Performance and Discussion

At the California African American Museum
600 State Drive at Exposition Park, Los Angeles
(213) 744-7432

Second in a three-part series co-sponsored by the Playrights Project, the Angeles Plaza, California Afro American Museum, and the Japanese American National Museum. This project features professional theatre artists who will perform monologues based on the lives of Los Angeles area senior citizens.

One of the featured Angelenos is Kimi Kawamura, a dance instructor who lived through the atomic bomb in World War II in Hiroshima. Her recollections, as dramatized by Denise Uyehara, crystallize one aspect of the Japanese American experience. Sharing the spotlight is Gladys Bankhead, whose life illustrates the African American experience in Los Angeles. Dramatized by Joyce Guy, this story chronicles the 80-year life of a loyal Watts resident and faithful churchgoer. Curator Rick Moss of the California Afro American Museum will use these two stories to explore the similarities and differences between the two communities. This project is made possible by a grant from the California Council on the Humanities.