<Begin Segment 17>

TI: Now, during this time, sort of like in the 1950s, early '50s, were you doing much writing during this time?

WY: I don't think so. I think the first story I wrote that I really liked was And the Soul Shall Dance. Then I tried to sell it to a white magazine and I couldn't sell it, so I said --

TI: Right, so was this after your daughter was born, after Joy was born that you wrote this?

WY: I think so.

TI: Okay, so let's just document this. So you had a daughter Joy.

WY: 1955.

TI: She was born in 1955.

WY: And I think that the Soul went on in 1970-something.

TI: Right, but did you write it earlier, though? In about 1960 you started writing for the Rafu.

WY: Yeah. I wrote it earlier. And then, oh, I (remember) what happened. Frank Chin, Shawn Wong, Jeffery Chan and Lawson Inada were, you know, all this talk about Asian Americans, 'cause the department in the universities, they had no text. And they were talking about compiling a book of short stories that they could use as a text for these university departments. And they called it Aiiieeeee, right?

TI: Right. It came out in 1974, that was when I started college, so I remember when that came out.

WY: Oh, yeah? Oh. And then (they) asked me -- oh, Hisaye told me they were looking for a textbook to put together, and she says, "Why don't you send them about five stories?" And I said, "Okay," and I sent them five stories. And I didn't hear from them for two years, and I said, "Oh, (my stories must have fallen) over the side of the desk and (they're) still there." And then about two years later, Shawn Wong called me and said they really love Soul and they want to publish it. I don't think they gave me any money for it, I'm not sure. And then they published it, and it just got, took flight for some reason.

TI: And then how did it go from the book, Aiiieeeee, to become a play?

WY: Oh, Mako said he read the story, and he said to me...

TI: And we should back up. So Mako, at that time, was the director or...

WY: Artistic Director of East West Players.

TI: East West Players, and Mako, the actor, you're talking about, the well-known actor.

WY: Yeah. His name is Iwamatsu. Mako said that he'd like to see it in play form. And I thought, I know about those play forms. People don't have your experience that you write the play from, they misread everything you meant to say, and then they write the play. So I said, suspiciously, "Who will write it?" (...) "You will," (Mako said), "You will." I said, "I've never written a play before." And he said, "I don't care if it's a flop or a hit. All I want you to do is get the feeling of the short story into the play." I said, "I can do that," and so that's what I did.

TI: And so how did you learn how to write a play?

WY: Oh, I sent my daughter out to get a book on how to write a play. [Laughs] It says you put the stage directions here, and then you put the name of the, you center the name of the speaker, and then you start writing. I said, "Oh, my gosh, too much work." So I put the stage direction over here in capital letters, then I put the name of the speaker on this side. Because otherwise you're changing the... in the old days they had the typewriter, you got to center the... so I said, no, I'll do it my own way. So I did it that way.

TI: But how did you learn how to construct a play? Because you have to think about the staging and all that, I mean, weren't those things that you had to learn how to do?

WY: Well, no. As Mako said to me, "I don't care if it's a flop or a hit. (...) I (just) ask you to carry the feeling into the play." That's all I tried to do. And I changed the whole format because it was too much work to do the, what do you call it, indentations all the time. So I put the directions in caps, and then put the caps over here, so that there was no pushing the tabs. [Laughs]

TI: Now, do you recall how long it took you to take your short story and make it a play?

WY: I don't know. I think I must have written it about six times, which is very little, considering. I thought, "Oh, my god." First I had the, just like the short story, I had a narrator in there walking by, talking about the past and this and that. And then we tried it with that. And then I had a neighbor come in, and I thought I'd have a gay neighbor come in and talk to the narrator and make friends with her and all that, and that didn't work out. Mako didn't like that. And then he said, "Listen, I will just start out with just indicating what year it is by the costume and the lights and indicating this is the past." There was no problem.

TI: Oh, so Mako really helped you.

WY: Yeah, he did.

TI: It's like back and forth, you would give him a draft, he would give you feedback, then you would rewrite.

WY: Uh-huh. Although he said he didn't care, you know. Or he said, "I need a little time here to change clothes." "Okay," put in a little time. I'd just write in a little scene.

TI: And how was that, kind of that experience for you, creating the play?

WY: Well, I couldn't have written... because he said, "Forget the narrator, I'll do it with lights and costumes." And he would tell me when they needed more time. And then he gave me the confidence that he didn't care, as long I... and I would rather have done that. I said, "If it's gonna flop, I'd rather that I make it flop than (let) somebody else make it flop," you know.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.