Japan Society Reveals 2024-2025 Performing Arts Season

Japan Society is proud to announce its upcoming season of live, in-person performances at the Society, with a slate that includes contemporary theater, music, dance and more, from Fall 2024 through Spring 2025.  In Fall 2024, Japan Society begins the season with its series Ningyo! A Parade of Puppetry, featuring a range of performances from dramatic traditional arts to enchanting world premieres, and revivals to historical “spin-offs” -- all drawn from the creative well of Japan’s rich ningyo (puppet) culture, each with live shamisen music.  The series kicks off with Basil Twist’s Dogugaeshi (September 11 – 19), a 20th anniversary revival of Twist’s Bessie award-winning fusion of mind-bending contemporary puppetry and nearly extinct traditional puppetry techniques from Japan’s Awa region.  The parade of puppetry continues with a performance of National Bunraku Theater (October 3 – 5) produced by Japan’s National Theatre, bringing their authoritative bunraku puppetry theater to New York City for the first time in over 30 years with a double-bill of dramatic classic scenes from the bunraku tradition with a full ensemble of master puppeteers and musicians.  In addition to traditionally crafted puppets and props, part of this performance features an elaborate projection-mapped backdrop designed by Kazuo Oga, art director for such internationally-acclaimed anime films as Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke.  The third event will be the world premiere of Shinnai Meets Puppetry (November 7 – 9), a double bill of two enchanting Japanese fables uniting rustic and deeply expressive shinnai-bushi storytelling music with innovative contemporary rod, hand and shadow puppetry techniques.  Lastly, The Benshi Tradition and the Silver Screen: A Japanese Puppetry Spin-off (December 12 & 13) links the legacy of bunraku to Japan’s silent film tradition of the benshi, with modern benshi star Ichiro Kataoka and shamisen musician Sumie Kaneko joining forces across two separate screenings of silent samurai classics. 

This season’s series Ningyo! A Parade of Puppetry delivers a compelling roster of new works and noteworthy returns.  The world premiere of Basil Twist’s Dogugaeshi at Japan Society in 2004 marked the first production from Japan Society’s Artistic Director Yoko Shioya at the helm of the Performing Arts Program.  Since that auspicious introduction, she has continued to spotlight the accomplished and richly varied art form of puppet theater, with the Society serving as a launchpad for countless artists, bringing their work to New York audiences and beyond.  Now, in this 20th anniversary season of leading Japan Society's Performing Arts program, Yoko Shioya reflects on the importance of puppetry, and on Japan’s place within this esteemed artform: “We should not forget the power of analog craft and sheer human artistry even when the world – and the stage – have become more and more reliant on digital technology.  In Fall 2024, we celebrate Japan’s one-of-a-kind puppetry culture at the forefront of innovation, influence and emotional effect -- both within the endlessly inventive world of puppetry and within the entire universe of theater-making.”

Ningyo! A Parade of Puppetry will take place concurrently with the Japan Society Gallery's upcoming visual arts exhibition Bunraku Backstage (running October 4, 2024 through January 19, 2025), which will showcase actual working puppets, props, instruments, and costumes on loan from the National Bunraku Theatre, Osaka alongside unexpected bunraku-inspired multimedia works by contemporary artist, exploring bunraku’s ongoing inspiration and influence in both performing and fine arts.

In Winter/Spring 2025, Japan Society presents the 20th Contemporary Dance Festival: Japan + East Asia (January 10 – 11), featuring ensembles from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea that represent the hottest contemporary dance coming out of East Asia today. Next up, the French gothic horror Le Barbe Bleue gets a Harajuku makeover in Shuji Terayama’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle (January 15 – 18), a mazelike retelling of the original tale and the Bartok adaptation by underground theater / filmmaker legend Shuji Terayama, further subverted into a wild burlesque showcase by the crossdressing, all-female company Project NYX, all directed by experimental theater veteran Kim Sujin.  The season continues with the 19th Installment of the Annual Play Reading, presenting the play the far side of the moon (March 10), a haunting meditation on aging and loneliness in the modern era written by Izumi Kasagi and directed by NYC-based Skye Kowaleski.  Following the play reading, traditional Japanese instrument rockstars The Shakuhachi 5 have their North American debut concert in The Shakuhachi 5: Shakuhachi Vogue – A Visual Concert (May 16), featuring an impressive range of new and traditional works over four centuries to the backdrop of a mesmerizing video collage of ukiyo-e images, designed by visual artist Tei Blow. The season culminates with the music seriesShun Ishiwaka: Jazz Transcending (June 5 & 7), in a set of two contrasting programs, one on each night, that place the rapidly transcendent star percussionist and musician Shun Ishiwaka front and center for American audiences.

All events take place at Japan Society, located at 333 East 47th Street in Manhattan. Tickets available to Japan Society members beginningThursday, August 1; General tickets available beginning Thursday, August 8.  For tickets and further detail, please visitwww.japansociety.org or call 212-715-1258. (Non-member tickets include a $3 processing fee.)

JAPAN SOCIETY PERFORMING ARTS (SEPTEMBER 2024 – JUNE 2025), SCHEDULE & FURTHER DETAILS:

Basil Twist’s Dogugaeshi, Created and Performed by Basil Twist with musician Yumiko Tanaka [Contemporary Puppet Theater]

Wednesday, September 11 (Followed by a Private Gathering for Artists and Members); Thursday, September 12; Tuesday; September 17; Thursday, September 19 at 7:30pm

Friday, September 13; Saturday, September 14; Sunday, September 15; Wednesday, September 18 at 2:30pm and 7:30pm

Tickets: $58/$44 Japan Society members.  *Limited to 75 per performance; general seating.

Dogugaeshi, the award-winning phenomenon by genius puppeteer Basil Twist is back!  Born as a Japan Society commission, this ever-innovative piece now celebrates its 20th anniversary.  Enter a mystical world, where a mysterious white fox shepherds you through past and present Japan.  Inspired by a disappearing traditional stage mechanic from Japan’s Awa region called dogugaeshi, Twist has created fusuma screens with stunning painted imagery, which dance, slide, flip, conceal and reveal to pull audiences deeper into a brain-bending optical illusion.  Dogugaeshi is a cross-cultural collaboration with master shamisen player and experimental musician Yumiko Tanaka, whose multi-layered music collage embraces everything from traditional tunes to popular songs.  Note: New York-based shamisen musician Yoko Reikano Kimura will perform for the matinee shows. Yumiko Tanaka will perform for all evening shows.

National Bunraku Theater, production of National Theatre / Five-city North American Tour Organized by Japan Society [Traditional Puppet Theater]

Thursday, October 3 at 7:00pm (Followed by a Gallery Exhibition opening reception)
Friday, October 4 at 7:30pm (Followed by an artist Q&A)
Saturday, October 5 at 3:00pm and 7:30pm

Tickets: October 3 - $85/$55 Japan Society members (includes entry to Gallery opening event following the performance; October 4 & 5 - $72/$55 Japan Society members.

*Performed in Japanese with English surtitles

Japan's National Theatre makes its triumphant arrival with the truly authentic bunraku theater in New York City from Osaka for the first time in thirty-two years.  The program features two quintessential climaxes from bunraku repertoire: Date Musume Koi no Higanoko (Oshichi, the Greengrocer’s Daughter), depicting a woman’s desperate act to save her lover, and Sonezaki Shinju (The Love Suicides at Sonezaki), a tragic tale by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, widely referred to as “Japan’s Shakespeare.”  Aligned with kabuki and noh theater, bunraku originated a globally influential three-person puppet manipulation technique invented in the mid-18th century, earning a designation as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.  Featuring scenography by Kazuo Oga, artistic director for many Studio Ghibli anime films, this performance offers Americans a rare opportunity to glimpse the rich culture not only of bunraku, but of Japan’s second-largest city ahead of Expo 2025, held in Osaka.  The North American five-city tour of National Bunraku Theater is organized by Japan Society and produced under partnership with National Theatre. Four stops in addition to New York City are in Los Angeles, CA (September 28), Fairfield, CT (October 1), Washington D.C. (October 8 & 9) and Houston, TX (October 12).  

>> A pre-performance lecture on bunraku led by Hunter College Professor Claudia Orenstein begins one hour before each evening performance.  

>> This event coincides with the opening of Japan Society Gallery's fall exhibition, Bunraku Backstage.

>> Related Event: Japanese Puppet Theater 101: A Close Look at Bunraku / Saturday, October 5 at 11:00am

Shinnai Meets Puppetry: One Night in Winter & The Peony Lantern / World Premiere / Created and Performed by Sachiyo Takahashi | Nekaa Lab, with Rowan Magee and Emma Wiseman [Contemporary Puppet Theater]

Thursday, November 7 at 7:30pm 

Friday, November 8 at 7:30pm — Followed by an artist Q&A 

Saturday, November 9 at 2:30pm & 7:30pm

Tickets: $38/$28 Japan Society members. *Limited seating.

*Performed in Japanese and English with English surtitles

Following her highly popular run of SHEEP #1 at Japan Society in 2021, NYC-based artist Sachiyo Takahashi/Nekaa Lab presents two whimsical and spooky tales: a heart-warming-then-wrenching fable on the friendship between a shapeshifting tanuki (Japanese racoon) trickster and a lonely old man; and a classical Japanese ghost story to chill you to the bone.  These stories were set by shinnai-bushi Grand Master Okamoto Bunya (1895-1996) to rustic, lyrical storytelling music with shamisen accompaniment. Takahashi, who has practiced shinnai-bushi under the authorized stage name of Okamoto Miya, performs this expressive music while her collaborators Rowan Magee and Emma Wiseman animate these fantastical stories with their original puppets and new puppetry techniques, sure to enchant adults and young audiences alike.  (Recommended ages 8+) 

The Benshi Tradition and the Silver Screen: A Japanese Puppetry Spin-off; Screening A Diary of Shuji’s Travels and Chushingura / Performed by Ichiro Kataoka with live music by Sumie Kaneko [Silent Film and Live Performance]

Thursday, December 12 at 7:30pm: A Diary of Chuji’s Travel (Followed by a Private Gathering for Artists and Members)

Friday, December 13 at 7:30pm: Chushingura 

Tickets: $31/$22 Japan Society members.

*Silent film with live benshi narration in Japanese with English subtitles.

Benshi, Japan’s riveting “movie talkers” of the silent film era, drew in audiences with their live film narration and dramatic character portrayals, often with musicians providing accompaniment.  This rich period of early Japanese cinema has a direct structural connection to the Japanese puppet theater tradition, in which chanters narrated stories, giving a voice to each silent puppet character alongside theatrical shamisen music. In this two-night program, featuring a different work on each evening, modern benshi star Ichiro Kataoka and NY-based shamisen player Sumie Kaneko come together for two screenings of stories set in the samurai era.

            A Diary of Chuji’s Travel  

            Dir. Daisuke Ito, 1927, 111 min., DCP, b&w. With Denjiro Okochi.

Directed by Daisuke Ito, the “father of jidaigeki (samurai period drama),” and starring silent-era legend Denjiro Okochi, this film recounts the rise and fall of the real-life, popular “Japanese Robin Hood” outlaw Chuji Kunisada (1810-1851).

Chushingura

Dir. Shozo Makino, 1910-17, 90 min., DCP, b&w, with Matsunosuke Onoe, Ichinojo Kataoka, Kiraku Arashi.

One of the representative works of Shozo Makino, a founder of the Japanese film industry, and Matsunosuke Onoe, plucked from the kabuki stage as Japan’s first film superstar, Chushingura adapts the classic tale of the 47 ronin who enact vengeance upon those who orchestrated the unjust death of their master.

>>A pre-performance lecture on benshi begins before each screening at 6:30pm.  

Contemporary Dance Festival: Japan + East Asia / North American Premiere / Featuring Co. Ruri Mito, I-Ling Liu, and C.Sense [Contemporary Dance]

Friday, January 10 at 7:30pm (Followed by an opening night reception)

Saturday, January 11 at 7:30pm (Followed by an artist Q&A)

Tickets: $43/$32 Japan Society members.

The Contemporary Dance Festival Japan + East Asia celebrates its 20th installment showcasing the leading edge of East Asia’s contemporary dance with three ensemble pieces.  From Japan, Where we were born, choreographed by Ruri Mito and performed by ensemble Co. Ruri Mito, weaves and unravels delicately and intricately connected dancers, creating one kaleidoscopic body.  From Taiwan, …and, or…, choreographed by I-Ling Liu, a former dancer of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, features two dancers whose relationship rapidly shifts through delicate and sharp movements in a non-music/sound environment. And, from South Korea, Trivial Perfection, choreographed and performed by Dae-ho Lee with ensemble C.Sense, builds complex shapes in this crescendoing, exuberant piece combining modern dance, hip-hop and martial arts. 

Shuji Terayama’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle /  Directed by Kim Sujin / Performed by Project NYX [Contemporary Theater]

Wednesday, January 15 at 7:30pm (Followed by an opening night reception)

Thursday, January 16 at 7:30pm (Followed by an artist Q&A)

Friday, January 17 at 7:30pm

Saturday, January 18 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $48/$36 Japan Society members.

*Performed in Japanese with English surtitles. 

Bluebeard is given a Harajuku makeover in Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, a wild, colorful burlesque-like subversion of the French gothic horror legend.  Shuji Terayama (1935-1983), father of Japan’s angura (underground) theater movement in the 1960s and ’70s, was repeatedly drawn to the story of Bluebeard’s wives and the locked castle door throughout his career, culminating in this mind-bending game of cat-and-mouse that questions the very nature of theater itself.  Saturated with dark magic tricks, fiddlers and accordion players in Lolita-inspired fashion, seductive aerial dance and more, Project NYX brings a cross-dressing cast of nearly 30 members for this macabre theater, led by illustrious Korean-Japanese experimental theater director Kim Sujin, a leading interpreter of angora theater.  

Presented as part of the 2025 Under the Radar Festival.

19th Installment of Japan Society’s Annual Play Reading: Contemporary Japanese Plays in English Translation / the far side of the moon / Written by Izumi Kasagi / Translated by Amanda Waddell / Directed by Skye Kowaleski [Contemporary Theater]

Monday, March 10 at 7:30pm (Followed by an artist Q&A)

Tickets: $21/$14 Japan Society members.

In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, an aging mother and her adult hikikomori (shut-in) son struggle under the weight of isolation, time, and memory. With a cataclysmic flash, the woman’s life is in jeopardy, unable to find help in her haunted and absent son and invisible to disinterested passerby on the other side of the property fence. Yet, in a torn and poisoned world, sometimes we do the most good by extending a hand over the fence towards what we can’t reach. Izumi Kasagi, whose play the far side of the moon was a prestigious Kishida Kunio Drama Award finalist in 2022, paints lives in shimmering watercolors in this moving modern meditation on old age and loneliness. Continuing our focus on pairing female artists, Skye Kowaleski, co-director of the OBIE-award winning Brooklyn venue JACK, leads her local cast through this poetic work. 

The Shakuhachi 5: Shakuhachi Vogue – A Visual Concert / North American Debut / Featuring The Shakuhachi 5 (Akihito Obama, Kizan Kawamura, Reison Kuroda, Akihisa Kominato and Kenichi Tajima), Tei Blow (Scenic Design), and Lisa Bielawa (Commissioned Composer) [Contemporary And Traditional Music]

Friday, May 16 at 7:30pm (Followed by a Private Gathering for Members and Artists)

Tickets: $43/$32 Japan Society members. 

Traditional instrument supergroup The Shakuhachi 5 has its North American debut in this provocative “visual concert.”  Offering a dazzling repertoire spanning four centuries, including a work written for the ensemble by Dai Fujikura and a brand-new commission from Rome Prize winner Lisa Bielawa, these five shakuhachi rockstars aspire to boost the image of their primitive bamboo instrument as a hot, trendsetting device, as seen throughout ukiyo-e woodblock imagery.  In collaboration with NY based video/sound designer Tei Blow, music will be synced to a hypnotizing video collage of ukiyo-e from the Edo period (many are from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art), featuring swaggering, shakuhachi-wielding vagabonds and wandering Zen Buddhist monks. Program works include traditional music as well as late 20th and 21st century compositions by Dai Fujikura, John Cage, Misato Mochizuki, Akira Nishimura, Ryo Dainobu, and a world premiere by Lisa Bielawa. Images provided by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

>> Related Events: 

Build Your Own Shakuhachi! Crafting Workshop / Sunday, May 4 at 1:00pm

Shakuhachi Workshop for Composers / Saturday, May 17 at 1:00pm

Shakuhachi Bootcamp with the Shakuhachi 5 / Saturday, May 17 - Honkyoku Masterclass at 3:00pm; Min’yo Masterclass at 5:00pm

Shun Ishiwaka: Jazz Transcending / Performed by Shun Ishiwaka [SILENT FILM WITH LIVE PERFORMANCE | JAZZ MUSIC]

Thursday, June 5 at 7:30pm – With Silent Movie – The Dragon Painter (Preceded by a Pre-Performance Lecture at 6:30 pm)

Tickets: $33/$24 Japan Society members. 
Saturday, June 7 at 7:30pm – With Adam O’Farrill – Improvisation Duo

Tickets: $48/$36 Japan Society members.

Confidently straddling the jazz, pop and classical worlds and slipping into all the spaces in between, Shun Ishiwaka is rapidly becoming a worldwide percussion sensation.  Recognized for his exceptional versatility, Ishiwaka has been summoned by many prominent international jazz musicians, such as Federico Casagrande, Tony Allen and Jason Moran, for their sessions in Japan.  Now, it’s his turn to come ashore to the U.S. to place himself front and center in two distinct events. 

With Silent Movie — The Dragon Painter

Dir. William Worthington, 61 min, 1919, silent, With Sessue Hayakawa, Tsuru Aoki, Edward Peil, Toyo.

On drum set and vibraphone, Shun Ishiwaka shows off his mastery in this film-screening “concert,” enlivening the silent movie The Dragon Painter, a quirky story of a brilliant, reclusive painter obsessed with the myth of a dragon princess. Starring Sessue Hayakawa (1886-1973), the first actor of Asian descent to become a leading man in Hollywood and Europe, this film is a rare example of a silent-era American production with an almost entirely Asian cast. A pre-performance lecture on Sessue Hayakawa begins at 6:30 pm. 

With Adam O’Farrill – Improvisation Duo

Trailblazer Shun Ishiwaka and “blazing young trumpet talent” (The New York Times) Adam O’Farrill join forces for an evening of transcendent, uninhibited music and improvisation. While both share the luminous status as recent collaborators of the jazz virtuoso Hiromi (Ishiwaka performed with her in the mega-hit jazz anime movie Blue Giant; O’Farrill is a member of her Sonicwonder project), this concert is the first time for these new talents to light a spark together.

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