Welcome to our blog for Theatre Replacement: Sexual Practices of the Japanese! Leave a comment and give us your thoughts on the show or rate the existing reviews by clicking on the stars to register your opinion.
At one point a designer of an electronic sexual stimulus device accuses a subordinate’s product proposal as “lacking sophistication ”, a quality the show as a whole has in spades. In another moment, a character points out the Japanese culture’s knack for “subtlety, understatedness, and Zen ”, qualities I also found in all aspects of the show, particularly the design, beautiful and ordinary, simple and striking.
Theatre Replacement's "Sexual Practices of the Japanese" makes use of cultural stereotypes similar to a bag of balloons: they blow into them until they're big enough to launch and smack you in the face.
Maiko Bae Yamamoto and Manami Hara begin the performance with a strong display of comic interaction and timing with their first of two interspersed absurdly bubbly in-unison-surveys with the "consumer." This simple, effortless way of immediately affiliating with the audience had the effect of removing my predisposed mood of distant observation, replacing it with a consent to follow their som
What do you associate with the words sex and Japan? Huge, loose socks; soap; a baseball bat – do these images pop up? Theatre Replacement's "Sexual Practices of the Japanese," illuminates both why these are erotic touchstones of Japanese life, as well as the attitudes and perceptions of gender that animate these objects.
Through a litany of alternately amusing and troubling scenes, Theatre Replacement examines the daily humiliations and power plays Japanese women experience as they alternately compete for and retreat from the attentions of men.
Jim Demetre is the greatest. He shows up, always. He cares. He puts a lot of thought into what he's doing. And he wrote this right-on review of 12 Minutes Max. I think it's hard for writers to even consider reviewing this showcase, as it is only two nights, it's different every time, and a lot of the performers are unfamiliar (Jen Graves and Regina Hackett were both there, too, taking notes - but I haven't seen anything yet.).
Theatre Replacement's Sexual Practices of the Japanese has its moments: Audience interaction that turns into a giddy, giggling vaudeville; a sad encounter in a love hotel bthat spins towards embarrassed failure; a comically sniping argument about the virtues of different baseball statistics. But most of the show points towards something better that never quite arrives -- the intertwined stories never really gain any momentum; the description of a sexual assault on the subway never quite grips you emotionally; the Ichiro fandom never adds up to anything at all.
In April, PNB presents their "Celebrate Seattle Festival". OtB is particularly excited about the inclusion of OtB alulmni Mary Sheldon (Molly) Scott and Jarrad Powell!
How about a little pre-12mm study guide? Here you go.
Here's where I work. Here's where Eric works. We LOVE art! It's true!
Wow, you're so smart to remember that Chekov loaded rifle quote. I am so excited about the BMX ballet! The video from last year's NWFF Bike-In was great - and I like to see the OTB sidewalks used for more that loitering smokers.
I was talking to Mike Pham, of Helskinki Syndrome. His tech is at 9 freaking 30 A.M. So if he looks sleepy when you see him singing "We Didn't Start The Fire" at karaoke after Sunday night's show, that's why.
Ok. I need to feed our child some dinner now. Blog less, parent more. Parent smarter, not harder? Blog harder, not smarter?
Here's the link to Brendan Kiley's Stranger Suggests posting: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Suggests#ss156618
It's for Monday--remember the show's on Sunday too.
So, the show. It's got lots of dance, people new to OtB and familiar faces. It's got a poet from Portland, Tom Blood, playing with members of the Watery Graves. (We saw Tom Blood on a bill Matthew Stadler put together at Elliott Bay Books.
We are super-excited to announce that Allen Johnson will be back at OtB with a special one-night-only reprise of Another You on March 16th. Since premiering at OtB and PICA in the fall of 2005, the show has travelled to Iowa, Leipzig, Berlin, Frankfurt, New York City and just finished an amazing run in Glasgow, Scotland.
Posted by Tania
They want gifts and prizes! Right?
I no longer feel a need to sing an introduction song, but if I have my druthers, there will be audience gifts. Nothing big. Just something nice. Like a beer. Or a new key ring. Or a pet rock! Maybe Eric won't even have to know. Maybe I will just sneak them in - and between you and me - you might find something awesome under your chair.
I am really excited about this weekend. Yesterday, I was walking through the museum and, well, I just had to give Ben Miller (of Eagle Quest) a hug.
Betsey and I agreed (actually, asked) to guest-curate an episode of 12 Minutes Max for a number of reasons, most reducing to the unvarnished fun of the evenings. We were curious to see some new work by new faces, and we had some ideas for artists to invite to audition.
We just posted the English translation of our audio interview with Artistic Director *Hiroshi Koike* in the reviews section of the blog. Thanks to *Maika Misumi* and *Michael Katayama* for conducting and translating the interview!
Thanks also to *Sasha Su-Ling Welland* who gave a great Pre-show Talk on opening night. Sasha provided us with a quick history of the evolution of the modern girl in Japan...
For this show, we invited Seattle-based choreographer/dancer Maika Misumi and her husband Michael Katayama to interview Pappa T artistic director Hiroshi Koike in Japanese.
If you speak Japanese, you can listen to the interview here
If you don't speak Japanese I encourage you to read the English transcript of the audio interview... especially if you saw the show.
Welcome to our blog for Pappa Tarahumara: Three Sisters! Leave a comment and give us your thoughts on the show or rate the existing reviews by clicking on the stars to register your opinion.
Read these excellent reviews from opening night:
We just announced the eighteen artists/companies slated for the 2007 Northwest New Works Festival!
Save the dates! JUNE 8-10 & 15-17, 2007
The festival is a 24-year old tradition for the region’s creative community, featuring emerging and established artists from a variety of performance disciplines.
The fight of the grotesque monster consumer, endlessly Trying to be the "Face of the Times".Appropriation extraordinaire, the disguise of the modern amusement facade.
The face book, in an endlessly repeating mirror hung on the skin to watch wilt as it's passed over by another trend.
The three sisters embodied the rushing, frantic, always changing culture eaters of the ever modern consumer lifestyle.
Trying to find sex or to use sex, to find food or to use food. They needed and they wanted, but I am not sure exactly what they wanted.
Maybe they wanted it all.
The elusive all.
Vaudeville dolls, unsexy mime, cartoons and hypnotic flash-dance, with fart effects. What more could an audience ask for?
Maybe less digression, although i debate and doubt myself, thinking maybe digression was the point. This futile topic about how modern woman can integrate in society sans sex or in full acceptance of her sex is just a round table discussion that moves in that order.. repeatedly around and around. The Buffoonery, cartoon soundtrack and overused placating innocence were the re-occurring cliche themes I saw, and maybe I'm not diggin' enough.
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