EO9066
EO 9066
Liebe Wetzel and Christine Young (Creators)
Christine Young (Director)
Shinji Eshima (Composer)
Produced by Lunatique Fantastique
Original run May 23 – June 13, 2003 – World Premiere
Limited touring and revival performances 2005 – 2009
The story of one Japanese-American family uprooted during World War II and sent to a relocation camp in Topaz, Utah, told using object puppetry.
Ensemble: Jessica Binder, Kate Duffly, Ben Dziuba, Greg Frisbee, Susie Gaskill, Candice Milan, Aundi Taylor and Liebe Wetzel
More About EO 9066
Beginning on February 19, 1942, approximately 110,000 ethnic Japanese and people of Japanese descent living on the United States west coast were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated in remote camps in California and Utah. Over half of the 110,000 internees were children. This incarceration was the result of the infamous Executive Order 9066, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the wake of Pearl Harbor.
In June 2005, EO 9066 was performed at The Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah, the site of the internment camp featured in the play and at ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of the camp’s closing.
Lunatique Fantastique used images told by survivors and history texts to create the story of one family and their struggle before, during and after life in an internment camp. Lunatique Fantastique ensemble members participated in research — interviewing surviving internees and people who were affected by the order. Also, Lunatique Fantastique consulted with The Japanese American Museum of San Jose, The Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah, and the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.
This work is dedicated to the memory of Donna Nomura Dobkin, whose parents were sent to Topaz.
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