The City of San Diego Public Library and the Asian Story Theater (AST) Present

"Dear Miss Breed" Play

Sunday, September 16 - Sunday, September 30, 2007

Stage adaptation of the "Dear Miss Breed" book by Joanne Oppenheim, this play sheds light on Japanese American Internment in WWII. Miss Breed's correspondence with children in internment is the basis for the book and the play's inspiration.

• Location
• Performance Times & Ticket Prices
• About the Play
• Press Releases
• Program Support
• Return to Dear Miss Breed main page.

Location

Lyceum Theater
at Horton Plaza
Box Office
619-544-1000

Performance Times and Ticket Prices

About the Play

The San Diego Public Library received a grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program to adapt the book "Dear Miss Breed" by Joanne Oppenheim into a play. Clara Breed was the children's librarian at San Diego Public Library from 1929 to 1945. When her young Japanese American patrons were forced into concentration camps with their families in 1942, Miss Breed became their dependable correspondent, sending them books, assisting with requests for supplies, and through her actions, serving as a reminder of the possibility for decency and justice in a troubled world and illustrates how the commitment of a single person can profoundly touch the lives of so many people. Years later the letters were donated to the Japanese American National Museum. The play and the book by Joanne Oppenheim focus on the assistance and friendship provided by the late Clara Breed these Japanese American youth.

Press Releases

• "Dear Miss Breed" Play Sheds Light on Japanese American Internment in WWII (PDF:31K)
• Asian Story Theater teams with San Diego Public Library to develop new play (PDF: 105K)
• Library Receives Grant to Adapt "Dear Miss Breed" Book into Play (PDF: 1.21MB)

Program Support

This program is supported in whole or in part by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP), a project of the California State Library in Sacramento, administered in California by the State Librarian; The San Diego Foundation; and the City of San Diego Commission for Arts & Culture.