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| Joel de la Fuente plays Gordon Hirabayashi in 'Hold These Truths.' (Kevin Berne photo) |
Gordon Hirabayashi was a young man who ardently
believed in the U.S. Constitution.
The consequences of that belief are dramatized in
Jeanne Sakata’s “Hold These Truths,” based on a true story and presented by
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.
Gordon, a second-generation Japanese American, or Nisei,
was a student at the University of Washington in Seattle in December 1941 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, thus pulling the United States into World War
II.
Shortly thereafter, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
signed the executive order that led to a curfew and then internment for all
people of Japanese descent on the West Coast. The rationale was that they were
a security threat.
Although his family, friends and thousands of others
obeyed the orders, Gordon defied the curfew, refused internment and was
prosecuted for both. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which
upheld his conviction.
His internment conviction was invalidated by a
federal district court judge in 1986.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “the judge,
Donald S. Voorhees, found that the government withheld from the U.S. Supreme
Court in 1943 critical information that might have led the high court to strike
down the legal underpinnings of the relocation program, or at least drastically
reduce the numbers of citizens of Japanese descent rounded up from their West
Coast homes and interned out of a so-called military necessity.”
Gordon was only one of three Japanese Americans to
refuse internment. Besides his belief in the Constitution, he was a Quaker who
held pacifist beliefs.
Joel de la Fuente gives a tour de force performance
as Gordon in this one-man play. He tells Gordon’s story in the first person but
gives voice to the many other people in his life.
Director Lisa Rothe skillfully guides de la Fuente
through the story’s ups and downs.
She’s aided by designers Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams for
the set, Margaret Weedon for the costume, Cat Tate Starmer for the lighting and
Daniel Kluger for the sound.
The result is a gripping drama that tells a powerful
story leavened by some humorous moments.
Although this story comes from a shameful period in
U.S. history, it has relevance to today’s news stories about travel bans
and detainment of people crossing the border illegally.
Running 90 minutes without intermission, “Hold These
Truths” will continue through Aug. 5 at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305
Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.
The website includes parking information because much of the
parking lot is closed for construction.
