Incorporating the idea of support and blessings for those who experienced great hardship due to coronavirus and those overcoming the pandemic, this project entailed the performance in New York – which suffered unprecedented damage in the COVID-19 pandemic – of two works in Japan’s great traditional performing art form of Noh, with its underlying themes such as eternal youth and immortality, ritual to ward off pestilence, and celebration of life. The production provided an opportunity for audiences to experience a sense that concepts such as eternal youth and immortality and protection against pestilence are fundamental and universal human concerns regardless of East or West, or period in time. The production also provided the opportunity for reaffirming the importance of being able to express and appreciate these concerns in everyday life in the form of performing arts.
By holding a stage performance during the pandemic from a new angle, organizers were able to attract a high level of interest from the media and audiences in the US, to provide audiences unfamiliar with Japan’s traditional performing arts with the opportunity to experience a top-drawer stage production, and to introduce the appeal of these traditions. With the addition of workshops and lectures on Noh, organizers hope that US-based artists will be influenced by this project and incorporate elements of Japanese performing arts into their own works going forward, and that they will have the opportunity in future for collaborations with Japanese artists.