Chinen Seishin's THE HUMAN PAVILION Will be Available to Stream on-Demand in November

Kennedy Theatre and the U.H.M. Department of Theatre + Dance have announced Late Night Theatre Company's production of Chinen Seishin's experimental one-act play, The Human Pavilion. Late Night Theatre is a student-directed production company hosted by the department and Kennedy Theatre. This online production is the second in Late Night Theatre's 2021-2022 season, which opened on October 8 with the original devised production, We Emerge.

Directed by Maggie Ivanova, an M.F.A. candidate in Asian Performance-Directing, The Human Pavilion features a cast of three, all local U.H.M. students: Robert Torigoe (M.F.A. Candidate in Acting), Clarissa de Smet (pursuing a B.A. in Digital Cinema), and Ellison Akamine (pursuing a B.A. in Theatre). Jason Tse, who is pursuing a Master of Music degree in Composition, provides the production's soundscape by creating a dialogue between traditional tunes and those that tell the story of Okinawa's protest movements against occupation and discrimination. Yukie Shiroma, a third-generation Okinawan-American born in Hawai'i who teaches Okinawan dance at UHM, contributes to the creative team's explorations of the fluid relationships between self and place in negotiating subjectivity and re-shaping personal and communal agency.

Chinen Seishin's The Human Pavilion asks tough questions about Okinawan identity in a multi-ethnic Japan, caught amidst sweeping world events and developments like rapid modernization, the 1921 collapse of sugar prices, the Pacific War, followed by the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and escalating tensions in the region that necessitated the continuous presence of the U.S. military in Okinawa. Originally presented in 1976, just four years after the end of the U.S. occupation of Okinawa, The Human Pavilion loosely dramatizes the Scientific Human Pavilion of the 1903 Osaka Industrial Exposition. This exhibit displayed representatives from an Ainu community in Hokkaido, individuals from Okinawa, Taiwan, Malaysia, and other recent or soon-to-be Japanese colonies. Through its cast of three, the play explores multiple, superimposing and interweaving timelines and locations.

One of the key questions that frames the creative team's explorations is as simple as it is chilling: "How long does it take after sovereignty for a colonial subject to become, or to be viewed as, something other than a mere colonial subject?" asks the play's director Maggie Ivanova. "This kind of question has larger implications not only for Okinawa but for communities in Hawai'i, the larger Asia-Pacific region, and any postcolonial or decolonized population. How can the creative and performing arts contribute to exposing, undermining, and resisting the dehumanizing effects of 'subjects on display' and the logic of oppression they feed on?" Ivanova continues, "This is perhaps a suitable occasion to recall the words of King Sho Tai, the last Ryūkyū monarch before his kingdom was fully integrated in the Japanese state: 'Nuchi du Takara' - 'Life is precious.'"

Late Night Theatre Company is a student-run and operated production company hosted by the Department of Theatre + Dance at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Their recently revised mission statement reads, "Late Night Theatre Co. strives to create relevant and innovative performance art-making by, for, and about U.H.M. students that dismantles oppression, fosters skills in a pre-professional environment, and empowers local, national, and global communities."

Performances of The Human Pavilion will stream online as video-on-demand from November 26 to December 5th, 2021. Projected run time is approximately 90 minutes. Links to the online ticket outlet and more information about The Human Pavilion can be found on the show webpage at https:// manoa.hawaii.edu/liveonstage/pavilion/.

 

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