Journal and Courier Life Today 4.2.97 "Asian-American performer tells her story; One-woman show develops from quest to find voice" by Kathy Matter

The answer comes to town Thursday in Nobuko Miyamoto.

In the 1950s, the Asian-American singer played the stereotype of exotic Asian flower in New York’s theaters, but opts for a more honest voice now.

Her provocative one woman show, A Grain of Sand, is a tale of the 1990s, a story of an American life that is one among many, like grains of sand.

By sharing her story, which is rooted in the Asian-American movement but crosses borders into the black, Latino and Native American struggles, Miyamoto strives to present a story of coming together.

"The idea of oneness in a day and time of separation, the idea that all of our destinies are linked together in this unbroken circle, is a very strong theme of this show," says the Santa Monica, Calif., performer who combines arts and activism.

In a poetic fusion of story, song, movement and video imagery, A Grain of Sand begins in the days of Japanese relocation and travels to the present day. In it audiences see the Miyamoto who rejected ties to her own Asian traditions to make it in show biz, as well as the Miyamoto who discovered her strongest voice was as an activist in the Asian-American movement.

On Broadway in the 1950s, when Asian women were seen as exotic flowers, the career-hungry Miyamoto fell into the stereotype.

"The musicals and work I did was part of the Broadway cultural mentality that created this image of Asians. But while performing it, there was realization that this was not us," she says.

When that realization hit in the late 1960s, it was so strong that it pushed her life and her career in a completely different direction.

Her determination was bolstered when the black activist father of her newborn son was killed by police. It heightened, she says, "the realization I had to make a difference. I had to carry on for him, too."

Convinced of the power of art to transform self and society, she started writing music that tapped into her ethnic roots.

When her first album, also titled A Grain of Sand, came out in 1973, Miyamoto was surprised to find it was the first Asian-American release in the United States, a fact that’s led to the Smithsonian becoming its distributor.

In 1978 she founded Great Leap Inc. in Los Angeles to support the creation of new works on a larger scale. Two years ago Miyamoto debuted her own one-woman show.

Her saga begins in the early 1900s with her grandmother and mother – "women who were very much without a voice," Miyamoto says.

"But Asian men didn’t have a voice, either. Their dreams were just not realized. Their dreams were put into their children, and the cycle is continuing now, with many immigrant families coming here trying to make a better life."

Before the show ends, it delves into racism and discrimination.

"This is a time of division more than it is of unity, and it’s important to speak about these experiences," says Miyamoto. The growing chorus of ethnic voices proudly seeking recognition and acceptance can be scary, she says.

But it shouldn’t be.

"Speaking out is a threat, especially when there are Euro-Americans who are on shaky ground economically, people who feel they are going to lose something by having other voices being heard," Miyamoto says.

"People have a hard time just relaxing and saying it’s OK. Let it change. It’s not going to hurt me, it will enrich me.

"I believe if we share our stories, open people’s hearts and understand each other better, then these anxieties become relieved and we can start working together for the common good."

A Grain of Sand revolves around the idea of making a difference in the world, and Miyamoto is up front about her hope that others will join her in working things out.

"My way happens to be through music and theater. But the voice takes many different forms," she says.

"I’m hoping that, through this show, people find their own voice, whatever it may be, and discover that it can be used to make a change in this world."