"Da ships wen sink. Dey wen huli, belly side to da sky. Had men still alive in dea."

"My sistah wid get one (bullet) hole in da middle her face."

It turns out that the hole is in the sister's photograph and that it may have been made by a poking finger. No matter — the kids' world is upside down and the security they used to know exists no longer.

Central to the drama is the Japanese boy, Mits, played with unchildlike focus and intensity by Jason Kanda. Even before the attack, he turns his full concentration on a game of marbles.

"Samurai take up one marble, da marble come one extension of his arm. Da Samurai stay da marble."

After the attack, Mits is shunned by his former friends and becomes easy prey to the class bully. Not only does he lose his samurai strength, he loses his will to confront living. In a gas mask exercise, he stays behind to inhale the fumes.

"Samurai get one code fo life, fo honor — fo when he bring shame on da family — he make. I try fo ack like one Samurai — I try make wid da gas."

This is pretty heady stuff for pre-adolescents to work out. Bobi (Janice Terukina) and George (BullDog) are initially loyal, then skeptical. The bully Daniel (Reb Beau Allen) capitalizes on Mits' sudden misfortune to advance his own dominance over Mits and the others.

Only when Mits rescues Daniel from drowning in the river does Mits regain his samurai power and his self-worth. The kids replace fear with understanding.

The parallels to the 9/11 terrorist attack are unstated, but clearly obvious. Thankfully, York refrains from preaching and lets the kids work things out in their own way, albeit with significant crisis-plotting from the playwright.

Mark Lutwak directs the production with a simple set of movable walls designed by Alfredo Lista Garma. Costumes by Casey Cameron convincingly transform the adult actors into 11-year-olds.

York has a good ear for local pidgin, which is given an authentic ring by the cast and only occasionally feels forced.