<Begin Segment 19>

TI: Well, so it played to rave reviews, and then you mentioned how they wanted to do a TV version of that. And was it KCTS that wanted to...

WY: KCET, that's our channel...

TI: The public...

WY: Public channel.

TI: Public TV. And so describe that. So how did they approach you?

WY: They fight. They're two cats; oh my gosh, success is terrible sometimes.

TI: But at this point, you own the right to the play?

WY: Yeah.

TI: And so they have to negotiate with you for the rights to the play?

WY: Well, yeah. They gave me, they give the writer something, quite a healthy sum. Like they gave me ten thousand something. And then the actors get paid their union wages, but because we had two casts, they'd tear each other's eyes out trying to get (the roles). (The big guns) didn't want Mako to be the director, because they wanted a white director. I said, "Mako, if you don't like it, tell 'em you don't like it, and I'll go along with you." But he said, "Let it go." And then what happened? He gave it up. I don't know whether he said, "Let it go," but he gave it up. And, oh, (the actors) started fighting for the roles, so I said, well, because Mako didn't want to be co-director. He gave it up, I guess. So I told the director, I said, "You go in there and see which one, which cast you like better." I said, "I don't like this," so he chose the cast.

TI: And then, so you now went from being almost unknown to then the successful play locally, to now being on TV. What was the reaction of people -- you mentioned your mother-in-law, or your former mother-in-law calling, but it must have really escalated in terms of...

WY: Yeah. I said, "You shouldn't be calling me, I'm not your daughter anymore." (Chester had remarried and had two kids). She didn't even like me.

TI: So how about other people? Who were some other people who contacted you?

WY: Not too much. Nisei people are very reticent about things like that, they don't bother you. I remember I said to one lady, I said, "Oh, you wear the cutest things." You know, she has (clothes rotting in her closet)... my age, too, you know. I'm always getting solid colors or something. And she said, "Oh, that's because you're a writer." I didn't even know she knew (...) I was (a writer). I said, "Well, that doesn't make any difference." And she said, "Oh, yes, you've got better things to think about." That was kind of nice of her.

TI: And I'm curious, what was the reaction of the writing community, other writers, to the success of And the Soul Shall Dance?

WY: You mean like white writers?

TI: No, Asian American writers.

WY: Asian American writers?

TI: Like people like Shawn Wong and Frank Chin?

WY: Oh, Shawn has always been nice to me.

[Interruption]

TI: And so, but there were some authors that, perhaps, were...

WY: They don't pay much attention to these kind of things, you know. After all, they've been writing a lot longer than I have.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.