Japan Society presents

Dogugaeshi
Wednesday, September 11, 7:30 pm—Followed by a Private Gathering for Artists and Members
Thursday, September 12, 7:30 pm—Followed by an artist Q&A
September 13, 14, 15 and 18 at 2:30 & 7:30 pm
September 17 and 19, 7:30 pm

Ningyo! A Parade of Puppetry Series – Program #1
The Ningyo! A Parade of Puppetry series is supported by The Jim Henson Foundation.

Dogugaeshi is supported by Doug and Teresa Peterson. Support for the international travelof Yumiko Tanaka is provided by The Japan Foundation.

2024—2025 Performing Arts Season Support
The season is made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
in partnership with the City Council.

Additional, major support is generously provided by Doug and Teresa Peterson, Howard Gilman Foundation,
and Jun Makihara and Megumi Oka. Endowment support is provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest
Endowment Fund, John and Miyoko Davey Foundation, and a leadership gift from the Doris Duke Charitable
Foundation.

Program support is also generously provided by The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; Hisamitsu
America, Inc.; Akiko Mikumo; Hiroko Onoyama; Richard and Momona Royce; Dr. and Mrs. Carl F. Taeusch II;
Dr. Jeanette C. Takamura; Nancy and Joe Walker; Estate of Alan M. Suhonen; and Performing Arts Circle
members.

All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. is the official airline of the Japan Society Performing Arts Program. Yamaha is theofficial piano provider of Japan Society.

Japan Society programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the
Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Ningyo! A Parade of Puppetry Series – Program #1

Welcome to Japan Society Performing Arts’ 2024-25 season, which kicks
off with our Ningyo! A Parade of Puppetry series!

Dogugaeshi

I am extremely happy to start this series by celebrating the 20th anniversary ofDogugaeshi, one of puppeteer Basil Twist’s signature pieces of repertoire. We
premiered this innovative piece during my first “clean slate” season in which I
was fully responsible for programming. I curated that Fall 2004 season aroundthe 150th anniversary of the very first U.S.-Japan Treaty, which marked theend of Japan’s policy of national isolation and the opening of the nation to theWestern world. In the decades following the commencement of this treaty, many
elements of Japanese arts and culture were eagerly uncovered and “found” byAmericans and Westerners, just as Japanese people were broadly taking for
granted the unique merits and aesthetics of their cultural traditions, and couldn’t
see the richness of their own art. Given this historical context, Dogugaeshi
was the perfect piece for that season’s theme, because Basil also “found” the“dogugaeshi” - a stage mechanism used in traditional Japanese puppet theatersthat has been in a precarious state of near-extinction in its place of origin.
We produced Dogugaeshi again for Japan Society’s centennial celebration in
2007, including a four-city Japan tour. 2013 was the 60th anniversary of theSociety’s Performing Arts program, and I brought back Dogugaeshi because I
wanted to represent our program with the most successful commissioning workin our history -- “success”, in this case, measured in the work’s reputable status
nationally and internationally, having taken on its own life through performancesacross many cities around the world.
Basil’s Dogugaeshi has always been with us for our celebratory benchmark
seasons - which is why I am so delighted to present it today, as this is a significant
benchmark 20th year for both Dogugaeshi and myself at the helm of the
Performing Arts program.

Creation and Direction: Basil Twist
Puppeteers: Basil Twist, Kate Brehm, Ben Elling, David Ojala, Jessica Scott
Musical Director, Sound Designer and Musician (evening): Yumiko Tanaka
Musician (matinee): Yoko Reikano KimuraSound Designer and Engineer: Greg Duffin
Projection Designer: Peter Flaherty
Lighting Designer: Andrew Hill
Production Stage Manager: Neelam Vaswani
Producer: Barbara Busackino, Tandem Otter Productions

Commissioned by Japan Society (2003)
Premiered at Japan Society (2004)
Performed without an intermission.

Basil Twist’s Dogugaeshi was commissioned by Japan Society in 2003 andpremiered at Japan Society in November 2004. It was co-produced with Tandem
Otter Productions and made possible with funding from the Doris Duke Foundation
and Creative Capital. Additional funding for the development and production ofthis project was provided by The Multi-Arts Production Fund, a program of Creative
Capital, supported by The Rockefeller Foundation; Ford Foundation Good NeighborCommittee; The Jim Henson Foundation; the Asian Cultural Council; and Creative

Yoko Shioya
Artistic Director

PS: I'd humbly ask you to find the “Yoko Shioya 20th anniversary” fundraising
campaign information included in this playbill.

Capital. A research residency in Kyoto, Japan for Basil Twist in 2004 was supportedby The Kyoto Arts Center. A developmental residency for Dogugaeshi at The Presido
National Park, San Francisco was supported by Creative Capital.

ARTIST’S NOTE
I first encountered the dogugaeshi in 1997. I was in France, wandering throughan exhibition of puppets from Awaji at a festival, when something caught myeye. On a small black-and-white monitor flashed a sequence of sliding screen
doors. It was brief and mysterious, and then it was gone as the film changed tofootage of traditional Japanese puppets. The puppets I was familiar with, but
those sliding screens—I’d never seen anything like them, except, actually, in myown work. Similar gestures had appeared in my The Araneidae Show, and atthat very moment I was preparing Symphonie Fantastique, filling out my visionof what a non-narrative, non-representational—and therefore, in my mind,
non-traditional—puppet show might be. But here in this clip of a film loop was
evidence of these very ideas—except for the non-traditional part. There wasclearly a tradition of puppeteers in this part of Japan doing exactly what I was“inventing” in my own work.
I stayed hunched by the monitor to catch the film clip a few more times.
Those screens remained a compelling memory through the time Japan
Society commissioned me to create a piece. Jane Marie Law, a scholar of Awaji
puppetry, confirmed for me that I hadn’t been dreaming. This tradition was
called dogugaeshi, and with this first piece of the puzzle in place, my journey
was under way. With the assistance of many individuals and organizations, I wasable to visit Japan twice, specifically the region where the dogugaeshi once
thrived—Awaji and Tokushima, two bits of land straddling the swirling whirlpoolsof the Naruto Straits.
I had wanted to keep the show small and perform it myself. But in the mountainsof Tokushima, at a site called Kawamata, the piece I had been creating took on
new dimensions. Inspired by the memories of elderly Japanese people who hadreveled in the magic of this art form in their youth, I felt the ghost of a tradition
demanding to be revealed, regardless of my original plans. And so I’ve neededa lot more help in the process—and I’ve received it in great part due to thewonderful people at the Japan Society who, while creating the show, remained
passionately committed to my insistence that this work be presented in an
intimate setting.

In the twenty years since the show has toured more than any other show ofmine. It crossed North America and then significantly went to Japan where it
surprised audiences with something that felt so familiar but that they had neverseen. Ten years ago in California it departed for Europe (making its second trip
thru the Panama Canal) where it stayed for years, played major capitals such as
London and Paris and notably highlighted the very puppet festival where I had
discovered the technique so many years ago. Finally, Doguageshi has comehome to NYC where it was created.
The sound of the word dogugaeshi has an allure for me that reflects the mysteryin this art form. But the word is in fact a very utilitarian term for “set change.” It is,after all simply a door. To me, it is something pure and potent: a sliding, gliding,horizontal game of suspense, concealment, revelation and transformation. I
embrace the word as the title of my show, which is based on my own journeyof discovery around this unique expression of Japanese culture, and it is withgreat joy, pride, and gratitude that we bring it back to this originating stage at theJapan Society.
— Basil Twist, September 2024

ABOUT DOGUGAESHI
Dogugaeshi, literally meaning “flipping mechanics,” is the name of the stage
mechanism that serves as a backdrop to traditional Japanese folk puppet
theater. Featuring a series of intricately painted scenes that slide open to reveal
image after image in rapid succession, dogugaeshi developed in Awaji Island
and Tokushima Prefecture over the centuries. Its history is inextricably linked tothat of Japanese puppetry.
It is said that Japanese traditional puppet theater, or ningyo joruri, took root in
the mid-17th century when puppet manipulation, the tradition of oral narrative
and the music of the three-stringed shamisen were combined in dramaticform. It became one of the most popular entertainments in Japan in the 18thand 19th centuries, a time when Japan’s flourishing merchant class greatly

valued entertainment. During that period, puppet troupes were formed andprofessional theater developed at a rapid pace in major cities such as Kyoto,
Osaka and Edo (present-day Tokyo). In rural areas, popular folk puppet theater
traditions also continued to flourish.
Rural puppetry theaters on Awaji Island and regions in Tokushima Prefecturedeveloped intricate backdrops for their productions called fusuma-e (painted
sliding screens). The screens are set up on several tracks along the top andbottom edges and layered, so that opening one set of screens reveals anotherset behind, and so on. As the show progresses, the fusuma-e are opened one by
one from downstage to upstage, each revealing the gorgeous fusuma-e behind.
There are variations on this system of transforming images as well. For example,
in a play set inside a palace, the fusuma-e are drawn in perspective, revealing
room after room with thousands of tatami mats. This elaborate technique withfusuma-e is known as fusuma karakuri, or more commonly, dogugaeshi. This
complex and advanced stage mechanism developed with such intricacy that it
became an independent attraction in its own right.
Though the Awaji Puppet Theater is the only existing professional puppet
theater troupe that continues to give public performances regularly using someof the traditional dogugaeshi techniques, the dogugaeshi tradition can be foundin several rural folk theaters, mainly in Tokushima Prefecture.
The best known of such theaters stands in Inukai Village. This thatch-roofed
theater still maintains 132 fusuma-e, allegedly dating back over 100 years, that
portray 42 different kinds of colorful landscapes and nature, including sparrows
on bamboo, tigers, elephants, wild eagles, carp, chrysanthemums, Japanesemaples and cherry blossoms. The theater also houses several sophisticatedmechanisms to manipulate the screens so that they can be moved in manydifferent variations: opening from the center of the stage to the wings; crossing
the stage in front of one another; pivoting to reveal new images on the backside; and lifted offstage toward the grid. The Inukai Theater, designated as an
Important Tangible Folk Cultural Asset by the Japanese government in 1998,
holds a large annual performance festival in early November, in which the final
portion of the performance is dedicated to dogugaeshi.
Basil Twist’s Dogugaeshi was conceived and developed in 2003 through aJapan Society commission and world-premiered at the Society in November
2004 in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the U.S.-Japan Treaty, andhas toured nationally and internationally ever since. This commission has
earned critical acclaim, and upon its premiere, Dogugaeshi was honored with
The New York Innovative Theater Award, Bessie Award and UNIMA Award.
Through that auspicious debut as well as subsequent productions, this work
has become an important part of Basil Twist’s celebrated repertory.
Notable performances of Dogugaeshi include Japan Society’s centennialcelebrations in 2007 and four-city tour in Japan, and the 60th anniversaryof Japan Society’s Performing Arts Program in 2013, at Cal Performances(CA), EMPAC (NY), the Spoleto Festival USA (SC), the Barbican in London, theTheatre Vidy Lausanne in Switzerland, as part of a retrospective on Basil Twist’s
career at the Le Festival Mondial Des Théâtres De Marionnettes in France and,most recently, as a featured event at the Chicago International Puppet Theater
Festival in 2023. The work has been performed throughout the US, Japan,
Rome, France and the UK. This “homecoming” for one of Basil Twist’s seminal
works is a momentous opportunity to witness this unique, internationallybeloved piece in the intimate setting for which it was originally designed.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Basil Twist (Creator, Director and Puppeteer), from San Francisco, is a thirdgeneration puppeteer. He is the sole American to have graduated from the
École Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette (ESNAM) in CharlevilleMézières, France, Shows include Symphonie Fantastique, Petrushka, Rite of
Spring, Hansel & Gretel, Arias with a Twist, La Bella Dormente nel Bosco, Sisters
Follies, A Streetcar Named Desire (La Comédie Française, also co-director),
TITON et l’AURORE ( with Les Arts Florissant at The Opera Comique andTheatre Royal de Versailles) and The Book of Mountains and Seas by composer
Huang Ruo and Twist as designer/director. He is currently serving as thepuppetry designer and director of My Neighbour Totoro which returns to theWest End in 2025. In film he contributed to the magic of Alfonso Cuarón’s Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, creating the Dementors. His past honors

have included an Obie, Henry Hewes, Doris Duke Performing Artist, Creative
Capital Award, Asian Arts Council, multiple UNIMA and Bessie Awards, a
Guggenheim fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship and a Rome Prize. He iscurrently in residence at Dartmouth as the Roth Family Visiting Scholar. Since
1999 he has served as Artistic Director of Dream Music Puppetry at HERE in
New York City.
Yumiko Tanaka (Musical Director, Sound Designer and Musician) received
an MA in Musicology from Tokyo University of the Arts. In 1979, she began
studying with gidayu recitation artist and Living National Treasure Takemoto
Komanosuke, and the following year, she became a disciple of the late
Nozawa Kinshi IV, a gidayu shamisen master and Living National Treasurein bunraku. Equally at home as a performer of new music, her credits range
from performing with orchestras such as the Tokyo Metropolitan SymphonyOrchestra and the New York Philharmonic to collaborating with pioneers
in the world of jazz and experimental improvisation, including Kazumi
Watanabe, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Otomo Yoshihide, Akira Sakata, Kazutoku
Umezu, Ned Rothenberg, Kiyohiko Semba, Asuka Kaneko, Samm Bennet,
David Moss, Carl Stone, John Zorn, Elliot Sharp and Butch Morris. She has
performed in numerous notable venues, including Avery Fisher and Halls andactively collaborated on several other acclaimed stage works such as Heiner
Goebbels’ Hashirigaki and the Taiwanese/Japanese multimedia work Namino shitanimo miyako no saburafuzo. She also extensively tours nationally andinternationally for collaborative and solo performances. She is the editor of
Marugoto Shamisen no Hon (Book of Shamisen) and co-author of schola vol.
14: Traditional Music of Japan, supervised by Ryuichi Sakamoto. She received
a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council for her residency in New York Cityin 2006-07, and served as the 2008 Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas
Training Special Dispatch for Performing Arts in New York. She is a former
associate professor at Hyogo University of Education, and is currently a joint
researcher at the Research Centre for Traditional Japanese Music at the Kyoto
City University of Arts.
Yoko Reikano Kimura (Musician) is a New York-based shamisen and kotomusician. Her playing and singing has been hailed as “superb” by The New YorkTimes. Kimura has held recitals annually and concertized in over 20 countries

at prestigious venues such as the Warsaw Autumn Festival, Israel Festival,
The University of Cambridge, John F. Kennedy Center, Kabuki-za in Tokyo andvarious World Heritage Sites. Kimura started learning koto at an early age, andsince 1992, she has studied with Kono Kameyama, the preeminent disciple ofthe legendary Yamada-school koto performer, and Kin’ichi Nakanoshima, a
Living National Treasure. She also studied shamisen with Senko Yamabiko, a
Living National Treasure, and Akiko Nishigata. Kimura graduated from Tokyo
University of the Arts and received a scholarship from the Agency of Cultural
Affairs of Japan. Her awards include the First prize at the 10th Kenjun Memorial
National Koto Competition. She also served as a Japanese music consultant
for Carnegie Hall’s educational program in 2022. Kimura is an ardent championof Koto Concerto: Genji, composed by Daron Hagen, and is scheduled toperform it at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in 2025. Kimura isa founder of Duo YUMENO with cellist, Hikaru Tamaki. The duo received the24th Aoyama Music Award and held its 10th anniversary recital at Weill RecitalHall at Carnegie Hall in 2019. Their new album Heike Quinto was released by
Naxos Records in 2024. < www.yokoreikanokimura.com >Kate Brehm (Puppeteer) joined the cast of Dogugaeshi in 2007 when
they toured Japan. She teaches puppetry and physical theater at Harvard
University; is the recipient of three Henson Foundation awards; andprofessionally certified in the Margolis Method. Performing credits include:
Symphonie Fantastique, The Rite of Spring, Petrushka, Arias With A Twist(Basil Twist), La Divina Caricatura (Mabou Mines), Things Fall Apart (imnotlost);
Directing: The Poacher (Harvard), The Eye Which We Do Not Have (imnotlost);
Puppet Movement Direction: Hansel and Gretel (Detroit Opera), Dorothy
and the Prince of Oz (Ballet Met) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory(Broadway). Design: The Odyssey (ART). < www.katebrehm.com >Ben Elling (Puppeteer) is a puppeteer and theatrical technician. In addition to
his work on Dogugaeshi, Ben has collaborated with Tandem Otter on several
productions including Symphonie Fantastique,The Rite of Spring and Sister’s
Follies.
David Ojala (Puppeteer and Technical Director) is a theatrical artist formerly
living and working in New York City. He is a performer, lighting designer, scenic

designer and carpenter. Ojala has worked with Basil Twist on Arias with a Twist,
Symphonie Fantastique, Dogugaeshi as well as the world premiere of The Riteof Spring and again at the Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival in 2014. Hecurrently lives in Berlin with his wife and son, where he works as the technicaldirector for TD Berlin, a studio theater focusing on independent new works oftheater in Germany.
Jessica Scott (Puppeteer) has performed in Dogugaeshi as part of the original
puppeteer cast since its world premiere at Japan Society in 2004. Over the
past 25 years she has worked with Basil Twist, Mabou Mines, Improbable
Theater, Julian Crouch, Pee-wee Herman, Bjork, Moises Kaufman and manyothers in theater, film and mediums in between. She is also a puppet designer,
director, sculptor, art thinker and a PhD student in History at University of
Massachusetts Amherst, where she received her MFA in Studio Arts in 2022.
<www.jessicaantoniascott.net >ABOUT THE DESIGNERS
Greg Duffin (Sound Designer) is the original sound designer for Dogugaeshi andhas worked with Basil Twist on his other shows: Symphonie Fantastique, Arias
with A Twist and Seafoam Sleepwalk. Greg has toured the world with artists andcurrently works mainly with musical acts and large-scale corporate events.
Peter Flaherty (Projection Designer) is a director and video artist whose work
has been shown in theaters, galleries and museums internationally. Recent
directing credits include: Signal From Shore (Best Short: Zero Film Festival),
Soul Leaves Her Body (HERE Arts Center), Pass Back a Revolver (Institute ofContemporary Art, Philadelphia). Video Design: Parsifal (Metropolitan Opera,
February 2013). Broadway: Sondheim on Sondheim at Roundabout Theatre.
Theater collaborators: The Builders Association, Complicite, Francois Girard,
James Lapine, Chen Shi-Zheng, Basil Twist, Bang on a Can. Video art: MIT
Media Lab, Fleisher-Ollman Gallery, the home of Agnes Gund (President
Emerita of MoMA).
Andrew Hill (Lighting Designer) has worked with Basil Twist on Symphonie
Fantastique at HERE and around the world, Ottorino Respighi’s La belladormente nel bosco at the Spoleto Festival USA and Lincoln Center Festival
and Petrushka at Lincoln Center. Other designs include GAle GAtes et al’s So
Long Ago I Can’t Remember, Len Jenkin’s Margo Veil and Like I Say at the Flea
Theater, Big Dance Theater’s Shunkin at Jacob’s Pillow and The Kitchen and
the Alexander Archipenko exhibit at The Ukrainian Museum.
Neelam Vaswani (Production Stage Manager) originally from Atlanta, GA,
has lived in NYC for the past 24 years working as a Director of Production,
Production Manager and Production Stage Manager in live events, theatre, film
festivals and academia. She spent 7 years at Sarah Lawrence College as the
Director of Production and faculty in Stage Management and has also taught
production at MMC. She is currently the Director of Production for Tribeca
Film Festival and Event Manager for Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Lightscape.
Neelam’s work in the theater has taken her all over the US and the globe toplaces like France, Stockholm, Edinburgh and Singapore. She has worked on
the majority of Basil Twist’s repertoire, including Arias With A Twist, MasterPeter’s Puppet Show, Petrushka, Seafoam Sleepwalk, La bella dormente
nel bosco and Dogugaeshi – which happens to be her favorite of all Basil’s
repertoire, so working on this 20th anniversary production is very special andclose to her heart.

Basil Twist extends his deep thanks to the following individuals andorganizations who assisted him greatly in his research and development
for the piece: Jane Marie Law, Michiko Ueno Herr, Ralph Samuelson, Georg
Kochi, The Kyoto Arts Center, Mariko Kojima, The National Bunraku Theatre,
Sakashu Village Theater, Kawamata Village Theater, Mr. Naozumi Yokoyama(Kawamata City Board of Education), Bando Sentaro, Mitsuyo Matsuyama andMr. Umazume (Awaji Puppet Theater), Kimi Yamada, Prof. Nobuko Shinohara(University of Shikoku), Mr. Shibahara (Inukai Village Theater Preservant
Society), Awaji Puppet Museum, Naori Ishikawa, Toru Koyumada, Sean Ellwood,
Ruby Lerner, Bill and Lynne Twist, Chie Otsuka, Amanda Frou, Oliver Dalzell,
Laetitia Hussain, Kevin Taylor, Jessica Gengsley and Philippe Rodriguez Jorda.

Ningyo! A Parade of Puppetry Series continues with:TRADITIONAL PUPPET THEATERNational Bunraku Theater
Thursday, Oct. 3 at 7 pm
— Followed by a Gallery Exhibition opening reception

Friday, Oct. 4 at 7:30 pm— Followed by an artist Q&A

Saturday, Oct. 5 at 3 pm and 7:30 pm

CONTEMPORARY PUPPET THEATER

Yoko Shioya 20/20:
Celebrating 20 Years of Artistic Vision
For over seventy years, Japan Society’s Performing Arts
Program has enriched the arts in New York City, the U.S. andbeyond through the presentation of artists whose works areformed or inspired by the arts and culture of Japan. Taking the
mantle as head of Japan Society’s Performing Arts Programin 2004, Yoko Shioya has carried this mission through the 21st
century, programming over 200 events of the finest Japanesetheater, dance, and music from the very traditional to the most
cutting edge. Join us in celebrating Japan Society’s Artistic
Director Yoko Shioya’s 20th anniversary and support the futureof the Performing Arts Program! Your donation today will maketomorrow’s unparalleled cultural experience possible.

Shinnai Meets Puppetry: One Nightin Winter & The Peony Lantern
Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 pm
Friday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 pm— Followed by an artist Q&A

Saturday, Nov. 9 at 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm

SILENT FILM AND LIVE PERFORMANCEThe Benshi Tradition and theSilver Screen: A Japanese Puppetry
Spin-OffThursday, Dec. 12 at 7:30 pm – A Diary of Chuji’s Travel— Followed by a Private Gathering for Artists and Members

Friday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 pm – Chushingura— Followed by an artist Q&A

JAPAN SOCIETY SUPPORTERS (as of June 30, 2024)$100,000 and above$25,000 - $49,999

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Brother International Corporation
Barbara Bertozzi Castelli
Mr. Seth Coren and Yana Coren
Mrs. Jane B. DeBevoise
DLI NORTH AMERICA, INC.
(Dai-ichi Life Group)
Mr. George Gallagher
Professor Carol Gluck
Harkness Foundation for Dance*
Professor Keiko Honda
David S. Howe
Jiji Press America, Ltd.
Ms. Pamela Keld and Mr. Mark Imhof
Akiko Koide and Shohei Koide
Frodo and Sam Krull
Kyodo News America, Inc.
Mrs. Jane Lombard
Julia E. Lourie
Geoff and Fumi MattersM
Ms. Akiko Mikumo*
Mitsui Chemicals America, Inc.
Mitsui Fudosan America, Inc.
Monex Group, Inc.
Miyeko Murase
NHK General Bureau for America
Nikon Inc.
Nitto, Inc.
Kenneth O’Friel
Yoko Okamoto and James
Dell’Olio
Hiroko Onoyama*
Joseph Rajaratnam andDharshini Iolanthe
Sivakumaran
Mr. Eugene Reilly and Ms. Marlene
RosenthalAnne Robinson and Olivia Fischer
The Saison Foundation*
Sapporo Stone Brewing Co
Mr. Frederick H. Schultz, Jr. and
Ms. Carole Aoki
Paul and Yoshiko Sheard
Ms. Robin B. Stern and Mr. Jeffrey
Stern
Estate of Alan M. Suhonen*
TOKYU HOTELS CO., LTD.
Dr. and Mrs. Carl F. Taeusch II*

Wegmans Food Market
Well Go USA, Inc.
Roger L. Weston
Mr. Perry Wolfman$1,000 - $1,9999
Jono Abrams and Elizabeth Linn
Young Jun Ahn and Yeonjoo Kim
Ms. Hope Aldrich and Mr. Michael
B. Jeffers
Anonymous (3)Myer Berlow and Deborah Barr
Jim and Yuko Brumm
Ms. Rebecca D. Bullard
Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Catanzaro
Jim Chervenak
Mr. David C. Chou*
Mr. Robert Cory and Mr.
Shuichiro Takeda
Mrs. Anne N. J. Dawson and Mr.
Alec R. Dawson
Harry Dreizen and Nana Onishi
Mr. Stuart Eisenkraft and Ms.
Marilyn Hoffman
Landon Epps and Sarah Choi
Brendan and Jenifer Garvey
Mr. Steven Glass and Ms.
Sakurako Kataoka
Jennifer Gordon and Richard
Shanley*
Wendy and Leeds Gulick
Ms. Patricia Hallstein and Mr.
Axel Kramer
Ms. Vivian Hanson
Mr. Daniel Harari and Ms. Kornelia
HarariDr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Heffner
Akinori Hiroki
Mr. George P. Hirose
Glenn Hubbard
Dr. Bic Kanayjorn
Ms. Susan R. Kessler
Airi Kohlbach and Griffin Smith*
Ms. Ichun Lai and Mr. Michael
Kitsis
Monica and Edward Lenci
Mr. Leonard M. Levie*
Ms. Sarah Lubman
Mr. Marc Mailhot
Ms. Yoko Makino
Carol Mandel and Vincent T.
Covello

Victoria Melendez
Joan B. Mirviss
Marjorie Neuwirth
Nomura Foundation*
Pamela Perlman*
Indre and Justin Rockefeller
Ronin Gallery NYC
Mr. Jonathan Rouner and Ms.
Katrin Rouner
Dr. Ling Yu ShihSarah Billinghurst Solomon*
Mr. Michael W. Sonnenfeldt andKatja B. Goldman
Dr. Patricia M. Sovern
Kiyoka Tanaka
Nora and David Tezanos
Estate of Shinichiro Torii
Mr. John Trammell
William N. Traylor and Sharon A.
Lundstorm
Mr. Bon Yagi and Mrs. Tomoko Yagi
Hua Zhou$2,000 - $4,999
Diane and Arthur Abbey
Hassan V. Ahmed
Mr. Laurence W. Bates and Mr.
Paul B. Ma
Graeme Birchall and Katya
HansenMs. Cathy Caplan and Mr.
Grahame Weinbren
Mr. Marco A. Cardamone andMrs. Paula F. Cardamone
Mr. Michael S.T. ChinJohn A. Crawford and Ivone
CamargoTom Crouse and Kay Enokido
Ms. Deborah Dwyer and Mr.
Michael Feirtag
Abigail and Rick Elbaum c/o EBAFoundation
Miles Gilhuly and Rina Gilhuly
Mr. Tim Goodell
Ms. Amy Hawley and Mr. Franz
Alvarez
Mr. Kazumi Hayama
Sherri Haymond and Jason
HaymondLaurent Hermouet and William
SauterMr. Mac Jeffery and Ms. Maki
TakanoMs. Laura R. Johnson
Patricia Kovatch and RobertHarrison
Ms. Laura Kriska
Mrs. Geraldine S. Kunstadter
Mr. Chin L. Kuo
Ms. Mary E. La Fosse and Mr.
Justin Schmidt
Paula S. Lawrence*John Lipsky and Zsuzsanna
KaraszMs. Hui Liu and Zuyi Wang
Richard R. Lury, Esq. and Mrs.
Gemma Lury
Mr. Edward Mafoud and Mrs.
Marisol Mafoud
Leigh A Martin-Brillis
Mr. Jonathan B. Miller and Ms.
Nancy Workman
Etsuko O. Morris
Dr. and Mrs. Robert A. Myers
Mr. Naoto Nakagawa and Mrs.
Caroline Press
Soffiyah Nasher
Ms. Eri Nishikawa
Michela Nonis and Robert Moss
Hugh Patrick
Mr. Michael N. Reynnells
Michael Romano
Mrs. Susan S. Savitsky and Mr.
Gerald Savitsky
Mrs. Kiyomi Shimizu-Kouba
Mr. Leonard I. Solondz andMrs. Renee Goodstein Solondz
Misaki Sumiya
Rihaku Syuzo
Mr. Akihito Uesada
Grant Vingoe and Nancy
MatsumotoJapan Society has received matching
gifts from the following companies:
Ameriprise Financial Services
Apollo Global Management, Inc.
Bloomberg Philanthropy
BNY Mellon
The Capital Group Companies
Caterpillar Foundation
Goldman Sachs
Google Inc.
HSBC USA Inc.
IAC Group North America, Inc.
Johnson & Johnson
JPMorgan Chase
MasterCard
MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group)
Pokémon USA
S&P Global
Texas Instruments

To become a Japan Society member or support
the Performing Arts Program or other programs,
please contact membership@japansociety.org or(212) 715-1270.
*Japan Society acknowledges with gratitude thegenerous donors who contribute specifically to
the Performing Arts Program and projects.
M

Japan Society gratefully acknowledges donors
who have had their contributions matched bytheir employer.
Member of the John D. Rockefeller 3rd
Society, individuals who have named Japan
Society as a beneficiary of their future estates.

JDR

This list includes contributions received between
July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, exclusive of
support for the Annual Dinner.

Esther Wan

To become a Japan Society member or support the Performing
Arts Program or other programs, please contact
membership@japansociety.org or (212) 715-1270.

Japan Society Gallery Exhibition

October 4, 2024 — January 19, 2025
Yuichiro Tamura, Invisible Hands, 2022.
3-channel video, sound, inkjet print, ceramic, and shop curtain.
Collection of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo.

BunrakuBackstage

Alongside the live bunraku performances held at Japan Society this fall,
Bunraku Backstage offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the theater.
Showcasing actual working puppets, props, instruments, and costumes
on loan from the National Bunraku Theatre, Osaka, this exhibition
unveils the collaboration that goes into staging a bunraku production.
Unexpected bunraku-inspired multimedia works by contemporary artists
explore bunraku’s ongoing inspiration and influence.

JAPAN SOCIETY STAFF FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAMPRESIDENT & CEO:

Joshua W. Walker, Ph.D.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR:

Yoko Shioya

PERFORMING ARTS:

Futoshi Miyai, Director of Productions & Technical Management
Karin Yamamoto, Senior Program Officer
Padraic Costello, Program Officer

DEVELOPMENT:Gregory Corsico, Chief Development Officer
Todd Nicholson, Director, Major Gifts
Nozomi Iizuka, Director, Corporate Partnerships
Mika Nagasaki, Director, Foundation & Government Relations
Nicholas Bianchi, Manager, Development Operations
Jamie Hook, Officer, Foundation & Government Relations
Ann Niehoff, Development Officer
Pauline Fan Bu, Associate, Corporate Partnerships
Paige Jones, Development Associate, Foundation & Government Relations
Akane Ohara, Officer, Corporate Partnerships
Taina Rodriguez, Manager, Visitor Engagement
Brandy Wang, Associate, Donor Engagement
Sandy Zheng, Associate, Corporate Partnerships

MEDIA & MARKETING:

Ben Warren, Director, Media & Marketing
Cynthia Sternau, Managing Editor & Archivist
Erica Ohmi, Graphic Designer
Nestor Martinez, Senior Website Manager
Kazuho Yamamoto, Marketing & Communications Manager
Camille Miller, Direct Marketing & Social Media Assistant Manager

HOUSE OPERATIONS:

Kimberly Woodward, Senior Director, Operations
Tatum Alli, Rental Event Manager
Carmen Ben, Director, House Activities

CONSULTANTS:PRODUCTION STAFF:

Keiko Kato, Esq., Law Offices of Keiko Kato, Legal Counsel
Takaaki Ando, Sound & AV Engineer
Ayako Moriyama, Sound & Video AssistantMarie Yokoyama, Ayumu “Poe” Saegusa, Tsubasa Kamei, Asami Morita
Resident Lighting Designers

National Bunraku Theater © Photo by Tomoko Ogawa;Dogugaeshi © Photo by Richard Termine; The Benshi Tradition
and the Silver Screen: A Japanese Puppetry Spin-off ©
Masami Suzuki; One Night in Winter © Richard Termine

333 East 47th Street | New York, NY 10017 | japansociety.org