Japan Society Presents MANHOOD in Play Reading Series

Japan Society presents a staged reading of Manhood by Japanese playwright Hideto Iwai, led by director Sarah Hughes, taking place Monday, March 26 at 7:30 PM at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street). Manhood marks the 13th installment of the Society's Play Reading Series of contemporary Japanese plays in English translation, introducing topical plays from up-and-coming playwrights in Japan to artists and audiences in the U.S. This event, part of Japan Society's 110th Anniversary Season, aligns with the Spring 2018 Performing Arts focus on deepening the Society's relationship with New York artists.

Written by Hideto Iwai, the winner of the prestigious Kishida Kunio Award for Drama, Manhood follows the twisted turns in the lives of four men as their boyish posse faces the harsh realities of adulthood and old age. Sarah Hughes, an ascending theater director based in New York, leads her gender swapped cast in this off-kilter depiction of Japanese "bro culture." Directly following the performance, playwright Hideto Iwai and director Sarah Hughes join in an on-site Q&A with the audience.

Hideto Iwai, born in 1974, is an actor, playwright and stage director. From age 16-20, Iwai was a hikikomori, or person who lives in voluntary seclusion from society, an experience that he would later draw on in some of his most famous works. In 2003, he formed the theatrical company hi-bye, and in 2007, joined the production department of Seinendan. Many of his works are recognized as gritty, humorous comedies based on his own personal experiences.

His plays such as A Certain Woman, Manhood and The Husband and Wife are plays inspired by his personal experiences as well as stories collected from people in everyday life. Increasingly, Iwai works as a director, actor, novelist and scenario writer. He was awarded the Kuniko Mukoda Award in 2011 (NHKBS TV drama) and the Kunio Kishida Award in 2012 (A Certain Woman). His notable play Hikky Cancun Tornado was performed in Seoul at the performing arts market PAMS in 2011.

Hikky Sotonidetemitano was directed by Park Geunhyeong at DOOSAN ART CENTER and The Hand was directed by I Kipm in 2015. Manhood debuted in 2014 at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and was revived in 2016 for a six-city tour across Japan.
Sarah Hughes is a director and producer of theater and new media.

Her work embraces limitation, values accidental discoveries, and is deeply collaborative. She is interested in using humor, awkwardness and unexpected choices in casting, staging, language and tone to create shared experiences that aim at truth rather than at the effect of reality. Sarah has developed new plays, performance art pieces, devised works, and immersive installations with Eliza Bent, McFeely Sam Goodman, Julia May Jonas / Nellie Tinder, Corinne Donly, MJ Kaufman, Cara Scarmack, Paul Cameron Hardy, Chana Porter, Pablo Helguera, MoMA, the Office for Creative Research, Vox Theater, Half Straddle, and Superhero Clubhouse, of which she is a Core Member. With Graham Sack and Sensorium she has created several Virtual Reality pieces for New York Theatre Workshop, The New York Times and Penguin Random House.

Her work has been seen at Abrons Arts Center, BAM Next Wave, The Bushwick Starr, JACK, The Tank, The Brick, The Segal Center, PEN World Voices, Columbia University, Signature Theater, The Flea, Prelude, and CATCH, among others. Sarah worked with Elevator Repair Service from 2007-14, assistant directing Gatz, The Select, Arguendo, Shuffle, and Fondly, Collette Richland Off-Broadway and/or on tour, and was Co-Artistic Producer of Target Margin Theater from 2015-17. She co-teaches a class on Contemporary Theater at Dartmouth College, was a member of the 2016-17 Civilians R&D Lab and is a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a Target Margin Associated Artist, and a Clubbed Thumb 2017-18 Directing Fellow.

Japan Society's Fall 2017-Winter 2018 Performing Arts Season featured the second installment of the NOH-NOW Series, featuring extraordinary events in dance and theater. The Series launched with the North American premiere of Luca Veggetti's Left-Right-Left (October 13-14, 2017) and continued with Rikyu-Enoura: A New Noh Play by Hiroshi Sugimoto (November 3-5, 2017), Siti Company's Hanjo (December 7-9, 2017) and Satoshi Miyagi's Mugen Noh Othello, presented as part of The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival (January 11-14, 2018). Japan Society's current Performing Arts Season kicked off in September with the North American Premiere of Moto Osada's opera, Four Nights of Dream, (September 13-16, 2017). These events, coinciding with Japan Society's milestone 110th Anniversary, united celebrated artists from the U.S. and Japan, delivering world class cultural offerings while continuing Japan Society's mission to deepen mutual understanding between the two nations into the Society's twelfth decade.

The popular NOH-NOW Series debuted to acclaim in 2007 timed to Japan Society's centennial; and this season, ten years later, the Society proudly served up a new edition highlighting how contemporary artists continue to draw inspiration from one of Japan's centuries-old traditions. Ahead in Spring 2018, the Performing Arts Program focuses on events deepening Japan Society's relationship with New York artists.

Following this reading of Manhood, Japan Society presents a public forum about immigration and theater, Rest in Peace, New York: Theater, Women and Immigration led by performance artist Shirotama Hitsujiya (May 14), and a concert by local koto and shamisen masters Yumi Kurosawa and Yoko Reikano Kimura (May 24), with additional details to be announced.

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 from 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 in New York City presents sophisticated, topical and accessible experiences of Japanese art and culture, and facilitates the exchange of ideas, knowledge and innovation between the U.S. and Japan. More than 200 events annually encompass world-class exhibitions, dynamic classical and cutting-edge contemporary performing arts, film premieres and retrospectives, workshops and demonstrations, tastings, family activities, language classes, and a range of high-profile talks and expert panels that present open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia.

During the 2017-18 season, Japan Society celebrates its 110th anniversary with expanded programming that builds toward a richer, more globally interconnected 21st century: groundbreaking creativity in the visual and performing arts, unique access to business insiders and cultural influencers, and critical focus on social and educational innovation, illuminating our world beyond borders.

Tickets are $15/$10 Japan Society members. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Box Office at (212) 715-1258 or in person at Japan Society (M-F 11:00 AM-6:00 PM and Sat-Sun 11:00 AM-5:00 PM). 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 and V at Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street). For more information call (212) 832-1155 or visit www.japansociety.org.