When

Monday, December 11, 2017 from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM EST
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Where

Marymount School 
1026 Fifth Avenue
Between 83rd and 84th Streets
New York, NY 10028
 

 
Driving Directions 

Contact

Cheryl Gall 
Japanese Art Society of America 
781-862-8558 
jasa@japaneseartsoc.org 
 

JASA 12/11/17 Holiday Party 

Monday, December 11, 2017 - 6:00pm

Ichikawa Ebizo IX (later Ichikawa Danjuro XI) as Yosaburo in  Kirare Yosa, Kabuki-za, January 1960

JASA Holiday Party and Special Guest Lecture: 
Professor Samuel Leiter will speak on contemporary Kabuki 
Marymount School
1026 Fifth Avenue
Between 83rd and 84th Streets
New York, NY 10028

Kabuki at the Turning Point: 1952-1965
 
During the post-Occupation years of 1952-1965, kabuki's future was in limbo. Tokyo's three major kabuki theatres had been rebuilt, including the Kabuki-za, but the future remained uncertain in a rapidly changing postwar society, with competition from multiple forms of entertainment. Its senior actors were passing away, its company system was crumbling, promising actors were deserting to act in movies, its major producer was being raided by a rival, new plays were becoming rare, and the fate of men playing females was in doubt. At the same time, international tours were begun and an enormously popular star took kabuki's most revered name. This talk describes the challenges kabuki faced before regaining its footing as Japan's best-known theatrical form.
 
Samuel L. Leiter is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Theatre at Brooklyn College, CUNY, and the Graduate Center, CUNY. He was a Fulbright research scholar to Japan and has received many other academic honors and awards, including being the first theatre scholar to receive an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Emeritus Fellowship. In 2017 he received Brooklyn College's Lifetime Achievement Award. He was editor-in-chief of Asian Theatre Journal from 1992 to 2004 and has written or edited over two dozen books on Japanese theatre, New York theatre, famous stage directors, and Shakespeare. His articles have appeared in numerous professional journals, and he has published essays in 18 books. His experiences also include having done the back-translations of three Broadway musicals for their Tokyo productions. From 2012-2014 he served as a nominator for New York's Drama Desk Awards and is currently a Drama Desk voter. Over the past five years, he has reviewed over 1,000 New York shows on Theatre's Leiter Side, Theater Pizzazz, and the Broadway Blog. 

Reservations are required.
 
If you would like to attend, please register by clicking the Register Now button below and fill out the registration form.

Please contact Cheryl Gall, membership coordinator, via email: jasa@japaneseartsoc.org or phone: 781-862-8558 with any questions. 
 
Please note: Marymount is a landmarked building and not wheelchair accessible.