NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA _ in NY in 2015 and in SAN FRANCISCO in July 2017

Meditation on an Under-Reported Catastrophe by a Poet.

in NY in 2015 and COMING TO SAN FRANCISCO in JULY 2017

NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA: Meditation on an Under-Reported Catastrophe by a Poet
written by Yuri Kageyama
directed by Carla Blank

Debuted at La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York Sept. 11 – 13, 2015.

Music directed and performed by Melvin Gibbs, with Hirokazu Suyama, Sumie Kaneko and Kaoru Watanabe.

The Cast:
Takemi Kitamura (Miu)
Monisha Shiva (Poet)
Shigeko Suga (Yu)

Lighting by Blu
Film by Yoshiaki Tago

A pensive and provocative theater of dance, poetry, music and film:
Fukushima is the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Radiation is still spewing from the multiple meltdowns, reaching as far as the American West Coast.
Some 100,000 people were displaced from the no-go zone. But the story barely makes headlines.
“News From Fukushima” is a solemn reminder and a literary prayer for Japan.
It explores the friendship between two women, juxtaposing the personal and the intimate with the catastrophic.

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[caption id="attachment_1735" align="aligncenter" width="640"]NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA, written by Yuri Kageyama, at La MaMa. From left to right: Shigeko Suga, Monisha Shiva, Takemi Kitamura. Photo by Tennessee Reed. NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA, written by Yuri Kageyama, at La MaMa. From left to right: Shigeko Suga, Monisha Shiva, Takemi Kitamura. All Photos above by Tennessee Reed.

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musicians for NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA

NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA: Meditation on an Under-Reported Catastrophe by a Poet, written by Yuri Kageyama. Directed by Carla Blank. Music by Melvin Gibbs, Hirokazu Suyama, Sumie Kaneko and Kaoru Watanabe. In photo: Monisha Shiva as The Poet. Photo by Yuri Kageyama.

NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA: Meditation on an Under-Reported Catastrophe by a Poet, written by Yuri Kageyama. Directed by Carla Blank. Music by Melvin Gibbs, Hirokazu Suyama, Sumie Kaneko and Kaoru Watanabe. In photo: Monisha Shiva as The Poet. Photos by Yuri Kageyama.

Programs for NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA: Meditation on an Under-Reported Catastrophe by a Poet at La MaMa in New  York. Program design by Annette Borromeo Dorfman. Photo by Yuri Kageyama.

Programs for NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA: Meditation on an Under-Reported Catastrophe by a Poet at La MaMa in New York. Program design by Annette Borromeo Dorfman. Photo by Yuri Kageyama.

And we get a little writeup in the local paper. The New York Times, among other local papers, including Steve Cannon’s “A Gathering of the Tribes,” listed our performance in its Calendar and Spare Time sections. The San Francisco Chronicle also highlighted our work in its Entertainment section.

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Our NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA: Meditation on an Under-Reported Catastrophe by a Poet gets a mention in The San Francisco Chronicle

Our NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA: Meditation on an Under-Reported Catastrophe by a Poet gets a mention in The San Francisco Chronicle.

聴かせて魅せるニュース!『NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA: 報じられない福島の大惨事を詩人が詠いあげる』でMelvin Gibbsがベースを奏でる。
News that enraptures and engages through Sound. A Poet sings of the unreported calamity at Fukushima in NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA, and Melvin Gibbs plays bass. _ Katsumi.

“Yuri Kageyama, with her epic poem, Fukushima, has earned a place among the leading world poets. This poem proves that the poet as a journalist can expose conditions that are ignored by a media that is in the pocket of fossils fuel and nuclear interests. While black collaborators at MSNBC and other media outlets make money for their employers by promoting and gender and class civil war among blacks, stories about how the Fukushima disaster threatens the health of world citizens are neglected, maybe because General Electric, which still has interests in NBC, built the nuclear reactors at Fukushima. Is the Yuricane making up things? Fukushima has had far worse complications than the Chernobyl disaster. Check this out.”
_ Ishmael Reed.

NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA _ bios and other details for La MaMa in NY.

NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA _ MEDITATION ON
AN UNDER-REPORTED CATASTROPHE BY A POET

This pensive and provocative theater work with dance, poetry, music and film from Tokyo-based writer Yuri Kageyama debuted at The Club at La MaMa Off Off Broadway in New York September 11 – 13, 2015. FREE ADMISSION.
Directing the innovative production is Carla Blank, who has recently worked with international casts in Xiangtan and Ramallah, as well as collaborated with Ishmael Reed, Robert Wilson and Suzushi Hanayagi. Performing in the peice were Takemi Kitamura, Monisha Shiva and Shigeko Suga, with music by Melvin Gibbs, Sumie Kaneko, Hirokazu Suyama and Kaoru Watanabe.

ARTIST BIOS:

Version 2 YURI KAGEYAMA
photo by Annette Borromeo Dorfman.

WRITER: YURI KAGEYAMA is a Tokyo-based poet and filmmaker. Her works are in KONCH, POW WOW, ON A BED OF RICE, CULTURAL WEEKLY, NIKKEI AMERICA CANADA SHISHU, PIRENE’S FOUNTAIN and many other publications. Her latest book is THE NEW AND SELECTED YURI _ WRITING FROM PEELING TILL NOW, Ishmael Reed Publishing Co. She leads her spoken-word band Yuricane. She has collaborated with Eric Kamau Gravatt, Morgan Fisher, Pheeroan akLaff and Winchester Nii Tete. A magna cum laude graduate of Cornell. M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

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CARLA BLANK photo Tennessee Reed.

DIRECTOR: CARLA BLANK is a writer, editor, performer, director, dramaturge and teacher of dance and theater for more than 40 years. Her new book is STORMING THE OLD BOYS’ CITADEL: TWO PIONEER WOMEN ARCHITECTS OF NINETEENTH CENTURY NORTH AMERICA, Baraka Books. She worked with Robert Wilson to create KOOL _DANCING IN MY MIND, a performance portrait inspired by Japanese choreographer Suzushi Hanayagi. She is the author of REDISCOVERING AMERICA: THE MAKING OF MULTICULTURAL AMERICA, 1900–2000.

PERFORMERS: TAKEMI KITAMURA is a dancer, choreographer, puppeteer, actor and Japanese sword fighter. Her recent credits include THE INDIAN QUEEN (dancer) directed by Peter Sellars, THE OLDEST BOY (puppeteer/dancer) by Lincoln Center Theater and MEMORY RINGS (puppeteer/dancer) by Phantom Limb Company. MONISHA SHIVA is an actor, dancer, and choreographer, appearing in THE DOMESTIC CRUSADERS and THE RATS for theater and Independent films such as SMALL DELIGHTS, CARROLL PARK, ECHOES and UKKIYA JEEVAN. She has studied not only classical Indian dance but also Bollywood, jazz and samba dancing. SHIGEKO SUGA has acted in more than 100 theater productions, including Pan Asian Rep.’s SHOGUN MACBETH. Acclaimed for her work in New York theater since the mid-1980s, she is accomplished in a range of disciplines, such as flamenco, African drumming, ethnic chanting and Butoh.

Takemi-16-02-web TAKEMI KITAMURA
photo by Hope Davis.

Monisha Shiva Headshot2 MONISHA SHIVA

IMG_7730 SHIGEKO SUGA

MUSICIANS: MELVN GIBBS is collaborating with Cassandra Wilson on the project BLACK SUN. A member of Harriet Tubman, he was also in Defunkt, Ronald Shannon Jackson’s seminal “free-funk” group The Decoding Society and the Rollins Band. SUMIE KANEKO is a koto and shamisen player, singer and composer, who most recently toured India and Pakistan, delivering her blend of Japan and the avant-garde. HIROKAZU SUYAMA is a drummer, percussionist and tabla player, who studied at the Berklee College of Music with Kenwood Dennard. KAORU WATANABE, formerly of Kodo, masterfully blends Japan’s folk and classical traditions with contemporary improvisational and experimental music.

Jean Paul Bourelly MELVIN GIBBS

Sumie Kaneko SUMIE KANEKO

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HIROKAZU SUYAMA

kaoru-6 KAORU WATANABE

LIGHTING DESIGN: BLU is a New York-based lighting designer. Artists he has worked with include Sally Gross, Paula Josa-Jones, Eiko and Koma, Donald Byrd and Ping Chong.

FILMMAKER: YOSHIAKI TAGO directed AFO, WORST CONTACT and other movies, and worked on Japanese TV shows such as TAXMEN. He studied at the film school founded by Shohei Imamura.