Producer and actor Mayu Iwasaki is passionate about bringing Japanese stories to the English-language stage that go beyond stereotypes of geisha and ninja-like characters. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025/08/22/stage/hisashi-inoue-play-english/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #culture #stage #nihonhidankyo #theater #omusubiproductions #hisashiinoue #rogerpulvers #mayuiwasaki #hiroshima
“The shadows tell the story”: Shadow puppetry company Mochinosha has crafted a unique aesthetic influenced by Japanese tradition, contemporary politics and everyday encounters. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2025/08/22/our-lives/mochinosha-puppetry-seri-yanai/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #community #ourlives #puppets #performingart #stage #theater #bunraku #anime
I've been slowly working on a new theater mask between projects.
Tonight I sculpted some teeth for the face, and I was reminded that I'm likely a clown and definitely not an orthodontist.
These are initial sculpts, and still need fine tuning before painting. Despite this, I know they are headed in the right direction because they already amuse and gross me out simultaneously.
The same teeth, arranged in a curve approximating their final position in the mask. (not shown)
The teeth, sculpted from thermoplastic, positioned on a piece of tape over the sketch.
A "not trash, no touchy" sign can be seen in the background.
The Cultural Affairs Agency is considering providing tax relief to operators of movie theaters if they renovate them to improve accessibility for people with disabilities, officials said. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/14/japan/tax-relief-barrier-free-theater/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #theater #taxes
Today, I came across three crates of theater masks while moving stuff around.
I forgot how much personality these paper people have. I laugh every time I see them, even sitting in a box.
I'm looking forward to inviting them onto the stage here to play.
Sung in Japanese, German and Ukrainian, “Natasha” tells the story of an immigrant wandering through a series of hells on Earth. The modern opera opens in Tokyo with a star-studded crosscultural team behind it. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025/08/09/stage/natasha-opera-japan/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #culture #stage #newnationaltheatretokyo #opera #theater #yokotawada #kazushiono #toshiohosokawa
Alex Akselrod
boosted
Wish I could see this lol😁 written by Mikhl Yashinsky, who I'm obsessed about, directed by Michael “Mikhele” Leibenluft, music by the same musician trio who created Shterna and the Lost Voice. A very gay #Yiddish musical
https://forward.com/culture/theater/733918/kinky-yiddish-musical/
Wish I could see this lol😁 written by Mikhl Yashinsky, who I'm obsessed about, directed by Michael “Mikhele” Leibenluft, music by the same musician trio who created Shterna and the Lost Voice. A very gay #Yiddish musical
https://forward.com/culture/theater/733918/kinky-yiddish-musical/
Once you learn the terminology for kabuki, step farther into the world by recognizing the classical Japanese used in its scripts. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/06/26/language/japanese-kabuki-terms-language/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #life #language #nihongo #vocabulary #kabuki #theater
Woah, last weekend I presented two evenings of almost non-stop music in the Temple of Italian songwriting, the Club Tenco headquarters. It was incredible to introduce on-stage talented and marvellous human beings who performed awesome music.
Club Tenco is one of those sacred institutions with an incredible history that, unfortunately, are dying because of the lack of young participants.
Since 2017, I am one of the only five under-50 members of the association, and it’s saddening, but also it makes our involvement so special! I am glad the @scambi team (fourth picture) is joining the resistance. If it’s happening, it’s thanks to my wonderful friend Francesco Maccario, a grumpy yet committed Club Tenco member who valued our participation since we were 17, and who now still fights for our voice as young members to be heard.
This is the stuff I love.
Not caring about huge stages nor big crowds, fucking the capitalistic and empty music industry, resisting by still listening to the words in a song, by getting together despite everything and listening to/making/playing music. A bit like what @radiofreefedi and @musicbrainz represent in the digital domain.
Please read the alt text for more context about the pictures.
(I am sorry there are mostly pictures of me, but these are the only ones they sent me. I am egocentric, yes, but not that much 😬)
A photo of me on stage with other six members of the Scambi staff.
Me and my friend Francesco maccario on stage.
A picture of me on stage, and behind me framed pictures of some of the greatest Italian songwriters who ever lived (from the top-left clockwise): Roberto Vecchioni, Fabrizio De Andrè, Francesco Guccini, Franco Battiato, Paolo Conte, Francesco De Gregori.
A picture of me on stage with Tommy from the band “Filodiretto”
Fun story:
it is one of my greatest dreams to host the “Rassegna della Canzone d’Autore” one of the most renowned international prizes for songwriting, held at Ariston, the same theatre where the Festival di Sanremo (the Italian Eurovision) takes place. Antonio Silva, the current presenter who has been the only presenter Club Tenco has ever had since the first Rassegna in 1974, knows about my ambition, and he considers me his nemesis, but deep down we love each other.
Oh, this is not the story, actually It was just the premise. Here’s the story:
The first time he allowed me on stage with him, it was in a minor event of Club Tenco in la Pigna (where @scambi takes place), in 2018. I still remember vividly going on that stage under huge pressure, and introducing Enrico Nigiotti. While that was happening, the historical photographer of Club Tenco, my friend Mauro Vigorosi, shot the first picture you see in this post. It became my profile picture almost everywhere.
Last weekend, almost seven years after that picture, Mauro shot another one, the second one you see here.
Obviously, it totally has to become my new profile picture, now.
End of stori*es*.
#Sanremo#Festival#Sanremo2025#FestivalDiSanremo#Tenco#ClubTenco#Rassegna#Ariston #teatro #theater #music #musica #cantautorato #songwriting
A picture of me still presenting, but this time in the Club Tenco headquarters in Sanremo, Italy. Shot by Mauro Vigorosi.
A picture of me presenting Tenco Ascolta 2018 in La Pigna, Sanremo, Italy. Shot by Mauro Vigorosi.
There are still seats available to see Susie Eddie Izzard's one-person Hamlet at ACT today and tomorrow, and if you are a fan of Izzard I suggest you go. I did not think she was going to be able to pull it off in the show's first few minutes but it really becomes quite a performance. #sfba #sf #theater