Jannette Cheong is a poet and playwright living in London. She has written one English noh play, Pagoda (Europe 2009, Asia 2011), which has been performed and toured by Theatre Nohgaku and a second, Between the Stones (Europe 2020), in association with the Oshima Noh Theatre and Theatre Nohgaku. She has also written a ballet-noh-opera collaborative piece Opposites-InVerse (London 2017). Information and videos of these pieces can be found here.
Kano Ryoichi is a Kita school shite main role performer based in Tokyo. Originally from Kumamoto, his father Shuho donated a noh stage to Aix-en-Provence in 1992 and thereafter Ryoichi has visited France numerous times to teach and perform. He has performed with Theatre Nohgaku in the 2011 tour of Pagoda in Asia, and also in Between the Stones (2020).
Kawauchi Takako is a semi-professional otsuzumi player of the Kadono school and is based in Tokyo. She has participated in three Theatre Nohgaku tours including Blue Moon Over Memphis (2017 and 2018) and Gettysburg (2019).
Kitazawa Hideta is a noh maskmaker based in Tokyo. He has made masks for many new Theatre Nohgaku plays including Pine Barrens, Crazy Jane, Pagoda, Blue Moon Over Memphis, Sumida River, Zahdi Dates and Poppies, Emily, Between the Stones and Phoenix Fire. He has traveled with Theatre Nohgaku on several tours and conducted maskmaking workshops with TN. He has given numerous other maskmaking workshops throughout the world and his work can be found in major museums in Oxford, Durham and Sydney. Photos of his masks can be seen here.
Naoko Maeshiba is a somatic educator, a personal advisor and a performing artist based in NYC. A professor emerita in theater arts at Towson University, she is a former member of Theatre Nohgaku and was a founding member of the company. Currently, she is a faculty at Michael Chekhov Acting Studio and the director of Naoko Juku BML where she offers holistic healing sessions through body/mind integration. She is a Feldenkrais Practitioner, Reiki Master, and GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) practitioner.
Allan Marett is Professor Emeritus of musicology in the University of Sydney, and presently based in Adelaide. He has participated in several Theatre Nohgaku Writers’ Workshops and has written two English noh plays, Eliza which was performed in Sydney (1989) and Tokyo (1990), and Oppenheimer which was performed in Sydney (2015). The latter included several TN members and affiliates. These plays can be seen online as here: ELIZA. OPPENHEIMER.
Matsui Akira is a Kita school shite actor based in Wakayama, Japan. He has led numerous noh workshops throughout the world including Noh Training Projects in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania and at Royal Holloway, UK where he has taught many TN members. He has performed in or directed several TN performances including At the Hawk’s Well, Pagoda and Emily, and appeared in numerous other collaborations with theatre, dance and music genres. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Royal Holloway, University of London in 2016 for his extensive international activities in noh. An evening of performances was also dedicated to him in London in 2017.
Okura Eitaro is an Okura school otsuzumi hip drum player based in Tokyo. He has performed in several Theatre Nohgaku tours including At the Hawk’s Well, Pagoda and Sumida River, as well as other English noh projects including Moon of the Scarlet Plums, Oppenheimer, Opposites InVerse and Between the Stones.
Omura Kayu is a Ko school kotsuzumi player based in Tokyo. She has taught for the Noh Training Project Tokyo and has performed in two TN tours including Blue Moon Over Memphis (2018), Emily and Gettysburg (both 2019). She has also performed in other English noh plays including Oppenheimer and the Opposites InVerse collaboration.
Oshima Kinue is the lone professional female shite actor in the Kita school and is based in Fukuyama, Japan. She has led several noh workshops for the Noh Training Project Bloomsburg where she has taught many TN members. She has performed the shite role in two TN projects, Pagoda and Sumida River as well as in Between the Stones. She has performed in various other noh tours outside of Japan.
Oshima Teruhisa is a Kita school shite actor based in Tokyo and the fifth generational head of the Oshima family of Fukuyama. Since 2017, he has led the Noh Training Project Tokyo workshops co-sponsored by the Kita School and TN. He has also performed in two TN tours of Pagoda (2009 and 2011) and appeared in Between the Stones (2020).
Sakurai Hitoshi is a Komparu school taiko stick drum player based in Tokyo. He has performed three times with Theatre Nohgaku on the Crazy Jane tour (2007) as well as both Pagoda tours in Europe (2009) and Asia (2011). He also performed in the 2006 Vancouver performances of the English noh The Gull.
Takahashi Naoko is an Okura school kotsuzumi shoulder drum player and is active in Kansai area particularly in Osaka and Hyogo. She began her noh study with the Traditional Theatre Training workshop in Kyoto. With Theatre Nohgaku, she has performed in the Asia tour of Pagoda (2011). She also performed in Between the Stones (2020).
Takizawa Narumi is a noh flute player of the Isso school and has performed in several Theatre Nohgaku tours including Pine Barrens, Crazy Jane (2007) and Pagoda (2009 and 2011). She has also performed in several other English noh plays including The Gull (2006) and Between the Stones(2020).
Allan West is an American backdrop designer and painter who has lived in Japan since 1982. He studied traditional Japanese painting at Tokyo University of Arts and has since exhibited widely at museums and galleries throughout Japan and the world. His paintings have been featured on Japan’s major television networks as well as newspapers and magazines. His pine tree backdrop was featured in both Pagoda tours (2009, 2011) and he has also created performance fans for Theatre Nohgaku. Information about his extensive work can be seen here.
