A Reading of All That Remains. Written by Mona Z. Smith and Directed by Traci MarianoIn the autumn of 1969, a young Japanese American man makes a pilgNEW

In the autumn of 1969, a young Japanese American man makes a pilgrimage to an ancient forest on a mountain in France where his father was killed in action under mysterious circumstances 25 years earlier, in World War II. As the traveler enters this eerie forest, he is startled to encounter seven men who fought with his father in a celebrated battalion of NIsei soldiers. When the traveler begs to know the true story of his father's death, time flows backward as the ghost warriors tell a story of loyalty and betrayal, friendship and rivalry, courage and trauma, ghosts and demons, love and revenge.

The play's title is from an English translation of the poem by Matsuo Bashō:

natsukusa ya/Summer grass:
tsuwamono domo ga/All that remains
yume no ato/Of warriors' dreams.

All That Remains was inspired by the dreamlike ghost-warrior plays of Noh theater, especially Ikuta Atsumori by Zembo Motoyasu (1453-1532). While the play is a work of fiction, it has a rich historical context, drawing on the very real and harrowing experiences of troops in the 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team -- celebrated but segregated units of Japanese Americans who fought with distinction in some of the bloodiest battles of WWII. Research for the play began in 1994, and sources have included the Japanese American National Museum as well as archives in Hawaii and California, which preserve a wealth of information about these soldiers, their families, and their communities.