This Lingering Life

This Lingering Life

… a funny, wise, philosophical and thought-provoking puzzle of a show.

… the play is based on (and takes some of its stylized movement and spare staging elements from) the ancient Japanese art form called Noh. At the same time, its themes, pronouncements, questions and emotions are entirely contemporary. The wild series of interwoven vignettes — addressing the concept of karma — combine characters that cross cultures, centuries and living vs. spirit worlds. San Francisco Examiner

About the Work

This Lingering Life is a new kind of play that hearkens to tradition while also reaching out from it. Its performance, likewise, demanded both deep respect for and bold departure from traditional dramatic paradigms. Chiori wrote a distinctly contemporary and Western play with the intensity of the classical Japanese dramas at its root.  A battle is fought on a shore, a crazy woman looks for her kidnapped son at a bus station, a father and son have a falling out that results in the son’s becoming blind and homeless, parents conspire to break up their daughter’s relationship by drowning her lover, a poor old man falls in love with a wealthy young girl and commits suicide, and life goes on with people bumping into one another before and after death and in between.  It is a tragicomedy about eternal human attachments.

Here is the program

Here is the poster

World Premiere Produced and Presented by: Theatre of Yugen

Playwright: Chiori Miyagawa

Direction: Jubilith Moore

Assistant Direction: Emily Mendelsohn

Dramatury: Eugenie Chan

Sound Design: Michael Gardiner

Set: Mikiko Uesugi

Costume: Callie Floor

Lighting: Allen Willner

Props: Sheila Berotti | Sheila Devitt

Production Manager: Josh McDermott

Stage Management: Justine Fernandez

Performers: Sheila Berotti | Sheila Devitt | Michael Gardiner | Nick Ishimura | Hannah Lennett | Alexander Lydon | Ryan Marchand | Jubilith Moore | Norman Munoz | Lluis Valls

Photos and Graphic Design: Charlene Formenty

Publicity: Lisa Geduklig

Education Outreach: Edith Newton

Premiere May 27, 2010.

Premiere June 2014 | Z Space | San Francisco