Ohana Arts will unveil a brand new, never before seen tour-ready version Peace On Your Wings, featuring new songs, a new and improved script, and Japanese translations this April 1st-3rd at Mamiya Theatre! Peace On Your Wings is a new musical inspired by the life of Sadako Sasaki, a 12-year old girl who died from leukemia resulting from radiation caused by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. She was made famous for having folded over a thousand paper cranes to fulfill an old Japanese legend that would grant one wish to anyone who would fold one thousand cranes. To this day she is a reminder of innocent victims of war, and her story of her thousand paper cranes have inspired a movement of folding cranes for peace. The musical juxtaposes Sadako’s true story and the events leading up to her death in November 1955 with a fictional story about a group of her friends who rallied support from around Japan to have a monument built in Sadako’s memory to honor the children victims of the atomic bomb.
Set in post-war 1950′s Japan, Peace On Your Wings explores the lives of students at a middle school in Hiroshima as they face the terminal illness of their friend amidst their own adolescent drama. The musical score combines modern musical theater, 1950’s boogie-woogie and rock and roll, and Japanese styles, including taiko, to create a unique, uplifting, and inspiring show. While Sadako remains optimistic in the hospital, determinately folding origami cranes to fulfill the Japanese legend promising one wish and long life to the folder of a thousand, her friends grow distant as they deal with their own self identity, bullying, and the growing pains of becoming teenagers. Though the students have to grapple with issues of terminal illness and death at such a young age, they also learn the power of their own strength, and their ability to connect deeply with others who remain positive, focusing on living every precious moment of their lives to the fullest. “Peace On Your Wings” teaches the lesson, “Ichigo Ichie,” meaning “Today is the first and last day of your life.”
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Peace On Your Wings was premiered by Ohana Arts, a 501(c)(3) non-profit performing organization whose mission is to promote peace and world friendship through the universal language of the arts and which the writers, Jennifer Taira and Laurie Rubin co-founded, along with director Carolyn Lee, on the weekend of November 20th-22nd 2014 in Honolulu, Hawaii in the 600-seat Leeward Theatre. The weekend included four packed performances, two of which were sold out with last minute hopeful audience members having to be turned away. The Ohana Arts all-star cast was comprised of 38 children, ages 6-18 from 15 schools around the island. The full scale production had a 19 piece orchestra, full set, and costumes. Following the successful world premiere in Honolulu, the cast and crew embarked on a sold-out statewide tour to the Big Island, Maui, and Kauai in January and February 2015, with standing ovations at every performance.
Due to popular demand, the show returned to Honolulu for an encore run of performances at the 1400-seat Hawaii Theatre on August 6th-9th, 2015 commemorating the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At this special run of performances, Masahiro Sasaki, Sadako’s real life brother was in attendance, along with his wife and son, Yuji Sasaki, who performed a song he wrote about Sadako, “Inori”. Most recently, the cast and crew of Peace On Your Wings traveled to Los Angeles, California for its exciting North American premiere, at the 880-seat Aratani Theatre on September 18th-19th, 2015. The show was incredibly well received by audiences, as the cast received standing ovations at every performance! In just a short time, Peace On Your Wings has already received many awards and recognitions, including a Certificate of Commendation from the City Council of Honolulu, an award from the United Nations Association of Hawaii, and a proclamation from Mayor Caldwell, who announced August 6th, 2015 as “Peace On Your Wings Day” prior to the opening night performance at Hawaii Theatre. Peace On Your Wings has also been the subject of two mini-documentaries by NHK (Japan’s largest news network), and has been featured on KTLA news, Broadway World, Huffington Post, and MidWeek (cover story) amongst others.
