A very special evening of culture and history took place on Friday, May 8, 2009 in New York City when three survivors of the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima, Japan during World War II attended the opening performance of Chiori Miyagawa's play "I Have Been to Hiroshima Mon Amour" at the Ohio Theatre (66 Wooster St.) in Soho. Miyagawa's play (running through May 30) kicks off the 4-week "The Hiroshima Project," which re-examines the Japanese bombings and their aftermath 64 years later from the contemporary perspective of playwrights, filmmakers, scholars and historians.
The atomic bomb survivors who attended the May 8th performance were all young children when the bombs fell in 1945, and they have each devoted years of their lives to advocating nuclear disarmament: Ms. Toshiko Tanaka (was 6 years old in 1945); Mr. Hiro Iso (4 years old); and Mr. Takehisa Tamamoto (1 year old).
Following the performance of I HAVE BEEN TO HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR, the survivors spoke about their families and life works, and answered questions from The Audience.
A detailed list of performances I HAVE BEEN TO HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR and events in "The Hirsoshima Project" can be found online at hiroshimaproject.org
Photo credit Michael Portantiere
Sue Jean Kim, Ms. Toshiko Tanaka, Joel de la Fuente, Mr. Takehisa Yamamoto and Mr. Hiro Iso
Mr. Hiro Iso, Ms. Toshiko Tanaka, Playwright Chiroi Miyagawa, Director Jean Wagner, and Mr. Takehisa Yamamoto
Sue Jean Kim, Ms. Toshiko Tanaka and Joel de la Fuente
Playwright Chiori Miyagawa and Ms. Toshiko Tanaka
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