbingly, more than two-thirds of the people forced to live in abusive conditions were United States Citizens. Moreover, they had to abandon their homes and possessions upon relocating, with many families losing almost everything. With limited food and medicines available in these camps, many of the most vulnerable members of the incarcerated populations – the young and the old – died from preventable causes. Indeed, it is a tragedy that is lasting and harsh.
Playing through this coming weekend, tickets for the show at the Aratani Theatre in downtown Los Angeles are still available. Directed by Diana Wyenn and conducted by John Miyasaki, the moving storyline follows the Shimono family from the opening devastation of being forcibly removed from their home on what was termed by the government as Evacuation Day to their traumatic experiences in the “permanent” concentration camp. Despite sickness and depression, the family does their best to come together because, as the father, Mas Shimono (Roberto Perlas Gomez), expresses, “Home is where you hold my hand.” Despite losing so much, love is the strength that keeps the family going.
Although opportunities to take the story to the next level are missed in the telling, the opera’s emotional veracity is undeniable. Additionally, the actors’ commitment to the work is tangible, enhancing their performances and affecting the audience. Describing the impetus to create the work, Librettist Lionelle Hamanaka writes, “I write because I have a ‘fire in my belly,’ and the camps are part of my heritage and a world-shattering historical event.”
As a Jewish-American reviewer, I wanted to hear more takes on the performance of Japanese-American audience members. During the intermission, I spoke with one middle-aged Japanese-American man and two middle-aged Japanese-American women. What I heard from them opened my eyes because they found the opera a revelation. However, they were all born after the Second World War, and, like Lionelle Hamanaka, their parents were incarcerated in the American concentration camps. What they had to say about experiencing the opera was eye-opening.
First, all three found the opera to be engaging and informative. It was fascinating that they had had the same experience with their parents. Rather than tell stories to their children about the camps, their parents never spoke about what had happened. What was in the past stayed there, and the subject was never brought up. Thus, they found the experience of seeing the opera to be revealing in a way that seemed surprising to this reviewer. It gave them actual insight into their family’s experiences and why they never talked about those experiences.
They also found the opera’s opening quite powerful because they had not considered the trauma of their parents being forced to leave their homes and lives behind. Since this had not happened to them, they had skipped over this detail and focused on the deprivations and injustices of being in the camps. However, the performance showed them the extremity of the trauma from the very outset. If a work of art can open such doors to collective memory and personal feelings, its success is undeniable.
Photos by Angel Origgi