Event Report - A Muse of Fire - A Success!

February 19, 2007 (edit: February 23, 2007) | andrew | 0 comments

On Feb. 2nd, Yokohama Theatre Group held the first readings of 2007 at Nigiwaiza small hall. YTG is 106 year-old organization that has been historically run by expatriates. Nigiwaiza is located close to Sakuragicho station in Yokohama.

WRITTEN BY KEIKO AMANO: Andrew Woolner, the Artistic Director, opened the program with the excerpt from Henry V and captivated the audience. The readings covered poems and excerpts from novels, plays, and essays, and the performers variously spoke English and Japanese and some French. Some of my Japanese friends from my read-out-loud class came and read my Beatles and student activism stories in Japanese. Andrew read my Beatles story in English. His articulated words sent me back to 1966.

Francoise Gentil spoke about Louisiana and its tall tale tradition, falling in and out of English and various dialects of Louisianan French. David Montero ran the fast manga-like rat story with Spanish flavor. Each reader contributed a unique and exciting story in content and language, but with too many to mention, I will single out the reading done by Timothy Evans. He is the head of Performing Arts at Yokohama International School. He acted out an excerpt of his plays, a trilogy, set in Malaysia.

Tim’s adversarial dialogues grabbed the audience’s attention. They were laughing and giggling. After reading excerpts from ‘Remain Standing’ and ‘Pouring Out of Me‘, he was on his bottom, circling. That was an episode from the third, unfinished play, in the trilogy, ‘Dancing on My Bottom.’ Even though my Japanese friends didn’t understand the language, they told me how good Tim was. I guess good acting does not need translation. But of course, the Japanese audience were eager to someday see the translated text. This left a challenge for us for organizing future events...

Anyhow, as the result of Tim’s performance, I read his first two books and began converting my stories into a play starting very next day. Who knows? It could turn into a trilogy, too. Tim: I hope to read ‘Dancing on my bottom’ soon.

When I returned to Yokohama, after many years abroad, I left my dear writing groups in Los Angeles. I missed them very much. But as always, after I lose something, I gain something in return. That seems to be the law in life and writing. And to me, this time, the return is huge.

Folks! Come join YTG, and inspire and be inspired by creative bunch of people!

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Keiko Amano is Secretary / Communications Director of the YTG Board of Directors

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