Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater Will Be Performed at MSSU's Bud Walton Theatre

Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater will be performed on October 13, at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the MSSU Bud Walton Theatre as part of the Japanese Semester.

Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater is the only theater in the United States that performs the traditional Japanese puppetry known as "ningyo joruri" or Bunraku. The "bay" of the theater's name derives from the Bay State of Massachusetts, where the theater was first organized, and from the "bei" (pronounced "bay") of the Japanese word "Beikoku," which means "America," suggesting the theater's slogan, "Traditional Japanese Puppetry in America."

The performers of the Bunraku Bay Puppet Theatera??have been trained in Japan by artists from the 170-year-old Tonda Puppet Troupe of Biwa-cho in Shiga Prefecture, northeast of the old capital of Kyoto, and the Imada Puppet Troupe and Kuroda Puppet Troupe - both more than 300 years old - of Iida City in Nagano Prefecture in central Japan. Under the direction of Prof. Martin Holman of the Japanese Studies Program at the main campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia, Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater offers performances of pieces from the traditional Bunraku repertoire, as well as puppetry demonstrations and workshops. Eric L. Lancaster is the assistant director of Bunraku Bay and director of the Japanese program at the University of Missouri-Columbia.