a troupe of actors and someone who set the stage for an unbelievable tragedy. >> i'm buying it. i'm buying it hook, line and sinker. >> reporter: all of it so well done it was hard to tell what was real and what was an illusion. >> i just remember his performance being -- it was very, very real. >> reporter: this is a story of a man who seemed to be at the end of his rope. >> it looked like he was having some sort of panic attack or heart attack. >> reporter: but on this stage at the final curtain the darkness remained because this story wouldn't win any awards. this was all real life. >> julie is my first daughter. she was my valentine baby. >> reporter: for june and masa kibuishi, a japanese couple who built their american dream