The Tashme Project: The Living Archives – performance and artists talk in Ottawa
Showtimes: Wed Sept 18 & Thurs Sept 19, 6pm | Fri Sept 20, 7pm | Sat Sept 21, 8pm | Sun Sept 22, 4pm
The Tashme Project is a verbatim theatre piece that traces the oral history and common experience of Canada’s nisei (2nd generation Japanese Canadians) through childhood, WWII internment, and post-war resettlement east of the Rockies. The nisei, now in their 80’s and 90’s, were children at the time of internment and their stories of adventure and play are presented in sharp relief to the more common internment narratives of hardship and injustice.
Generally saddled with a legacy of silence in regards to the past and Japanese identity, the greatest struggle facing the Japanese Canadian community today is the transference of cultural history and pride to its younger generations. Seeking to re-invigorate this process, our intention is to connect younger Japanese Canadians more deeply to their grandparents, and great-grandparents, and hopefully ignite a desire to rediscover their Japanese-ness thereby helping to invigorate a community in sharp decline.
Performing Tashme across Canada is social and cultural activism: the displacement, incarceration and deportation of the Japanese Canadian community from the West Coast of Canada during the Second World War by the Canadian government was meant to erase our community. In 2019, we face the complete loss of language, ethnicity (most Japanese Canadians are now mixed-race) cultural practice and therefore, identity. By connecting with and sharing the oral history of our elders, we are fighting against what seems an inevitable loss of community in a generation’s time and seek to rebuild a healthy and joyful sense of Japanese Canadian identity.
!Julie Tamiko Manning & Matt Miwa
www.thetashmeproject.ca www.prismaticfestival/index.php/arts-festival/