Our guest today is traci kato-kiriyama, and we were fortunate enough to speak with such a self-professed hybrid as we close out our second season. tkk is a transdisciplinary artist, recognized for their work as a writer/performer, theatre deviser, cultural producer, and community organizer based in the Los Angeles Area. We came across them when listening to a panel linking Japanese Incarceration to ICE raids today, but their work spans playwriting, performing, and writing. We specifically discuss their show “TALES OF CLAMOR,” which interweaves personal autobiographical moments with the testimonies of Japanese Americans about their incarceration, and their book “Navigating With(out) Instruments,” a true hybrid work comprised of poetry, micro-essays and notes to self.

Guest Bio

traci kato-kiriyama (they+she), author of Navigating With(out) Instruments–based on unceded Tongva land in the south bay of Los Angeles– is an award-winning multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary artist, recognized for their work as a writer/performer, theatre deviser, cultural producer, and community organizer. As a storyteller and Artivist, tkk is grounded in collaborative process, collective self-determination, and art+community as intrinsically tied and a critical means toward connection and healing. She is a performer & principal writer for PULLproject Ensemble, two-time NET recipient; NEFA 2021-22 finalist for their show TALES OF CLAMOR.  tkk —presented for over 25 years in hundreds of venues throughout North America as a writer, actor, poet, speaker, guest lecturer, facilitator, Artist-in-Residence, and organizing / arts & culture consultant— has come to appreciate a wildly hybrid career (w/ presenters incl. LaMaMa Cabaret; Enwave Theatre; The Smithsonian; The Getty; Skirball Cultural Center; and Hammer Museum, to Zero Gravity; Grand Park; Whisky a Go Go; Hotel Cafe; House Of Blues Foundation Room; and countless universities, arts spaces, and community centers across the country). Their work is also featured in a wide swath of media and print publications (incl. NPR; PBS; Elle.com; Entropy; Chapparal Canyon Press; Tia Chucha Press; Bamboo Ridge Press; Heyday Books; Regent Press).

tkk is a core artist of Vigilant Love, member of the H.R. 40 Coalition and organizer with the Nikkei Progressives & NCRR joint Reparations Committee, and Director/Co-Founder of Tuesday Night Project (presenter of the Tea & Letterwriting initiative and Tuesday Night Cafe series in Little Tokyo).

Show Notes

tkk’s work:

• Tales of Clamor – a theater work developed by PULLproject, traci’s collaboration with PULLproject aerial artist/actor Kennedy Kabasares
• Navigating With(out) Instruments – traci’s second book, comprised of poetry, micro essays, and notes to self
• traci’s reading at Beyond Baroque

tkk’s activism and other projects:

• Nikkei Progressives
• Tuesday Night Project

Japanese American Incarceration references & resources:

• Densho – an organization that documents the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II
• “The Alien Enemies Act of 1798: Understanding 1941 and 2025” – panel at the USC Ito Center that traci appeared on.
• Loyalty Questionnaire
• Tule Lake
• National Council for Japanese American Redress
  • Full transcripts of testimonies are available at the National Archives
  • This article contains links to various sources where video footage exists
• Japanese American National Museum
• The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, Edited by Frank Abe and Floyd Cheung
• ZAJA, a New York City-based informal group of Japanese, Japanese Americans and anyone interested in Japanese/JA culture.
• “One Fighting Irishman” by Sharon Yamato, a 30-minute documentary narrated by actor George Takei focusing on the little-known story of civil rights attorney Wayne M. Collins who filed lawsuits on behalf of more than 5,500 detainees who renounced their U.S. citizenship while incarcerated at the embattled Tule Lake Segregation Center, considered the worst of the ten WWII detention centers.

Other references:

• Beverly Hills 902010 (90’s TV show)
• “Why We Can’t Wait” campaign for African-American reparations
• The term “model minority” was established by sociologist William Petersen in his article, “Success Story, Japanese American Style,” in New York Times Magazine (1966). Summary here.
• Asian American Arts Alliance, a New York City-based organization supporting Asian American artists and cultural organizations

Credits

• Edited by Amanda Dee and mastered by Cedric Wilson.
• Theme music by The Necklace, a project by Taylor Shields and Morgan Võ.

Sound Credits

• Bells Windchime.wav by Benboncan — https://freesound.org/s/56929/ — License: Attribution 4.0
• New York Jazz Loop by FoolBoyMedia — https://freesound.org/s/347848/ — License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0
• Rhodes 4.wav by HenKonen — https://freesound.org/s/682259/ — License: Creative Commons 0
• Harp Arpeggio – fairy tunes.wav by gertraut_hecher — https://freesound.org/s/559838/ — License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0