Marc Acito Pledges 'Allegience'

A new musical opening on Broadway brings vivid new life to the experiences of Japanese Americans.

“

Allegiance

” was inspired by the life experience of George Takei. The U.S. government sent Takei's family to two internment camps during World War II. Takei was just 5 years old when the ordeal began.

Portlander Marc Acito, winner of a 2005 Oregon Book Award for his novel, "How I Paid For College," was part of the creative team for "Allegiance."

As the show's librettist, he was responsible for all non-sung elements and structure within the piece. (In theater circles, that's known as a book writer.)

Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione composed the music and lyrics. We caught up with Marc Acito between the play's rehearsals. Acito and husband Floyd Sklaver were working in New York's theater scene. In 1986, emotionally drained from watching countless friends lost to the AIDS epidemic, they took flight for Portland. They returned to New York after the 2008 death of Acito's mother to return to Broadway and what Acito called "a dream deferred." It was in New York he got involved with the production of "Allegiance".

Listen to the above link for our show interview. Here are a few highlights from our conversation:

• On what drew him into the wartime stories of Japanese American families: I never in a million years would have presumed to tell an Asian American story. The detail that struck me and convinced me I could write this show was that the majority of the Japanese-Americans were farmers on the West Coast. They were sent to most desolate part of the — places where you shouldn't be able to get crops to grow — and because the food (in the camps) was so terrible they grew their own crops. Not only were they able to grow so many vegetables to feed themselves, they donated the surplus to the American army. That, to me, told the entire story; that someone could have that kind of grace is astonishing to me. If our government put me in a camp for four-and-a-half years, I'm not sure that would be my first impulse.
• On how the "Allegiance" team worked together: It's a very transparent environment in terms of the collaboration — not just Lorenzo and Jay but also our director Stafford Arima, who is the child of an internee. They created an environment where everybody had a voice. We had this crazy team dynamic where everybody is up in each others' grill all the time. I had eight emails in a chain about whether, in a line, we should say 'the country' or 'our country.' One word, eight emails! Every single decision was like that.
• On why language was so heavily weighted: Mark Twain said the difference between the right word and the wrong word is 'lightning' and a lightning bug.' I think the importance of the words is because the available real estate in a musical is very narrow. It's not called a booksical. It's not a playsical. It's called a musical. So the key emotional moments are delegated to the music. That means the connective tissue in between is really important, and it's really important that it's efficient. We need to get from one place to another with absolute clarity. That's true of lyrics as well. The audience gets it in real time and moves on.
• On working with George Takei: George is very much integral in terms of sharing memory, keeping our details right. For a long time, George was our Japanese translator. But I'd say George's role is also as a leader, in terms of setting an example. The man has every reason to be bitter, and he's not.

Marc Acito, book writer for “Allegiances,” starring George Takei, can be seen at the LongAcre Theatre in New York City.