Asians in "Yellow Face" - David Henry Hwang

Here's a fascinating look into the playwriting of Hwang.

Paper Artwork

The Art Directors Club of Denver has a showing of paper fashions tonight.

Great use of paper flowers.

Gmail Tea House Theme

Just because it has some really interesting ideas/ inspirations for how to store everything in a small space.

The 12 images of the Gmail Tea House Theme.

Enjoy!

Samurai on History Channel

The show will air at 3pm on the History Channel on Saturday the 20th.

Here is their description (Mark Dacascos is also the "Chairman" of Iron Chef America on Food Network, and was on the last season of Dancing with the Stars):


Samurai

Actor/martial arts champ, Mark Dacascos, explores the story of Miyamoto Musashi, the most famous Samurai of all time, and trains in the weaponry and wisdom of Japan's great warriors. Set to the action-packed, battle-scarred backdrop of Japan's warrior tradition, this new two-hour special takes viewers on an immersive journey through historic Japan in the footsteps of Musashi, Japan's legendary swordsman and warrior. As Mark learns about ancient Samurai culture, the action is brought vividly to life in a dynamic and innovative way through cutting-edge animation.

More videos...

Trailer for Kurosawa's Ran



A shortened version of a National Geographic look at how the Katana is made



A traditional shakuhachi piece.
Description from the page:Mukaiji, or "Fog, Sea, Flute" is also one of the three oldest honkyoku pieces. It is said that this piece was composed about 700 years ago by the monk Kichiku, who dreamed he was on a small boat in the open sea in the middle of a thick white fog. While on the boat, he heard beautiful shakuhachi music, but he could not see its origin. Later, he composed this piece to capture the haunting melodies of his dream

Another shakuhachi piece

Article on Asian-American Theatre

From the current issue of American Theatre magazine, an article about the history of Asian productions and actors in the US. 

Enjoy!
Sarah

David Henry Hwang

• Born in 1957 to Chinese immigrant parents.  Father was a banker, mother taught piano
• Studied English at Stanford, graduating in 1979.
• Found an interest in theatre seeing shows at the American Conservatory in San Francisco
• His first play, FOB (an acronym for "fresh off the boat") was written and produced while he was still a student; it later won an Obie award.
• After spending some time studying theatre at Yale, Hwang moved to New York to work in theatre, rather than just studying it.
• Produced several other plays dealing with the experiences of immigrant Chinese-Americans.
• In 1983, produced two shows based on Japanese folklore: Sound of a Voice and House of Sleeping Beauties
• Won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1984.
• Biggest commercial success came in 1988 with the play, M. Butterfly, which won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best Broadway play, the Drama Desk Award for best new play, the John Gassner Award for best American play.
• Has worked extensively with composer Philip Glass.

Further Reading:

http://www.tuvy.com/resource/books/authors/h/david_henry_hwang.htm

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/authors_depth/hwang.htm

http://arts.hku.hk/summerinstitute/DHH_bio.pdf

http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsH/hwang-david-henry.html

Bunraku Paper Puppets

I've just started doing some research, but this was WAY too cool not to post immediately.  Here is a site where you can print out paper cutouts and fold them together to make paper bunraku puppets.

Check out the video:



I will report back with more later!

Color in Japan

Please note the new file regarding meaning of colors in Japan in the Google Docs Folder.

Thank you!  See you all on Wednesday.

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for the production team for Paragon Theatre's production of David Henry Hwang's Sound of a Voice.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

The link to the Google Docs folder should be to the upper right of the information section of the blog.  Just a quick explanation of the documents:

There are two scanned documents from the Encyclopedia of the World's Religions, one covering Shinto and one covering Buddhism in Japan.  If anyone would like to read the full section on Buddhism, I will scan that.  These religions are the bases of most of folklore in Japan.

The other two thus far are articles I pulled from asianart.com--one regarding the origins and representations of the ghost in Japanese art, and one regarding origins and importance of the use of wood. I have highlighted pertinent notes in the files.

Happy reading!

Sarah