What do you hope audiences will take away from this production?

I hope audiences and youth will take away that within every animal, person there is something unknown, something beautiful. Mr. Rogers carried a quote in his pocket that said it well; "Frankly, there isn't anyone you couldn't learn to love once you've heard their story"

 

If you could be an animal, what would it be and why?

Bush baby! Because I love their eyes.

STEPHANIE TOMIKO

(Actor, "Ducky")

 

What's your background?

I have been acting since I was in highschool. I trained at a couple of different studios - Studio Theatre in DC, The Atlantic Acting School in New York and I recently completed a B.A. in drama at The Catholic University of America. Recently I performed with Chesapeake Shakespeare company in their Under 30 production of "All's Well that End's Well". 

 

Did you know the story of the 442nd Regimental Unit?

I knew of the Japanese internment camps, because I had family members who were in them during the war. My grandmother is Japanese, and she married an American Soldier (it's where I get my name, "Tomiko"  from). My grandmother was not in the U.S. during WWII, but she had family members who were and were put in internment camps. 

 

Why do you think it's important to keep this piece of history alive, with both adults and youth?

Because even today people tend to lump people into one category; "they are ___ race and therefore must think or like ____" Assumptions like that block any chance of truly knowing another individual, and opening yourself up who someone else is, and learning in the process who you are. It is just destructive all around. The Japanese internment camps happened in part because of such lumping of a particular race. 

 

What do you think is the place of the theatre arts in telling our history?

It can be a very powerful tool because theater has the ability to take "history" - all those dates and facts that can seem tedious sometimes, and make them into moments that human beings can actually relate to.