The Firehall Arts Centre brings an eye-opening, award-winning play The Tashme Project: The Living Archives to the Firehall Arts Centre April 2 to April 13, 2019.
Created and performed by Julie Tamiko Manning and Matt Miwa, The Tashme Project: The Living Archives traces the history and common experience of the Nisei (second generation Japanese Canadians) through childhood, internment in Canada during the Second World War, and post-war resettlement east of the Rockies. The Nisei, now in their 70s and 80s, were children at the time of internment and their stories of adventure and play are presented in sharp relief with the more common internment narratives of hardship and justice.
The Tashme Project: The Living Archives is created from twenty interwoven interviews with Nisei from Toronto, Hamilton, Kingston, Montreal, and Vancouver. The piece moves from voice to voice and story to story with fluidity and with a purposeful and constructed gracefulness. The actors portray the voices of both men and women interviewees as they seek a deep emotional and spiritual connection with the stories of their elders, breathing new life into these memories. This production is an embodiment of Nisei character, language, spirit and story, and brings to light a part of Canadian history that has been often kept in the dark. Tickets start from $25 and are available online at Firehall Arts Centre.
What people are saying about The Tashme Project: The Living Archives:
“…profoundly moving…”
Nikkei Voice
“A remarkable piece of verbatim theatre.”
Broadway World
“…Manning and Miwa…lovingly bring to life the hesitancy and frailty of these ‘living archives’.”
Montreal Gazette
ILiveInEastVan.com 
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