Daniel Kessner’s ‘The Camp’ to Make its World Premiere

By Afton Markay
(Photo credit: Azusa Oda & Dorothea Lange)

Composer Daniel Kessner and playwright Lionelle Hamanaka’s “The Camp” will makes its world premiere at the JACCC Aratani Theatre in Los Angeles.

“The Camp” tells the story of the Japanese American Shimono family who were forcibly removed from their suburban home in Southern California after Mas, a fisherman and head of the household, is arrested by the FBI on suspicion of espionage. Reunited in a desolate incarceration camp, the family struggles to survive the emotional and physical toll of their wrongful imprisonment throughout the war. This opera shows one of the dark chapters in American history, while illuminating the strength of familial bonds and the power of collective resistance in the face of injustice.

The cast of eleven is headed bass-baritone Roberto Perlas Gomez as Mas Shimono, mezzo-soprano Shu Tran as Haruko Shimono, and soprano Tiffany Ho as Suzy Shimono. Habin Kim, Patrick Tsoi-A-Sue, Krishna Raman, Sarah Wang, Steve Moritsugu, Dennis Rupp, Hisato Masuyama, and Jamie Sanderson round out the cast. Diana Wyenn serves as the stage director and Steven Hofer leads the 22-piece orchestra.

The opera is presented in partnership with the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center. There will be four performances of “The Camp,” taking place Feb. 22 to March 2 – just blocks away from where, eighty years ago, families were loaded on buses and sent to camps.

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