I've asked some additional questions to Michael and here's his response.

Michael, Japanese people are not familiar with the slave history or racial issues that much and I think that's why it tends to make them feel unsettling or uncomfortable to see the slavery on the stage. How do you feel performing a slave in a show and I think it could be a difficult thing to do but how did you overcome with the negative feeling?

As far as your question goes, I think it's great to portray America's history with slavery outside of the country. People should be outraged and appalled by the enslaving of a group of people and treated like animals.

It has always been very difficult to put myself into this period in time. I was raised knowing that racism exists but that if I worked hard enough I could be anything I wanted to be. Therefore to put myself into a space and time where I would be considered property is a very difficult place to go. Also the use of the "N" word is difficult to hear as frequently as it is done in the show. I don't think that people can really understand how hurtful racists' slurs can be unless they are a minority.

What helped me to overcome the pain and hesitancy of playing this slave was to think in terms of this: My relatives endured this painful horrifying experience and I am here as a result of them. They gave their bodies and their sweat and tears so that I can have the life of freedom that I have today. So my performance every night it's dedicated to them. My performance lifts them up. That's how I get through it.

And I think that Japanese audiences should be outraged at what they see. It was not that long ago that Japanese Americans were put into camps during WW2. We must examine the past to learn from it and make sure that it does not happen again. Unfortunately we don't seem as a people to be learning the lessons.

Michael, thank you SO MUCH for Sharing your insight!



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