Phoenix Fire Reborn
In February of 2020, cast and crew were ready to present the premiere of Phoenix Fire – a work about the failed 1940 and successful 1964 Tokyo Olympics, conceived in honor of the 2020 Games – in San Antonio, Tokyo, and Kumamoto. The premiere tour had to be postponed, then cancelled, due to COVID, but, like the 2020 Games themselves, the project has lived on, reimagined as a film. Primary filming of Phoenix Fire was completed in January 2023, and the film is now in post-production, with an anticipated festival release in 2024.
Look for future updates on this page and through Theatre Nohgaku’s social media accounts.
Phoenix Fire
a Film by Kevin Salfen
Ichikawa Kon – Nick Ishimaru
Kanô Jigorô – Rick Emmert
The Food Vendor – Lluis Valls
The Phoenix – Matsui Akira
The Universal Athlete – Jubilith Moore
Filmed at IN Series (Washington, D.C.) and at the Luella Bennack Music Center at the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio, Texas)
Kanō Jigorō mask by Kitazawa Hideta
Text and Music by Kevin Salfen
It is October 1964, the day before the Tokyo Olympics, the first to be held in Asia. The filmmaker Ichikawa Kon (1915-2008), who is making a documentary about the Olympics, meets an old man, the spirit of Kanō Jigorō (1860-1938), the founder of judo and Representative to the International Olympic Committee in the years leading up to the failed 1940 games. Ichikawa assures the old man that the Tokyo Olympics will begin tomorrow, and the shite reveals his identity before disappearing from the field. During the ai-kyogen, two vendors arrive to sell food to the gathering crowd. The two discuss the nature of the Olympics - after a half century of devastating conflict, can the first Olympics in Asia show a way forward: humankind, beyond nation and creed, striving to overcome its limits? After their conversation, Ichikawa announces the start of the opening ceremonies, various events are briefly described—enacted by the universal Athlete, beyond nationality, ethnicity, or gender. The games close in celebration and hope.
Follow the work in progress on the Phoenix Fire Facebook page
Phoenix Fire features an extraordinary international ensemble:
• Co-directed by professional shite-kata of the Kita School of noh Matsui Akira and Theatre Nohgaku member John Oglevee
• Principle roles played by Theatre Nohgaku’s Richard Emmert and Jubilith Moore, as well as Matsui Akira, and supported by an international chorus of professionals and UIW students
• Instrumentalists include experts on ôtsuzumi, kotsuzumi, and taiko, and 2018-19 University of Michigan Toyota Professor Mariko Anno on nôkan.
• Masks and costumes by master artisans, including world renowned mask-maker Kitazawa Hideta.
Phoenix Fire at Ryôgoku Bear, Tokyo - June 2019
During the first week of June 2019, members of international performing ensemble Theatre Nohgaku gathered from around the world for the first rehearsals of Kevin Salfen’s new intercultural work Phoenix Fire. Phoenix Fire imagines a meeting of Kanô Jigorô, founder of jûdô and Japan’s representative to the International Olympic Committee in the 1930s, and great Japanese filmmaker Ichikawa Kon, who directed the documentary about the 1964 games, generally considered one of the finest sports documentaries ever made. The rehearsal period culminated in a work-in-progress presentation of portions of Phoenix Fire on June 9, an event attended by representatives from KON Pro, Inc., and the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute. The below collection of photographs commemorates the rehearsal process and presentation.
