Dogugaeshi

Shop Party!

2009-05-04T12:04:00.002+09:00

Foxes

2009-05-02T03:45:00.001+09:00

Cleveland is hometown to Oliver Dalzell.

Cleveland Museum of Art

2009-05-01T06:17:00.002+09:00

Thanks to Massoud Saidpour who is our presenter from CMA and has been an amazing host.

Cleveland Royalty

2009-04-30T06:10:00.000+09:00

Native Baby Dee attends opening night of Dogugaeshi, Pictured backstage with Ms. Tanaka and Twist.

Brooks Theatre

2009-04-30T03:17:00.000+09:00

This is the Brooks Theatre at The Cleveland Playhouse where are performing through Sunday. Its the most sweet tiny fly house, built in 1915. The show looks really fantastic in the space.

Tigers in Tech

2009-04-29T03:42:00.000+09:00

Arrival

2009-04-27T10:40:00.002+09:00

Today we arrived at the beautiful Cleveland Playhouse to load in our show!

EMPAC Leads the way!

2009-04-26T11:45:00.000+09:00

Thank you to Johannes and the wonderful staff at EMPAC for their excellent support that helped kicked off this tour with great success. We are grateful for the generosity.

Unwrapped at last!

2009-04-20T10:49:00.007+09:00

At last the screens are unwrapped from their travels in Japan and their long journey back home. The set arrived at EMPAC, the first stop on our tour today and everything looks better than ever, proudly wearing the residue and spirit of our very special time in Japan.

Mt. Fuji-san

2007-12-14T05:01:00.000+09:00

We have had just one incredible experience after another. We have been blessed from the very beginning of this journey. We spent two days with Janet, Hiroshi and Kiana Ohuchi at Lake Yamanaka, in their sweet home that overlooks Mt. Fuji. We watched the sun rise on Mt. Fuji this morning...

Cultural Exchange

2007-12-11T04:32:00.000+09:00

Backstage at The Bunraku

2007-12-11T04:07:00.000+09:00

We had a once in a lifetime opportunity in Tokyo at The National Theatre. We were invited backstage after a performance of the Bunraku, who were performing away from their Osaka home base. We met many of the legendary puppeteers and their masters and were allowed to manipulate an original Bunraku puppet! Thanks to our gracious host Kanroku-san who is an incredible performer, one of the only 38 authorized puppeteers of The National Bunraku Theatre of Osaka. I am humbled by his generosity to my company.

Goodbye Tokushima!

2007-12-10T04:00:00.000+09:00

Celebrating

2007-12-09T23:42:00.000+09:00

At a scrumptious local tokushima eatery, where our food was literally hunted and collected for us before our eyes; we celebrated the wonderful Mr. Seki- our sage and savy technical director who taught us the meaning of the phrase " ikimas", Yumeko's Birthday!, and Jessica's clinching of the regional title of Awa Dori Dance Champion- she spontaneously demonstrates this for us frequently.

Awa Puppet Museum

2007-12-09T03:40:00.000+09:00

Awaji Puppet Theatre

2007-12-09T03:28:00.000+09:00

Thank you so much to the Matsuyama-san and Bando-san from the Awaji puppet theatre. They attended the show in Tokushima, rounding out these very special performances. Awaji is where I first went to research dogugaeshi with awaji puppet theatre scholar Jane Marie Law. They were my original hosts and assisted a great deal in my local investigations into Kawamata, Sakashu and Tokushima.

Tokushima Foundation for Arts and Culture is the Best!

2007-12-09T01:28:00.000+09:00

Our experience here in Tokushima has truly been like a homecoming. Isawa and his staff at the foundation are very dedicated and attentive, have taken great care of us and have made sure that the show is presented in the best conditions.

The Ladies from Kawamata

2007-12-08T23:02:00.000+09:00

At our first performance in Tokushima, we were incredibly blessed to have a group of very special people from Kawamata. I met these amazing ladies and men when I visited here in 2004 researching and collecting any clues about the original dogugaeshi. I was taken to an outdoor theatre, a Noson Butai, way way up in the mountains where the dogugaeshi was performed and shown the original screens. The group of women were remembering the performances they saw when they were younger and were describing their experiences to me. I was videotaping them at the time, so a little bit of their stories are in my show. They were able to see my completed Dogugaeshi and meet the company which was very special.

Inukai Visit

2007-12-08T14:12:00.000+09:00

It is incredible to be in Tokushima because there is great local relevance to the dogugaeshi and many elements of my show. Before the show premiered, we were taken on a very magical visit to Inukai, far up into the mountains to a traditional outdoor theatre. Inukai is enormously important to us as it is the only place in the world where the original doguageshi is still performed and it is only performed once a year. This visit was arranged by one of our sponsors here, Mr. Sato Kenji of the Cultural and International Affairs Division of Tokushima Prefecture Government. We wound our way up the mountain through the tiny mountain roads and were greeted with a bushel of freshly picked local citrus by the generous caretaker of this rare theatre, whose puppeteers, screens and buildings are designated as significant Cultural Assets to Japan, a ranking under National Treasure.

Tokushima Kyodo Bunka Kaikan

2007-12-08T13:05:00.000+09:00

This is the theatre where we are performing in Tokushima, it is a part of the Tokushima Foundation for Art and Culture, who is our presenter. We are a featured show in the 10th Annual Awa Ningyojoruri Shibai Festival. This video snippet is from the opening show of the festival, which was special because it was a group of students performing a traditional pupet play. The festival lasts two days and the shows are around the clock practically, we will perform in the evenings.

Mountain View

2007-12-08T12:35:00.000+09:00

When we first arrived into Tokushima, we took a cool cable car ride HIGH up the mountain-side to an observatory where you can look over the whole city, the Naruto Bridge and the island of Awaji. We arrived at the top just as the sun was setting, and the night lights were really beautiful, it was a sweet and gentle landing into our final city.

VIDEO - traditional Dogugaeshi stage

2007-12-08T04:36:00.000+09:00

VIDEO of puppeteers visiting traditional Dogugaeshi stage in Inukai

Billboards

2007-12-07T23:42:00.000+09:00

Welcome to Tokushima

2007-12-07T12:26:00.000+09:00

We arrived in Tokushima and joined the warm and fantastic Yumeko, our tour manager for the rest of our time here.

Flying to Tokushima

2007-12-06T14:24:00.000+09:00

Mount Fuji from our airplane as we were leaving Yokohama, flying to our next venue

Thank you Yokohama Arts Foundation

2007-12-06T00:05:00.000+09:00

The performances in Yokohama were unique because so many presenters, artists, and other members of the Tokyo performance community were able to attend. Thank you to Ishino Katsuhiko and the Yokohama Arts Foundation for making the performances possible!

'Round The Swarovski Christmas Tree

2007-12-05T23:59:00.000+09:00

Uncanny coincidences with Swarovski in Japan. There is a partnership here, I am sure of it.

Yumiko, special guests and her Mom!

2007-12-05T23:38:00.000+09:00

Yumiko had many fans and friends at our final performance in Yokohama, but the biggest vip that night was her Mom!

World's Fastest Strike

2007-12-05T23:18:00.000+09:00

The company and crew struck one of my shows tonight in 2 hours. This is unprecedented. Seki, Cara and Greg especially rock.

Japan American Society Opening Night Reception

2007-12-04T02:12:00.000+09:00

After our opening night in Yokohama, Mr. Watanabe of The America Japan Society sponsored a reception for us in the beautiful Landmark Hall Lobby.

Yokohama Arrival

2007-12-02T00:08:00.000+09:00

We arrived into Yokohama, an old port town right outside of Tokyo, by Bullet Train. The cityscape is beautiful. And there is a giant Pokemon store, which was found very quickly. The theatre, Landmark Hall, where we are performing is on the 5th floor of the tallest building in Japan (to your left), the famous Landmark Tower.

Shimane Workshop

2007-12-01T15:32:00.000+09:00

Goodbye Kyoto

2007-12-01T00:15:00.000+09:00

Kyoto is completely enveloping. It was very hard to leave this spectacular city. I hope there are many reasons for us to return many times.

Oliver at Chion-in

2007-11-30T16:46:00.000+09:00

Kyoto Colors

2007-11-30T16:26:00.000+09:00

Twilight tour of Pleasure Quarters

2007-11-30T00:20:00.000+09:00

This was a very intimate visit to Hanamikoji-dori in Gion where you experienceda slice of the intensely secretive world of the Geisha.

Post Show Talk at KUAD

2007-11-29T23:14:00.000+09:00

Here is a snippet of video from a post show discussion with the audience and students.

Backstage

2007-11-29T16:37:00.000+09:00

This is backstage of "Dogugaeshi" at KUAD, from the puppeteer's point of view, behind all the towers that are filled with screens.

Post Performances at KUAD

2007-11-29T15:46:00.000+09:00

After our final performance in Kyoto we had to say goodbye to the fantastic staff and to a special member of Seki Hideya's crew, Ozaki. He was with us in Kanazawa as we loaded in for the first time and was pivotal to the tour, traveling ahead of us to Kyoto and loading us in early, while we were still performing in Kanazawa. Ozaki took care of us in Kyoto when Seki had to leave us for a few days. We could not have pulled off the performances at KUAD without him! Thank you for everything Ozaki.

Japan Times Review and Link

2007-11-29T15:35:00.000+09:00

Writer Daniel Rosen joined the company for interviews in Kanazawa, and he wrote a wonderful feature on DOGUGAESHI that appeared in the print edition of The Japan Times. Here is a link to the online article titled: FLIPPING SCREENS.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ft20071129a1.html

Touring Underneath a Kabuki Stage

2007-11-29T12:56:00.000+09:00

We received a very special interactive tour of the underbelly of the stage where the mechanisms for the revolving turntable are stored as well as the lift for the Hanamichi used for the Kabuki performers. We also practiced pulling the traditional Kabuki curtain.

Kyoto performances

2007-11-28T22:26:00.000+09:00

We were lucky to have had sold out houses for our performances here. Thanks to the hard work of a totally dedicated team, the show is looking its best. A gem in the company is native son Poe, who is not only our associate lighting designer, but he is also our interpreter and tour guide. The stage was completely transformed and audiences connected to our Dogugaeshi.

Yoshidaya Restaurant

2007-11-27T00:08:00.000+09:00

we enjoyed several meals at the cozy, inviting and scrumptious Yoshidaya Restaurant. Like home away from home; I was introduced to this intimate and hidden enclave by Toru Camyada of the Dumb Type company when I was in residency here at the Kyoto Arts Center in 2004. Hiroko, the adorable owner/chef treats you like you were family and constructs an entire meal for you from her seasonal menu as she shows you photos of her recent culinary expeditions. We had salmon that was inspired by her recent trip to Turkey, it was so comforting and delicious.

Kyoto University of Art and Design

2007-11-26T20:18:00.000+09:00

We are hosted by Kyoto Performing Arts Center at Kyoto University of Art and Design on the stage of the Shunjuza Theatre. Chie Otsuka organized these performances, and we are so grateful to have a tour stop in Kyoto, it is incredibly beautiful and the university has an amazing roster of professors and visiting artists - many of which we were fortunate enough to experience during our stay. In Kyoto audiences entered our special intimate seating and stage through the Hanamichi.

Sticker Booth Results!!

2007-11-25T22:41:00.000+09:00

Arriving into Kyoto

2007-11-25T20:13:00.000+09:00

The company arrived into Kyoto Station and wound their way up the mountain of Eastern Kyoto through Maruyama Park to Yoshimizu, a traditional japanese ryokan, surrounded by magical woods, shrines and temples. This is a photo that Oliver took on their first moonlit walk.

Post Show Kanazawa

2007-11-24T23:48:00.000+09:00

The Kanazawa the staff was very kind and invited us to a traditional post-strike meal. But the BEST part was actually after dinner when we went to the local amusement arcade complex. Almost everyone piled into one massive photo booth, followed by an important session adding hearts and stars and sparkles with the computer interface outside.

And then, the Taiko drumming video game!

21 Century Museum

2007-11-23T12:32:00.000+09:00

Our stay in Kanazawa started with visiting the performance space with Cara our new technical director and meeting Yasuyo Kondo the chief program officer, who is really warm and wonderful. We enjoyed a tour of the museum and heard a wonderful string quartet from the Ukraine. The next day we hit the ground running with the puppeteers arriving just in time to help load our set into the theatre.

We celebrated Barbara's birthday onstage with cake and the whole company and crew and then had our first dress rehearsal. Our first performance in Japan was very well received. After our second sold out performance, the amazing staff from the Museum took us to a very special dinner in a Tatami mat room, where courses of traditional dishes kept coming and coming. Then we all went to a gaming center and squeezed into a sticker photo booth, which are serious events here in Japan, and we of course were very silly. Also, Yoko Shioya who was the original commissioner of Dogugaeshi from The Japan Society, surprised us all in Kanazawa for our final performance.

We have received many lovely emails from people who saw the performances at the Museum, it is very special to be sharing this show with Japanese audiences.

Kanazawa

2007-11-17T10:52:00.000+09:00

Performing at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa is an amazing treat. The facility is new and a very comfortable place for our first "landing". We are lucky that this is the first venue for our tour, we have all the bells and whistles available to us so we can work the kinks out of the show , just arriving off of a two-month sea container journey! The Museum has many fantastic exhibitions and the famous garden, Kenrokuen, right across the street is beautiful.