East, west converge in new University Theatre production

Peter Brosius, artistic director for the Children’s Theatre of Minneapolis, was mired in a quandary. He was casting about for a play to be the company’s touring show for the 1998 season, and had his heart set on a production that would introduce Japanese culture to Western audiences.

Brosius placed a call to his friend David Furumoto, an expert on Kabuki theater and an assistant professor of theatre and drama at UW–Madison.

“He asked me if I thought it was possible to create a piece that melded the folktales of Japan and Kabuki. I told him it would be a very good combination,” Furumoto says.

In the end, Furumoto ended up being not only the playwright of “Wondrous Tales of Old Japan,” but also its director, choreographer and one of its actors. “We toured for four months through 12 different states, playing in mainly smaller towns and cities that might not get much live theater,” he says.

Now, Madison audiences will be able to experience “Wondrous Tales of Old Japan,” courtesy University Theatre.

Dating from the early 17th century, Kabuki is the theatrical descendant of Okuni, a shrine dancer in the ancient capital of Kyoto. Over the next 300 or so years, the form evolved into the highly stylized form we know today. Sophisticated makeup, costumes, sets and music play pivotal roles in bringing to life stories ranging from epic histories to everyday vignettes.

Like the Children’s Theatre of Minneapolis production, the UT version of “Wondrous Tales” will tour to area elementary schools. Furumoto says that the company is divided into two teams, the actors and the education team. The e-team often does double duty, he says.

“When the show is being performed, the actors obviously are acting, but the education team doubles as sound board assistants or stage hands,” he says. “In one case, while the show was rehearsing, the assistant director and others on the education team were hard at work putting together the education packets that we will send to the schools.”

All members of the cast and crew, mostly UW–Madison undergraduate theatre education majors, conduct workshops in the dozen or so elementary schools that the play will visit.

Education team director Takeo Fujikura, a Ph.D. candidate in the UW–Madison Theatre for Young Audiences program, is a renowned mime artist in his native Japan. He says that working on “Wondrous Tales” really brings what he is learning in his classes into sharp focus, and gives it fresh perspective.

“Teaching is very different in Japan and the United States,” he says. “Japanese students postpone questioning of what they are learning until they have completed a very long period of observation. Here, students are encouraged to question what they are learning right from the beginning.”

Fujikura and Furumoto have known each other for upwards of 20 years. Since Furumoto was an observer at the National Theatre of Japan Kabuki Training Program, he is able to blend expertly Eastern and Western teaching and directing styles, giving his students a new way to approach their education. For his part, Furumoto finds that he too is growing as both an artist, a scholar and a teacher through his involvement with the project.

“I’ve been asked to consider writing other Kabuki plays based on Japanese stories and myths. It keeps me reading and improving my performing abilities,” he says. “I look upon this project as a way of honoring the time my teachers invested in me, and also as a way of passing on Japanese traditions and my love of Kabuki theater.”

However, Furumoto says that quite possibly, the most important goal for the production is something else altogether:

“I hope that audiences – and the cast and crew – come away with an appreciation for the importance of telling stories to their children and to each other to keep alive the rich storytelling tradition that exists all over the world.”

In addition to its tour to area schools, “Wondrous Tales of Old Japan” will be performed for the public on Saturday and Sunday, March 27 and 28, and April 3 and 4 at 3 p.m. in Vilas Hall’s Gilbert Hemsely Theatre. Tickets, $12 general/$7 children under 12, are available through the Vilas Hall Box Office, (608) 262-1500.