Humour meets dark history in Sansei: The Storyteller, April 27 to 29
Kunji Mark Ikeda explores Japanese-Canadian internment through light comedy in the solo coming to Vancouver
Shadbolt Centre for the Arts presents Sansei: The Storyteller on April 27 at 2 pm and on April 28 and 29 at 8 pm at The Shadbolt’s Studio Theatre
THE TAGLINE FOR Sansei: The Storyteller might be a little confounding; the show is described as “a lighthearted look at the Japanese-Canadian internment”.
Indeed, Kunji Mark Ikeda, who created, wrote, and performs the solo, uses humour to approach the topic of the federal government’s forcible expulsion and confinement of approximately 21,000 Japanese-Canadians following the bombing of Pearl Harbour. His connection to the story is personal: his grandparents were separated during the widespread imprisonment, which began in 1942; they had Ikeda’s father once they were reunited.
“It seems like this paradox, but for me, in finding how much that generation…went through and how, consciously or not, they worked to not pass along hate, to not pass along these negative emotions, to not harbour resentment, especially in the next generation,” Ikeda told Stir in an interview about the work last year. “For me, it was safe material.
“Being able to bring it to life and to light meant the opportunity to tell it in a way that, in my research, I didn’t see anyone else doing: by having access to comedy to talk about it,” said Ikeda, artistic director of Calgary’s Cloudsway Dance Theatre. “It felt almost like a superpower; I had this opportunity available to tell it through humour. We’ve been conditioned to sit back and accept it passively through media and news, and here’s the doom and gloom. This show is very consciously humorous and engaging in really specific ways to draw in the audience.”
Now, Sansei: The Storyteller is coming to The Shadbolt, the piece a blend of dance, theatre, physical storytelling, historical audio, and family memories. It has won a Best of Fest award at the Calgary International Fringe Festival as well as nominations for performance and choreography from the Betty Mitchell (Calgary Theatre) Awards.
Ikeda has trained with Denise Clarke of One Yellow Rabbit, is a member of the DSW Dance Action Group, and has taught at the University of Calgary and the Rosebud School of the Arts.
Tickets and more information are here.
Related Articles
Subtitled Heroic Tales of Scott, Crean & Shackleton, the solo show by Aidan Dooley has won some major awards
Fairlith Harvey drew on her experiences as a funeral attendant in creating the experiential work
Festival co-curated with The Cultch’s Heather Redfern features the workshop premiere of Payette’s musical On Native Land, plus a new choral composition
Innovative show created by Rodney DeCroo, Samantha Pawliuk, and David Bloom melds music, theatre, and poetry inside a giant fish
Adaptation of Strauss’s beloved operetta opens Vancouver Opera’s 65th season with cheeky adapted dialogue and musical delights
Cabaret-style festival co-curated by Corey Payette and Heather Redfern features an electrifying fusion of theatre, music, drag, circus, and more
Vancouver Cantonese Opera production at the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival honours the late Wah-Kwan Gwan
The 65th-season opener features a witty new script by Mark Crawford and a Sweet Charity-worthy array of colourful retro costumes
Michael Wex’s uproarious show combines 1930s cabaret songs, original comedy sketches, Yiddish adaptations of international hits, and vaudeville classics
Magical stage adaptation of graphic novel features over 20 miniature sets performed, filmed, and projected in real time to a live score
Soprano Caitlin Wood, tenor Caulin Moore among the standouts in a production that shows the power of songs in musicals from Evita to Sunset Boulevard
Touchstone Theatre production is part thriller, part comedy, part revenge play, and part nightmarish fairy tale
At long last, the multidisciplinary piece by playwright Brendan McLeod and the Fugitives has its Vancouver premiere
Bernard Cuffling directs and stars in this Metro Theatre adaptation of a West End classic, complete with a fog-shrouded set and ever-building tension
CTORA Theatre’s production is marked by strong on-stage talent and delightful visuals
First new show in Vancouver since pandemic features a parade of surreal white animals and a giant, magical cube
Just in time for Halloween, chaotic show incorporates some of the actor and comedian’s most iconic moments from films like Ghostbusters and Caddyshack
Bernard Cuffling stars in and directs what the Guardian has called “one of British theatre’s biggest—and scariest—hits”
Luggage real and metaphorical clutters the stage as exes haunt a young woman navigating a new relationship
Aerialist Ethan Lottman melds his sporty and creative sides in the circus company’s new extravaganza
Arts Club Theatre Company production follows married couple Alice and Henry who embark on a naughty hotel retreat to rekindle their lacklustre sex life
Nowadays Theatre production tells the story of a woman whose values are confronted when her son falls in love
Globally beloved production tells the haunting tale of an ageing solicitor who engages a young actor to bring a terrifying story to life
Director Mark Carter loves the story’s over-the-top characters
Kat Sandler’s contemporary reimagining of the infamous Slavic folk tale of Baba Yaga centres the small-town disappearance of a young man
Playwright Cristina Tudor takes a deep dive into her culture’s folklore
In Sarah Segal-Lazar’s play directed by Jessie Liang, main character Jill is plagued by her failed relationships as she tries to start a new one