INTERROGATION: Lives and Trials of the Kamloops Kid

Inspired by the true story of Kanao Inouye “Canada’s war criminal”

Collidescope Productions in association with The Toronto Fringe Festival presents

Interrogation: Lives and Trials of the Kamloops Kid.

A brother and sister separated by war: he on trial for treason against Canada in Japan; she classified “enemy alien” in Canada. Told through letters and images from opposite sides of WWII, this intimate look at how loyalty and national identity are shaped, chosen, or forced upon us is inspired by the true story of Kanao Inouye “Canada’s war criminal”.

For years playwright Karri Yano heard whispers about Kanao Inouye, better known as The Kamloops Kid, the notorious interrogator of Canadian POWs, tried first for war crimes as a Japanese interrogator and then for treason against Canada. At the same time, his sister Martha (Yano’s grandmother) along with 22,000 other Japanese Canadians were deemed enemy aliens by the Canadian government and forcibly evacuated to internment camps in BC’s interior.

Interrogation: Lives and Trials of the Kamloops Kid links Canadian history with a very personal family story and is particularly relevant this year as the world commemorates the 70^th anniversary of the end of WWII (August 2015).

Yano realized the irony that Kanao Inouye had to be recognized as a Canadian in order to be tried for treason while his family was denied their Canadian citizenship. This irony led Yano to examine how governments can dictate an individual’s national identity to fatal ends; what drives one to commit war crimes; and how far one would go to prove their loyalty to a country.

Yano and playwright-director Evan Mackay (Eat, Poo, Love, Toronto Fringe 2012) team up to create Interrogation, a play that unravels her family’s oral history. Set against a backdrop of WWII, racism, and political manipulation Interrogation reveals the steps that led to Kanao Inouye becoming “Canada’s war criminal”.

Collidescope Productions’ mandate is to explore the collision of perspectives that happens with increasing frequency as disparate cultures and traditions come into ever-closer contact.

Starring                Benaldo Yeung and Loretta Yu
Written by           Karri Yano and Evan Mackay
Directed by          Evan Mackay
Stage Manager    Christine Seki
Costume Designer Kei Yano
Visual Designer    Grant Dix
Video Technician Robert Toomer

Performances:
July 1: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
July 4: 11 pm – 12 am
July 6: 1 pm – 2 pm
July 8: 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
July 10: 9:15 pm. -10: 15 pm
July 11: 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
July 12: 12 pm – 1 pm