On Aug. 6, 1945, a United States Air Force aircraft dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. It was the first atomic bomb used in war and its effects were widespread, but the stories of its victims are still not well known.
Ben Powell, doctoral candidate in communication studies, will attempt to tell the stories of ten of them in “Maidens,” a performance in the Hopkins Black Box Theatre in 137 Coates Wednesday, Sept. 28 to Sunday, Oct. 2. Donations of $5 and higher will be accepted at the door.
The show is about a group of women, the Hiroshima maidens, who were affected by the Hiroshima bombings, Powell said.
Powell said the Hiroshima maidens were badly disfigured by the Hiroshima bombings when they were children, then were brought to America by plastic surgeons for radical reconstructive surgery, Powell said.
The Hiroshima maidens appeared on a game show called “This is Your Life,” in which they were confronted by the pilots who had bombed their city in Hiroshima, he said.
After the women had their plastic surgeries, they returned home to Japan.
“It’s literally a tale of healing,” Powell said. “The maidens’ tale is one of various forms of healing and is our attempt to begin understanding what healing means.”
The show is a movement-based ensemble piece, Powell said.
“All six of us researched and composed everything that’s going on,” Powell said. “We’re basically using different histories to create history – it is a collage of our own histories, the histories that have been presented to us and those we create during performance.”
The performers use karate and nonwestern dance in the show, Powell said.
“In rehearsal of the show we’ve done extensive physical training – pushups, sit-ups and strength training,” said Danielle Vignes, doctoral candidate in communication studies and performer in the show.
Roger Pippin, doctoral candidate in communication studies and performer in the show, said he uses his martial arts background in the performance.
“I’ve adapted some of the conditioning exercises from my martial arts to help people move with more precision and confidence,” Pippin said.
Powell said the show deals with a tragic experience, which is something the performers could relate to easily.
“We’ve all experienced it in different ways every day in this region,” Powell said. “This performance is our way of working through trauma, the show tries to offer ways of seeing this traumatic event as an opportunity to learn.”
Pippin said the show ends positively.
“We’re not here to traumatize people, so we end on a very humanistic note,” he said.
Vignes said her family members from Chalmette lost everything during Hurricane Katrina but they will come to the show for some comfort.
“Everyone here in Baton Rouge is dealing with our own personal tragedies,” Vignes said. “Shows like this offer possibilities of understanding why tragedies occur.”
Contact Julie Chance at [email protected]