''No-No Boy'' (2010) is a

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

written by

Ken Narasaki Ken Narasaki (born April 4, 1958) is an American playwright and actor. He is the former Literary Manager at East West Players theatre company in Los Angeles. He is the twin brother of civil rights leader Karen Narasaki. Actor Narasaki has appear ...

adapted from the novel of the same title by

John Okada John Okada (September 23, 1923 – February 20, 1971) was a Japanese American novelist known for his critically acclaimed novel ''No-No Boy''. Biography Born in Seattle, Okada was a student at the University of Washington during the attack o ...

, originally produced at the Miles Memorial Playhouse in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, in association with Timescape Arts Group. It is a

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

in two acts. (Each act was approximately 50 minutes in length and there was a 15-minute intermission.) The play was directed by Alberto Isaac,"No-No Boy" announcement
on Daily News Los Angeles site and received its

world premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its f ...

on Saturday, March 27, 2010. (There was a

preview Preview may refer to: Theatre, film, television * Preview (subscription service), an early subscription television service in the United States * Preview (theatre), a public performance of a theatrical show before the official opening * Previe ...

on Friday, March 26, 2010 and it closed on Sunday, April 18, 2010.) The story follows a

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

draft resister as he returns home from prison, in 1946.

Play summary

Set after World War II as Japanese Americans return to the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

, the play follows draft resister Ichiro Yamada after he is released from prison and struggles to come to terms with the consequences of his choices, while the rest of the community tries to get back on its feet after a war that has uprooted them all.

Characters

* Ichiro Yamada: ''Nisei'' draft resister * Pa: Ichiro's father, ''

Issei is a Japanese-language term used by ethnic Japanese in countries in North America and South America to specify the Japanese people who were the first generation to immigrate there. are born in Japan; their children born in the new country are ...

'' * Ma: Ichiro's mother, ''Issei'' * Kenji Kanno: wounded 442 vet * Emi: wife of enlisted soldier * Freddie: Ichiro's buddy, also a draft resister * Eto: veteran * Taro: Ichiro's younger brother * Mrs. Kanno: Kenji's mother * Mr. Kumasaka: friend of the Yamada family * Jun: veteran, friend of the Kumasaka's * 2A: neighbor of Freddie * Cop

World premiere company

Miles Memorial Playhouse, 1130 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403; Opened March 27, 2010; Closed April 18, 2010.

Original cast

(in order of appearance) * ''Ichiro'' –

Robert Wu Robert Wu is an American actor, producer and writer. He played Ming, who transforms into a version of "Ming the Merciless", the arch-enemy of Flash Gordon, (during an hallucination that Sam J. Jones, the actor who plays Flash Gordon has) in ...

* ''Eto / Jun'' –

Chris Tashima Christopher Inadomi Tashima (born March 24, 1960) is a Japanese American actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and Artistic Director of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. T ...

* ''Taro'' – Jared Asato * ''Pa'' –

Sab Shimono is a Japanese-American actor. He began his career on stage on Broadway and in regional theaters, starring in musicals like ''Mame'', ''Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen'', and ''Pacific Overtures''. He has appeared in dozens of movies and television ...

* ''Ma'' – Sharon Omi * ''Mr. Kumasaka / Cop'' –

* ''2A / Mrs. Kanno'' –

Emily Kuroda Emily Keiko Kuroda (born October 30, 1952) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Mrs. Kim on TV's ''Gilmore Girls'', but she has had a long career on stage and screen and is a veteran of East West Players, Los Angeles's premi ...

* ''Freddie'' – John Miyasaki (March 26 - April 12); Mike Hagiwara (April 16–18) * ''Kenji'' –

Greg Watanabe Greg Watanabe (born November 8, 1967) is an American actor known for his role in ''Watch Over Me''. He also appears in the independent films, Philip Kan Gotanda's ''Life Tastes Good'', '' Only the Brave'' and ''Americanese''. He is a founding membe ...

* ''Emi / Mrs.ka'' –

Keiko Agena Christine Keiko Agena (born October 3, 1973) is an American actress. She is mostly known for playing Lane Kim in ''Gilmore Girls'' and NYPD medical examiner Dr. Edrisa Tanaka on FOX's crime drama ''Prodigal Son'' (2019–2021). Personal life Ag ...

* Understudy for ''Emi, 2A, Mrs. Kumasaka, Mrs. Kanno'' - Junko Goda

Setting

* Seattle, 1946.

Production staff

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

– Alberto Isaac *

Choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

– Michael Hagiwara *

Fight Choreographer Stage combat, fight craft or fight choreography is a specialised technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet pr ...

– Aaron Pagel *

Set Design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

– Alan E. Muraoka *

Costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

– Ken Takemoto *

Lighting designer In theatre, a lighting designer (or LD) works with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create the lighting, atmosphere, and time of day for the production in response to the text while keeping ...

– Jeremy Pivnick *

Sound Design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

Music Composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...

– Dave Iwataki * Projection Design – John J. Flynn *

Property Master The property master, often called the prop(s) master, is an artistic and organizational employee in a film, television or theatrical production who is responsible for purchasing, acquiring, manufacturing, properly placing, and/or overseeing any pro ...

– Ken Takemoto *

Stage Manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...

– Darlene MiyakawaNo-No Boy site
/ref>

Controversy

The ending of the play has received criticism due to the uplifting tone of Ken Narasaki's rewrite, compared to Okada's original, bleak ending. By the end of the original novel, Ichiro is walking down a street alone and conflicted, having just seen Freddie, a fellow No-No Boy, die in a car crash while fleeing from a fight with a Nisei veteran. The documentary director Frank Abe describes the stage play's alterations to the plot: "Instead, after a brief knife fight, Freddie escapes. Ichiro goes out dancing — a scene from earlier in the book, with Emi the abandoned wife...Ichiro and Emi kiss. They are going to live happily ever after, doggone it. It's a theatrical moment. It's probably very moving in performance. It's also schmaltz. And It's very wrong."

Frank Chin Frank Chin (born February 25, 1940) is an American author and playwright. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Asian-American theatre. Life and career Frank Chin was born in Berkeley, California on February 25, 1940; until the age of s ...

, whose afterword was printed in subsequent editions of "No-No Boy" after having helped republish the novel following Okada's death, was also critical of the rewrite. Chin quipped that, "Car crashes and death are too difficult" to be a part of the Asian American stage, and said of Narasaki's changes, "If you don't like Okada, stay out of his bathroom, bedroom, stay out of his house, get out of his fucking book. Just leave it alone." Chin and Narasaki wrote back and forth, as documented by Chin, with Narasaki of the belief that the deceased Okada would not be so harsh about the changes to his work, and said of Chin that, "You, who were once a life force that helped spawn so many Asian American theater artists have now become a poison determined to kill your fellow artists because they are not you."

Reviews

4/1/10 review by Paul Birchall
for

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

4/16/10 student review by Jennifer Ta
for

Daily Bruin The ''Daily Bruin'' is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles. It began publishing in 1919, the year UCLA was founded. The ''Daily Bruin'' distributes about 6,000 copies across campus each school day. It also publis ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Site

Blog

The Miles Memorial Playhouse
2010 plays American plays Anti-war plays Asian-American plays Internment of Japanese Americans Plays based on novels Seattle in fiction Plays set in Washington (state)