Jude Narita’s ‘Darkness’ Is Witty and Poignant

The latest in Jude Narita’s rich canon of one-woman shows, “With Darkness Behind Us, Daylight Has Come,” at Highways, takes on the heft and poignancy of oral history, much as did Narita’s 1987 solo turn, “Coming Into Passion/Song for a Sansei.”

While “Sansei” beautifully explored differences between Japanese-born Americans and their Westernized offspring, “Darkness” takes on one specific subject--the experiences of Japanese American women interned by the U.S. government during World War II.

Narita’s daughter, Darling Narita, directs, a lovely intergenerational touch, considering Narita’s past emphasis on the conflicts and commonalities between parents and their children. The staging is slightly rough-edged, not quite the polished accomplishment of “Sansei.” Yet Narita, ever the gracious storyteller, is at her warmest and most accessible, displaying a roguish humor that is surprising in such a poignant context.

George Abe’s live music, period slides and a video of Narita wandering through the ruins of the Heart Mountain, Wyoming, camp, evoke the properly wistful atmosphere. The play is largely a series of first-person narratives, ranging from the reminiscences of older women, who are looking back on their camp experiences in retrospect, to the agonized musings of a teenage girl, an internee who has recently gotten word that her G.I. brother has been killed in action.

That sharp irony is almost overwhelming, yet Narita’s sweetly upbeat touch penetrates her audience’s complacency more keenly than tirades or recriminations ever could. In this story well told, Narita universalizes the experience of the camps for all audiences, humanizing that bitter chapter in history with perception and restraint.

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* “With Darkness Behind Us, Daylight Has Come,” Highways, 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica. Friday-Saturday, 8:30 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m. only. Ends Sunday. $12. (310) 315-1459. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.