Cindy Phaneuf was searching for an idea for UNO’s upcoming season. It would be the tenth anniversary of the College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media and the fiftieth anniversary of Omaha’s sister city relationship with Shizouka, Japan. She mentioned the dilemma to UNO alum and professional actress Tuyet Pham. “I have the perfect show for you,” she replied. “I was just in it.”
Over a century ago, a wandering spirit named Lafcadio Hearn landed in Japan. Born in Greece and raised in Ireland, Hearn became a journalist in America. He was sent to Japan as a correspondent and never left. He became a naturalized Japanese, took the name Koizumi Yakumo, converted to Buddhism, and wrote a classic collection of ghost stories, or “kaidan,” based on old Japanese myths.
In 2014, Izumi Ashizawa and Richard Heinrich, the artistic director of the Spooky Action Theater in Washington DC, adapted Hearn’s book, “Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things,” into a hugely successful interactive theater production. The cast of which, to Phaneuf’s good fortune, included Tuyet Pham. Ashizawa and Phaneuf have adapted this production for the UNO theater space, the cast of which, to Phaneuf’s good fortune, will include Tuyet Pham. Pham’s guest performance is partially underwritten by a Theatre Arts Guild grant.
The show, which will preview April 12, begins in the lobby and is set throughout the Weber Fine Arts space; stairwells, balconies, storage closets, everywhere. Each performance will be limited to forty five audience members, who will split into groups of three and be guided through the hour long experience by Lafcadio Hearn himself. Hearn follows a masked woman with a mirror from vignette to vignette as spirits, none of whom realize they are dead, tell their stories. Hearn is engaged in a search for self, and you are along for the journey.
The ghost stories are not scary, although some are certainly spooky. Indeed, Izumi Ashizawa says many of them are truly love stories. “Hearn understood the spiritual and emotional elements of these stories. They are similar to Irish folk tales,” explains Ashizawa. Hearn arrived in Japan at a time when the country was rapidly industrializing. Japanese were focused on the future. Hearn chose to focus on their past, with an outsider’s new insights to their familiar myths. “The stories have an Asian sensibility, and they do not necessarily have a beginning, middle and end,” says Ashizawa. The concepts are heavily influenced by Japanese Shintoism, in which spirits and people exist and interconnect together in the world.
While adapted for the Weber space and co-directed by Cindy Phaneuf, the production, from the beautiful costumes and masks, the eerie lighting and the haunting sound is heavily influenced by the original 2014 Spooky Action Theater production. I got a sneak preview of one effect in the main theater space, and, without spoiling anything, it was mesmerizing. The Washington DC reviews (several of which are linked below) were uniformly glowing, and Ashizawa is a remarkable artistic talent in her own right; a performance artist, costume designer, puppeteer, dramaturg, choreographer, and playwright with graduate degrees in English Literature from the University of the Sacred Heart of Japan and Dramaturgy from the Yale School of Drama. An excellent interview with Ashizawa about the inspiration and artistic process behind “Kwaidan” is at: http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2014/06/12/playwrights-playground-part-izumi-ashizawa-art-kwaidan/
This immersive theater experience should be entirely unique, and TAG is proud to have played a small role in bringing it to Omaha.
“Kwaidan” by the University of Nebraska Omaha Department of Theatre will run at the Weber Fine Arts Building on the campus of UNO, 6001 Dodge Street, April 13-16 and 20-23. There will be two performances each night, at 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. There will be a TAG Nite Out on Tuesday, April 12, also with two performances. Remember to bring your TAG membership card—you will need it for the TAG Nite Out. Ticket prices are $16, and are available at the UNO Theatre Box office or on line at https://tix.extremetix.com/Online/UNOTheatre. The box office opens the Monday of the week the production opens. Hours are Monday through Friday, from 1 to 5:00 p.m. The box office will open again at 6:30 p.m. on performance nights. All major credit cards are accepted. Questions? Call them at (402) 554-PLAY (7529).
Review links:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/japanese-ghost-stories-take-the-stage-in-kwaidan-a-spooky-action-theater-show/2014/06/07/29dd74e4-ee76-11e3-8a8a-e17c08f80871_story.html