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Cho-In Theater international manager Lucinda Walker, left, and American playwright Lavonne Mueller read a copy of Mueller's play ``Hotel Splendid' 'about comfort women during their meeting with The Korea Times in a hotel in downtown Seoul last week. / Korea Times Photo by Cathy Rose A. Garcia |
 By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
American playwright Lavonne Mueller first found out about the ``comfort women'' or World War II sex slaves, when she was on a study grant in Tokyo in the early 1990s.
She saw a big demonstration, but when she asked some Japanese people what it was about, no one gave her a straight answer. ``I finally found a man at a coffee shop who told me about the women in military brothels. Then, he dismissed it, saying `that's just war.' I became angry because it was a secret. I feel the only way we can come to terms with our past in order not to repeat it is to know about the past and what happened. Anything kept secret is wrong,'' Mueller told The Korea Times in an interview last week.
This incident prompted her to find out more about the estimated 200,000 comfort women in Japanese military brothels, mostly in Korea, during World War II. Mueller was shocked since history books did not even mention atrocities inflicted by Japanese soldiers against women in Korea, China, the Philippines and other Japanese-occupied territories.
She channeled her outrage by writing a play about their ordeal titled ``Hotel Splendid.'' Mueller is currently in Seoul to see the Cho-In Theater present the Korean version of the play at the Arko Arts Theater, which opens Wednesday as part of the Seoul Theatre Festival.
Mueller said she did a lot of research on the issue and interviewed three relatives of Korean comfort women, most of whom are still afraid of going public and did not want to be named. In the play, she chose to focus on the story of four Korean women to represent the plight of all comfort women during the war.
``This is an anti-war play. We don't see any anti-war plays about women. We always see the men in the battlefield, which is important, but we also need to see it from the women's point of view. This is a graphic view showing how women were the spoils of war,'' she said.
She expressed frustration with the Japanese government's stubborn refusal to acknowledge the thousands of comfort women during the war, and to apologize. ``Even Germany has come out and apologized for the Holocaust. Why can't the Japanese government do that while these women are still alive, and I think we only have eight to ten years until all living archival persons are dead. I don't think we have much time,'' she said.
Hotel Splendid, which won an International Peace Award in 2001, is named after one of the comfort stations established by the Japanese military. Mueller shakes her head at the irony of naming a place where girls were raped and brutalized on a daily basis as ``splendid.''
Mueller hopes Hotel Splendid can bring the issue of comfort women to greater public awareness, much like how the The Diary of Anne Frank helped give a human face to what happened to 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.
``I'm proud that the U.S. said Japan should give an apology to these women. But I think the Japanese are waiting for these women to die. Once they die, they think the issue will die. One good thing about writing a play is that the people live on every time the play is performed,'' she said.
Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution stating Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility for using comfort women.
Despite tackling the comfort women's horrible ordeal of being repeatedly raped by Japanese soldiers, Cho-In Theater international manager Lucinda Walker said the play does not have graphically violent scenes.
``It is hard-hitting, but it is still very watchable. Poetic language is used. You don't actually see anyone being raped. You can see how the women come together and bond. It's very sad and moving,'' Walker said.
Fifty percent of proceeds from the production will go to support the House of Sharing, a home for comfort women (www.nanum.org/eng).
The play will be in Korean with English subtitles. Hotel Splendid runs through May 5 at the Arko Arts Theater Main Hall in Daehangno. Ticket prices range from 20,000 won to 40,000 won.
For English information, visit www.train3.com/english. For reservations, email choin.theatre@gmail.com Tickets will be available at the theatre.
cathy@koreatimes.co.kr
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