Study Guide: Snow Falling on Cedars

study guide SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS

Hartford Stage Education Programs are supported by: MAJOR SPONSORS Allied World Assurance Company Anonymous Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, as recommended

by Linda & David Glickstein J. Walton Bissell Foundation Ensworth Charitable Foundation Greater Hartford Arts Council Lincoln Financial Foundation SBM Charitable Foundation, Inc. Travelers Foundation

SUPPORTING SPONSORS Barnes Foundation, Inc. Elizabeth Carse Foundation Citizens Bank DSJJ Fund of Tides Foundation Enterprise Holdings Foundation Mr. & Mrs. William Foulds Family Foundation The Ellen Jeanne Goldfarb Memorial Charitable Trust Greater Hartford Automobile Dealers Association Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company Hartford Wolf Pack Community Foundation, Inc. Aaron Hollander and Simon Hollander Funds Kaman Corporation LEGO Children’s Fund NewAlliance Foundation Charles Nelson Robinson Foundation TD Charitable Foundation

Assisting Production Sponsor

Additional Support

For more information about Hartford Stage’s innovative education programs, visit education.hartfordstage.org or call 860.520.7206

Study Guide Objectives This study guide serves as a classroom tool for teachers and students, and addresses the following Connecticut curriculum standards for grades K-12: • English Language Arts o 2.4: Exploring and Responding to Literature. Students recognize that readers and authors are influenced by individual, social, cultural, and historical contexts.

• Theatre o 5: Researching and Interpreting. Students will research, evaluate and apply cultural and historical information to make artistic choices. o 6: Connections. Students will make connections between theatre, other disciplines and daily life. o 7: Analysis, Criticism and Meaning. Students will analyze, critique, and construct meanings from works of theatre.

Guidelines for Attending the Theatre Attending live theatre is a unique experience with many valuable educational and social benefits.

To ensure that all audience members are able to enjoy the performance, please take a few minutes to discuss the following audience etiquette topics with your students before you come to Hartford Stage.

• How is attending the theatre similar to and different from going to the movies? What behaviors are and are not appropriate when seeing a play? Why? o Remind students that because the performance is live, the audience can affect what kind of performance the actors give. No two audiences are exactly the same and no two performances are exactly the same—this is part of what makes theatre so special!

Students’ behavior should reflect the level of performance they wish to see.

• Theatre should be an enjoyable experience for the audience. It is absolutely all right to applaud when appropriate and laugh at the funny moments. Talking and calling out during the performance, however, are not allowed. Why might this be? o Be sure to mention that not only would the people seated around them be able to hear their conversation, but the actors on stage could hear them, too. Theatres are constructed to carry sound efficiently!

• Any noise or light can be a distraction, so please remind students to make sure their cell phones are turned off (or better yet, left at home or at school!). Texting, photography, and video recording are prohibited. Food and gum should not be taken into the theatre.

• Students should sit with their group as seated by the Front of House staff and should not leave their seats once the performance has begun. If possible, restrooms should be used only during intermission.

2

Themes for Discussion Expectations and Obligations In Snow Falling on Cedars, many of the characters find themselves torn between what their society or culture expects of them and what they feel in their hearts. As they struggle with their choices, time pressures them to take action and choose sides.

This struggle is perhaps felt most strongly by Hatsue Imada.

As a young Japanese girl in the 1930s and 40s, Hatsue befriends and eventually falls in love with Ishmael Chambers, a white boy with whom she worked picking strawberries. Hatsue is aware, however, of the tension and suspicion between the white and Japanese residents of San Piedro, the Puget Sound island where they live. When she realizes her relationship with Ishmael is becoming more than just a friendship, she withdraws from him. Ishmael questions her behavior one day as they stand alone in the hollowed out trunk of a large cedar tree. In Japanese culture, Hatsue explains to him, “we don’t talk about our feelings or show them easily. But it doesn’t mean I don’t feel things.” Hatsue knows that her family would be unhappy if they knew she was spending time alone with Ishmael, and tells him that her father would be angry at both of them because Ishmael is “not Japanese.”

After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, race relations on the island are increasingly strained.

But Ishmael insists that if they love each other they should be together, regardless of what traditional values and world events may say.

“Don’t let this hurt us,” he begs her. “I don’t care about what’s happening in the world. We’re not going to let this hurt us.”

When the evacuation of San Piedro’s Japanese residents begins, however, Hatsue tells Ishmael they can never be together because “it isn’t right.” Ishmael maintains his hope for a future with Hatsue, even Editor Roy Takeno reading a copy of the Manzanar Free Press in front of the newspa- when he is drafted into the military per office at the Manzanar War Relocation and Hatsue’s family is sent to the Center; with mountains in the background.

Manzanar internment camp. But Photograph by Ansel Adams. Library of when Hatsue’s mother discovers Congress Prints and Photographs Division, her daughter’s relationship with Washington, D.C. Ishmael, she is quick to remind Hatsue of her cultural responsibilities.

Hatsue submits to her mother’s demand that she end her association with Ishmael and soon turns her attention to Kabuo Miyamoto, a young Japanese man also from San Piedro.

Living in the Manzanar internment camp with thousands of

TIMELINE OF HISTORICAL EVENTS •

•

•

• •

•

• •

1913—California Alien Land Law prohibits “aliens ineligible to citizenship” (i.e. all Asian immigrants) from owning land or property, but permits three-year leases.

1920—Versions of the California Alien Land Law are adopted in Washington, Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Missouri. The law is later adopted by Utah, Wyoming and Arkansas during WWII. 1922—In Ozawa vs. United States, the Supreme Court reaffirms that Asian immigrants are not eligible for naturalization.

March 20, 1933—Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is opened in Germany.

July 14, 1933—Adolph Hitler obtains the right to revoke German citizenship for persons considered undersirable or a threat to the government.

June 1935—Congress passes an act making aliens otherwise ineligible for citizenship eligible if (a) they had served in the U.S. armed forces between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918, and been honorably discharged, and (b) they were permanent residents of the United States. A small number of Issei (first generation Japanese immigrants) obtain citizenship under this act before the application deadline on January 1, 1937.

September 15, 1935— Nuremberg Laws end German citizenship for Jews.

1938—Earliest events depicted

3

•

•

•

•

•

•

• •

4

in Snow Falling on Cedars take place.

1938—The House Committee on Un-American Activities is formed. Initially created to investigate the activities of German-American Nazis, the Committee soon shifts its focus to Communism.

1940—The United States census counts 126,947 Japanese Americans; 62.7% are citizens by birth.

November 26, 1940—Jews in Warsaw, Poland, are forced into ghettos enclosed by 8-foot high walls. The German government denies that antiSemitism is its motivation.

September 19, 1941—Jews in Germany and some occupied areas are required to wear a yellow Jewish star when in public and are prohibited from leaving their residential areas without police permission.

November 26, 1941— Anthropologist and presidential aide Henry Field is ordered to use the 1930 and 1940 censuses to create a list of the full names and addresses of all Americanborn and foreign-born Japanese.

December 7, 1941—Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.

A presidential warrant authorizes U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle to have the FBI arrest a predetermined number of “dangerous enemy aliens,” including German, Italian, and Japanese nationals. 737 Japanese Americans are arrested by the end of the day.

December 8, 1941—The United States enters World War II. December 11, 1941—The FBI detains 1,370 Japanese Americans classified as “dangerous enemy aliens.”

other “evacuated” Japanese, Hatsue marries Kabuo. He, too, feels bound by duty, but the responsibility he feels is not to his Japanese heritage.

Kabuo tells his wife that he must fulfill his obligation to America by enlisting in the military, claiming that “it is necessary for [him] to demonstrate [his] loyalty to the United States.” Hatsue believes he should not feel the need to prove his loyalty. She uses an argument that echoes the one Ishmael made to her when they stood together in their cedar tree on San Piedro: that people in love should be together, despite what duties they may have to society. She reminds him that he “can die demonstrating all that. [I] know you are brave and loyal.”

Questions: • In Snow Falling on Cedars, Hatsue puts aside her feelings for Ishmael in order to follow a traditional path by marrying Kabuo Miyamoto. Did she make the right choice? Why or why not?

• Why do you think Kabuo felt a duty to prove his loyalty to the United States when his family and others like them were being treated so poorly? What did he stand to gain? Does Kabuo succeed in proving his loyalty to his country?

• Have you ever been expected to fulfill a role or follow a path that you were unsure was right for you? How do you respond to others’ expectations?

Prejudice and Racism

In the wake of Japan’s involvement in World War II and attack on Pearl Harbor, fear and paranoia infiltrate the daily words and actions of the residents of San Piedro, the imaginary island in Puget Sound where Snow Falling on Cedars is set. In the play, members of the Japanese community recall that prior to the war:

some Japanese leased small plots of land and entered into

business for themselves. Most, though, were contract farmers or

sharecroppers who worked in fields owned by the hakujin, the

whites. The law said they could not own land unless they became

citizens. It also said they could not become citizens as long

as they were Japanese.

The two ethnic groups maintain a fragile coexistence on the island until the Pearl Harbor bombing. When the War Relocation Authority decides to evacuate all residents of Japanese descent, many of the white citizens, including Susan Heine, Art Moran, and Etta Heine, claim the consensus on San Piedro was “that the Japanese must go for reasons that made sense. There was a war on. And that changed everything.”

After the war, the white islanders are quick to stereotype or be suspicious. When Sheriff Art Moran begins his investigation into the death of Carl Heine, Jr., the report that Kabuo Miyamoto’s boat was among those out on the water the night Carl died is accompanied by a fisherman’s prejudiced comment that the “suckers all look like. Never could tell them guys apart.” The coroner who examines Carl’s body is quick to draw connections between the evidence he finds and traditional

Japanese martial arts, and emphasizes the lethal capabilities that come with intensive martial arts training. Despite admitting there are other possible causes of Carl’s injuries, it’s “a Jap with a bloody gun butt,” the coroner claims Art should be looking for. “A right-handed Jap to be precise.”

The racism generated by the war even transforms friendships in which race was previously not a factor. Carl Heine, Jr. and Kabuo Miyamoto had been close friends as children. Sharing fishing rods and playing baseball and football defined their relationship. But racist statements made by Carl’s mother, Etta, combined with the Pearl Harbor bombing and the stress from Carl’s subsequent military service bring other thoughts into Carl’s mind. When his wife questions why he won’t sell Kabuo the seven acres of land he seeks, Carl responds that “it comes down to the fact that Kabuo’s a Jap. And I don’t hate Japs, but I don’t like ‘em neither.”

The white islanders are not the only ones on San Piedro with prejudices. Japanese strawberry farmer Mrs. Nitta is cordial to the whites in the community, but admits her true feelings when she issues a stern warning to Hatsue: “You must never forget that you are first and foremost Japanese,” she says.

“Know that white men will desire you, and they will Rows of camp housing, covered on the outside with tarpaper, seek to destroy your snow-covered mountains in the distance, Manzanar Relocation virginity. White Center, California. Photograph by Ansel Adams. Library of men are dangerous.

Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. They carry in their hearts a secret lust for pure, young, Japanese girls. Stay away from white men.” This sentiment is echoed by Hatsue’s mother, Fujiko. Fujiko’s disdain for whites and white culture simmers beneath the surface until she and her family are arrested and sent to an internment camp. There, she discovers Hatsue’s romantic relationship with Ishmael, a young white man from San Piedro. Fujiko tells Hatsue that “living among the hakujin (whites) has tainted [her], made [her] soul impure.” She tells Hatsue that although they must learn to live within the white world, they must never become “intertwined with them.”

The impact of the mutual prejudices between the white and Japanese islanders infiltrates every interaction in the San Piedro community. Years after World War II, when Kabuo Miyamoto is arrested and tried for the murder of Carl Heine, Jr., Kabuo initially keeps the true story of his communication with Carl that night a secret. He refuses to confide in anyone, not even his lawyer, Nels Gudmundsson. As Nels desperately tries to persuade his client to tell him what really happened

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

December 22, 1941—The Agriculture Committee of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce recommends that all Japanese nationals be put under “absolute Federal control.”

The United States Department of Justice begins keeping a list of organizations it deems “subversive.”

January 5, 1942—Japanese American selective service registrants are classified as “enemy aliens.” Many Japanese American soldiers are discharged or assigned to menial labor.

January 28, 1942—The California State Personnel Board votes to bar all “descendants of natives with whom the United States [is] at war” from all civil service positions. This policy is only enforced against Japanese Americans.

February 4, 1942—The U.S. Army establishes twelve “restricted areas” in which “enemy aliens” are restricted by a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, allowed to travel only to and from work, and not more than five miles from their homes.

February 6, 1942—A Portland, Washington, American Legion post urges the removal of “enemy aliens, especially from critical Coast areas.”

February 16, 1942—The California Joint Immigration Committee urges that all Japanese Americans be removed from the Pacific Coast and any other vital areas. 2,192 Japanese Americans are arrested by the FBI. February 19, 1942—President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the secretary of war to define military areas “from which

5

•

•

•

•

•

•

6

any or all persons may be excluded as deemed necessary or desirable.” As a result, the federal government begins evacuating people of Japanese descent from the west coast of the United States.

February 26, 1942—The Navy orders Japanese American residents of Terminal Island, San Pedro, California, to leave within 48 hours.

February 28, 1942—The House Committee on UnAmerican Activities releases its 300 page Yellow Book, containing a variety of charges that could be leveled against Japanese Americans.

March 2, 1942—Army General John L. DeWitt issues Public Proclamation No. 1, creating military areas in Washington, Oregon, California, and parts of Arizona and declaring the right to remove German, Italian, and Japanese aliens and anyone of “Japanese Ancestry” living in military areas, should it become necessary.

March 12, 1942—The Secretary of Treasury Henry Morganthau, Jr. designates the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to handle Japanese American property, while the Farm Security Administration is given control over Japanese American farms and farm equipment.

March 18, 1942—As part of Executive Order 9066, President Roosevelt creates the War Relocation Authority (WRA). A U.S. Department of Agriculture official, Milton Eisenhower, is appointed its director and is responsible for a plan to remove designated persons from the restricted areas.

March 21, 1942—Manzanar, the first American internment

that night, he assesses that Kabuo “figure[s] because [he’s] Japanese nobody will believe [him] anyway.” Kabuo confirms his keen awareness of the islanders’ hatred of the Japanese, telling Nels that the “island’s full of strong feelings . . . people who don’t often speak their minds but hate us all the same . . . They’re going to want to see me hang no matter what the truth is.” When Nels makes his closing statement at Kabuo’s trial, he argues that the prosecution’s case is based entirely on racism, explaining that Kabuo felt unable to trust the authorities with the true story of what happened because he had returned from serving in WWII “to find himself the victim of prejudice in the country he sought to defend.”

Questions: • In the beginning of their relationship, Ishmael’s view of Hatsue is not influenced by the racism of the other islanders. Why do you think this is? When his arm is amputated in the war, he curses the Japanese people and Hatsue in the same breath. How do Ishmael’s feelings toward Hatsue change when he returns from the war? Does he harbor racist feelings or thoughts? Use evidence from the play to support your answer.

• After the war, Kabuo and Hatsue decide to return to San Piedro.

Given the racism they experienced there, why do you think they chose to move back?

• Compare and contrast the racism against people of Japanese descent associated with WWII and the prejudice toward people of the Muslim faith and Middle Eastern descent that has become associated with the modern War on Terror. What similarities and differences can you find in the origins, manifestations, and lasting impact of these phenomena?

Perceptions of Truth

The plot of Snow Falling on Cedars is driven by the investigation into the death of Carl Heine, Jr., and the hunt for the truth about what happened the night he died. Though detective work and journalism are two fields that pursue facts and strive to bring those facts to light in the name of justice, Sheriff Art Moran and journalist Ishmael Chambers view the events in the case through the lens of their own experiences, leading them to jump to conclusions and choose actions fueled by personal histories. When Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese man, is accused of murdering Carl, a well-liked white fisherman, the facts become hazy and the truth is left open to interpretation.

The trial is tainted from the beginning by the San Piedro residents’ perceptions of Kabuo Miyamoto’s rigid silence in the courtroom. The various townspeople in the courtroom all have their own opinions as to what this behavior means. As they state in the play’s opening scene, “some in the gallery would say his stillness suggested a disdain for the proceedings. Others felt certain it veiled a fear of the verdict that was to come.” Many of those in the courtroom believe Kabuo is guilty because “in the face of the murder charge that had been leveled against him he sat with his dark eyes trained straight ahead . . . and did not appear moved at all.” We find throughout the play, however,

that the motivation for Kabuo’s behavior has been misunderstood.

Hatsue states later in the play that in the Japanese culture, people do not show their feelings easily. This tendency is only enhanced by the effects of Kabuo’s time in the military, which as Mrs. Chambers points out to her son, Ishmael, is “at least as relevant as the way he looks.” She advises Ishmael that “if you’re going to weigh the outcome of the trial on the defendant’s looks, well, you better consider other things, too . . . the facts might not be the whole story.” In this moment, Ishmael finds himself caught between what he knows to be true—that the case against Kabuo Miyamoto is largely circumstantial—and what the known facts allow him to believe—that the man that Hatsue married is guilty and will either go to prison or be sentenced to death. When Ishmael continues with his investigation rather than taking the known facts at face value, he unearths new information that changes his and Art Moran’s understandings of the truth about what happened to Carl Heine. People in the community are forced to reevaluate what they perceived to be the truth about the case.

Other characters in the play are on quests for the truth in their own lives. Hatsue’s and Ishmael’s relationship begins as that of childhood Manzanar from Guard Tower, view west (Sierra Nevada in background), Manzanar Relocation friends, but as they grow Center, California. Photograph by Ansel Adams. older, they begin to suspect Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Divithat they may be something sion, Washington, D.C. more to each other. Hatsue tries to hide the truth about her feelings, but Mrs. Nitta perceives “in Hatsue a restlessness of spirit and felt that she was becoming expert at implying bodily a tranquility that did not in fact inhabit her.” Hatsue’s mother, Fujiko, also sees this restlessness. After her family is arrested and sent to the Manzanar internment camp, Fujiko intercepts a letter from Ishmael to her daughter. Fujiko believes that Hatsue has deceived herself and her family by thinking that she and Ishmael could be together, and persuades her daughter to “tell [Ishmael] the truth. Write him one letter. Tell him the truth so you can move forward,” which Hatsue does.

Questions: • When Kabuo Miyamoto’s trial begins, do you think Sherriff Art Moran has any doubts as to whether or not he knows the whole truth about what happened to Carl Heine, Jr.? Why or why not?

• Did Hatsue truly love Ishmael? Use examples from the play to support your answer.

• Ishmael admits that after he discovered the truth about how Carl Heine died, he “sat on it for a day,” despite his awareness that an innocent man’s life was hanging in the balance. Why did Ishmael not come forward with the truth right away?

•

•

•

•

• •

•

•

camp, opens.

March 23, 1942—General DeWitt issues Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1, giving alien and non-alien persons of Japanese ancestry one week to leave Bainbridge Island in Seattle’s Puget Sound.

March 24, 1942—Japanese American citizens are included among “enemy aliens” who must obey travel restrictions, curfew, and contraband regulations as decreed in Public Proclamation No. 3.

1942-1943—Japanese Americans are arrested for violating curfews or trying to escape from internment camps.

June 7, 1942—General DeWitt announces completion of the removal of 100,000 Japanese Americans from Military Areas 1 and 2. The remaining 10,000 are evacuated by August.

December 6, 1942—Protests at Manzanar turn violent.

January 28, 1943—WRA begins processing the Loyalty Questionnaire. The U.S. Army officially activates the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed of the 100th Battalion from Hawaii, as well as Japanese American volunteers from the mainland concentration camps. Nearly 10,000 first-generation Americans of Japanese descent from Hawaii volunteer for military service. Only 1,100 mainland prisoners volunteer.

1943—The 100th Infantry Battalion, consisting entirely of Japanese soldiers, fights in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany, and assists in liberating the survivors at the Dachau death camp.

February 3, 1943—Attorney

7

•

•

•

•

•

• •

8

General Francis Biddle begins the establishment of prohibited zones forbidden to all “enemy aliens.” German, Italian, and Japanese aliens are ordered to leave San Francisco waterfront areas.

June 21, 1943—The Supreme Court reaffirms two Japanese Americans’ convictions on curfew violations.

January 20, 1944—Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson announces that Japanese Americans are eligible for the draft.

May 24, 1944—Shoichi James Okamoto is shot at the Tule Lake War Relocation Center by a camp soldier. The soldier is acquitted but fined $1 for the “unauthorized use of government property”—the bullet.

July 29, 1944—Federal Judge Louis E. Goodman dismisses indictments against 26 Tule Lake draft resisters, declaring “it is shocking . . . that an American citizen be confined on the ground of disloyalty, and then . . . be compelled to serve in the armed forces, or be prosecuted for not.”

December 17, 1944—Public Proclamation No. 21 issued by Major General Henry C. Pratt (effective January 2, 1945), allows evacuees to return home and lifts contraband regulations. The Supreme Court rules the next day that the WRA cannot detain “loyal” citizens.

August 14, 1945—Japan surrenders. World World II ends.

1947—President Harry Truman signs Executive Order 9835 mandating loyalty reviews for employees of the federal government and permitting their dismissal if they are believed to be disloyal

Hartford Stage Interview

Five Questions for Snow Falling on Cedars Adapter Kevin McKeon Q: You adapted the novel for its premiere at Book-It Repertory Theatre.

Could you describe the Book-It style?

McKeon: Book-It began, 20 years ago, using literature verbatim and putting it on stage, mostly short stories. The actors would sit in a circle and decide who would say which lines. I watched them do this in the early days and it was fascinating. In bringing John Irving’s The Cider House Rules to the stage, around 1995, they began to morph into a company that adapted literature, somewhat out of necessity due to the length of novels, but also out of a creative bent to evolve the form of the standard adaptation. They remained dedicated to preserving the author’s words, including the narrative. In a Book-It piece there is often no dividing line between narrative and dialogue. A character may be speaking to another character in one line, then speaking a line of narration about him or herself the next. Usually I find audiences go through a perceptivity readjustment period that lasts about six lines before they realize: “Ah, we are not being told this story in the traditional way.” Then they become immersed. And the key to it all is the complete commitment of the actor in telling the story. You watch the actors in control of the text and, essentially, follow them anywhere.

Q: The sense of place is very important in the novel. How did you incorporate that into your adaptation?

McKeon: I can’t think of a book where the setting is so beautifully evoked. And here is where this Book-It style plays to an advantage. We can set the scene with the author’s words, and the mind takes the leap.

It’s what happens when we read a book.

Q: You talked on the first day of rehearsal about honoring a certain “neutrality” that Guterson has in the book—that there are no heroes or villains. How do you go about that? How does having an ensemble of actors help that?

McKeon: If you asked a group of people to raise their hands if they thought they were “good” people, how many people in that group would raise their hands? Just about everyone, right? Most of us believe in the choices we make as individuals, believe we are doing the right thing. People are complicated, and we do things and think a certain way for a reason, a justifiable reason. I may not agree with your reasoning, for instance, but does that make you wrong? Not according to you. It’s easy to put labels on people, that’s the root of all prejudice, actually. But when you dig deeper, you begin to understand why people think and act

the way they do. A good actor knows this. The real heart of a character lies in the subtext; the recognizable humanity in a person is found underneath the externals. Stock characters are boring because Mess line, noon, Manzanar Relocation Center, California.

Photograph by Ansel Adams. Library of Congress Prints and they’re predictable, Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. and good actors will not let themselves be predictable. So if the people are portrayed in the story as real, complicated people, and the actors are approaching them as such, then it’s a perfect circle. I was so very impressed with the actors that Jeremy Cohen had assembled [ for the Hartford Stage production]. It was very exciting to watch them breathe life into the characters in the play.

Q: What was your process in adapting the book? Had you seen the movie? Did David Guterson have much involvement?

McKeon: It’s a very callous thing to adapt a book, I have to say. I have to be ruthless and just cut thousands and thousands of words, that, beautiful as they are on the page, just don’t serve an evening of theatre.

If an author was there looking over my shoulder, I can’t imagine being the most popular person in the room. So thankfully, Guterson was very respectful of the process. I did not know him, and met him only after the adaptation was finished. He told me later that he’d rather leave the interpretation of his work to others, and he gracefully stayed clear of involvement. I did see the movie when it came out. I remember liking it, and thought it was beautifully shot.

Q: What are your favorite stories—books, plays or movies? What other book would you like to adapt that you have not?

McKeon: I like Anne Tyler novels. I like movies by Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, John Schlesinger. I’m a big movie fan, and a lot of the time they’re my introduction to a work of fiction—then I’ll go back and read the book. But when I was a kid I read Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes and thought it was the greatest book ever. The kid in me still thinks so, and thinks it would make a great musical. Ray doesn’t necessarily agree, but I’m still trying.

•

•

•

•

•

•

to the United States.

1948—The Evacuation Claims Act authorizes payment to Japanese Americans who suffered economic loss during imprisonment. With the necessary proof, 10 cents is returned for every $1.00 lost The Department of Justice list of “subversive” organizations is made public. The majority of those on the list are identified as Communist.

1952—The McCarranWalter Immigration and Naturalization Act ends the racially based naturalization ban and the 1924 ban on Asian immigration.

1953—Senator Joseph McCarthy, chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, begins using the committee to identify Communists in various organizations and industries in the United States. He soon begins his investigation into the Army Signal Corps, hoping to uncover an espionage ring. The investigation finds nothing.

1954—Final events depicted in Snow Falling on Cedars take place, including the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto.

April-June 1954—The Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations holds the ArmyMcCarthy hearings, which are broadcast from the Senate Caucus Room on national television.

--Chris Baker, Senior Dramaturg at Hartford Stage

9

Works By David Guterson The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind: Stories (1989) Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense (1992) Snow Falling on Cedars (1994) The Drowned Son (1996) East of the Mountains (1999) Our Lady of the Forest (2003) The Other (2008)

Adaptations By Kevin McKeon All adaptations for Book-It Repertory Theatre, Seattle, Washington— Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (2003) Plainsong by Kent Haruf (2006) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (adapted with Jane Jones) (2007) Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (2007) The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu (2009)

Entrance to Manzanar, Manzanar Relocation Center. Photograph by Ansel Adams. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

10

For Further Exploration Adaptation The script used for Hartford Stage’s production of Snow Falling on Cedars was adapted by playwright Kevin McKeon from the 1994 novel by David Guterson. The novel was also adapted into an award-winning film in 1999.

• What other literary works have been adapted for the stage or screen?

• What qualities do these works have in common?

• Did the adapter make any major changes to the plot or characters when changing the story’s format? If so, why do you think the adapter made those choices?

Puget Sound Puget Sound encompasses a network of waterways, islands, and costal cities and towns in northwestern Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia. The cities of Seattle and Olympia are included in this area. During World War II, Puget Sound was home to many naval shipyards and Boeing production centers that produced many heavy bombers for the Air Force. The region had a large Asian immigrant population who, starting in the 1890s, worked largely on railroad construction and in the fishing, mining, and agricultural industries.

• Do some research on the Puget Sound region. How has it changed socio-economically since World War II? What lasting impact did events like the ones depicted in Snow Falling on Cedars have on the region? What are the ethnic demographics of this area in 2011? What industries drive its economy? What are the region’s major cultural contributions? What are the economic, environmental, and social challenges facing Puget Sound today?

Internment Camps In Snow Falling on Cedars, Hatsue Imada and Kabuo Miyamoto, along with their families, are arrested and sent to the Manzanar internment camp, which is described in the play as having: barbed wire and rows of dark barracks blurred by blowing dust. They ate standing up . . . there was a constant line to the latrine. Twelve toilets for women filled up near to over flowing, a film of excrement on the floor and damp stained tissue paper everywhere . . . [They were] given a sixteen by twenty foot room . . . camp cots, straw mattresses, and two army blankets apiece . . . There was nowhere to put any clothing. Yellow sand blew through the knotholes in the walls and floor. By morning their blankets were covered with it. And the next day was just the same.

Manzanar was just one of ten Japanese internment camps, referred to as “relocation centers,” in the United States during World War II. There were also 18 “civilian assembly centers,” that served as temporary holding areas for those whose relocation center was still being determined.

Through Executive Order 9066 in 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the “evacuation” of all people of Japanese descent from the west coast of the United States. Those of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes and communities and sent to internment camps intended to remove and isolate spies and “enemy combatants.” Agents of the War Relocation Authority confiscated all possessions and heirlooms from Japan and allowed those being “relocated” to bring only what they could carry.

11

Approximately 110,000 people of Japanese descent lived in these camps until 1945, when Executive Order 9066 was rescinded as the result of a Supreme Court ruling that loyal citizens of the United States could not be detained without cause.

• How were the Japanese internment camps in the United States similar to and different from the concentration camps run by Nazi Germany during World War II? • When else in history has a government authorized the detention of an ethnic or religious group within its borders?

• What reparations for Japanese internment were made by the U.S. government?

The Cedar Tree There are more than twenty distinct species of trees commonly referred to as “cedars.” The trees that appear in Snow Falling on Cedars are Western Red Cedars (Thuja plicata), a species indigenous to the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada, including parts of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and northern California. They have been found to grow as tall as 213-230 feet and their trunks can have diameters of 9-13 feet. They were frequently used by the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest for making baskets, ropes, canoes, totem poles, clothing, and a multitude of useful, practical objects. Native legends said that when a generous man died, a cedar tree would grow wherever he was buried. The tree would then provide useful resources to the people, thus continuing the man’s generosity.

In Snow Falling on Cedars, the hollowed-out trunk of a cedar tree serves as a private sanctuary in which Hatsue and Ishmael escape the pressures, perceptions, and prejudices of their society.

• What literal and figurative storms surround Hatsue and Ishmael in the play? How does the cedar tree shelter them from these storms? How does their behavior inside the tree contrast with their behavior outside of it? How might life for them have been different without the cedar tree? After her father is arrested in Act I, Hatsue tells Ishmael that the two of them “are trapped inside this tree.” What does she mean by that?

• Do some research into what cedar trees have symbolized for different cultures throughout history.

Besides being naturally found in the story’s setting, what reason may the writer have had for choosing to feature this tree over others?

Brown Island [in] summer opposite the Puget Sound Biological Station, [San Juan Islands], Washington. American Environmental Photographs Collection, [AEP-MIN73], Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.

12

Learning Assessments DESIGN Snow Falling on Cedars makes use of flashbacks and multiple settings as storytelling devices. In its first ten pages, the story jumps from the courtroom at the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, to Carl Heine’s fishing boat, to the docks on San Piedro, to the coroner’s laboratory. Among the other diverse settings are a strawberry field, the woods where Ishmael and Hatsue’s cedar tree grows, the Imada home, the Heine home, Manzanar internment camp, a World War II battlefield, and a jail cell. Throughout the play, we return to the courtroom again and again.

• Set Design—While film crews can travel to multiple locations and film scenes out of order, a stage director must create many different places within one space as the storytelling requires. Imagine you are the set designer for a production of Snow Falling on Cedars. What scenic elements would you construct? What locales would you simply suggest with furniture and props? Describe how you would depict the courtroom and at least two other settings from this play.

Create a poster board to display sketches and reference images that convey your vision.

• Props Design—When the Imadas are confronted by the FBI in Act I, the agents confiscate the family’s heirlooms from Japan, including a kimono, a sword, a flute, and some sheet music. Do some research on Japanese culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. What would the Imadas’ heirlooms have looked like? Out of what materials would they have been made?

How could a theatre’s props or costume department create replicas of these items for the stage? What materials might they use? o Create sketches of your designs for these items. Include copies of reference images that inspired your work. o Research and describe the materials used to create these items in Japan in the early 20th century, then describe your ideas for how replicas could be created today.

ENSEMBLE ACTING Many of the events in Snow Falling on Cedars take place as flashbacks into the characters’ memories.

When pieced together, these memories tell the story of not only the murder case being tried, but the community in which it occurred. The relationships, politics, and personal histories revealed in these memories provide vital context for the central investigation of the plot.

Create a class ensemble performance by piecing together a montage of memories associated with a single theme (for example, the themes from Snow Falling on Cedars explored in this study guide could be used: Expectations and Obligations, Prejudice and Racism, Perceptions of Truth). Each student should make a list of his or her own memories that relate to the chosen theme. Next, each student will choose one memory and create an individual pantomime performance of that event.

A pantomime is performance of a story using all movement—no words or sound effects are used or made by the actor. Qualities of a good pantomime include: • Consistency of objects. Invisible objects should be consistent in size, shape, and location.

• Exaggerated movements. Movement should have specificity and be larger-than-life.

• Clear facial expressions. The face should enhance the storytelling by communicating the emotions the character is feeling.

• A clear beginning, middle, and end. Each pantomime should tell a complete story.

Students should perform their memory pantomimes back to back with as little pause in between as possible, thus creating a continuous stream of memories. Add a musical soundtrack if desired. Are there any commonalities among the memories? How do the memories relate to each other in performance? If the order of the memories is changed or if they overlap, how is the story altered? What is the impact if a few words or lines of dialogue are added?

13

CREATIVE WRITING Newspaper Article Imagine you are Ishmael Chambers writing his newspaper article reporting the facts of the murder of Carl Heine, Jr. and the upcoming trial of Kabuo Miyamoto. What information does Ishmael already have when the action of the play begins? Make a list of the known facts and a list of people who Ishmael could have interviewed or used as a source of information. Would any of those sources want to remain anonymous or would they be willing to have a quote about the case attributed to them? Use an objective writing style to write a hard news article that includes quotes from both named and anonymous sources. Use local newspapers or online news articles for inspiration.

Original Adaptation In Kevin McKeon’s script for Snow Falling on Cedars, he provides directors with the following stylistic guidance: The cast consists of 12-13 actors, many of whom play numerous parts. There is no attempt at disguising this. Costume changes, or augmentation to costume, will in many instances take place in full view of the audience. All action is continuous. There are no scene changes. A multi-use playing area shall be used to facilitate a ‘seamless’ transitioning from one scene, or one time period, to another. Narration is to be spoken as dialogue, in context, with a strong subtext behind the lines.

Interweaving the narration in this way not only allows for the inclusion of background information and exposition but also permits the characters to express their private thoughts and feelings directly to the audience within the context of the story.

Use this unique approach to create your own adaptation for the stage. Choose a short story or fairytale that you believe would translate well into a theatrical format. Translate the text into a script format and embed as much narration as possible into the dialogue. Things to consider: • What aspects of the original text are the most relevant to its performance?

• Does a particular piece of exposition add information that is important for the audience to know?

• Which character should speak which words? Can something be revealed about a character by having him or her speak specific lines?

• If multiple roles are to be played by the same actor, which characters are best served by being grouped together, both in terms of onstage logistics (timing of entrances and exits, who is in which scene) and instilling meaning in the script?

14

REFERENCES American Memory. Digital images. Library of Congress Home.

Web. 6 Jan. 2011. <http://www.loc.gov/index.html>.

“Chronology of World War II Incarceration.” Home | Japanese American National Museum. Web. 16 Dec. 2010. <http:// www.janm.org/projects/clasc/chronology.htm>.

“David Guterson.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Guterson>.

“Exploring Japanese American Internment.” CAAM Home.

Web. 16 Dec. 2010. <http://www.asianamericanmedia.org/ jainternment/>.

February, By. “Japanese American Internment.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 16 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment>.

“Japanese Internment - Google Search.” Google.

Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://www.google.com/ search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ ENUS276&q=japanese internment&aq=f&oq=#q=japanese internment&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS276& prmd=ivnsb&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=A_gQTZ63BIL8AbvqbiADg&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=16 &ved=0CGkQ5wIwDw&fp=b0cd8154e3fa6b83>.

“McCarthy Hearings.” United States History. Web. 05 Jan. 2011. <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1769.html>.

“McCarthyism.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 05 Jan. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism>.

People for Puget Sound. Web. 9 Dec. 2010. <http:// pugetsound.org/>.

“Production History - Book-It Repertory Theatre.” Home Page - Book-It Repertory Theatre. Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://www. book-it.org/production-history.php>.

For more information about Education programs at Hartford Stage, please call (860) 520-7206 or email education@hartfordstage.org Contributing Editor Alexandra Truppi, Education Assistant Contributors Jennifer Roberts, Director of Education Chris Baker, Senior Dramaturg

“Puget Sound.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_sound>.

Snow Falling On Cedars. Web. 16 Dec. 2010. <http://www. snowfallingoncedars.com/>.

“Thuja Plicata.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Red_Cedar>.

15