Bluffton native Rick Emmert (BHS 1968 graduate) sends The Icon this update on several projects involving him.

Theatre Nohgaku, which I founded in 2000, is having its first Asian tour at the end of June and beginning of July.

We think we have a great performance that shows off both the power and beauty of noh theater and our own continually improving abilities as a company-the only theater company doing English noh in complete traditional style.

As our first Asia tour which also features a performance in the prestigious National Noh Theater in Tokyo, this is a huge opportunity for our company and we want as many people as possible to see our work.

Theatre Nohgaku is pleased to announce its upcoming June-July tour of the highly acclaimed English Noh play Pagoda in Tokyo, Kyoto, Beijing and Hong Kong.

Pagoda was premiered jointly by Theatre Nohgaku and Oshima Noh Theatre in 2009 to packed houses in London, Dublin, Oxford and Paris. The upcoming tour will be the Asian premiere of the play as well as Theatre Nohgaku's first Asian tour.

Once again, the two companies will be performing jointly: in Tokyo on June 28th at the National Noh Theater; in Kyoto on June 30th at the Kongo Noh Theater; in Beijing on July 2nd at the Contemporary Arts Centre, and July 4th at the National Centre for the Performing Arts; and in Hong Kong on July 6th at the Academy of Performing Arts.

The tour is sponsored by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunka-cho) as well Mitsubishi Electric and SMBC Europe. Further support comes from the British Council in Tokyo, Beijing and Hong Kong, the American Embassies in Tokyo and Beijing, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong, and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong.

Pagoda, written by British playwright Jannette Cheong with music and direction by Theatre Nohgaku artistic director Richard Emmert, is rooted in the story of the author's grandmother who sent her son, Cheong's father, away to sea when he was a young boy to avoid the famine that ravaged China's rural coastline areas in the 1920s.

He never returned to China. After his death in London in the 1970s, Ms. Cheong herself made the journey to China to find her father's birthplace. Her family's experiences, at once both tragic and uplifting, are combined with an ancient Chinese legend about a pagoda to form the basis of this piece.

Theatre Nohgaku is an international company comprised of Japan and North American-based members whose mission is to create and present English-language plays in traditional noh style complete with noh music and movement as well as masks and costumes, all in the traditional noh style.

Founded by artistic director, Richard Emmert, Theatre Nohgaku serves as a unique cultural and artistic intermediary between Japan and the English-speaking world.

Theatre Nohgaku members performing in this production are Jubilith Moore (waki secondary role), Elizabeth Dowd (tsure accompanying shite role), Lluis Valls (ai interlude role), and chorus members Rick Emmert, David Crandall, John Oglevee, James Ferner, Matt Dubroff, Greg Giovanni, Tom O'Connor and David Surtasky.

The Oshima Noh Theatre is affiliated with the Kita school of noh, one of the five main-actor noh schools in Japan. One of the most active traditional noh families, it is headed by Masanobu Oshima, an important intangible cultural asset as designated by the Japanese government.

His daughter, Kinue, the sole female professional performer in the Kita school, will perform the lead role in Pagoda while his son, Teruhisa, an experienced young professional Kita school actor, will also perform a tsure accompanying shite role.

The program will also include an excerpt from the classical Japanese noh play Takasago again performed by both groups.

For details about the production contact or see any of the following:

Theatre Nohgaku Tel: 03-3373-0553 (Japan) [email protected] / http://www.theatrenohgaku.org