We welcome you back to our seasonal performances of classical Japanese Kyogen plays in English at NOHSpace! For this Fall season, we are excited to present Shuron (A Religious Dispute) and Kaki Yamabushi (Persimmons and the Mountain Priest), performed by our wonderful ensemble members!
Directed by Lluís Valls
Featuring
Nick Ishimaru, Ryan Marchand, Fenner Merlick, Kate Patrick, and Lluís Valls
DATES AND TIMES:
Thursday, November 6, 8PM
Friday, November 7, 8PM
Saturday, November 8, 5PM
Sunday, November 9, 2PM
RUNNING TIME: About 1 hour 20 minutes
VENUE: Theatre of Yugen’s NOHSpace (2840 Mariposa St., San Francisco, CA 94110)
TICKETS: General Admission $28 (Regular) $18 (Community Discount - if the price is a barrier)
Program
Shuron (A Religious Debate)
On the road home, two monks strike up a conversation and decide to travel together. But trouble brews when they discover they follow rival sects - one returning from a pilgrimage to Mount Minobu as a devout Nichiren monk, the other a Jodoshu (Pure Land) follower coming back from Zenkoji. What begins as friendly chatter turns into a heated debate: each insists the other abandon his sect, brandishing lofty doctrines to prove his point. Their quarrel escalates from chanting to comic dancing until exhaustion finally overtakes them.
Kaki Yamabushi (Persimmons and the Mountain Priest)
After years of ascetic training, a thirsty Yamabushi (mountain priest) stumbles into a persimmon orchard and steals some fruit. When the owner appears, he hides and frantically mimics monkeys, dogs, and finally a hawk, leaping from the tree. With clever antics and playful mockery, Kaki Yamabushi is a timeless Kyogen classic, celebrated for its witty portrayal of pride, folly, and human absurdity, even featured in Japanese school textbooks.
Artists
Lluís Valls acts, directs, and writes for the theatre. He has studied Noh with Richard Emmert, Akira Matsui, and Teruhisa Oshima (Kita school), Kyogen with Yukio Ishida, Go Iida and Yuriko Doi (Izumi school), and Kotsuzumi Noh drum with Mitsuo Kama (Ko school), as well as training in butoh, Suzuki method, and clowning. A graduate of SFSU, Lluís has been a disciple of founder Yuriko Doi since 1993 and served as Theatre of Yugen’s Joint Artistic Director with Jubilith Moore and Libby Zilber from 2002 - 2008. He has been a main actor for Yugen since 1997 and currently serves as the Director of the Kyogen Company. Lluís is also a founding member of the local Clown company Clowns on a Stick, as well as international Noh troupe Theatre Nohgaku with whom he has toured throughout Europe, Asia and the US.
Nick Ishimaru (he/him) is a co-founder of San Francisco-based Kunoichi Productions. Prior to working with Kunoichi, he served as the Artistic Director of Theatre of Yugen from 2016 to 2020. He holds a BA in Performing Arts from Colorado State University, where he directed a kabuki adaptation of Macbeth, a Masters in Drama from San Francisco State University, and did additional doctorate work at the University of Hawaii. He has trained in noh and kyōgen for over 10 years with San Francisco’s Theatre of Yugen, Theatre Nohgaku, and the Kita school noh master Oshima Teruhisa in Tokyo. Ishimaru has also studied kabuki, jingju (Beijing Opera), and nihon buyo (traditional Japanese dance). He has led master classes on various performing arts topics for all levels from elementary school through university, and has presented work at conferences and university lectures both in the Bay Area and internationally.
Ishimaru has directed many productions including The Red Demon, A Noh Christmas Carol, Seen/By Everyone, The True Tale of Princess Kaguya, Fun Home, Never Mind, and Anything Goes. He has performed in A Noh Christmas Carol, Puppets and Poe, The True Tale of Princess Kaguya, Bellini’s Norma, Carmen, Mame, and dozens of English language kyōgen, among others.
Ryan Marchand began performing with Theater of Yugen in 2009. A Los Angeles native, he moved to the Bay Area to attend San Francisco State University, where he first trained in Noh and Kyogen. As a theater maker, he has worked with a variety of companies including Crowded Fire, Shotgun Players, African American Shakespeare Company, Bindelstiff Studios, Kunoichi Productions, and Playwright’s Foundation. Ryan is the current Director of San Francisco Opera’s Department of Diversity, Equity and Community.
Fenner Merlick is a performing and teaching artist in the Bay Area. Pedagogically rooted in Kyogen and Noh theater, clown, and bouffon, viewpoints, suzuki, butoh, and viewpoints. They studied Theater at UC Berkeley, trained at Dell Arte International, and are a company member of Theatre of Yugen and Kismet Arts Tangent. They have performed with Cutting Ball, Custom Made, foolsFury, Ragged Wing Ensemble, Liar Liar Theater, PACE Gallery in Menlo Park, and won Best of the SF Fringe in 2013 and 2022 for collaboratively created shows. In 2022 they were awarded an excellence in theater award by the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.
Kate Patrick, currently based in San Francisco, has been an ensemble member with Theatre of Yugen since 2019. Most recently she has appeared as the Crab Spirit in Kani Yamabushi, the Master in Busu, and Corvino in last year's adaptation of Volpone, Act I and II. Next Spring, she is excited to reprise her role for Volpone, as well as design and build special costume pieces for this production. She has also done costume work for various local theaters including San Francisco Opera, Actors Ensemble of Berkeley and New Conservatory Theatre Center. Previous experience in traditional Japanese theater includes her role as the second Yamabushi in University of Hawai’i, Mānoa’s 2016 production of a new kyogen play, Futari Yamabushi, and a 2017-18 Fulbright Research Grant to study traditional ji-kabuki costumes and practices under Sachie Oguri at the Museum Nakasendou and Aioi-za Theater in Mizunami, Japan. While there she performed in two kabuki classics, Sodehagi Saimon as Hachiman Taro Yoshiie, and Fuji Musume. Kate has an MFA in Costume Design from University of Hawai’i, Mānoa.
