Hopkins Center for the Arts

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Haunting Acts: An Evening of Contemporary Japanese Theater

Aoi/Komachi

by Takeshi Kawamura

Friday, MARCH 30 • 8 pm

Saturday, MARCH 31 • 8 pm

The Moore Theater
$24 • Dartmouth students $5

Click here for a video clip of Takeshi Kawamura's Aoi

Click to download PROGRAM NOTES

In two startling one-act plays with stark sets and breathtaking video, one of Japan's most provocative playwright/directors invokes both the drama of ancient Japanese stories—including the 11th-century Tale of the Genji — and the surrealism of Japanese horror films. In Aoi, a celebrity hairdresser's former lover vies with a younger woman for his affection. Jealousy, manipulation and murder lurk in this postmodern, black & white universe. Komachi, with gender-bender casting and ghostly blending of past and present, sets a has-been film director on a collision course with the decrepit incarnation of a once beautiful actress. In one of only four U.S. engagements, Haunting Acts features prominent Japanese stage and screen actors and legendary Butoh dancer Akira Kasai.

Performance is in Japanese with supertitles. Contains adult language and themes.
Supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts