Sometimes the most powerful show of strength comes in the form of quiet resistance. Two chairs, two rice paper screens, a desk, a suitcase, and a coat rack make up the stark set of Miyoko Sakatani’s In the Spirit of Gaman: The Mitsuye Endo Story. With these objects, Sakatani recounts the story of Mitsuye Endo, a young woman who, like 120,000 other people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast, was evacuated and forced into incarceration in 1942. As a direct response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were given days to pack only what they could carry in a suitcase. Through Sakatani’s solo play of biographical fiction, Bay Area audiences are introduced to this often overlooked and unsung civil rights hero.
Sakatani blends both personal and broad historical narratives on the internment of Japanese American citizens. Personal anecdotes of resilience, heartbreak, and determination move between accounts of Mitsuye Endo’s life and civil rights case. Sakatani transitions between characters in subtle ways that make the story more powerful as Endo takes on the US government.
We learn that Mitsuye Endo’s habeas corpus Supreme Court case challenged the legality of the executive order that incarcerated so many citizens, resulting in a landmark ruling that stands as one of the most important civil liberties decisions of World War II. Endo did this at the cost of her own freedom, writing reports and letters. To this day, Mitsuye Endo’s habeas corpus Supreme Court case, Ex Parte Endo, stands as one of the most important civil liberties decisions of World War II.
Miyoko Sakatani performs in her solo show In the Spirit of Gaman: The Mitsuye Endo Story on the Portrero Stage. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Ex Parte Endo continues to be relevant in today’s political climate, where any minority group could be considered dangerous and disloyal and end up in detention camps,” says Sakatani, whose own family was among those incarcerated as a result of Executive Order 9066.
In Sakatani’s work, the United States government’s actions, quotes, and language emphasize the commonality of that story and what is happening as ICE raids take place across the country. The messaging of the work is subtle but strong, resonating with contemporary Bay Area audiences.
Miyoko Sakatani performs in her solo show In the Spirit of Gaman: The Mitsuye Endo Story on the Portrero Stage. Photo courtesy of the artist.
In the Spirit of Gaman: The Mitsuye Endo Story was part of the ninth annual PlayGround Solo Performance Festival, a curation of the best in solo performance, which ran January 16 to February 8, 2026. The festival was presented live at San Francisco’s Potrero Stage and simulcast online. The festival was comprised of new solo works and featured 18 solo performers and 58 performances.
