Love interruption

Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra ventures in new directions with this show about young love interrupted by World War II, between a Chinese-American boy and a Japanese-American girl. The boy’s father (a stern Chinese Nationalist) despises everything Japanese, so young son Henry (Kevin M. Lin, an actor from Seattle) hides his growing fondness for classmate Keiko (Lyra Dominguez, who brings energy and surprising insight to the role).

There’s lots more going on. Angry racists target any Asian as a hated Japanese (Henry’s father makes him wear a button saying “I am Chinese”). A gentle-hearted black jazzman (Michael Lewis) offers perceptive advice. A few tolerant whites are troubled by the harsh government crackdown—mass arrests of Japanese-Americans, leading to internal exile amid barbed wire. The lovers struggle to stay together, but the tide is against them.

Woven in is a parallel plot in the 1980s involving the haunted, middle-aged Henry, and his modern, culturally-assimilated son, who’s marrying a white girl. They help old Henry (Bay Area pro Randall Nakano) trace Keiko, whom Henry hasn’t heard from in decades. The very different relationships between young Henry and his dictatorial Chinese dad, as well as old Henry and his Americanized son, counterbalance the love story.

The script (based on Jamie Ford’s 2009 debut novel) was developed by Seattle’s Book-It Repertory Theatre. What you’re getting here is “literature on stage,” with multiple characters speaking narrative prose drawn directly from the book. The storytelling style takes a little getting used to (and Ford’s plot occasionally leans toward the melodramatic), but the show grows on you. Seattle’s Annie Lareau (who directed the 2012 Seattle premiere) helms this CATS staging. It’s a big show (23 actors, 2.5 hours), but it grips your attention, unifying strikingly different ideas, eras and outcomes in Henry and Keiko’s long, unusual lives.