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June 13, 2014
Film Screening, Crafts Village, and Family Event Added to Schedule for Performances by Heisei Nakamura-za
Lincoln Center Festival
THEATER MEDIA ADVISORY
DATE: June 13, 2014
PRESS CONTACT
Eileen McMahon 212-875-5391
FILM SCREENING, CRAFTS VILLAGE AND FAMILY EVENT ADDED TO SCHEDULE
FOR PERFORMANCES BY HEISEI NAKAMURA-ZA
The following free events will complement performances by Heisei Nakamura-za of Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki (“Ghost Tale of the Wet Nurse Tree”) at Lincoln Center Festival 2014 and Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Maids.
Members of the Press: Please request reservations to performances, these Heisei Nakamura-za events, and to the sold out August 9 pre-performance talk for The Maids (see section on The Maids later in the release) starting June 23. Contact Lincoln Center Festival Press Ticket Coordinator David Clarke, [email protected].
HEISEI NAKAMURA-ZA EVENTS:
Screening of Kanzaburo – July 1 at 6:30 pm – Festival director Nigel Redden will introduce the screening of this documentary about the founder of the current Heisei Nakamura-za troupe. Directed by Matsuki Tsukura, the film shows how passionately Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII (who brought the company to Lincoln Center Festival in 2004 and 2007, and who died in 2012) spread the art of Kabuki to an international audience, as well as to a younger generation. The film is in Japanese with English subtitles. Running time: 95 minutes. Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, Rose Building, 165 West 65th Street, 10th Floor.
Free, ticketed event. SOLD OUT. Tickets are valid until 15 minutes prior to the start of the screening at which point they will be released to the stand-by line.
Japanese Artisan Village – July 1–13 – An open marketplace reminiscent of Edo-period Japan will be constructed on Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza, outside the David H. Koch Theater. Booths will sell traditional Japanese handicrafts including wood-fired pottery, elaborate textiles, delicately fashioned Nihon ningyo dolls in kimonos cut from antique fabrics, fine cotton towels (tenugui), intricately painted hand fans (sensu), calligraphy, and hair ornaments (kanzashi). Hours: Sun-Thu, 12 noon-8 pm; Fri-Sat, 12 noon-9 pm; hours are subject to change; visit: LincolnCenterFestival.org for updates. Free and open to the public; no tickets required. Avery Fisher Hall’s Espresso Bar will have Japanese treats and tea for sale, along with their usual fair, for the duration of the crafts village.
Japanese Artisan Village Opening Day – July 1 at 1 pm – To celebrate the opening of the artisan village artists will demonstrate handicrafts beginning at 1 pm. Josie Robertson Plaza. Free and open to the public.
Lincoln Center Festival is sponsored by American Express
Meet the Artists Saturdays presents Sachiyo Ito and Company – July 5 at 11 am – Sachiyo Ito and Company perform beautiful and elegant Japanese classical dances in a program suitable for families. The program will include Kabuki dances from the 19th century, such as Fuji Musume (Wistaria Maiden), Mitsumen Komori (Three Mask Lullaby), and a contemporary work choreographed by Ito in Kabuki dance style. The dancers will also demonstrate Kabuki character movement and use of stage props. David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets. This non-ticketed event is free and open to the public. Seating is general admission; first come, first served.
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Heisei Nakamura-za
Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki (The Ghost Tale of the Wet Nurse Tree)
July 7–12, 2014
8 performances, Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall (Time Warner Center, Broadway at 60th Street)
With: Nakamura Kankuro VI, Nakamura Shichinosuke II, Kataoka Kamezo IV, and Nakamura Shido II
Running time: approximately 2 hours 30 minutes
Performed in Japanese with English synopsis via a headset
Monday, July 7 at 7:30 pm (critics/opening night); Tuesday, July 8 at 7:00 pm; Wednesday, July 9 at 1:30 and 7:00 pm; Thursday, July 10 at 7:00 pm; Friday, July 11 at 7:00 pm; Saturday, July 12 at 1:30 and 7:00 pm.
The popular Kabuki play Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki is a classic revenge tale, adapted from a 19th-century rakugo narrative by San'yutei Encho. An evil samurai disrupts the happiness of a new family when he falls in love with the wife, kills her husband, and orders their infant son to be murdered, lest the son avenge his father’s murder. The son, saved by the spirit of his father, grows up in safety and joins an honorable samurai to avenge his father’s death.
Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki is a tour-de-force for the lead actor, Nakamura Kankuro VI. He is required to play three different roles (the artist Shigenobu, the servant Shosuke, and the villain Uwabami Sanji) in this story of love, plots, and betrayal, culminating in a spectacular fight in a waterfall, in which he essentially fights himself as he changes instantly between two characters as if by magic. Joining him onstage will be his brother, Nakamura Shichinosuke II, also a noted Kabuki actor, who specializes in onnagata roles, in which a male actor plays a female character (all of the parts in Kabuki theater are played by men).
Actor Nakamura Kankuro VI, age 32, made his first appearance on stage at the age of five in the role of Kozaburo in Omigenji Senjinyakata Moritsunajinya. He made his debut as Nakamura Kantaro II in 1987 in Kadode Futari Momotaro. In February 2012 at Shimbashi Enbujo Theatre, he succeeded to the honorific name of Nakamura Kankuro VI while playing the role of Chichu (the Spirit of Spider) in Tsuchigumo, and the roles of Kosho Yayoi and the Lion’s Spirit in Shunkyo Kagamijishi. He has been the recipient of numerous awards over the years for his work on stage and on film. Nakamura Kankuro VI appeared at Lincoln Center Festival 2007 in Renijishi and Hokaibo.
Actor Nakamura Shichinosuke II, age 30, made his first stage appearance at age three. He appeared along with his brother in a number of documentary films when they were children. In addition to his roles in Kabuki theater, he is a film actor and played the role of the Meiji Emperor in The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise. In 2009, he and his brother received the Sugimura Haruko Award for the 16th Yomiuri Theatre Award. Nakamura Shichinosuke II was last seen at Lincoln Center Festival 2007 in Renjishi and Hokaibo.
Actor Nakamura Shido II, age 41, the son of Nakamura Shido I, made his first stage appearance at the age of eight. He gained prominence, as well as numerous awards (including Rookie of the Year), for his performance in the 2002 film, Ping Pong. Since that time he has balanced his opportunities as a film star with his roles as a Kabuki actor. In 2003, he debuted in the leading role of Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura and Kurumabiki. In 2012, he played the roles of Wakasanosuke and Sadakuro in Kanadehon Chushingura and Taira no Koremochi in Momijigari at the Shimbashi Enbujo Theatre.
Born in 1961, Kataoka Kamezo IV is the son of Kataoka Ichizo V. He made his first stage appearance in 1965, and four years later received his current stage name. One of the greatest supporting actors in today’s Kabuki world, he performs various roles from comic characters to serious figures. He is a regular member of Heisei Nakamura-za and returns for a third time to perform at Lincoln Center Festival.
Heisei Nakamura-za was created in 2000 by Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII of the Nakamura line of Kabuki performers. The goal was to recreate a Kabuki theater of the Edo period (1603-1868), taking formal, stylized kabuki back to its populist roots and restoring, in Kanzaburo’s words, “some of kabuki’s happy-go-lucky, slapstick, naughty quality,” as he told an interviewer the first year the special temporary theater was erected in Asakusa, Tokyo. His sheer passion for Kabuki helped raise the company to the international profile it now holds.
Kanzaburo XVIII tragically died of cancer in December 2012. His eldest son, Kankuro VI, has succeeded his late father to lead Heisei Nakamura-za in the 21st century along with his brother Nakamura Shichinosuke II. Continuing their father’s legacy of not only maintaining but also carrying forward this ancient form of Japanese theater, Kankuro, who has trained in Kabuki since birth, has assumed the leading roles especially conventional to the Nakamura family’s repertory, and taken up the leadership of this venerable Kabuki dynasty.
Support provided by Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc., Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ , Brother International Corporation, ITOCHU International Inc., The J.C.C. Fund of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York, Inc., Asian Cultural Council, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc., Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal U.S.A., Inc., Japan Steel Works America, Inc.
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Sydney Theatre Company
The Maids
by Jean Genet
August 6-16, 2014
12 performances, New York City Center (131 West 55th Street)
New English translation by Benedict Andrews and Andrew Upton
Directed by Benedict Andrews
Sets and costumes by Alice Babidge
Lighting design by Nick Schlieper
Composer: Oren Ambarchi
Video Designer: Sean Bacon
Sound Designer: Luke Smiles
Starring Cate Blanchett, Isabelle Huppert, and Elizabeth Debicki
Running time: approximately one hour 45 minutes with no intermission
Wednesday, August 6 at 7:30 pm (preview); Thursday, August 7 at 7:30 pm (preview); Friday, August 8 at
7:30 pm (critics/opening night); Saturday, August 9 at 7:30 pm; Sunday, August 10 at 2:00 pm; Tuesday, August 12 at 7:30 pm; Wednesday, August 13 at 2:00 and 7:30 pm; Thursday, August 14 at 7:30 pm; Friday, August 15 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, August 16 at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm
Pre-performance talk – August 9 at 6 pm – Andrew Upton, Artistic Director of the Sydney Theater Company and Benedict Andrews, director of The Maids will discuss the production. New York City Center. This talk is sold out, but members of the media may request a reservation beginning June 23. Contact Lincoln Center Festival Ticket Coordinator David Clarke, [email protected].
The Sydney Theatre Company production of The Maids had a highly successful run in Sydney in June of 2013; the Festival performances will be its U.S. premiere. In addition to directing Cate Blanchett for the third time, Benedict Andrews is reunited with other regular STC collaborators, designer Alice Babidge and lighting designer Nick Schlieper.
The play is set in a glamorous apartment crammed with flowers. Two maids, Claire and Solange (Blanchett and Huppert), are nearing the end of their psychological tether. Each night the sisters play a deadly game, or ceremony, creating their own theater in which they take turns playing the role of their mistress (Debicki).
Genet’s 1947 existentialist play was inspired by the Papin murders that transfixed France in 1933. The Papin sisters, two servants in the same household, murdered their wealthy mistress and her daughter. The original play was staged amidst an environment of changing class boundaries in France following World War II. This new translation by Andrews and STC Artistic Director Andrew Upton highlights the cruel and frightening folie à deux between the play’s central sister duo, and brings the class issues raised by the work into a timeless period.
The modernization of Genet’s classic work is further realized by Alice Babidge’s sleek and stylish glass box set, while the use of live video amplifies the more intimate moments and callous actions of all three characters.
Benedict Andrews is one of Australia’s greatest theatrical talents. His other recent work for STC includes Gross und Klein, for which he received the 2012 Helpmann Award. His marathon Shakespeare cycle for STC, The War of the Roses, was the highlight of the 2009 Sydney and Perth Shakespeare festivals. Some of his many other credits for STC include The City, The Season at Sarsaparilla and Attempts on Her Life. Last year, he was awarded the UK Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director for his production of Three Sisters at London’s Young Vic Theater. His production of Caligula for English National Opera was nominated for the 2013 Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production. This summer he directs Gillian Anderson in A Streetcar Named Desire at The Young Vic.
Cate Blanchett was Co-Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Sydney Theatre Company from 2008 to 2012 alongside Andrew Upton. Her acting credits for STC include the title role in Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler; Richard II in Shakespeare’s The War of The Roses; Blanche in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire which travelled to much acclaim from Sydney to New York and Washington; Yelena in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in a version by Andrew Upton, which toured to Washington, DC and appeared at Lincoln Center Festival; and Lotte in Botho Strauss’ Gross und Klein, which toured extensively throughout Europe. Her film work includes performances in Elizabeth and The Golden Age, David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There, Richard Eyre’s Notes on a Scandal, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. Her many awards for both theater and film include the Centenary Medal for Service to Australian Society, France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des arts et des lettres, and, in 2014, the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress for her role in Blue Jasmine.
Stage and screen star Isabelle Huppert is currently on tour in Europe in Marivaux’s Les fausses confidences. Her film roles include performances in Goretta’s La Dentellière, Preminger’s Rosebud, Chabrol’s Violette Nozière, Une Affaire de Femmes, Madame Bovary, La Cérémonie, Rien ne va plus, Merci Pour le Chocolat and L’Ivresse Du Pouvoir, Godard's Passion and Sauve Qui Peut La Vie, Haneke's La Pianiste, Le Temps du Loup and Amour, Assayas’ Les Destinées Sentimentales, Hartley’s Amateur, Ozon's Huit Femmes, Russell's I Heart Huckabees, Ferreri's La Storia di Piera, Bolognini's La Dame aux Camélias, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Chereau’s Gabrielle, Denis’ White Material, Jacquot’s Villa Amalia, Sangsoo’s In Another Country and Mendoza’s Captive. Her many performances on stage include roles in Un Tramway (A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams) directed by Krysztof Warlikowski, Quartett (Müller) and Orlando (Woolf), both directed by Robert Wilson, Hedda Gabler (Ibsen) directed by Eric Lacascade, 4.48 Psychosis (Sarah Kane) and Jeanne Au Bucher (Claudel) directed by Claude Regy, Médée (Euripides) directed by Jacques Lassalle at the Festival d'Avignon, Mary Stuart (Schiller) directed by Howard Davies at the National Theatre London, On Ne Badine Pas Avec L’Amour (de Musset) directed by Caroline Huppert and Measure for Measure (Shakespeare) directed by Peter Zadek.
Elizabeth Debicki played Jordan Baker in Baz Luhrmann’s recent film remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Since graduating from Australia’s Victorian College of the Arts in 2010, she has also performed in Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of The Gift by Joanna Murray-Smith, and in the Australian-British comedy film A Few Best Men.
Presented in association with New York City Center.
The Lincoln Center Festival 2014 presentation of The Maids is made possible in part by generous support from Jennie and Richard DeScherer, The Grand Marnier Foundation, Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, and members of the Producers Circle.
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For complete Festival programming, visit: LincolnCenterFestival.org. Lincoln Center Festival tickets are available via CenterCharge at 212-721-6500, online at LincolnCenterFestival.org and at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office, 65th Street and Broadway. Tickets for The Maids are also available at the New York City Center Box Office, West 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues.
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Programs and artists are subject to change.
Since its inaugural season in 1996, Lincoln Center Festival has received worldwide attention for presenting some of the broadest and most original performing arts programs in Lincoln Center’s history. Entering its 18th year, the Festival will have presented nearly 1,260 performances of opera, music, dance, theater, and interdisciplinary forms by internationally acclaimed artists from more than 50 countries. To date, the Festival has commissioned more than 42 new works and offered some 137 world, U.S., and New York premieres. It places particular emphasis on showcasing contemporary artistic viewpoints and multidisciplinary works that push the boundaries of traditional performance.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA offers 15 series, festivals, and programs including American Songbook, Avery Fisher Artist Program, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Books, Lincoln Center Dialogue, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, Midsummer Night Swing, Martin E. Segal Awards, Meet the Artist, Mostly Mozart Festival, Target Free Thursdays, and the White Light Festival, as well as the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS. As manager of the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations. In addition, LCPA led a $1.2 billion campus renovation, completed in October 2012.
Lincoln Center is committed to providing and improving accessibility for people with disabilities. For information, call the Department of Programs and Services for People with Disabilities at (212) 875-5375.
Lincoln Center Festival is sponsored by American Express.
Major support provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Lincoln Center Festival 2014 is also made possible by the Polska Music program of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, The Shubert Foundation, Robert and Helen Appel, Nancy A. Marks, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc., Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, The Skirball Foundation, Larry A. and Klara Silverstein, The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Judy & Michael Steinhardt, The Katzenberger Foundation, Inc., , Jennie and Richard DeScherer, The Grand Marnier Foundation, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Brother International Corporation, ITOCHU International Inc., The J.C.C. Fund of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York, Inc., The Joelson Foundation, Georges Lurcy Charitable and Educational Trust, Nancy & Morris W. Offit, Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, Great Performers Producers Circle, Chairman’s Council, Friends of Lincoln Center, and One Anonymous.
Artist catering provided by Zabar’s and Zabars.com.
MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center.
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William Hill Estate Winery is the Official Wine of Lincoln Center.
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