La Jolla Playhouse Presents Basil Twist's Dogugaeshi, Runs 6/10-14

La Jolla Playhouse presents Dogugaeshi June 10-14, 2009 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre at La Jolla Playhouse. The first Edge Series production of the 2009/2010 season, Dogugaeshi is an intimate, abstract work inspired by Japanese puppet theater, created and performed by Obie Award-winning puppeteer Basil Twist. Blending centuries of tradition with his own inimitable style, Twist mesmerizes audiences with a powerful voyage through historical and contemporary Japan.

“Dogugaeshi is an exquisite piece of theatre that beautifully illuminates an ancient art form as only the master puppeteer Basil Twist can,” stated La Jolla Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley.” Dogugaeshi’s unique artistry and unconventional use of scale make it a great fit for our Edge series.”

La Jolla Playhouse's Edge program is designed to bring the most adventurous and challenging theatre to Playhouse stages and is supported through a generous grant from The James Irvine Foundation and the Jordan Ressler Endowment Fund.

The dogugaeshi technique of sliding paper screens creates an unfolding of various images and landscapes and has also been called the wood and paint version of multimedia. Dogugaeshi was developed centuries ago as the climactic sequence in traditional Awaji Japanese puppet theatre. Now rarely practiced, if at all, Twist has recreated this intricate technique with his own interpretation. Visually stunning, this hour-long performance features Twist's signature puppetry with video projection and original live shamisen (traditional Japanese lute-like instrument) music by Yumiko Tanaka.

The inspiration for Dogugaeshi came when Twist saw an exhibit displaying a short video of the dogugaeshi technique. Always seeking something different to master, he set off on a trip to the island of Awaji and mountains of Shikoku, Japan where he studied the technique and revived this forgotten art. Dogugaeshi was originally commissioned by the Japan Society in 2003 and has since been seen by audiences around the world. The New York Times says, “Dogugaeshi…ranks among the most magically charged experiences I've ever had in a theatre.”

The creative team for Dogugaeshi includes: video projection design by The Builders Association’s Peter Flaherty (Continuous City); lighting design by Andrew Hill; and sound design by Greg Duffin.

The nationally-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including Big River, The Who’s Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Dracula, Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Jersey Boys, The Farnsworth Invention, Cry-Baby and 33 Variations. Located on the UCSD campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre, and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-Art Theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

The Edge: Is the newest of The Playhouse's signature programs designed to bring the freshest, most adventurous work to our stages.  Supported through a generous grant from the James Irvine Foundation and the Jordan Ressler Endowment Fund, projects in The Edge are produced outside of the subscription season. The Edge encompasses bold new works being created in the theatre today by established and up-and-coming cutting-Edge artists.

A third generation puppeteer, Basil Twist is the only American to graduate from the École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette, one of the world's premiere puppetry training programs. His work was first spotlighted in 1995 with his creation of The Araneidae Show, for which he won a Bessie Award and a UNIMA Citation of Excellence. In 1998 he premiered Symphonie Fantastique at HERE Arts Center, for which he received the Henry Hewes Design Award and an Obie Award. Twist has continually expanded the realm of puppetry by creating and touring new pieces, focusing especially on work integrated with live music. Recent works include Petrushka, commissioned by Lincoln Center; Master Peter’s Puppet Show, and a collaboration with Lee Breuer and composer Ushio Torikai entitled Red Beads. He developed the puppetry for Paula Vogel’s acclaimed play The Long Christmas Ride Home and was the underwater puppetry consultant for the third Harry Potter film. .Twist is the director of The Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a United States Artists Fellow.

Yumiko Tanaka was born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture. While a student majoring in musicology at Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, Tanaka was attracted to the timbre of the gidayu-shamisen (also known as the futozao, or thick-necked, shamisen), which accompanies gidayu-bushi in Bunraku, traditional Japanese puppet theater. In 1979 she began studying gidayu recitation with female gidayu recitation artist Komanosuke Takemoto (a Living National Treasure), and the following year became a Bunraku disciple of the late gidayu-shamisen master Kinshi Nozawa (who was also a Living National Treasure). She has been performing traditional gidayu music under the name Yumi Tsuruzawa. Since her debut, Tanaka has been very active as a shamisen and vocal musician, not only in the world of traditional Japanese music, but also in contemporary music, free jazz, new music, dance, theater, etc. Tanaka has a Master's degree in musicology from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. In 1991 she was awarded the Minister of Education's Art Encouragement Prize for Newcomers for the year 1990. In 1999 she received the Committee's Special Prize at the 68th Japan Music Competition. She is an associate professor at Hyogo University of Teacher Education, lecturing on Japanese music history and teaching shamisen and koto to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Photo by Richard Termine

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