Japan Society to Present Kita Noh Theater's 'TREASURED NOH PLAYS'

As part of its 2016-2017 Performing Arts Season, Japan Society presents Treasured Noh Plays from the Desk of W. B. Yeats performed by the Kita Noh Theater Company, an exploration of noh through full performances, excerpts, lectures and talks.

Unfolding in two programs (Program A & Program B) over the course of two days, this presentation showcases for New York audiences highlights and full versions of classic noh plays from various titles which deeply inspired W. B. Yeats. All will be performed by the members of esteemed Kita Noh Theater Company of the Kita School of noh, including Living National Treasure Tomoeda Akiyo.

Treasured Noh Plays from the Desk of W. B. Yeats arrives at Japan Society in conjunction with the Society's fall exhibition Simon Starling: At Twilight (After W. B. Yeats' Noh Reincarnation) and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first published book of these noh plays in English translation.

Program A and Program B, as detailed below, take place Saturday, November 19 at 7:30pm and Sunday, November 20 at 5:00pm, respectively, Japan Society (333 East 47th Street).

In the early 20th century, poet W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) became highly immersed in the traditional Japanese noh plays translated by American poet Ezra Pound (1885-1972), taken from the manuscripts of American art historian and Japanese art collector Ernest Fenollosa. Pound's landmark publication in 1916, which was the collection of 15 English-language noh plays titled 'Noh', or Accomplishment, a study of the classical stage of Japan (later re-published as The Classic Noh Theatre of Japan with an introduction by Yeats), deeply inspired Yeats, resulting in his famous one-act play At the Hawk's Well which was published in 1917. Now, one hundred years later, the distinguished Kita Noh Theater Company, selects titles from this collection and showcases them for New York audiences. In Japanese with English titles.

Schedule and details for Treasured Noh Plays from the Desk of W. B. Yeats performed by the Kita Noh Theater Company as follows.

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Saturday, November 19 at 7:30PM / PROGRAM A:

Program A delivers highlights from various plays (Nishikigi, Kumasaka, Tamura, Shojo and Kagekiyo) from the collection of 15 noh plays that inspired W. B. Yeats performed in styles including maibayashi (noh play excerpt), shimai (non-masked performance by an actor with chanters) and subayashi (noh music). Program A includes a talk on noh's influence on Yeats and his artist contemporaries by Dr. W. Anthony Sheppard, Professor of Music at Williams College, and a discussion with Living National Treasure Tomoeda Akiyo. Tickets: $40/$30 Japan Society members. (followed by a MetLife Meet-the-Artists Reception)

Coinciding with Program A on November 19, Simon Starling: At Twilight is open until 7:15pm; free for Program A performance ticket holders. Guided tours of the exhibition are offered at 6:15pm and 6:45pm. Space is limited. Tours are filled on a first-come first-served basis.

Sunday, November 20 at 5:00pm / PROGRAM B:

Program B delivers full performances of the noh titles Kayoi Komachi and Shojo-midare from the collection of 15 noh plays that inspired W. B. Yeats, performed by Kita Noh Theater Company, preceded by a pre-performance lecture. At 4:00pm, one hour prior to curtain, noh scholar Dr. Tom Hare, Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University, offers a pre-performance lecture on noh, its history and unique stylization. Free to all Program B performance ticket holders. Tickets: $60/$50 Japan Society members. On November 20, Simon Starling: At Twilight is open until 5:00pm; free for Program B performance ticket holders.

This evening features the full noh play Kayoi Komachi, in which a Buddhist monk in training is visited by the ghost of Ono-no-Komachi, a woman once revered for her beauty and talent. When the monk holds a memorial service for her, the spirit General Fukakusa, who was in love with Komachi, appears and reenacts the scene of visiting Komachi each night for one hundred days. On the 100th night, Komachi and Fukakusa are saved by the Buddha. Program B also features the complete version of Shojo-midare, set in China, centered on a man named Kofu who dreams that if he sells liquor at the market he will have good fortune. When he sets up shop, a man named Shojo, who lives in the ocean, comes to his stand to drink. One day, Kofu goes to the beach to meet Shojo, who dances and presents him with a jar. Although this meeting is said to have happened in a dream, the magical jar of liquor appears when Kofu awakens and his family enjoys prosperity.

About Japan Society's fall exhibition Simon Starling: At Twilight (After W. B. Yeats' Noh Reincarnation):

Friday, October 14, 2016-Sunday, January 15, 2017

At the height of WWI, poet W. B. Yeats collaborated with members of the avant garde to stage his Japanese noh-inspired dance play At the Hawk's Well (1916). To mark its centennial, Turner Prize winner Simon Starling reinterprets this production in a new multimedia exhibition that brings together major Western Modernist as well as classical Japanese artworks, revealing the impact of Japan's centuries-old and highly ritualized masked theater traditional (noh) on artistic creativity beyond its borders, from the early 20th century to today. Newly created masks, costumes and a dance on video are paired with works by the 20th-century masters connected to Yeats' play, bringing to life Starling's irrepressible inventiveness. Treasured Noh Plays from the Desk of W. B. Yeats is presented in conjunction with this exhibition, complementing the gallery show with colorful live performance by the revered Kita Noh Theater Company.

SPECIAL EVENTS:

Related Event: GALLERY TALK: Image-in-Focus: Tomoeda Akiyo

Sunday, November 20, 2:00pm

Cap off your weekend at Japan Society Gallery with these energetic, 20-minute conversations with leading curators, writers, artists and specialists of Japanese art. Drop by to hear their unique perspectives on select highlights from Gallery's fall exhibition, Simon Starling: At Twilight. Part of the Image-in-Focus gallery talk series: Select Sundays at 2:00pm, through January 14, 2017. For this talk, Living National Treasure noh performer Tomoeda Akiyo will offer his thoughts on personally selected works. Free with admission to the exhibition. Groups are limited to 30 individuals on a first-come, first-served basis.

Related Event: Noh Workshop with Kita Noh Theater Company

Sunday, November 20, 1:00 - 3:00pm

Members of the Kita Noh Theater Company lead a workshop on noh theater's unique stylized movement and vocalization. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to learn an excerpt from Yoro, a significant noh play thematically aligned with W. B. Yeats' At the Hawk's Well, and experience a musical instrument demonstration and the chanting of the English version of the noh play Nishikigi. Maximum 20 participants. Some movement-based professional performance experience required. Participants must wear socks and exercise attire. Tickets: $75/$65 Japan Society members.

Tickets: $40/$30 Japan Society members. Tickets for performances and related events at Japan Society can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 212-715-1258or in person at Japan Society (M-F 11:00am - 6:00pm and Sat-Sun 11:00am - 5:00pm). Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street, between First and Second Avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E at Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street). For more information, call 212-832-1155 or visit www.japansociety.org. For special offers, dance, theater, traditional and family packages, and student and group ticket availability, visit the website.

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Designated "Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO, noh is a form of traditional Japanese theater with a history dating back more than 600 years. In the 14th and 15th centuries, under the leadership of distinguished performer/playwrights Kan'ami (1333 - 1384) and his son Zeami (c. 1363 - 1443), noh developed the foundation for its present-day form, which combines elements of dance, drama, music and poetry into one highly stylized stage art. Under the patronage of samurai clans, noh flourished. Patronage of noh continued into the Edo period (1603 - 1868) under the Tokugawa shoguns and it was designated as the official entertainment form of the shogunate. Today, there are nearly 100 traditional noh theaters in that present noh throughout Japan and more than one thousand professional noh performers.

Noh, often compared with Western opera, combines elements of dance, instrumental music, singing and text. The main actor in a noh play usually performs wearing a special mask. All noh performers - actors and musicians - are male, but unlike kabuki, there are no formalized male or female role specialists. Traditional noh masks are handed down from generation to generation, and are frequently over several hundred years old. One of the form's signature qualities is a focus on tragic themes and the depiction of symbolic, magical/historical events through music and dance.

Tomoeda Akiyo is a shite, or principal role actor from the Kita School of Noh. Tomoeda trained under Grand Master Kita Minoru and made his stage debut in 1947. Significant noh plays he has performed in include Shojo-midare, Okina, Sotoba Komachi and Obasute. Tomoeda's first international appearance was in New York in 1964 under The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, followed by stops in Washington D.C., Boston and Chicago. Tomoeda also performed abroad in the U.S. in 1974 and 1975, Norway in 1997 and South Korea in 2001. He became holder of Important Intangible Cultural Properties for Noh theater in 1982 and was designated a Living National Treasure by the Japanese Government in 2008. He is a recipient of the 28th Ministry of Education of the Government of Japan Fine Arts New Face Award, the 45th Ministry of Education of the Government of Japan Fine Arts Award, the 16th Kanze Hisao Memorial Hosei University Noh Theater Award, the prestigious purple Ribbon Medal by Japanese Government, the Imperial Prize from The Japan Art Academy and the Pola Foundation for the Promotion of Traditional Japanese Culture Award.

Kita Noh Theater Company consists of professional noh actors who practice the performance method of Kita School of noh, one of the five traditional schools of shite kata (or principal) noh actor. The company commemorates the achievements of the 14th Grand Master Roppeita Kita and works to pass down the traditions he practiced. Born out of a samurai society, the Kita School has a spirited, warrior-like style and an initiative unique to new schools of noh which has allowed it to create modern plays since the Meiji Period (1868- 1912).

Japan Society's 2016-2017 Performing Arts Season features works by visionary artists in dance, music and theater. The season launched in September with the dance event About Kazuo Ohno - Reliving the Butoh Diva's Masterpieces, conceived, created and performed by Takao Kawaguchi. The season continues with Sounds to Summon the Japanese Gods, with Ko Ishikawa, internationally celebrated contemporary musician and master player of the ancient sho (November 11); followed by this unique event Treasured Noh Plays from the Desk of W. B. Yeats, by the distinguished Kita Noh Theater Company, led by Living National Treasure Tomoeda Akiyo (November 19 & 20, presented in conjunction with Japan Society Gallery's fall exhibition Simon Starling: At Twilight); and the offering Hanasaka Jiisan (The Old Man Who Made Flowers Bloom) for all ages, a North American Premiere by Condors/Ryohei Kondo, with PINK BUNNY by New York-based puppet artist Maiko Kikuchi, serving up dance, music, storytelling and object theater for ages 5+ (December 10 & 11). In 2017, the season proceeds with the return of a much-anticipated winter program, the 17th Contemporary Dance Showcase: Japan + East Asia (January 6 & 7); the North American premiere of Girl X, in a fully-staged presentation of the Japanese production of the acclaimed play written and directed by Suguru Yamamoto, performed by his Theater Collective HANCHU-YUEI (February 16 - 18); Nihon Buyo Dance with Geimaruza including traditional kabuki and folk dance and original neo-traditional arrangements, accompanied by live musicians (March 3 & 4, with family performance on March 5); and a one-night-only music event for all monster movie enthusiasts: Godzilla Legend - Music of Akira Ifukube, performed by Hikashu with special guest musicians including Charan-Po-Rantan (April 28).

Since the inception of the Performing Arts Program in 1953, Japan Society has introduced nearly 700 of Japan's finest performing arts to an extensive American audience. Programs range from the traditional arts of noh, kyogen, bunraku and kabuki to cutting-Edge Theater, dance and music. The Program also commissions new works to non-Japanese artists, produces national tours, organizes residency programs for American and Japanese artists and develops and distributes educational programs.

Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a multidisciplinary hub for global leaders, artists, scholars, educators, and English and Japanese-speaking audiences. At the Society, more than 100 events each year feature sophisticated, topically relevant presentations of Japanese art and culture and open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia. An American nonprofit, nonpolitical organization, the Society cultivates a constructive, resonant and dynamic relationship between the people of the U.S. and Japan.

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