Mitch Miyagawa's The Plum Tree opens tonight

[awagner]

As per the press release below, Mitch Miyagawa's The Plum Tree opens at the Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver tonight and runs until February 28. The play has interesting parallels with the current drive to save Joy Kogawa's former family home in Vancouver as described by the website http://kogawa.homestead.com


T H E   F I R E H A L L   A R T S   C E N T R E

For Release: January 14, 2004

FAMILY HISTORIES COLLIDE IN MITCH MIYAGAWA'S PLAY
‘The Plum Tree’
FIREHALL ARTS CENTRE -- FEBRUARY 6 TO 28
 

The Firehall Arts Centre presents The Plum Tree, Mitch Miyagawa's poignant drama in 
which a Japanese-Canadian man and a German-Canadian widow are put on a collision 
course in a struggle for ownership, justice and harmony. The Plum Tree begins previews 
on Friday, February 6, opens on Wednesday, February 11 and continues to Saturday, 
February 28. Performances are scheduled Tuesdays to Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 
p.m. with pay-what-you-can matinees on Wednesdays at 1 p.m., at The Firehall Arts 
Centre, 280 East Cordova, Vancouver.

Miyagawa's play unfolds in 1989 following the federal government's apology to 
Japanese-Canadians for their internment during the Second World War. George 
Murakami is a third-generation Japanese-Canadian who is spurred by the puckish spirit of 
his late Uncle Mas to return to the small farm his Grandparents were expelled from. 
In his search for a tangible connection with his past he forms an adversarial bond with 
Frieda Wagner, an immigrant to Canada from Germany following the Second World 
War. 

The Plum Tree has been produced at Alberta Theatre Projects' National playRites 
Festival in Calgary, at the University of Lethbridge, the On the Verge Festival in Ottawa 
and at the Nakai Theatre in Whitehorse where Miyagawa is Playwright-in-Residence.   

The Firehall Arts Centre production features Hiro Kanagawa as George, David Fujino as 
his Uncle Mas, and Karen Austin as Frieda. The creative team includes director Adrienne 
Wong, the Firehall's current Artist-in-Residence, and set designer Tara Arnett, lighting 
designer James Proudfoot, costume designer Barbara Clayden and sound designer Hannu 
Huuskonen.

Tickets: Previews $10, Tuesday to Thursday $16 / $14, Friday and Saturday $20 / $18, 
Sunday $16 / $14, Wednesday at 1 p.m. is pay-what-you-can. Group rates available.
Call The Firehall Arts centre box office at 604-689-0926. For online purchase and 
information visit www.firehallartscentre.ca. 

                                                       -- 30 --  

Media Contact: Joan Wellwood. Ph: 604-737-7827. E-mail: joan_wellwood at telus.net










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