Intro | Classical | Stage | Film | Literature | Visual Art | Visual Art 2
A story of forbidden love in a tumultuous and rapidly changing world, Valley of the Heart tells the tale of a young Mexican-American sharecropper who falls for the Japanese-American daughter of the farmer who owns the land, which his family relies upon for both sustenance and salary.
Written by Luis Valdez—often recognized as the father of Chicano theater—the play is set against the agrarian backdrop of 1940s Santa Clara Valley during the height of WWII. For Valdez, the man behind Zoot Suit, La Bamba and El Teatro Campesino, Valley of the Heart is quite personal.
The story is “something I’ve been carrying for a long time,” Valdez says. Born in 1940, the playwright spent the war years believing his family owned the ranch they worked on—but came to learn that it actually belonged to a Japanese-American family; the federal government had confiscated it following Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor. After the war, his family resumed life as migrant farmworkers. Around age seven, Valdez made friends with a boy from a migrant family unlike any he had previously known. His new friend had a Japanese-American mother, Thelma, and a Mexican-American father, Benjamin.
“I was really amazed that my friend had a Japanese mother,” he says recalling his youth. “Some nights she would cook Mexican, sometimes Japanese, and I hung around for dinner.” Though he knew the family for only a few months, Valdez says he never forgot them.
“That couple became really an eye-opener for me,” he says of the multicultural family. When he finally set out to write Valley of the Heart, he named the lovers in his story Thelma and Benjamin.
Valdez says his play is about “the meeting of two cultures,” but also about the culture they share as Americans. While the script features “some Spanglish, some Japanese,” it’s a quintessentially American story, he adds, noting that Japanese- and Mexican-Americans have a long shared history in the Bay Area.
“There was contact that was made just living life, but that led to a lot of interracial marriages,” he says. “It’s part of the multicultural fabric of California. It’s important to know that background and history and better understand where we are today.”
Valley of the Heart also connects in a very personal way with Melanie Mah, who stars as Teruko “Thelma” Yamaguchi. Her Japanese-American mother was born in Cupertino, where Mah’s grandmother still lives, a block from Apple headquarters. Her grandparents were imprisoned in internment camps during the war, much like what happens to her character’s family in the play.
“My grandparents and mother were adamant that my brother and I knew about our family’s history and our country’s history,” she says. “When I heard about this show, it tugged at the heartstrings. I’m really grateful to have this opportunity to tell their story.”
In telling the story on stage, Mah was able to learn a bit more about the struggle her grandparents and mother faced by reading their reactions. “(My grandmother is) proud that I’m pursuing what I love, and that I have an opportunity to tell a poignant story,” Mah says, “but I think it was painful for her to sit through it and be reminded of everything. You do see that generation come to see the show, and they’re very emotional and grateful their story is being told in 2016.”
Valdez has been workshopping the show with his San Juan Bautista company, Teatro Campesino, since 2013. The play has generated a buzz all over the state.
“There’s a lot of excitement to bring it to San Jose,” he says. The production marks the play’s world premiere. The cast is a mix of Teatro Campesino veterans, including one of his sons, and newcomers.
Both Valdez and Mah hope that, in addition to being entertained by local history and the love story at its heart, audiences will come away from the show with a better understanding of the mistakes of the past and more hope for the future.
“The play is really much more about the future than it is about the past,” Valdez says. “I think these kinds of interracial relationships are growing, in every way. People from all over the world are meeting and falling in love and having kids, creating another version of the American people.”
Mah agrees that the issues covered in the play are still relevant today.
“Right now, more than ever, there are a lot of controversies about race and religion,” she says. “America is supposedly this melting pot, and at the same time is still discriminating against people. We need to continue to reflect on not only how we treat people who are different, but how we view them. I just hope that this show makes people leave the theater thinking a little bit differently about our society.”
Valley of the Heart
Feb 10-Mar 13, $30-$35
San Jose Stage Company
City Lights Theater
San Jose
Tigers Be Still After Sherry Wickman graduates with a degree in art therapy, she falls into a depression while living with her parents. Oh É and a tiger has escaped from the zoo. Thru Feb 21.
The Elephant Man Based on the true story of a young man living with a disfiguring neurological condition, this uplifting classic serves as a testament to healing power of kindness. Mar 17-Apr 17.
The Stage
San Jose
Boeing Boeing this high-flying farce, a polyamorous man with three fiancees must scramble to maintain his love life after a newer, faster Boeing jet throws off his normal schedule of seduction. Apr 6-May 1.
Children’s Musical Theater San Jose
Honk! CMT Rising Stars presents: Honk! an adaptation of the classic fable The Ugly Duckling. This uplifiting tale follows Ugly on his adventures around the farm. Feb 24-28.
Sister Act Premiering on the CMT San Jose main stage, Sister Act—based on the 1992 film—aims to be fun for the whole family. Mar 4-13.Tabard Theater
San Jose
I Do! I Do! Over half a century, this endearing musical for two tracks the the trials and tribulations of a married couple, Agnes and Michael Snow. Feb 12-28.
Los Altos Stage Company
Los Altos
Middletown Winner of the The Horton Foote Prize for excellence in American theater, this play follows Mary Swanson as she discovers the complex underbelly of this superficially honest and welcoming town. Thru Feb 21.
Catch 22 Based on Joseph Heller’s work of satire, this production follows the exploits of an insane bombardier flying an insane machine in an insane war. Apr 7-May 1.
South Bay Musical Theater
Saratoga
Forever Plaid Sparky, Smudge, Jinx and Frankie formed a flannel jacket quartet who perished on the way to their first gig in a collision with a school bus. But now, the ethereal fellas will get one more shot to hit a heavenly harmony. Thru Feb 21.
Palo Alto/Mountain View
Tokyo Fish Story A strict traditionalist of a sushi master struggles to preserve the old ways of his craft as the world changes around him in this comedic drama. Mar 9-Apr 3.
Cyrano The pen is at least as mighty as the sword in this swashbuckling tale full of witty wordplay. Apr 6-May 1.
The Pear Theatre
Mountain View
Uncle Vanya This classic of Russian theater by Anton Chekhov explores themes of estrangement, unattainable love and the feeling that one has wasted his life—all from a tiny country estate. Feb 25-Mar 13.
Palo Alto Players
Palo Alto
Into The Woods Stephen Sondheim’s modern classic mashes up all of the best characters from the best-known fairy tales—Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Cinderella, to name a few—and sets them to singing and dancing. Apr 22-May 8.
