Education
in your community
Education and performance are central tenets of Theatre Nohgaku’s mission. We offer workshops and lecture demonstrations tailored to the needs of anyone from elementary school students to mature playwrights and composers looking for new expressive possibilities, from one-hour presentations to three-week residencies that culminate in student recitals. For the last twenty years, our education programs have covered virtually all aspects of noh, including text, dance, music, costumes, masks, and general history. Regardless of the form or content of specific presentations, our purpose is always the same: to nourish an understanding of noh among audiences wherever we may find them.
Use our contact form below to begin to create educational programming that is right fit for you and your community.
Educational Programs and Residencies
Lectures and Lecture-Demonstrations • Lectures accompanied by audio-visual media cover noh’s rich history and its unique performance features. Lecture-demonstrations offer in addition live introduction to noh chant, dance and musical instruments with performance of excerpts from both traditional and new noh plays in Japanese and English.
Performance Workshops • Performance workshops, which can run from one or two hours to all day, and from one day to multiple days, offer basic instruction in noh chant, dance and musical instruments. Special workshops in noh mask-making can also be arranged.
Residencies • A Theatre Nohgaku residency, running one to two weeks, is an exciting opportunity to support as well as observe the creation of a new production of contemporary noh. Students can witness rehearsals and take workshops offering extensive personal instruction in the basic skills of noh. TN members will also be available to offer workshops and present lecture-demonstrations to the broader community. The residency will culminate in a TN work-in-progress performance, and can also include a student recital.
Performances
Chamber Recitals • Theatre Nohgaku’s repertoire includes several smaller chamber versions of popular traditional noh plays that we have created. Requiring fewer performers and less elaborate stage setup, they offer a lower cost alternative to a full performance while still providing audiences the experience of noh’s compelling dramatic storytelling. Like full performances, they are preceded by formal demonstration of noh dance, chant and musical instruments, and a lecture-demonstration and/or 60-90 minute performance workshop may be included at no additional cost.
Oshima Kinue in Pagoda, Kyoto, 2011. Image © Inue Kazuhiro
Full Performances • Regular Theatre Nohgaku performances include formal demonstration of dance, chant and musical instruments to introduce the art of noh to new audiences, followed by presentation of a fully staged play from our recent repertoire of new and traditional noh plays in English or Japanese. A lecture-demonstration and/or 60-90 minute performance workshop may be included at no additional cost.
Costs for engagements would include: transportation, accommodation, and per diem. Contact us to provide an estimate. Fees are negotiable based on complexity of event details. Please note: chamber recitals and full performances require 1-2 days of rehearsal and setup in addition to travel and performance days.
Booking as part of a tour significantly reduces the cost of any event; the estimates above cover single events booked individually.
