​Shuji Terayama’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle

 Japan Society


CONTEMPORARY THEATER | NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Wednesday, January 15 at 7:30 pm—Followed by an opening night reception
Thursday, January 16 at 7:30 pm—Followed by an artist Q&A
Friday, January 17 at 7:30 pm—Preceded by a pre-performance lecture
Saturday, January 18 at 7:30 pm

“…A combination of fashion, magic, evil and eroticism…” – Shuji Terayama

Playbill (PDF) →
Bluebeard is given a Harajuku makeover in Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, a wild burlesque-like subversion of the French gothic horror legend. Shuji Terayama, father of Japan’s angura (underground) theater movement in the 1960s and ’70s, was repeatedly drawn to the story of Bluebeard’s wives and the locked castle door, culminating in this mind-bending game of cat-and-mouse that questions the very nature of theater itself. Saturated with dark magic tricks, fiddlers and accordion players, aerial dance and more, Project NYX, led by Kanna Mizushima, brings a cross-dressing cast of nearly 30 members to Japan Society for a production directed by illustrious Korean-Japanese experimental theater director Kim Sujin. Find out who escapes the castle in this macabre, magic-infused Lolita fashion spectacle.

On Friday, January 17, a pre-performance lecture on Shuji Terayama led by University of California, Los Angeles Professor Emerita of Theatre Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei will begin at 6:30 pm. All ticketholders for Duke Bluebeard’s Castle are welcome to attend this one-night-only pre-performance event with a valid ticket as space allows.

Performed in Japanese with English supertitles.

May 19, 2023, 7pm
May 20, 2023, 1pm
PS/IS 49 of Queens, NYC

Kita Noh School, at Japan Society.

"Maypole" 
​A short film project by ​Copake Players.

SHEEP#1

A performance by Sachiyo Takahashi (Nekaa Lab)
Inspired by the writings of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince
Japan Society Performing Arts

PROGRAM A, with Emile Blondel on piano:
Thursday, November 4 at 7:30 pm—followed by a MetLife Meet-the-Artists Reception
Sunday, November 7 at 2:30 pm
PROGRAM B, with Kato Hideki on bass guitar:
Friday, November 5 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, November 6 at 7:30 pm

The Unknown Dancer in the Neighborhood
Written and directed by Suguru Yamamoto
​Japan Society Performing the Arts

​One-man dance theater piece, performed by Wataru Kitao
​

Tomte (Gnome)
​Shadow puppet play by Tom Lee
Presented by Yara Arts Group & Hunter college theater department
​

Four Nights of Dream
(Based on a novel by Natsume Soseki)
​
OPERA | WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION
Japan Society 110th Anniversary Commission
​
Music and Libretto: Moto Osada
Conductor: Ken-David Masur
Director: Alec Duffy
Set Designer: Mimi Lien
Costume Designer: Oana Botez 
Lighting Designer: Tuce Yasak
Singers: Marisa Karchin, Gloria Park, Christopher Sokolowski, Makoto Winkler, Jesse Malgieri, Rocky Sellers
Instrumentalists: Tokyo Bunka Kaikan Chamber Orchestra 

Girl X
Japan Society Performing Arts program
HANCHU-YUEI 範疇遊泳/ Suguru Yamamoto 山本卓卓
​
​

One of Japan’s most popular mukashi banashi folktales comes to life through the playful interpretation of beloved all-male contemporary dance company Condors, led by Ryohei Kondo.
​
Hanasaka Jiisan (花咲爺さん　The Old Man Who Made Flowers Bloom)
​Dance performance by Condors/Ryohei Kondo
Japan Society Perfoming Arts

Saturday, December 10, 2016 
Sunday, December 11, 2016

Dance performance  by Takao Kawaguchi
At Japan Society
http://www.japansociety.org/event/about-kazuo-ohnoreliving-the-butoh-divas-masterpieces

JAPAN SOCIETY THEATER
Miwa Yanagi
Zero Hour: Tokyo Rose's Last TapeThursday,
​January 29, 2015 
Friday, January 30, 2015 
Saturday, January 31, 2015

Master puppeteer Michika Iida of Yumehina Puppet Company leads the audience into a world of dreams and fantasies with two stunning solo plays.

Asian Society, NYC
February 15, 2013
8:00pm - 9:30pm

"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle"  is a play, based on the 1998 novel by Haruki Murakami, conceived by Stephen Earnhart, written by Greg Pierce and Stephen Earnhart. Opens Jan. 15 and will run through Jan. 30.


Cast

Akira Ito: Ushikawa/Dream Police
Ai Kiyono: Kumiko/Dream Police
Yoshihisa Kuwayama: Puppeteer/Dream Police
Mina Nishimura: Dream Police
Sophia Remolde: Puppeteer/Dream Police
James Saito: Noboru Wataya
Kristin Villanueva: May Kasahara
Akira Takayama: Lieutenant Mamiya
Toshiji Takeshima: Lounge Singer/Prank Show Host/Dream Police
Niho Tsukimura: Kumiko (film imagery)
Fergus Walsh: Puppeteer/Dream Police
Yoshihiro Watanabe: Waiter/Dream Police
James Yaegashi: Toru Okada
Stacey Yen: Creta Kano

Creative Team
​
Director / Co-Writer : Stephen Earnhart
Co-Writer: Greg Pierce
Producers: Wind-UP Productions, Rafe Fogel,Guy & Lia Haskin Fernald and Pamela Lubell
General Management: Seth Goldstein, Aaron Thompson and DR Theatrical Management 
Co-Producer:  Rachel Cooper, Asia Society
Associate Producer:  Eric Gerber
Puppet Director/Scenic Design: Tom Lee 
Assistant Director/Movement Director: Karen Beaumont
Projection Designer: Adam Larsen
Lighting Designer: Laura Mroczkowski
Music & Sound Design: Jane Shaw
Music & Live Performance:  Bora Yoon
Costume Design: Oana Botez-Ban
Production Manager: Brendan Regimbal
Stage Manager: Neelam Vaswani
Assistant Stage Manager: Carmen Torres 
Assistant Stage Manager: 
Angela Hesterman 
Dramaturg:  Claudia Orenstein
Story Consultant:  Andrew Berg
Production Coordinator:  Jonathan Hinton
Casting Director: Judy Bowman
Japanese Translation: Keiko Tsuneda and Sonoko Soeda 
Butoh Choreography: Kota Yamazaki
Consulting Producers: Jennifer Costello, Erich Jungwirth, Alisa Matlovsky and 
Bonnie Stein