THE UNIVERSITY THEATRE presents the World Premiere Production of

Hoi chi Dank TalJM. of tluL IW.kJL by James R. Brandon

Directed by James R. Brandon Assistant to the director, Michiko Ueno

Choreography by Carl Wolz Music composed and conducted by June Phillips

Assistant to the musical director, Catharine Lee Scene and costume design by Reiko Mochinaga Brandon Masks and heads designed and executed by Richard Mason Technical direction and lighting design by Mark Boyd

CAST LIST: The characters in order of appearance

HOICHI, a blind storyteller of The Tale of the Heike . Jeffrey Nakayama PRIEST, head of the Amida Temple .................. David L. Reinke FIRST MONK, lives at Amida Temple ...................... Yuki Goto SECOND MONK, his companion ........................ John ,Kearns LADY GIO, Taira no Kiyomori's mistress ............... Phyllis Haskell TAIRA NO ATSUMORI, nephew of Kiyomori ............ Russell Omori KENREIMONIN, mother of the Emperor Antoku and daughter of

Kiyomori ..................................... Jennifer De Costa TAIRA NO NORITSUNE, deputy commander of the Heike

armies ..... ........................... .... .... ... Darryl Tsutsui Stage Attendants .......... .. .... .......... ............ Patrick Guth

Akihiko Ono Susanne M. Ward

Paula L. Wong Michiko Ueno

Musicians .... ..... ........................ ............ June Phillips Robert Herr Anna Pung

Samuel Schank

The action of the play takes place in and near the Amid a Temple at the Straits of Dan no Ura, Japan. The time is the legendary past.

There is no intermission.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES:

The production of HOICHI- Dark Tales of the He ike marks a new direction in Asian Theatre at the University of Hawaii. Most of the Japanese plays we have done in recent years have been Kabuki. HOICHI is an original play, written for American audiences. True, its comic monks have been borrowed from Kabuki, and Noh and Bugaku have been significant influences in developing its performing style. Further, the play dramatizes events out of Japanese history and its point of view is strongly Buddhist. Still, it is not a Japanese play.

HOICHI-Dark Tales of the Heike dramatizes the well-known legend about a young biwa-minstrel who chants the tale of the Heike and whose life is threatened by spirits of the Heike dead that are thus brought back to earth. The legend first appears as a short story in a four volume collection of "strange tales from distant lands," published in 1782. It is known in the West through Lafcadio Hearn's beautiful English translation, in his book Kwaidan (1904). Interestingly, in Japan today everyone reads the story in Hearn's version, translated back into Japanese. Although Hoichi was a legendary, fictional figure, modern tourists are shown, near the Straits of Dan no Ura, a statue of the "real" Hoichi and a "Hoichi Festival" is now held each summer in his honor at Shimonoseki.

Those who know the legend will find our conception of Hoichi and the resolution of his clash with the Heike spirits rather different from the traditional story.

Creating a play is an act of imagination. And so, in HOICHI, historical events are used as a starting point for creating new scenes; passages from The Tale of the Heike are paraphrased to suit the situation; prayers and rituals from a number of Buddhist sects are theatricalized beyond the actual practice of Buddhism. HOICHI does not present the reality of Japanese culture, but rather an image of an image of what Japanese culture might once have been.

The production of HOICHI-Dark Tales of the Heike is unique in the large number of artists who are contributing to its creation, in choreography, music, costume design, set design, and mask making, as well as in writing and directing. As a composite performance of music­dance-drama, with important visual effects, it has certainly been inspired by the great theatre arts of Japan. I hope it is not too unworthy of its parentage.

JAB

PRODUCTION STAFF:

Stage Manager: Nina R. Hettema

Set Construction: David Anderson, Douglas Brodie, Stephen Childs, Zandra Coffman, Virginia Davis, Dorothea Fiske, Nina R. Hettema, Patrick M. Kelly, Tim Slaughter, Muriel Smith, Drama 101, 200, 240 and 241 students

Light Board Operators: David Anderson , Leonard Laurence

Stage Crew: Richard Fransham, Peter Planas, Jared Nakanishi , Lee Sonomura, Michiko Ueno

Costume Construction : Sandra Finney, Reiko Moch inaga Brandon, JanDee Abraham , Adrienne Chung , Camilla Corpuz, Karen Helm, Annette Hoffman, Monir Hodges, Grace Ligi, Steven Miller, Jim Murchison, Teri Paul , Ann Porter, Barbara Weaver, Clyde Yasuhara

Fabrics for costumes and settings were hand dyed by Reiko Mochinaga Brandon

Wardrobe Crew: Grace Ligi , crew head ; JanDee Abraham, Camilla Corpuz, Karen Tateyama, Barbara Weaver, Clyde Yasuhara

Properties: Michiko Ueno

Makeup: Elizabeth Wichmann, Newton Koshi

Wigs: Sandra Finney

Photography: Malcolm Mekaru

Poster Design: Billie Ikeda (University Relations Office)

Publicity: Sidney Milburn, Michiko Ueno

Program: Billie Ikeda, Sidney Milburn, Michiko Ueno

Box Office: David Furumoto assisted by Tony Aguon , Rose Jung, Laura Leone, Mike Passer, Alison Uyeda

House Manager: Steven Miller

Ushers: Moanalua NHS, Kalani Drama Workshop, St. Louis Drama Class, Farrington Japanese Club, Roosevelt Kikunokai Japanese Club, Aiea NHS, Kalaheo Theatre Society

Acknowledgements : UH Music Department, Adelaid Beste, David Furumoto, Philip Markwart, Michael Saso, Masatosh i Shamoto, Ricardo Trimillos, Chie Yamada, Silk International and the Pearl City Hongwanji , Michael Tamaru and Billie Ikeda, Wayne Higa, Andy Rosen and Mark Middleton

Special Acknowledgement: A Grant from The Japan Foundation supported the research for and writing of

HOICHI-Dark Tales of the Heike, between January and August, 1980, in Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan. The world premiere of the play is given by the University Theatre with the support of the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

HOICHI-Dark Tales of the Heike is the University of Hawaii entry in the 1982 American College Theatre Festival. The Festival is presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington , D.C., produced by the University and College Theatre Association , a division of the American Theatre Association, and sponsored by the AMOCO companies.