Japan Society In Association With PlayCo Presents LUDIC PROXY: FUKUSHIMA

Japan Society presents, in association with PlayCo, the virtual production of Ludic Proxy: Fukushima, written and directed by the Brooklyn-based theater-maker Aya Ogawa.

Based on her own play Ludic Proxy, commissioned by PlayCo and first performed in 2015, this upcoming digital theater event represents a virtual reimagining of the original play's second act commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture. This online iteration will be live streamed Saturday, March 6 at 9:30PM EST; Sunday, March 7 at 4:30PM EST; and Thursday, March 11 at 8:00PM EST.

Set a few years after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, this video adaptation of Aya Ogawa's play Ludic Proxy follows a woman named Maho, visiting her older sister Maki who lives on the outskirts of the Fukushima nuclear evacuation zone. Maho functions as the audience's avatar in the story as she cautiously navigates daily life in their hometown post-3.11, which takes on added urgency when Maki reveals that she is pregnant. Using video games as a dramaturgy, viewers are asked to vote, in real time "audience polling," on how Maho progresses through this harrowing set of circumstances, thus determining outcomes along the way. The New York Times coined the original Ludic Proxy, "a sort of choose-your-own-adventure story of two sisters," and noted, "The play shows how the simulated can adjoin, infuse or ultimately replace the actual." In this new digital adaptation, featuring original cast members Saori Tsukada as Maho and Yuki Kawahisa as Maki, the line between actual and virtual reality begins to blur once again in this interactive, dark play exploring human survival in the face of disaster. A live Q&A with Aya Ogawa will take place following the performance on March 11. Performed in Japanese, this production will be streamed with English subtitles.

Ticketholders will be able to participate at the date/time for which they've reserved, as well as any subsequent live presentations in the schedule (March 6, 7, 11). Given the myriad possibilities of plot outcomes as determined by the live audience polling, ticketholders are invited to return for new viewing experiences as offered by these three distinct presentations.

Additionally, an "on demand" version will be available March 12 - 26, which will incorporate real-time input from the solo viewer as opposed to collective audience polling (collective audience polling takes place only in the three original presentations: March 6, 7, 11).

More info can be found at www.japansociety.org/performingarts. Tickets can be purchased online at www.japansociety.org/event/ludic-proxy-fukushima or by calling the Japan Society Box Office at 212-715-1258 (M-F 10:00AM - 6:00PM).

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