The Central Utah Relocation Center, also known as the Topaz Relocation Center, was one of 10 camps during World War II in which Japanese Americans were interned. Housed in crude barracks behind barbed wire fences with armed guards overseeing them, these men, women and children struggled to survive and to maintain the dignity that a shameful U.S. policy sought to deprive them of.
In “Desert Rock Garden,” a world premiere one-act play at New Village Arts in Carlsbad, a 12-year-old orphaned girl named Penny (Chloris Li) and an elderly man she calls “Fuzzy” (Lane Nishikawa) forge an improbable friendship at Topaz. As the story unfolds, their relationship builds on the strength of young Penny’s sheer persistence and the taciturn Fuzzy’s inclination to protect her from the dangers of the camp and to envision a life for herself when one day she is free.
The play was written by Roy Sekigahama, whose parents were interned in a relocation camp, and was workshopped at New Village’s Final Draft New Play Festival in 2019. Its opening this month coincides with the 80th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s executive order that authorized the relocation from the West Coast to internment camps of thousands of Japanese descent.
“Desert Rock Garden” opens with an adult Penny in 1964, more than 20 years after her internment at Topaz. She refers to the forced evacuation order as an “emasculation proclamation” and scoffs at the consideration by the U.S. government of the Topaz camp as “the jewel of the desert.” But in this brief opening monologue, there is tenderness and reflection. Penny has returned to the rock garden that was tended by her friend Fuzzy, which is still there among the dust and tumbleweeds.
Sekigahama’s memory play shifts to the past and to the first meeting between Fuzzy, who is tending the sort of rock garden he tended in Japan, and Penny, who annoys him with her childlike curiosity and sass. It doesn’t take very long to realize that both are lonely and possibly more frightened than either will admit even to themselves. As Penny begins to win over Fuzzy, a trust emerges between them. Each has secrets and no one else with whom to share them.
Befitting his role, Nishikawa “says” as much with his silences, his expressions and his steady but hunched work in the garden as he does with words. Li, who is a graduate of University California San Diego, conveys all of a 12-year-old’s determined spirit.
Under the direction of Yari Cervas, the storytelling is deliberately paced, which is as it should be for a relationship like this one that takes time to develop. The use of quick black in, then black out stop-action moments to show Penny and Fuzzy becoming friends feels forced, however, even if intended to speed things along.
Both the original music by Marc Akiyama and Annelise Raquel Salazar’s subdued lighting coincide with the thoughtfulness of the play, which to the credit of all never turns overly sentimental.
Instead, “Desert Rock Garden” accomplishes what its playwright and director hope it does: tell an uplifting tale about a terrible time in history. But neither minimizes the pain, one that continues to be felt to this day.
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays. 8 p.m. Fridays. 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays. 2 p.m. Sundays. Plus some additional performances on weekdays. Through March 13.
Where: New Village Arts Theatre, 2787 State St., Carlsbad
Coddon is a freelance writer.
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