San Diego Play to Tell Story of ‘Dear Miss Breed’
Sunday, Aug. 12, 2007

Librarian’s correspondence with children sent to camps is the basis for inspiration.

“Dear Miss Breed” by Joanne Oppenheim

SAN DIEGO.—City of San Diego Public Library and the Asian Story Theater (AST) will present a stage adaptation of the book, “Dear Miss Breed” by Joanne Oppenheim. The play will show at the Lyceum Space Theater at Horton Plaza from Sunday, Sept. 16 to Sunday, Sept. 30. It is based on correspondence that San Diego Public Librarian Clara Breed main­tained with over two dozen young San Diegans of Japanese-American descent, interned by the government during World War II. Miss Breed, as she was known, kept every letter written to her by her children ages 5 through 19 who were taken to the Santa Anita Processing station and Poston Relocation camp in Arizona.
Their letters captured the frustra­tion, patriotism, and perseverance of these young Americans as they wrote to her about a range of subjects, from homesickness and the quality of the food in camp to worries about reloca­tion and deeply patriotic hopes for a speedy American victory. It was not until late in her life that Miss Breed’s letters and much of the clippings that document her relationship with her friends in the San Diego Japanese commu­nity were given to San Diego’s Liz Yamada, and sub­sequently donated to the Japanese American Na­tional Museum. It was there that they were eventu­ally discovered and inspired Oppen­heim’s book.
Oppenheim began writing the stage adaptation after the California Civil Liberties Pub­lic Education Pro­gram (CCLPEP) awarded a grant for over $60,000 to San Diego Public Library on be­half of AST to oversee and produce the adaptation. The project is led by Andy Lowe, former Artistic Director and founder of the 11-year-old Asian American Repertory Theatre (AART). Despite performing in numerous pro­ductions with the Story Theater company, this is Lowe’s directorial debut with AST, and his first major project since resigning from AART in 2005. 1994 Young Playwrights Project finalist, Lowe is no stranger to the playwriting process and is assisting the New York-based Oppenheim in her adaptation, which carries with it a contemporary message that resonates in the current post-9/11, war-on-terror climate of modern America.
The Sept. 16 through 30 Lyceum performances are Thursday-Friday mornings at 10 a.m., Thursday evenings at 7 p.m., Friday and Satur­days at 8 p.m. with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. The Sunday, September 16, performance at 7 p.m. is the opening night, which includes a reception with the author and special guests from the community. The open­ing night performance is by invitation only. Tickets for the youth perfor­mances can be obtained from Young Audiences at (619) 282-8709 and are $5.50. Tickets for other performances are $10 (seniors and youth) to $15 and can be purchased from the Lyceum box office and online: http://www.sandiegorep.com/pages/about/lyce­umevents.html
This program is supported in whole or in part by the California Civil Liber­ties Public Education Program (CCL­PEP), a project of the California State Library in Sacramento, administered in California by the State Librarian; The San Diego Foundation; and the City of San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture.