INTERROGATION: Lives and Trials of the Kamloops Kid
Inspired by the true story of Kanao Inouye, “Canada’s war criminal”
“Perfectly heart-wrenching” – Mooney on Theatre
“Spectacular performances” – Nikkei Voice
Collidescope Productions in association with the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre presents Interrogation: Lives and Trials of the Kamloops Kid.
A brother and sister divided by war: he will be tried for treason against Canada; she classified “enemy alien” in Canada. Told through fictionalized letters with archival images from opposite sides of WWII, this intimate look at how loyalty and national identity are shaped, chosen, or forced upon us is inspired by the true story of Kanao Inouye, “Canada’s war criminal”.
Premiered at this summer’s Toronto Fringe Festival, the show will receive two encore performances for one date only, (one week after Remembrance Day), November 18, at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. As the world commemorates the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII this year, Interrogation: Lives and Trials of the Kamloops Kid links Canadian history with a very personal family story. For years Karri Yano heard whispers about her great-uncle Kanao Inouye, better known as The Kamloops Kid, the notorious interrogator of Canadian POWs, tried first for war crimes as a Japanese interrogator and then for treason against Canada. At the same time, his sister Martha (Yano’s grandmother) and 22,000 other Japanese Canadians were deemed “enemy aliens” by the Canadian government and forcibly evacuated from the west coast to internment camps in BC’s interior.
In 2015, the Canadian government is stripping certain Canadians of their citizenship. What are the limits of citizenship? Realizing the irony that Kanao Inouye had to be recognized as a Canadian in order to be tried for treason, while his family was denied their Canadian citizenship rights, Yano wanted to examine how governments can dictate an individual’s national identity to fatal ends, as well as to explore what drives one to commit war crimes and how far one might go to prove his or her loyalty to a country.
She and playwright-director Evan Mackay (Eat, Poo, Love, Toronto Fringe 2012) team up to create Interrogation, which unravels her family oral history to reveal the making of “Canada’s war criminal” Kanao Inouye, against a backdrop of WWII, Canadian racism and political manipulation.
Collidescope Productions explores the collision of perspectives which happens with increasing frequency as disparate cultures and traditions come into ever-closer contact.
Written by Karri Yano and Evan Mackay
Directed by Evan Mackay
Starring Loretta Yu and Benaldo Yeung
Stage Manager Christine Seki
Graphic Designer Grant Dix
Video Technician Robert Toomer
Two performances, ONE DATE ONLY:
November 18 at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm (running time, approximately 65 minutes)
at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, 6 Garamond Court
Tickets: $20; students, seniors and JCCC members $18
Interrogation: Lives and Trials of the Kamloops Kid.
Interrogation: Lives and Trials of the Kamloops Kid 