chelfitsch Theater Companys: FIVE DAYS IN MARCH Runs 2/5-2/7

Japan Society continues its electrifying 2008-09 Performing Arts Season with the North American debut tour of chelfitsch Theater Company: Five Days in March, as part of the current season theme Beyond Boundaries: Genre-Bending Mavericks.

This season's theme examinesartists and performances that expand the borders of conventional performing arts whether melding newtechnologies with age-old techniques, marrying the classical with the ultra-modern, weaving texts intodance and the fabric of space itself, or lacing stunning visual effects of light, video and design into liveperformance.

Written and directed by Toshiki Okada, chelfitsch Theater Company's Five Days inMarch plays Thursday, February 5 / Friday, February 6 / Saturday, February 7 at 7:30 PM at Japan Society (333 East 47 th Street).The groundbreaking and modern work of chelfitsch Theater Company has made it one of Japan's most talked-about theater companies in recent years.

Characterized by deceptively insubstantial narrative, super-colloquial dialogue, and exaggerated fidgeting-turned-choreography, the work perfectly capturesthe irony and impotence felt by the Generation Y in Japan today. The work overcomes languagebarriers, garnering the company wide acclaim in premier theater festivals and venues throughout Europeand Asia, including Brussels, Paris, Cardiff, Salzburg, and Singapore.

In January 2009, the companymakes its long-awaited U.S. debut in a North American tour produced and organized by Japan Society.The tour launches at Japan Society with a performance of the company's award-winning short duetCooler (Air Conditioner) as part of the Society's 12 th Annual Contemporary Dance Showcase (January 9-10) and continues with presentations of the evening-length theatrical presentation Five Days in Marchin seven cities in January and February.

Five Days in March is the prestigious Kishida Kunio Drama Award-winning play by Toshiki Okada. Inthe days before the U.S. declares war on Iraq in March 2003, two Japanese urban hipsters meet at arock concert and are swept into a one-night stand that turns into five days of continuous sex. Oblivious tothe imminent invasion, the slackers obsess over the details of their love affair. The piece unfolds asactors slip in and out of character while casually narrating and playing out scenes.

This work takes theJapanese "quiet theater" movement [the naturalistic and analytic theatre that forms the cornerstone of contemporary Japanese theater of the 1990s] to another level with remarkable choreography that iscompletely disconnected from the content of the hyper-real conversational tone of the dialogue. Five Days in March tours Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), January 15-17; PuSh InternationalPerforming Arts Festival (Vancouver, BC), January 21-24; On the Boards (Seattle, WA), January 28-February 1; Japan Society (New York, NY), February 5-7; Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, OH), February 12-14; University of Missouri, St. Louis (St. Louis, MO), February 17; and Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL), February 20-22.

Playwright/director Toshiki Okada (born 1973, Yokohama City) founded chelfitsch Theater Companyin 1997 after graduating from the Business Department at Keio University. The works of chelfitsch (named after a child's mispronunciation of the English word "selfish") epitomize the current infantilizedculture and society of contemporary urban Japan through a unique methodology of play-making. Withmeandering commonplace narrative set against stylized movement and choreography based onmundane activity, the seminal works of the company include On the Harmful Effects of Marijuana (2003), Post the End of Suffering (2005) and Cooler (Air Conditioner), which was honored as a finalist in the2005 Toyota Choreography Awards.

On Tuesday, February 3 at 6:30 PM, Japan Society and Martin E. Segal TheatreCenter, The Graduate Center, CUNY co-presents, An Evening with Toshiki Okada and Dan Safer. This up-close and personal evening with the writer/director of Five Days in March features a short performance by New York-based director/choreographer Dan Safer and his company WitnessRelocation.chelfitsch Theater Company: Five Days in March appears as part of Japan Society's 2008-09 Performing Arts season of music, theater, dance and more. The season, which kicked off in September, celebrates Japanese artists whose works reach beyond conventional categorizations to defineparameters on their own terms, offering unparalleled surprise as well as true artistry. Many of theseartists have already received great acclaim in Europe and Asia, and are finally making their long-awaiteddebut in New York City at Japan Society. Recent highlights include the spectacular collision of danceand light technology in true (created by Takayuki Fujimoto and Takao Kawaguchi of dumb type) andworld premiere commissioned compositions for ancient Japanese gagaku (medieval bambooinstruments) from trailblazing contemporary American composers Ken Ueno, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez and Gene Coleman, and more. Upcoming presentations include the 12 th Annual Contemporary Dance:

Phase 2: Japan + East Asia; and Hiroaki Umeda's extraordinary butoh/street dance-inspired choreography set against flashing cyber-imagery, electronic beats and crackling digital soundscapes. In addition, Japan Society's annual commitment to present authentic traditionalperforming arts brings Awaji Puppet Theater back to New York for the first time in over a decade.Japan Society's Performing Arts Program: Since the inception of the Performing Arts Program in 1953, Japan Society has introduced more than 500 of Japan's finest performing arts to an extensive Americanaudience. 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, produces national tours, organizesresidency programs for American and Japanese artists, and develops and distributes educational programs. "At once diverse and daring, the program stands toe to toe with some of the most comprehensive culturalexchange endeavors today" (Leonard Jacobs, Back Stage).

Japan Society: Established in 1907, Japan Society has evolved into North America's single majorproducer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Language, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experienceJapanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia. On the occasion of Japan Society's 2007 centennial celebration, American Theatre noted: "For a hundred years now, the Japan Society of New York has been a think tank for policy works, entrepreneurs, diplomats and Japanophiles.

But the jewel in its crown has always been the performingarts program."chelfitsch Theater Company: Five Days in March plays Thursday, February 5 / Friday, February 6 / Saturday, February 7. All performances 7:30 PM at Japan Society (333 East 47 th Street between First & Second Avenues).

Tickets are $35 (general public) and $32 (Japan Society members). Tickets maybe purchased by calling the Box Office (212) 715-1258 or in person at Japan Society (M-F / 10 AM-4:45 PM). For more info call (212) 832 -1155 or visit www.japansociety.org.

The seven-city North American tour of chelfitsch Theater Company is organized and produced by Japan Society(New York) and is supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan; The Japan Foundationthrough the Performing Arts JAPAN Program; and The Saison Foundation for the Japan Society's Japanese Theater NOW initiative.Major Support for Japan Society 2008-2009 Performing Arts Programs is provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader'sDigest Endowment Fund, The Starr Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the DorisDuke Charitable Foundation, and the Endowment for the Performing Arts.Additional support is provided by The Globus Family, Dr. John Gillespie, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. SamuelsFoundation, Inc., The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.Transportation assistance provided by ANA, All Nippon Airways.Plasma display provided by Pioneer

 

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