‘Sisters’ in the Face of Bias

News of the attack on Pearl Harbor reaches members of a Japanese American family in the midst of a lively, happy meal. Soon, they are lined up, pinned with identification tags and transported to an internment camp. When they return to their large farming operation in Stockton in 1945, they find it a shambles. “I don’t know who I am anymore, where we fit in,” says one sibling.

So begins Philip Kan Gotanda’s “Sisters Matsumoto,” at East West Players. A tale of dislocation and the end of a way of life, it bears a strong resemblance to Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.” Ideas and emotions subtly suffuse this talk-heavy drama, as the family finds itself dispossessed of two countries--the one of its heritage and the one it calls home.

The play offers a lot to think about, especially at a time when another attack has left other groups to face suspicion. In these early days of the run, however, the message isn’t coming across as powerfully as it could. At Wednesday’s opening, long pauses and sluggishness diffused the bittersweet melancholy director Chay Yew seemed to be trying to layer into the show.

Things may yet coalesce. The author of such plays as “Yankee Dawg You Die” and “The Wash” is fortunate to be interpreted here by Yew, one of L.A.’s most dependably evocative directors, and a seasoned cast that includes Emily Kuroda (Mrs. Kim on the WB’s “Gilmore Girls”) and Sab Shimono (a key player in local presentations of the Gotanda plays listed above).

As the Matsumotos return to their farm, their activities are silently observed by the ghost of their patriarch (Ken Takemoto), who died in the Arkansas internment camp. His ability to help a Japanese American community take root and prosper in Stockton--Gotanda’s hometown--is frequently acknowledged by his daughters (Kuroda, Natsuko Ohama and Elaine Kao) and sons-in-law (Shimono and Nelson Mashita). But the land has turned against them, as symbolized by the bare, bent trees framing Victoria Petrovich’s minimalist set and the dying sunlight in Jose Lopez’s lighting design. In town, the Matsumotos are eyed warily, and at the country club where they once were regulars, they encounter open distrust. A worse snub is yet to come.

As the oldest sister and new family leader, Kuroda is filled with bitterness, which she tries to cover with brusque efficiency, while Ohama, as the free-spirited middle sister, and Mashita, as her jokester husband, attempt to get the family laughing again.

The youngest sister (Kao) has been shaken by her fiance’s death in Italy while fighting with the Japanese American 442nd unit, yet she remains quietly radiant. She is a seedling that may yet prosper in the care of the childhood playmate who has become a struggling yet confident young farmer (Ryun Yu) with new ideas about making things grow.

The Matsumotos have a few ideas of their own, and their legacy--like that of so many other Japanese American families--is now written in California’s history.

“Sisters Matsumoto,” East West Players, 120 Judge John Aiso St., downtown L.A. Thursdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. (except this Saturday, no 2 p.m. performance). Ends Feb. 17. $25-$30. (213) 625-7000. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.