The Seattle Times | 24 hours in Vancouver, B.C.: A newcomer gets a fascinating glimpse of a complicated city

“When I spoke with Bancroft and co-creator/director Joanna Garfinkel later over the phone, they challenged the notion that Vancouver is a haven of racial harmony.”

Seattle Times travel and outdoors reporter, Crystal Paul, spent 24 hours in Vancouver and joined us for JAPANESE PROBLEM. Read about her Vancouver visit and reflections on our show here.

Seattle Times article by Crystal Paul | posted October 4, 2018

Actors Yoshie Bancroft, left, and Nicole Yukiko perform in one of the stalls in the barn at Hastings Park where over 8,000 Japanese Canadians were detained in 1942. (Mona Stilwell / Bob Baker)

Actors Yoshie Bancroft, left, and Nicole Yukiko perform in one of the stalls in the barn at Hastings Park where over 8,000 Japanese Canadians were detained in 1942. (Mona Stilwell / Bob Baker)

Georgia Straight | “Guys, we did it!”: recapping a night of exuberance and change at the Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards

Thank you to Kathleen Oliver and the Georgia Straight for this inspiring recap of the night!  The JAPANESE PROBLEM team was thrilled to take home the Critics' Choice Innovation award along with Mind of a Snail’s Multiple Organism!

Accepting one of two Critics’ Choice Innovation Awards (the other went to Mind of a Snail’s Multiple Organism) with Yoshié Bancroft for Universal Limited’s Japanese Problem, Joanna Garfinkel echoed that sentiment: “We wanted to change the stories that were told, who was in them, and who told them.” --read the full article here!

Georgia Straight article by Kathleen Oliver | Posted 17 July 2018

Luara Fukumoto, Nicole Yukiko, Yoshie Bancroft, Joanna Garfinkel, Brent Hirose, Daniel Deorksen

Luara Fukumoto, Nicole Yukiko, Yoshie Bancroft, Joanna Garfinkel, Brent Hirose, Daniel Deorksen

Westender | The year in theatre: 2017 offered something for everyone

Thank you to The Westender and Jo Ledingham for including us in their 2017 list!

Not a week went by in 2017 without something wonderful happening on a Vancouver stage. From the Goldcorp Stage to The Fishbowl, under the Bard tents or under the Cambie Bridge, there was seemingly a show on for every taste.
With that, here are some productions – not necessarily the best – that creatively pushed the boundaries of live theatre this year.

Read the full article here.

Westender article by Jo Ledingham | published 13 December 2017

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Japanese Problem / Chinese Problem by erica hiroko

Japanese Problem / Chinese Problem is a piece related to JAPANESE PROBLEM & reflections on the play's role among politics of race in Vancouver.

This past Sunday, our friend Erica Isomura, and author of the article, shared an excerpt at the Canadian Race Relations Foundation's panel discussion and dialogue event. The theme of the discussion was "Building Bridges Across Asian Canadian Communities."  Read the excerpt here, with the full piece, a 3-part series in Schema Magazine, forthcoming in 2018. 

Present day at Hastings Park. Photo by Kayla Isomura

Present day at Hastings Park. Photo by Kayla Isomura

Landscapes of Injustice uncovers long-lost letters from interned Japanese-Canadians

National Post article draws attention to long-lost letters, including one written by Tokuji Hirose, great-grandfather of JAPANESE PROBLEM collaborator Brent Hirose.

Read the article here.

National Post article by Tristin Hopper | posted Nov 10, 2017

Image from The Héritage project --a 10-year initiative to digitize and make accessible online some of Canada’s most popular archival collections encompassing roughly 40 million pages of primary-source documents. Chronicling the country and its …

Image from The Héritage project --a 10-year initiative to digitize and make accessible online some of Canada’s most popular archival collections encompassing roughly 40 million pages of primary-source documents. Chronicling the country and its people from the 1600s to the mid-1900s, this collection represents a vast and unique resource for Canadian historians, students, and genealogists.

Nikkei Voice | ‘JAPANESE PROBLEM' takes audiences back to internment at Hastings Park

The title ‘JAPANESE PROBLEM‘ was a zeitgeist term used around the Second World War. There were countless papers and articles published in North American addressing the so-called “Japanese problem,” often perpetuating false information about those who were detained.

“I guess it would be 1942’s ‘fake news,'” says Garfinkel.

-excerpt from Nikkei Voice article

Read the whole article here.

Nikkei Voice article by Lauren Scott | posted Oct 12, 2017

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