Theatre Of Yugen Presents POWER PLAYS

THEATRE OF YUGEN Presents POWER PLAYS May 4-13, 2018 NOHspace - San Francisco

Four satirical plays In celebration of May Mayhem: A Religious Dispute and Wrestling With a Mosquito directed by Yuriko Doi and Those Mushrooms and All Wrecked Up directed by Nick Ishimaru

Featuring: Virginia Blanco, A Fenner, Nick Ishimaru, Meryn MacDougall, Ryan Marchand, Sara Matsui-Colby, Chris Petallano, and Lluis Valls.

May Mayhem returns this year with Power Plays. Theatre of Yugen is deeply indebted to the history of civil rights, community, and social justice that the current President and his administration are so flagrantly disregarding. So they're fighting back with their favorite weapon: satire. The history of kyogen is that of satirizing those in power, revealing them to be no better (or sometimes even worse!) than the common man. Theatre of Yugen is excited to present two classic kyogen plays, A Religious Dispute and Wrestling With a Mosquito, and premiere two contemporary kyogen adaptations, Those Mushrooms and All Wrecked Up.

The traditional play A Religious Dispute features two traveling priests, both on their way home to the capital from sacred pilgrimages. When they meet on the road, they decide to travel home together. But not all is as it seems! They soon discover that they are from rivaling Buddhist sects and end up engaged in a convoluted philosophical debate, each trying to prove their theology more profound and appealing than the other.

The other traditional offering, Wrestling With a Mosquito, finds a samurai lord in want of new servants for his retenue. His loyal retainer goes and brings back the spirit of a man-sized mosquito by mistake! The samurai lord, eager to demonstrate his grandeur, unwittingly challenges the blood-thirsty mosquito to a wrestling match. Who will win in this struggle of two ridiculous titanso

Those Mushrooms, adapted by the cast, presents a story of unity and resistance in the face of a bafoonish leader. A down-on-his-luck small town American goes to the White House to ask the President how he will live up to his campaign promises. The President tells him that the root of his problem is really those strange and unusual "mushrooms" that no one seems to be able to get rid of, and promises to do something about it.

Playing on the modern app-based "sharing economy" and delusions of Reefer Madness is All Wrecked Up, adapted by Sheila Berotti and the cast. When a party hostess needs to hold the party of all parties, she turns to her favorite delivery boy. She offers him under-the-table "green" compensation for his off-the-record job, the two quickly find that just because you have money, doesn't mean you have a clue.

ABOUT Theatre of Yugen

Theatre of Yugen, founded in 1978 by Yuriko Doi is dedicated to the preservation of traditional Japanese theatre forms of Kyogen and Noh, as well as continuing to innovate and intertwine tradition with new forms and approaches, contributing to the conversation around modern theatre. http://www.theatreofyugen.org

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