SITI Company to Present Yukio Mishima's Play HANJO at Japan Society

SITI Company, the internationally acclaimed ensemble theater, co-founded by famed American director Anne Bogart, showcases directed by SITI Co-Artistic Director Leon Ingulsrud.

The production will be presented as part of the ensemble's 25th Anniversary season and performed at The Performing Arts Center Purchase College, Friday, October 6, 8 PM and at Japan Society, Thursday through Saturday, December 7-9, 7:30 PM. The presentation coincides with Japan Society's 110th Anniversary and is presented as part of the NOH-NOW Series in the Society's Fall 2017-Winter 2018 Performing Arts Season.

Tickets start at $20 at Purchase College and may be purchased online at Purchase College. Tickets are $35/$30 Japan Society members and may be purchased online, by visiting or calling the Box Office at (212) 715-1258 or by downloading this order form. Performed in English and Japanese.

Hanjo, by provocative Japanese author Yukio Mishima (1925-1970), is a timeless tale of love, loneliness, and betrayal in which a young woman's endless waiting for her lover transports her into a state of insanity. Hauntingly enigmatic, subtle and beautiful, this masterpiece reaches back into the deep past of ancient myth and brings into the modern world a story that is part fairy-tale, part surreal drama. Using Noh as a springboard, Mishima deals with issues of gender, identity and how we play roles within each other's lives. The startling clarity with which he adapts the work for the Contemporary Stage allows it to transcend era and land in our time with stunning relevance.

"Written in 1955, Hanjo is based on a 14th Century Noh play by Motohiko Zeami," explains Ingulsrud, who also translated the play from the Japanese for Siti Company. "The Noh play was in turn based on an ancient Chinese poem in which a discarded woman is described as a "hanjo" - a summer fan, which is carelessly tossed aside in autumn. Zeami's Noh play is one of the very few plays in that tradition with a happy ending, but Mishima complicates and darkens the story, not only by updating it to 20th century Japan but by denying the central character Hanako the reunion she longs for," he adds.

Ingulsrud's direction unveils Mishima's story as a bilingual triptych in which the actors rotate through each character role. This brings Noh Theater's elegance, expressiveness, and economy together with techniques of contemporary theater, shedding light on identity, gender, language and ultimately the art of acting. "Hanjo offers a fascinating way to introduce American audiences to Noh," says Ingulsrud. "The play weaves together traditional forms with modern issues of translation, be they linguistic, intercultural, inter-era, inter-gender and ultimately interpersonal."

Hanjo will be performed by the mesmerizing Akiko Aizawa, Gian-Murray Gianino, and Stephen Duff Webber while sound designer and composer Christian Frederickson accompanies the performance playing the viola. Scenic/Lighting design is by Brian H Scott; costume design is by Mariko Ohigashi. The Production Stage Manager is Ellen Mezzera and the Sound Engineer is Valentine Monfeuga.

The arresting works of infamous novelist Yukio Mishima have elicited extreme responses over the decades. Born Kimitake Hiraoka (1925-1970), Mishima was the author of some 40 novels, as well as numerous plays (including in the traditional Noh and Kabuki styles), books of short stories and essays. He also acted in and directed several films. Many of his works were translated into English, and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times. Internationally, he was probably the most well-known Japanese writer of the twentieth century. His modern Noh plays from the 1960s were radical adaptations of the seminal Noh classics, pitting stark traditional ideals against the dullness of modern existence.

Leon Ingulsrud is a multidisciplinary theater actor, director, and teacher. He was born in Japan as the son of Lutheran missionaries and lived most of his life there until moving to New York City in 1993. He was a member of the Suzuki Company Of Toga (SCOT) before helping found Siti Company, where he serves as one of the three Co-Artistic Directors. He has served as a resident director at the Mito Art Tower in Mito, Japan, as well as one of the artistic directors of Swine Palace in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ingulsrud holds an MFA in directing from Columbia University.

With SITI, Ingulsrud has appeared in Orestes, Seven Deadly Sins (New York City Opera), Nicholas & Alexandra (LA Opera), bobrauschenbergamerica, Hotel Cassiopeia, Under Construction, Who Do You Think You Are, Radio Macbeth, Antigone, American Document with the Martha Graham Dance Company, War of the Worlds, War of the Worlds-The Radio Play, Trojan Women (After Euripides), Cafe Variations, Continuous Replay and A Rite with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Persians and the theater is a blank page.

Directorial credits include Endgame, The Hairy Ape, Macbeth, Short Stories, Martini Ceremony, Medea, Angel/Babel, The Sea, The Grapes of Wrath, three different original adaptations of Moby Dick, The Tempest, Death of a Salesman, Saint Joan, Our Town, Laramie Project, Eurydice, Psyche, Callie's Tally, Big Love, A Show Of Force, Jamestown, Dr. Faustus, 23 Seconds About John Cage, Mad Forest, The Blue Bear and All Under The World.

In addition to directing, acting and teaching, Ingulsrud has translated nine Japanese contemporary plays for English publication or production. He also appears in AMC's western series Hell On Wheels.

Siti Company, now in its 25th year, is an ensemble-based theater company founded in 1992 as the Saratoga International Theater Institute by Anne Bogart, Tadashi Suzuki and a group of like-minded artists. Led today by Co-Artistic Directors Anne Bogart, Leon Ingulsrud, and Ellen Lauren, the company creates new work, trains young theater artists and has a strong commitment to international collaboration.

SITI has toured to 27 countries on five continents and created more than 45 new productions including such iconic works as Under Construction (2009), The Medium (1994), Death and the Ploughman (2004), bobrauschenbergamerica (2001), War of the Worlds-The Radio Play (1999), Hotel Cassiopeia (2006) and a triptych of solo pieces inspired by great artists: Bob (1998), Room (2000), and Score (2002).

SITI has also engaged in collaborations with artists including the Martha Graham Dance Company (American Document, 2010), the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company (A Rite, 2013), visual artist Ann Hamilton (the theater is a blank page, 2015) and Bang on a Can (Steel Hammer, 2014). Among the countless accolades, SITI as a whole as well as its members individually have garnered are seven OBIE awards, two Guggenheim Fellowships, Doris Duke Artist Award, USA Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, American Theatre Wing's Henry Hewes design award, Best Foreign Production at the Dublin Festival and several Drama Desk Award nominations.

Siti Company seeks to redefine and revitalize contemporary theater in the United States through an emphasis on international cultural exchange and collaboration. Through the Company's performances, educational programs and collaborations with other artists and thinkers, SITI continues to challenge the status quo, train to achieve artistic excellence in every aspect of its work and offer new ways of seeing and of being both as artists and as global citizens.

Since the inception of Japan Society's Performing Arts Program in 1953, the Program 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 to non-Japanese artists, produces national tours, organizes residency programs for American and Japanese artists and develops and distributes educational programs, with Backstagemagazine remarking, "At once diverse and daring, the program stands toe to toe with some of the most comprehensive cultural exchange endeavors today."

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. At the Society, 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.

Japan Society's Fall 2017-Winter 2018 Performing Arts Season includes the second installment of the NOH-NOW Series, featuring four extraordinary events in dance and theater. The Series launches in October with Luca Veggetti's Left-Right-Left (October 13-14, 2017), a North American premiere, and continues with Hiroshi Sugimoto's Rikyu-Enoura (November 3-5, 2017). Following this presentation of Siti Company's Hanjo (December 7-9, 2017), the Series concludes with Satoshi Miyagi's Mugen Noh Othello (January 11-14, 2018). These events, coinciding with Japan Society's milestone 110th Anniversary, bring together 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 much acclaim in 2007 timed to Japan Society's centennial, and now, ten years later, the Society proudly serves up a new edition with a slate of performances highlighting how contemporary artists draw inspiration from Japan's centuries-old traditions.