The following was posted to a mailing list that I'm on, and I thought that some of you might be interested:
1) SUMMER PROGRAM IN JAPAN (please pass this info on to your students)
Again this year we have prepared an opportunity for American college and university students to receive training this summer in Japanese puppet theater, commonly known as ningyo joruri or Bunraku, with a traditional troupe more than 300 years old, and to experience life in Japan with a Japanese family in a small city with an environment that encourages interaction and the development of Japanese language skills and involvement with Japanese culture in many different aspects.
The University of Missouri program runs for ten weeks, about June 2 (start date is still tentative) to August 10 (end date is fixed). The first ten days will be spent in Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Awaji, and Tokushima experiencing Kansai culture (including the puppet theater and gyoza from Osho). Then we move to the small city of Iida, where the students spend the next eight weeks receiving training as puppeteers and/or samisen players and/or tayu narrators. Most of the lodging in Iida will be provided by local Japanese host families. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in taiko drum training, martial arts, including kyudo--Japanese archery--and many other activities.There also ample free time that students can use for exploring locally or further afield in Japan. The program grants six upper-division semester hours of university credit.
At the end of the summer, the students in the program perform several times at the four-day Iida Puppetry Festival, which is the largest theater event in Japan devoted to the puppet theater, with over 300 participating troupes and 40,000 visitors. After the program, some alumni of the program have the opportunity to perform with Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater, the traditional Japanese puppet troupe that I direct in the US. www.bunraku.org
Information on the summer program is available at the following URL: http://asianinterstage.com/
College or university students at any level of Japanese are welcome to apply. We can also consider zero beginners with no Japanese language background, so please feel free to pass this information on to your colleagues in other disciplines--especially theater. Applications are due February 22, but we encourage anyone interested to apply as soon as possible.
2) TRADITIONAL JAPANESE PUPPETRY ON YOUR CAMPUS
If you are interested in bringing a performance of traditional puppet theater to your campus, please feel free to contact me. In the past few years we have performed--either as Bunraku Bay alone or jointly with the Imada Puppet Theater from Japan--from Oregon to Maine to Florida, and many places in between, including New York, Colorado, Utah, Illinois, Virginia, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and at the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Upcoming scheduled performances include Tennessee, Toronto, and Illinois. I would be happy to discuss the possibility of performing on your campus if you are interested. Info on Bunraku Bay at the following URL: http://www.bunraku.org
I want to thank members of sensei online for their support and interest in the past. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Many thanks,
Marty
________________
J. Martin Holman
Coordinator, Japanese Studies Program
Director, Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater
443 Strickland Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
Tel. (573) 882-3368 holmanma@missouri.edu
Japanese Studies Program: http://japanesestudies.
Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater: http://www.bunraku.org