FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS: April 26, 2019 Gus Schulenburg | gschulenburg@tcg.org | 212-609-5941
American Theatre Magazine and Theatre Communications Group Announce
May/June issue on Theatre in Japan
New York, NY – American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), is proud to announce the publication of its May/June 2019 theme issue on Theatre in Japan. With the help of guest editor and reporter Cindy Sibilsky, the issue presents a series of stories on theatre and performance in the Land of the Rising Sun, from its foundational traditions to its most up-to-the-minute innovations.
“I have been equally obsessed with theatre and Japanese culture since childhood,” said Sibilsky, a producer and culture reporter who traveled to Japan with translator Shin Kurokawa with support from the Japan Foundation. “But I was utterly blown away upon encountering the richness and diversity of the myriad spectrum of Japanese theatre being performed--all with a penchant for perfection. It became my mission to promote this enthralling theatre scene abroad.”
The issue is part of American Theatre’s long commitment to cover not only U.S.-based theatre but global theatre trends. “Theatre is a universal art, and many of the performance and training traditions we take for granted in the West have been integrally influenced by artists from the East, and in particular Japan,” said the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Rob Weinert-Kendt, who himself trained in the Suzuki method with SITI company. “I was fascinated to read the reports not only from Cindy but from the writers she contracted, about a scene as complicated and fascinating as any we’ve ever covered anywhere.”
The Theatre in Japan issue includes the following articles (the first five in print, all online):
- Land of the Rising Stage: An overview by Cindy Sibilsky of the nation’s theatre rich ecoystem, where old and new overlap and interact in ever-evolving ways.
- Japanese Theatre, Know Yourself: Theatre critic Nobuko Tanaka looks at contemporary trends in Japanese theatre, identifies some bright spots and some less healthy trends, and challenges the field to step up to the global stage.
- Japan’s U.S. Expansion Teams: A letter from Theatre Communications Group executive director Teresa Eyring about TCG’s history liaising with Japanese theatremakers and fostering exchanges with U.S. artists and institutions.
- Anime Magnetism: A report by Cindy Sibilsky on a rising trend called “2.5-dimensional musicals” are creating popular live stage versions of such anime, managa, and video game juggernauts as Sailor Moon and Touken Ranbu.
- Bugs, Bots, and Ghosts: Kyoko Iwaki pens this fascinating look at a new “post-human” aesthetic arising in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and earthquake.
- From Noh to Shokekijo: Tadashi Uchino gives a comprehensive overview of Japanese theatre history from the medieval era to the angura movement of the 1960s and beyond.
- Yoko Shioya Bridges the U.S.-Japanese Divide: A Q&A with the artistic director of New York’s Japan Society, the premier presenter of works from Japan in the U.S.
- An Island No More: Peter Eckersall demonstrates the ways in which Japanese theatre, particularly since the 1980s, has deepened its relationships and exchanges with other Asian countries and cultures.
American Theatre magazine is published 10 times a year by Theatre Communications Group. As the nation’s essential magazine for professional not-for-profit theatre, American Theatre has been providing theatre professionals, students, advocates, and audiences a comprehensive journal for more than 30 years. American Theatre is available online, at selected newsstands nationwide or through an Individual Membership in TCG by visiting http://www.tcg.org/about/membership/individual.cfm or contacting info@tcg.org. Unlimited exclusive content on AmericanTheatre.org is only available through TCG membership. http://www.americantheatre.org.
Theatre Communications Group (TCG) exists to strengthen, nurture, and promote professional theatre in the U.S. and globally. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 Member Theatres and affiliate organizations and nearly 10,000 Individual Members. Through its Core Values of Activism, Artistry, Diversity, and Global Citizenship, TCG advances a better world for theatre and a better world because of theatre. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the annual TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 17 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its Member Theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field, and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre.www.tcg.org.
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