Review: DEFINING COURAGE at Kennedy Center

One thing about living in DC is when an important holiday such as Veterans Day happens there is generally at least one event that sticks out as being unique.

Defining Courage definitely fits this bill because it deals with a unit of WWII that I guarantee very few of you know about. Journalist David Ono and TV Producer Jeff Maclntyre join forces to tell the story of the Nisei Soldier, Americans of Japanese ancestry who served in the segregated military units of the 100th IB, 442nd RCT, MIS, and 522nd FAB. They were considered the greatest fighting units in American military history. Ono and Maclntyre have created an immersive experience based on Ono’s years of interviews with surviving family members and vets who actually were part of these units.

It's a worldwide affair as we travel to locations in France, Japan and more to learn about some of the very daring missions and accomplishments these true American heroes encountered. Their story is still as relevant today as it was then regarding proper representation and acknowledgement for Asian American and AAPI military personnel.

The events were underscored by a trio of three excellent musicians. They are Sean Kennard on piano, Dennis Kim on violin, and Jonah Kim on Cello. A choir made up of seven members under the direction of musical director Chris Wade shows us what the power of music can do in adding to a story.

David Ono provided the narration live and as much as I understand that Defining Courage is his project, I still think that the people that were interviewed should be the ones to tell the story over him. There are clips of the interviews within the presentation and I wanted more of that. Ono’s voice was just a little too monotone for my taste and made the story sound more acedemic than theatrical.

At the end of the show Veteran Terry Shima took the stage to a standing ovation and an audience singing of “God Bless America”. Those five minutes might have been the most powerful becuase it was a true honoring for Shima and all who served.

Also, I understand that Defining Courage took a small village to get to DC. There were many organizations involved including the Japanese American National Museum. Pre-show there was a parade of speeches from Actress Tamlyn Tomita, Erika Moritsugu from the White House, Ann Burroughs, President, Japanese American National Museum and Rep. Mark Takano. I get the importance of each of the speakers of course, but maybe all of the speeches could have been done at the end of the performance as it made for an almost 30-minute wind up to the main show.

It was stated that Defining Courage is a work in progress. With the right pruning this could be a very important show. It took 50 years for the surviving Nisei Soldiers to receive their medals from President Clinton. Ono and Maclntyre want to make sure it doesn’t take another 50 years for these fallen heroes to be known by a wide audience. They are off to a good start, but Defining Courage still needs a little work to be fully what the creators are going for.

Running Time: One Hour and 50 minutes with no intermission.

Defining Courage was a one performance engagement at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre on November 11th, 2023. For more information on the show, click here.

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