Showing papers in "Asian Theatre Journal in 1998"

"Traditional" Indian Dance and the Making of Interpretive Communities

Abstract: Janet O'Shea explores the differences between the main styles of South India's bharata natyam dance form and explains the rivalries within this artistic world. Her article compares the kalakshetra style associated with Rukmini Devi and the Tanjore court style of Balasaraswati, examining the differences and similarities between these legendary artists as well. Of special interest is the discussion of how Rukmini Devi and Balasaraswati viewed the place of eroticism (sringara) in bharata natyam. O'Shea proceeds to explain the contributions of the devadasis to the development of bharata natyam,moves along to a treatment of the problems of authority and authenticity, and covers other important topics, including the search for a historical origin for bharata natyam. Janet O'Shea has been a performer of bharata natyam for the past eight years. She has studied the dance form with Smti. Nandini Ramani of Madras, most recently under the auspices of the American Institute of Indian Studies. She holds an M.A. in Tamilfrom the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in dance history and theory from the University of California, Riverside.

New Kabuki encyclopedia : a revised adaptation of Kabuki jiten

Abstract: Preface The Encyclopedia Appendix I: Brief Chronology of Kabuki Appendix II: Major Plays Appendix III: Popularized or Alternate Play Titles Appendix IV: Actors' Genealogies Appendix V: List of -Yago in Use Today Selected Bibliography Subject Guide to Main Entries Index

Puppets of Nostalgia: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of the Japanese Awaji Ningyō Tradition@@@Puppets of Nostalgia: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of the Japanese Awaji Ningyo Tradition

Abstract: AcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Of Stories and Fragments31In the Shape of a Person: The Varieties of Ritual Uses of Effigy in Japan172Kadozuke: The Outsider at the Gates493A Crippled Deity, a Priest, and a Puppet: Kugutsu and Ebisu-kaki of the Nishinomiya Shrine894A Dead Priest, an Angry Deity, a Fisherman, and a Puppet: The Narrative Origins of Awaji Ningyo1375Puppets of the Road, Puppets of the Field: Shiki Sanbaso, Ebisu-mai, and Puppetry Festivals on Awaji1646Puppets and Whirlpools: Icons, Nostalgia, Regionalism, and Identity in the Revival of Awaji Ningyo204Epilogue265Notes267Bibliography301Index313

Chinese drama after the Cultural Revolution, 1979-1989 : an anthology

Abstract: Covering the two major dramatic forms in China, this volume includes a translation of two traditional operas and five spoken plays. These works are among the most controversial plays produced in the post-Mao era, and collectively represent a new trend which could transform Chinese drama.

The Occidental Other on the Chinese Stage: Cultural Cross-Examination in Guo Shixing's Bird Men

Abstract: Guo Shixing's 1991 play Bird Men, widely regarded as an outstanding recent example of huaju (modern spoken drama), is concerned with the clash of Chinese and American cultures as reflected in the interactions of a varied group gathered in a Beijing park where local citizens engage in raising and training birds. Claire Conceison's essay explores the play's provocative cultural and political themes, particularly those that concern the Chinese view offoreign intervention in Chinese life. Claire Conceison is a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University. Her article "The Main Melody Campaign in Chinese Spoken Drama" was published in ATJ 11/2.

Kanadehon Hamlet: A Play by Tsutsumi Harue

Abstract: In the spring of 1997, the editor of ATJ witnessed a production of this play at New York's La MaMa E. T. C. and was immediately interested in publishing it. The play is interesting on several levels: it has a strong dramatic action, concerns an important problem in the transition ofJapanese drama from traditional forms to modern ones, reveals the kind of serious misunderstandings that occur when cultures collide, allows for exciting 'fusion" scenes in which Shakespeare is produced kabuki-style, and brings to the stage several real-life kabuki figures, notably Morita Kan 'ya XII, the progressive Meiji-era producer. The playwright also makes an interesting case for explaining Shakespeare's Hamlet to the kabuki company when, as suggested by her title, she uses the Japanese classic Kanadehon Chushingura as a point of comparison. Tsutsumi Harue is a doctoral student in East Asian languages and cultures at Indiana University. As a student of theatre history in the master's degree program at Osaka University, she studied under the distinguished playwright and scholar Yamazaki Masakazu. She was interested in playwriting as well as in the comparative natures of traditional apanese and Western drama. When she subsequently movedfromJapan to the United States she was prompted to focus on the clash between the two cultures. Herfourfull-length plays are Kanadehon Hamuretto (Kanadehon Hamlet), Rokumeikan Ibun (Strange Tales of the Rokumeikan), Tsukiji Hoterukan Enj6 (The Burning of the Tsukiji Hotel), and Seigeki Osero (Othello in Japan), as well as two one-act plays. Faubion Bowers, the chief translator, is one of the best-known Western authorities on Japanese theatre. His books include Japanese Theatre (1952) and Theatre in the East (1956).

Shakespeare east and west

Abstract: PART 1 PLAYHOUSES AND PERFORMANCES: Approaching Shakespeare through Kabuki, Leonard C. Pronko Theatre Structures, East and West, Tesuo Anzai Shakespeare and "Hana": Some Parallels Between Peter Brook's 1990 Production of "La Tempete" and "Matsukaze", Poh Sim Plowright. PART 2: LITERARY HISTORY AND INTERPRETATION - Shakespeare and Japanese Theatre: Artists' and Scholars' Use of the Exotic, Andrew Gerstle A Bridge Between Shakespeare and the Traditional Theatre of Japan, Toshihiro Date Shakespeare and Noh: Voices from Beyond, Masahiro Takenaka Shakespeare's Ghosts and the Phantasms of Japanese Noh Plays: A Matter of Theatrical Techniques, Peggy Munoz Simonds Tradition and Innovation in the Noh Drama of Japan, Gerry Yokota et al. PART III: THEORETICAL ISSUES Theatre and Innovation in the West: Language, Action and Archetype, Ronald Lee Shakespeare, Eastern Theatre, and Literary Universals: Drama in the Context of Cognitive Science, Patrick Colm Hogan.

Acting in the Private Theatre of the Ming Dynasty

Abstract: The performing arts of Chinese classical theatre reached their maturity during the Ming dynasty when the private theatre presented some of the most sophisticated acting available. This article examines the singing, dancing, and role playing of private actors and the functions of literati troupe owners in managing their companies. Based on original historical records rather than scholarly reports, this study views its subject from the perspective of ancient theatregoers. It also makes available for the first time English translations of many Mingperiod theatre commentaries. Grant Shen, who teaches Asian theatre at the National University of Singapore, directed thefirst English-language production of a Yuan zaju play in the classical style (1995). Employing methods of the Ming literati in his direction, he found them useful in today's public performance of classical drama. Professor Shen holds his doctorate from the University of Hawai'i.

Kabuki: Changes and Prospects: An International Symposium

Abstract: From time to time ATJ publishes accounts of major symposia dealing with Asian theatre. In the present case, James R. Brandon provides an excellent account of an international kabuki-related conference held in Tokyo in 1996. Numerous scholars from around the globe attended this important event, and we are proud to have this detailed record of their contributions in our pages. James R Brandon needs little introduction to readers of ATJ, of which he was the founding editor. Professor of Asian theatre at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa, he is the author or editor of many books on Asian theatre and is the preeminent scholar of kabuki in America. His productions of kabuki and kabuki-influenced plays (some from his own hand) are among the finest to be seen in the West. This report first appeared, in Japanese, as "Kokusai Shinpojium: Kabuki, Hensen to Tenbo no Naiyo to Seika" (Substance and Results of the International Symposium: Kabuki, Changes and Prospects), in Gekkan Bunkazei (Cultural Properties Monthly) 401 (2) (1996): 19-25.

Dramatizing the West in Chinese Spoken Drama

Abstract: Arguing from Foucault's theory of the "disappearing author, "Faye C. Fei claims that Chinese playwrights do not place individualistic signatures on their work, a phenomenon particularly noticeable in plays dealing with China's foreign relations of the 1949-1976 period. She investigates the anti-imperialist huaju drama of that era, during which the outside world was perceived according to Maoist doctrine as the enemy and foreigners were considered "devils. " Faye C. Fei holds her Ph.D. from the City University of New York and presently teaches at Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota. She and her husband, William H. Sun, are the coauthors of China Dream, discussed by Bettina Entell in "China Dream: A Chinese Spoken Drama" (ATJ 11/2). Dr. Fei has just completed a book, Chinese Theories of the Theatre and Performance.

Takatoki: A Kabuki Drama

Abstract: Although there are well over 250 plays in the kabuki repertory, barely three dozen are available in English translations. One more can now be added to the list with Faith Bach's version of Kawatake Mokuami's katsureki masterpiece, Takatoki. As she notes, such plays were originally created during the Meiji era to bring kabuki a step closer to the realism of the modern theatre believed to exist in the West. What remains of the play itself, however, is replete with enough of kabuki's traditional emphasis on dance and fantasy to make it something of an anomaly in the category of which it is considered representative. Dr. Bach's translation is based on the production book of the March 1992 production at the Kabuki-za. Faith Bach has her D.Phil. in kabuki history from St. Antony's College, Oxford, and an M.A. in Manyoshu poetry from the University of Minnesota. She is a translator/commentator at the Kabuki-za and National Theatre in Tokyo and teaches kabuki at Kanto Gakuen University. Dr. Bach is the author of Bravo Kabuki: Bravo Japan (1993), published in Japanese.