Company East's BUDDHA Closes

Tokyo's Company East's New York Premiere of BUDDHA runs through March 11 at La Mama (74A East Fourth Street between 2nd Avenue & Bowery).

Director and choreographer Kenji Kawarasaki's production, which blends traditional eastern techniques of Noh with modern western dance to produce culturally rich movement theater.

BUDDHA is an Oriental take on the Seven Deadly Sins that juxtaposes the biography of Siddhartha Buddha with the fever dream of a contemporary gay man.

The production incorporates multiple video projectors that will display both words and images, making the experience accessible for Japanese and English speaking audiences alike.

The title role of BUDDHA is played by Hiroshi Jin, best known for his gender-bending performances in roles including Lady Macbeth and Salome. The cast also includes Sho Tohno, Koide Yuji, Matsutaka Jin, Yoshifumi Seo, Yumi, Koichi Nakayama, and Chako with lighting by Nakayama Jin and video by Yoshiaki Takano.

Company East was created by Hiroshi Jin, Kenji Kawarasaki, and Yoshifumi Seo in 1990 to to foster international artistic and cultural exchange. Their production of Medea toured Greece in 1996 and became the first Oriental company to perform at the ancient ruins of Cyprus. It won Favorite Show in the Rarunaka Festival in 1997 and was once again invited to perform for the Japan Greece Friendship centennial in 1999. In 2002 the company toured to the Avignon Festival in France and The Edinburg Festival with Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion, based on the novel by Mishima. Their 2004 production of Salome at the Edinburgh Festival earned Five Stars from The Scotsman newspaper. The company was last seen in New York in 2009 with Hamlet at La MaMa.

Find more information and tickets on the Spin Cycle website.