
The Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe is available for live puppetry performances, demonstrations, and workshops as well as film and television work anywhere in the United States. If you would be interested in bringing the Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe to your school, college, university, museum, festival, or other venue for a performance of traditional Japanese Bunraku puppetry, please contact the director below:
Martin
Holman, Director
Bunraku
Bay Puppet Troupe
Japanese
Studies, Strickland 443
University
of Missouri
Columbia,
Missouri 65211
Tel. (573)
882-3368
Email: holmanma@missouri.edu
About Bunraku Bay

Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe is the
only troupe in the United States that performs the traditional Japanese
puppetry known as "ningyo joruri" or Bunraku. The “bay” of the Troupe’s
name derives from the Bay State of Massachusetts, where the Troupe was
first organized, and from the “bei” (pronounced “bay”) of the Japanese
word “Beikoku,” which means “America,” suggesting the Troupe’s slogan,
“Traditional Japanese Puppetry in America.”
The
performers of the Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe all have been trained in
Japan by artists from the 170-year-old Tonda Puppet Troupe
of Biwa-cho in Shiga Prefecture, northeast of the old capital of Kyoto,
and the Imada
Puppet Troupe and Kuroda Puppet
Troupe--both more than
300 years old--of Iida City in Nagano Prefecture in central Japan.
Under the direction of Prof. Martin Holman of the Japanese Studies
Program at the main campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia,
Missouri, Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe offers performances of pieces
from the traditional Bunraku repertoire, as well
as puppetry demonstrations and
workshops.
In August
2004 and again in 2005, 2006, and 2007, Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe
participated in the Iida Puppetry Festival, the largest theater
festival in Japan devoted to the art of puppet drama. Bunraku Bay performers were honored to appear
on the stages of the Imada Puppet
Troupe and the Kuroda Puppet Troupe. Bunraku Bay members were trained most
recently in
summer 2005, 2006, and 2007 by leaders of the Imada
and Kuroda Troupes.
Besides
appearances in Japan, Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe has performed
at many venues in the
United States, including the
Hopkins Center
for Performing Arts and the Hood Museum at
Dartmouth College in New Hampshire;
Williams College in Massachusetts; Bowdoin College in
Maine; Austin College in Texas; the University of Chicago; the Morikami
Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida; the Orlando
Puppetry Festival; the Japan Society in New York; the First Night
Celebration in Columbia, Missouri; Penn State University; the
University of Southern Indiana; the University of Missouri; as well
as at the Troupe's former home at the University of Massachusetts.
Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe also performed at the Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts in Washington DC in April 2005 and the
Smithsonian Institution in 2007.
Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe is available to perform anywhere
in the US with shows that range from a short 10-minute piece to a full
evening performance. Bunraku Bay can also offer demonstrations,
lectures, and/or workshops.
For information on booking Bunraku Bay contact the director.
Martin
Holman
Bunraku
Bay Puppet Troupe
443
Strickland
University
of Missouri
Columbia,
Missouri 65211
Tel. (573)
882-3368
Email: holmanma@missouri.edu
Some of the Pieces that Bunraku Bay
Regularly Performs:

Kotobuki Shiki Sanbaso. A celebratory
dance piece of divinely-inspired puppetry that originated in masked Noh
drama, the Sanbaso is meant to who purify the theater and scatter good
fortune on the audience with lively gestures that mimic the
planting of rice and also suggest felicitous creatures like turtles and
cranes. But the piece also includes comedy because even a puppet
charged with the solemn task of blessing a venue sometimes gets tired
and needs to cool off after a taxing turn on the stage. The Sanbaso
opens every Bunraku Bay performance.

Hidakagawa Iriaizakura.
The young woman Kiyohime is in love with a man who will not
return her affection. In the scene at the crossing of the Hidaka River,
Kiyohime entreats a boatman to ferry her across as she pursues the
object of her obsession. But the grumpy boatman has been paid by the
young man not to comply with Kiyohime’s wishes. Ridiculed by the
boatman for her desires, Kiyohime becomes enraged when she learns the
story of her intended love’s infidelity. Her demonic jealousy
transforms both her heart and her form in ways that terrify the crusty
boatman and ultimately spell
doom for the hapless young man she pursues.


Yaoya Oshichi. Oshichi,
daughter of the greengrocer, must relay information and a lost sword to
her lover by dawn or he will die. But on this snowy evening with the
gates of the city already secured for the night, she cannot reach him.
Passing near a fire tower, Oshichi realizes that all the gates will be
opened if a fire alarm is sounded. But the penalty for sounding a false
alarm is death. Oshichi chooses to climb the icy tower to ring the
bell, a testament of her devotion to her love.


UPCOMING
PERFORMANCES
Plans are in the works for Bunraku Bay performances in the
following locations in spring 2008 and beyond.
Check back for more detailed information.
_____________
MISSOURI
Moberly, Missouri
Moberly Area Community College
April 23, 2008MAINE
Camden, Maine
Strom Auditorium
Fall 2008, date TBA
_____________
MASSACHUSETTS
Fall 2008, date TBA
OHIO
Cleveland, Ohio
Fall 2008, date TBA
OKLAHOMA
Fall 2008, date TBA
MISSOURI
Columbia, Missouri TBA
_____________
Milwaukee, Wisconsin TBA
Bunraku Bay
Performs for the Opening Ceremonies
of the Iida Puppetry Festival in Japan
August 2006
Bunraku
Bay Puppet Troupe was invited by festival organizers to perform the
Sanbaso at the August 3 opening ceremonies of the 2006 Iida Puppetry
Festival, which featured more than 250 puppet troupes from all over
Japan and around the world. The Sanbaso is a lively celebratory piece
that features a priest puppet whose ritual, yet comedic, dance is meant
to insure good fortune and properity. The performance by Bunraku
Bay marks the first time a non-Japanese puppet troupe has been asked
to offer the opening performance of the festival. The Japanese Shinto
deities seemed to have given their approval of the performance by
blessing
the four-day festival with good weather and large, appreciative
audiences.
Bunraku Bay also performed Keisei Awa no Naruto, Hidakagawa Iriaizakura, and Yaoya Oshichi later in the Festival.
Bunraku
Bay Offers Two Performances
at First Night Festivities 2005 in Columbia, Missouri
The
Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe Performs
at
the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC
The Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe performed on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC on April 6, 2005 before an overflow crowd. The program included two traditional favorites, the Kotobuki Shiki Sanbaso and Keisei Awa no Naruto.
Watch the
archived webcast of the performance by the Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe by
following the link below and using the search feature and the search
term
"bunraku" to locate the URL.
www.kennedy-center.org/millennium
The Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe performed at the Iida Puppetry Festival in the city of Iida in Nagano Prefecture in central Japan on August 7, 2005. The Iida Puppetry Festival is the largest puppetry festival in Japan, attracting over 150 troupes from all over Japan and around the world. Bunraku Bay performed Hidakagawa Iriaizakura--one of the most exciting pieces in the traditional repertoire.
The Sunday afternoon performance, which took place the Imada Puppetry Hall, included a performance by the host troupe, the three-hundred-year old Imada Puppet Troupe, with whom members of Bunraku Bay trained in a summer 2005 program.
For more information on the Iida Puppetry Festival, please following the link below.
www.city.iida.nagano.jp/puppet/english/
Let us perform for you!
The
Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe is available for live puppetry performances,
demonstrations, and workshops as well as film and television work
anywhere in the United States. If you would be interested in bringing
the Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe to your school, college, university,
museum, festival, or other venue, please contact the director below:
Prof.
Martin Holman, Director
Bunraku
Bay Puppet Troupe
Japanese
Studies, GCB 443
University
of Missouri
Columbia,
Missouri 65211
Tel. (573)
882-3368
Email: holmanma@missouri.edu
University of Missouri
Japanese Studies Program
http://japanesestudies.missouri.edu/
RECENT PERFORMANCES DEMONSTRATIONS,
& WORKSHOPS
by BUNRAKU BAY PUPPET TROUPE
ILLINOIS
Knox College
Galesburg, Illinois
Harbach Theater
7:30 PM
Friday, February 29, 2008
INDIANA
University of Southern Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Carter Hall, University Center
Time: 6:00
Monday, February 18, 2008
http://www.usi.edu/newsinfo/release/press_detail.asp?num=2626
**************************
PENNSYLVANIA
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
Schwab Auditorium
7:30 PM, Saturday,
February 9, 2008
ILLINOIS
University of Chicago
October
3 (Wednesday)
6:30 PM
Assembly Hall, International House
http://ceas.uchicago.edu/bunraku/
*******************************
NEW YORK
Long Island Sakura Matsuri
May 5, 2007
Charles
B.
Wang Center
Stony Brook University
3:15 PM
Stony
Brook, New York
*******************************
WASHINGTON, DC
Smithsonian
Institution
April 27, 2007
*******************************
MISSOURI
Puppetry Performance
Cherry
Blossom Festival
Independence, Missouri
April 15, 2007
1:00 PM
Powerhouse
Theater
Sermon Center
Corner of Truman Road and Nolan Road
Independence, Missouri
http://www.topix.net/content/kri/2102592455072906646614749151312338406377
Bunraku Puppetry Workshop
April 15, 2007
3:00 pm
http://www.hazelle.org/workshops.html
*******************************
KANSAS
Greater Kansas City
Japan
Festival
October
8, 2006
______________________________________________________
VIRGINIA
University
of Richmond
October
30,
2006
_________________________________________________________
FLORIDA
Novermber
4~7, 2006
________________________________________________________
NEW
YORK
Japan
Society of
New York
February 25, 2007
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