Prompt:
When you told me..., I ...-Kristen Gandrow, dramaturg/arts administrator
Response:
SUZU, a young Japanese woman, paces around the stage. Her mother, YUMI, sits at the small breakfast table. And empty chair is next to her.
SUZU
I don’t want to talk about it.
YUMI
It’s a family tradition.
SUZU
I don’t care about tradition.
YUMI
That’s only something foolish young girls say.
SUZU
Then I’m a foolish young girl.
YUMI
No, you’re not. You are strong and brave...
SUZU
No, I’m not!
YUMI
I have seen you be strong and brave. I have seen you on the soccer field running, jumping, tackling, fighting for the ball...
SUZU
That is only sports.
YUMI
And if you can be brave and strong on the soccer field, you can be brave and strong in real life... where it matters.
SUZU
I’ve heard this story over and over again, every year for as long as I can remember...
YUMI
It is one of the stories of our family.
SUZU
I don’t want to hear it again! It gives me nightmares! I remember as a little girl lying in bed. I could see little black dots of airplanes high in the sky. I could hear whistling...
YUMI
Whistling?
SUZU
The sound of the bombs being dropped.
Suzu makes a whistling noise of bombs falling.
YUMI
You’re not a little girl anymore.
SUZU
I wish I was.
YUMI
No, you don’t!
SUZU
Sometimes I do.
Silence.
YUMI
Sometimes I wish I was a little girl... But I am not and neither are you.
SUZU
I know!
YUMI
And today is the day we remember you’re great grandfather. Today is the day he was killed.
SUZU
I’ve seen his death certificate. He didn’t die til a month from now.
YUMI
He may not have died for a month, but he was killed today... Saving the lives of others.
Silence.
Suzu sits next to her mother.
SUZU
Tell me the story again.
YUMI
It was cloudy in the morning, but mid-morning the sun broke through and the day was beautiful. Nagasaki glimmered from the over night rain.
Curtain.
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