KATSURA SUNSHINE'S RAKUGO Returns to New World Stages This Week

Renowned international performer and the only Western Rakugo Master in the world (and the second in its long history), Katsura Sunshine will continue performances of Katsura Sunshine's Rakugo as part of his year-long residency at the Leicester Square Theater. Sunshine is also preparing to simultaneously return to New York City on March 10, 2022, where the show ran for six months until COVID shut it down.

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A celebrated, internationally renowned performer, Katsura Sunshine, originally began an extended run of Katsura Sunshine's Rakugo in NYC in September of 2019 and opened to rave reviews; it ran for six months before the shutdown forced to shut down along with the rest of the global theatre community.

"When I first had the idea of bringing Rakugo to New York, I was met with a lot of apprehensions but decided to push forward anyway. We introduced American audiences to the art of Rakugo in September of 2019 and were welcomed with amazing reviews and audience responses. We ran for an astounding six months and the world-renowned New World Stages before we had to close. I am so excited to return to New York and pick up where we left off, and this time, we are adding a monthly stop on London's West End." Katsura Sunshine

"The pandemic gave us all a time to regroup, refocus and rededicate ourselves to creating safe and entertaining ways that we can all reconnect as a community and storytellers. As theaters around the world continue to open, we are thrilled to bring the celebrated art of Rakugo and the unquestionable talent and charm of Sunshine back to the stage - on both sides of the Atlantic. Still, due to the Omicron variety, we will push the dates a few weeks to ensure the safety of staff and audience." Executive Producer, Joe Trentacosta

Called the King of Kimono Comedy, Rakugo is the 400-year-old Japanese traditional art of comic storytelling. Currently, there are only 800 Rakugo Masters. Hailing from Canada, Sunshine is the only Western Rakugo Master globally and star of NHK Worldwide; he is hilarious, charming, universally funny, and very Japanese. Sunshine is the perfect performer to bridge the East and the West gap in an entertaining style. Critics have raved. "A delight, Katsura Sunshine's Rakugo is funny and exciting. If you're looking for a good way to laugh and forget your troubles, this is the show for you!" and "Funny and delightfully intimate with a feeling of improvisation that makes it easy to love."

With a minimal set, Rakugo features a lone storyteller dressed in kimono, kneeling on a cushion, using only a fan and a hand towel for props, entertaining the audience with a comic monologue followed by traditional stories.

In order to become a recognized professional Rakugo storyteller, one must apprentice to a Rakugo Master, from whom one receives a stage name. The apprenticeship lasts for three to four years and is very strict. Depending on the master, the apprentice may not drink, smoke, or go on dates and is subject to a strict curfew during the apprenticeship period. The apprentice cleans the master's house, does laundry, cooking, preparing and folding kimonos, and other chores, and learns the art of storytelling by watching the master perform and imitating. Throughout one's career, one is only allowed to perform a given story once a master storyteller has granted permission to do that story.

Katsura Sunshine was born in Toronto, Ontario, to parents of Slovenian origin. He studied Classics at the University of Toronto, specializing in Ancient Greek Theatre. In September 1995, his version of Aristophanes' "Clouds" opened at the Poor Alex Theatre in Toronto and ran for 15 months before embarking on a central and eastern Canada tour. Sunshine went to Japan in 1999 to pursue studies in Japanese theatre. On September 1, 2008, he was accepted as an apprentice to the great Rakugo storytelling Master, Katsura Bunshi VI (then named Katsura Sanshi), and received from his Master the Rakugo name Katsura Sunshine. Sunshine is the first-ever Western Rakugo storyteller in the history of the "Kamigata" Rakugo tradition, based in Osaka, and only the second ever in the history of Japan. He has performed in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Thailand, Nepal, Ghana, Senegal, Gabon, South Africa, as well as throughout Japan. He had his West End debut at the Leicester Square Theatre and his off-Broadway debut at the SoHo Playhouse for three weeks each in 2017. In 2019 Sunshine was part of the successful bid of the city of Osaka for the 2025 World Fair, for which he traveled to Paris to present Japanese culture and featuring in a video played on the final voting day. He received praise from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for this work, particularly for the video presentation. Also, in 2019, Sunshine was chosen to be Master of Ceremonies at the opening reception of the G-20 Summit in Osaka. Sunshine currently divides his time between New York and Tokyo.

Katsura Sunshine's Rakugo has set design by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, lighting design by Yuki Nakase Link, and is presented by Joe Trentacosta and Yoshitaka Tanaka with artistic producer Marie Fukuda in association with Yumi Shinozaki.General Management by LDK Productions/Lisa Dozier King.

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