Page 5 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - Feb 8, 2023

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When they and the rest of the cast go to Hiroshima, they will visit the Children’s Peace Monument, which commemorates Sadako and other child victims of the atomic bombing, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which is dedicated to documenting the blast.
“It was very eye-open- ing,” she says. “I had read the book Hiroshima (by John Hersey) back in high school. But it’s one thing to read about it and another to actually go there and see the artifacts and read the stories told by people who were there. It stuck in my mem- ory and that’s a big reason I
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Poignant Production Sheds Light On Dark Period
FROM PAGE 4
heels of the 2023 G7 Sum- mit, which also takes place in the southern Japanese city, in May.
because they think kids can’t handle it,” Rubin says. “But when you think about it, kids undergo so many harrowing experiences.
play Aiko, a fictional friend of Sadako’s.
thought of this story to tell.” The cast also plans to meet with Sadako’s surviving friends and tour Nobori-cho Elementary School, which
But first, audiences here in the islands will have a chance to see it again, when it returns to Hawai‘i Theatre this week, Feb. 9-11.
“These (changes) don’t make her story any sadder, by the way,” she continues. “They just make it really
Sadako attended.
As for the show itself, Tai-
For those who saw the original, this rendition prom- ises to be a new experience.
poignant and actually more uplifting.”
ra and Rubin say bringing it to Hiroshima feels like a homecoming of sorts.
“The play starts differ- ently, there’s a couple of songs that we deleted, and we added one new song,” says Rubin. “I think it tells the story more clearly and poignantly.”
Adds Tai- ra, “(Sadako) was so full of life and had such a will to live, this illness was not go- ing to stop her. She was just one of these people who nev- er took a day she was alive
Taira first visited the mu- seum in the early 2000s.
“We are nervous to see how the Hiroshima people are going to react,” Taira says. “But I think just bring- ing this from the U.S., it’s a beautiful thing. Hopefully on the Japan side, they will feel there is some recognition that we are telling her story, and they know we share this wish for peace. We’re on board for there to be peace in this world.”
Viewers can also expect updated lighting and cho- reography, and new set de- signs.
for granted.
“She did whatever she
Although Rubin and Taira began collaborating shortly after meeting as students at Yale School of Music in 2004 — Rubin is an opera singer and author of the autobiog- raphy Do You Dream in Col- or? about growing up blind; Taira is a composer, pianist and clarinetist — Peace On Your Wings was their first full-scale musical. Many of their adjustments were a Presult of audience feedback and lessons learned by taking the show on the road.
could to make the most of Eevery single day without knowing, necessarily, ichi- go ichie but just living that.”
To purchase tickets, visit hawaiitheatre.com.
eace On Your Wings is still centered around 12-year-old Sadako
“A lot of material that’s out there for kids water down a lot of the emotional content
Paper cranes adorn a children’s hospital in a scene from a 2017 production of Peace On Your Wings. PHOTO COURTESY ‘OHANA ARTS
But Rubin and Taira dug deeper, incorporating ma- terial from Sadako’s older brother, Masahiro Sasaki, who co-wrote The Com- plete Story of Sadako Sasaki and The Thousand Paper Cranes with American au- thor Sue DiCiccio. It was published in 2018, four years
mi Sampson and Jenelle Wong, both juniors at Kalani
after Taira and Rubin wrote their musical.
High School, were cast for the lead role of Sadako. (Taira and Rubin chose two actresses in case one of them came down with COVID-19.) Wyatt Tama- moto, a junior at ‘Iolani School, will be Masahiro, and Maya Nakamoto, an eighth grader at Hawai‘i Technical Academy, will
Masahiro actually saw the earlier version of their play and praised it, but Taira and Rubin seized the opportunity to refine their work.
Sasaki. A real-life victim of the bombing, she was made famous by the children’s book Sadako and the Thou- sand Paper Cranes by Elea- nor Coerr.
When Sadako is diagnosed with leukemia — known at the time as “the atomic bomb disease” — she is de-
our termined to fold a thousand n. paper cranes so that her wish to be cured will come true.
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RATING: GOLD
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