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A Journal of the Plague Year
an online play reading

Written by: Terayama Shūji with Kishida Rio
Translated by: Tsuneda Keiko and Colleen Lanki

June 26, 2021 @ 8-10pm PST

A livestreamed Zoom Seminar

FREE (registration necessary)

Register to attend on EVENTBRITE

A mysterious plague has arrived in town, and a detective in disguise tries to discover its source. Could it be in the Cabaret Trading Vessel Pago-Pago? Or is the origin closer to him than he thinks?

Inspired by Daniel Defoe's fictional memoir of the 1665 Great Plague of London, Terayama Shuji and Kishida Rio's play, Ekibyō Ryūkōki (A Journal of the Plague Year) is a surreal examination of loss, isolation, and the ways people behave in the face of an epidemic. The play is a theatrical adventure of madness and metaphor where people nail themselves into boxes for 30 years, dead plague victims sing opera, and dentists find escape through the mouths of their patients.

This is an online reading of the play's first English translation, and has been slightly adapted to reflect our current pandemic world.


DIRECTION: Colleen Lanki

STAGE MANAGEMENT: Xin Xuan Song

DESIGN TEAM: Chengyan Boon (lighting), Kimira Reddy (sets and props), Melicia Zaini (costumes)

CAST:
David Bloom
Howard Dai
Jesse Del Fierro
Brent Hirose
Anthony Ingram
Aryo Khakpour
Alisa Lindley
Panta Mosleh
Chu-Lynne Ng
Montserrat Videla Samper
Valerie Sing Turner
Raina von Waldenburg

with special appearances by:
Jennifer Aoki and Heather Pawsey


MUSIC BY: Shibusa Shirazu and Dysfunktional Message Control

This reading is part of RioFest 2021 (The Kishida Rio Festival of the Avant-garde) in Tokyo, Japan
Other events in the festival (in Japanese):

Vampires - Vectors of Infection - July 8-11 at Esorabako Performing Gallery and Cafe (Tokyo) - Yoshino Tasuku Productions

Snow Woman - July 24 and 25 at Proto Theatre, Tokyo - The Two Echika

Quartet - Available to view online from June through August - Fushoku Ijingai Theatre Company