MESs

NO BOUNDARIES: A SERIES OF GLOBAL PERFORMANCES

JAPAN

BABY-Q

MESs PHOTO BY SANADA.

WORLD PERFORMANCE PROJECT AT YALE FUNDED BY THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION

MARCH 25 TO 27, 2010 YALE REPERTORY THEATRE JAMES BUNDY, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR VICTORIA NOLAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR AND

WORLD PERFORMANCE PROJECT AT YALE JOSEPH ROACH, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR EMILY COATES, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PRESENT

MESs BY

BABY-Q PERFORMED BY

YOKO HIGASHINO Direction, Choreography YOKO HIGASHINO Direction, Music, Lighting TOSHIO KAJIWARA Production Management, MAKOTO KAWAGUCHI Technical Coordination

MESs premiered on June 12, 2009, at Little More Chika in Tokyo.

Funded in part by the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

MESs IS PERFORMED WITHOUT INTERMISSION. PLEASE JOIN US AFTER THE PERFORMANCE FOR A TALK BACK WITH THE ARTISTS.

NO BOUNDARIES: A SERIES OF GLOBAL PERFORMANCES Presented by Yale Repertory Theatre and World Performance Project at Yale, NO BOUNDARIES celebrates the diversity of voices and experiences in today’s world. NO BOUNDARIES explores—and explodes—the frontiers of theatrical invention through cutting-edge, thought-provoking dance, music, and theatre. Tearing down cultural, linguistic, and geographic barriers, NO BOUNDARIES extends and enhances the educational mission of Yale University through a series of performances by artistic innovators from around the globe—right here in New Haven, right here at Yale.

ABOUT MESs The multimedia performance piece MESs fuses Yoko Higashino’s choreography and dancing with Toshio Kajiwara’s improvisational sound and light score of piercing lasers, flashing LEDs, and a pulsating techno beat. The piece premiered at Little More Chika, a Tokyo gallery and performance space, in 2009.

Devised to be performed in different locations, MESs adapts to the particular space in which it is performed. In the same spirit as other collaborations by Higashino and Kajiwara, it draws inspiration from a single word that has a multiplicity of meanings and conjures contradicting images. In Japanese, “mess” means “female” in the biological sense, but it also is the word for a surgical knife. In English, the word invokes disorder. Working with all of these definitions of “mess,” this performance explores gender and transformation in a seemingly schizophrenic world of constant loss and confusion.

BABY-Q Japanese multimedia performance group Baby-Q draws on the talents of dancers, actors, musicians, and visual artists. Baby-Q’s other works include GEEEEEK, ALARM!, E/G, Rhizome: Mother, Monster, Machine, M..., and I’m aroused.

PHOTOS BY SANADA.

Sleepless nights a screaming broken MESs my nightmares are becoming gradually complex who hates who and so on

I keep throwing it all up cut it up with a MESs then erasing it like your big lies nobody is fatally damaged here but everyone’s dead tired anyway

living day to day in this whatever it is I desire destruction and confusion so I can survive this MESs...

–YOKO HIGASHINO

DRAWING BY YOKO HIGASHINO AND TOSHIO KAJIWARA

BIOGRAPHIES YOKO HIGASHINO has trained in and performed modern dance and ballet since 1982. In 2000, she founded her first company, Error System, with two musicians. She founded Dance Company Baby-Q in 2004. She won the Toyota Choreography Award in 2004 and the Grand Prize in the Yokohama Solo+Duo Competition in 2005. As a solo performer, Higashino has shown her work in a wide variety of venues, including many non-theatrical spaces. Her highly regarded workshops for contemporary dance are offered throughout Japan.

TOSHIO KAJIWARA A Japanese sound performance artist currently based in Tokyo, his obsessive interest in archiving obscure recordings manifested itself in a series of sound performances using record players and tape machines in the early 1990s. He toured and recorded as a member of the Christian Marclay Trio and collaborated extensively with such luminaries as Aki Onda, Tim Barnes, Peter Kowald, Shelley Hirsch, DJ Olive, Marina Rosenfeld, Barry Weisblat, Margalida Garcia, and Okkyung Lee, among others.

In addition to his artistic work, he manages a record store, writes for music magazines, and DJs around town to make ends meet.

MAKOTO KAWAGUCHI studied lighting design and technical management in France. Since 2002, he has served as production manager for several contemporary dance companies in Japan.

WORLD PERFORMANCE PROJECT AT YALE STAFF Joseph Roach, Principal Investigator Emily Coates, Artistic Director Kathryn Krier, Production Manager Joie Chen, Assistant Production Manager Michael Leibenluft, Research Associate

THE WORLD PERFORMANCE PROJECT (WPP) promotes programs in performance studies across departments at Yale. An interdiscipline that draws from the arts, humanities, and human sciences (theater, drama, dance, visual arts, speech, linguistics, anthropology, sociology), performance studies defines as its objects cultural performances of all kinds, from theatrical presentations to rites of passage, and expands its frontiers anywhere significant performances are likely to take place, from Yorubaland to Disneyland.

Working in partnership with departments and programs throughout the university, WPP presents performances, workshops, lectures, and symposia with artists and scholars working in a spectrum of performance forms. Through these events, WPP fosters teaching, research, and publication on performance-related topics.

Originally established with funding provided by a Distinguished Achievement Award granted to Joseph Roach, Sterling Professor of Theater, by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, WPP is affiliated with the Yale College Theater Studies Program and the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale.

For more information about the World Performance Project please visit:

www.yale.edu/wpp

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE STAFF James Bundy, Artistic Director Victoria Nolan, Managing Director Jennifer Kiger, Associate Artistic Director ARTISTIC Resident Artists Paula Vogel, Playwright-in-Residence Liz Diamond, Evan Yionoulis, Resident Directors Catherine Sheehy, Resident Dramaturg Ming Cho Lee, Set Design Advisor Michael Yeargan, Resident Set Designer Jane Greenwood, Costume Design Advisor Jess Goldstein, Resident Costume Designer Jennifer Tipton, Lighting Design Advisor Stephen Strawbridge, Resident Lighting Designer David Budries, Sound Design Advisor Walton Wilson, Voice and Speech Advisor Rick Sordelet, Fight Advisor Mary Hunter, Stage Management Advisor Associate Artists 52nd Street Project, Kama Ginkas, Mark Lamos, MTYZ Theatre/Moscow New Generations Theatre, Bill Rauch, Sarah Ruhl, Henrietta Yanovskaya Commissioned Artists David Adjmi, Todd Almond, Hilary Bell, Adam Bock, Bill Camp, Will Eno, Marcus Gardley, Ann Marie Healy, Amy Herzog, Naomi Iizuka, Dan LeFranc, Liz Meriwether, Scott Murphy, Julie Marie Myatt, Jay Reiss, Sarah Ruhl, Octavio Solis, Paula Vogel, Kathryn Walat, Anne Washburn, Marisa Wegrzyn, Robert Woodruff Artistic Administration Amy Boratko, Literary Manager Alex Grennan, Kay Perdue Meadows, Artistic Coordinators Walter Byongsok Chon, Hannah Rae Montgomery, Brian Valencia, Literary Associates Tara Rubin, CSA, Laura Schutzel, CSA, Casting Directors Eric Woodall, Merri Sugarman, Casting Associates Paige Blansfield, Rebecca Carfagna, Dale Brown, Casting Assistants Ruth M. Feldman, Director of Education and Accessibility Services Teresa Mensz, Library Services Assistant Josie Brown, Senior Administrative Assistant to the Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director Kathleen Driscoll, Senior Administrative Assistant for the Directing, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism, Playwriting, and Stage Management Department Mary Volk, Senior Administrative Assistant for the Design and Sound Design Departments

ADMINISTRATION Michael Barker, Belina Mizrahi, Meghan Pressman, Associate Managing Directors Elizabeth Elliott, Jennifer Harrison Newman, Assistant Managing Directors Katie Liberman, Management Assistant Emalie Mayo, Senior Administrative Assistant to the Managing Director Tara Kayton, Company Manager

Development and Alumni Affairs Deborah S. Berman, Director of Development and Alumni Affairs Debbie Ellinghaus, Senior Associate Director of Development and Alumni Affairs Whitney Estrin, Associate Director of Development Barry Kaplan, Special Projects Susan C. Clark, Development Associate DeDe Jacobs Komisar, Development Assistant Belene Day, Senior Administrative Assistant to Development and Marketing and Communications Finance and Information Technology Katherine D. BurgueĂąo, Director of Finance and Human Resources Sheila Daykin, Associate Director of Finance Cristal Coleman, Magaly Costa, Maria Frey, Business Office Specialists Randall Rode, Information Technology Director Daryl Brereton, Associate Information Technology Director Mara Hazzard, Director, Yale Tessitura Consortium Toni Ann Simiola, Senior Administrative Assistant to Business Office, Information Technology, Operations, and Tessitura Jacqueline Sappleton-Henry, Business Office Assistant Niti Mehta, Information Technology Assistant

Marketing, Communications, and Audience Services Anne Trites, Director of Marketing and Communications Steven Padla, Senior Associate Director of Communications Daniel Cress, Associate Director of Marketing Shinhyoung Shon, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications Devon Smith, Director of Analytics Rachel Smith, Associate Director of Marketing and Audience Services Maggie Elliott, Marketing and Publications Manager Sarah Stevens-Morling, Online Communications and Print Advertising Manager Karena Fiorenza-Ingersoll, Marketing Assistant

Scott McKowen, Punch & Judy Inc., Graphic Designers David Cooper, Photographer Janna J. Ellis, Associate Director of Audience Services and Tessitura Specialist Tracy Baldini, Laura Kirk, Assistant Audience Services Directors London Moses, Audience Services Assistant Courtney Engle, Ruth Kim, Tiffany Lin, Sue Malone, William Smith, Anya Van Wagtendonk, Joanna Wilson, Box Office Assistants Operations Diane Galt, Director of Facility Operations Rich Abrams, Operations Associate Ben Holder, Ron Maybrey, Custodial Supervisors Lucille Bochert, Vermont Ford, Warren Lyde, Vondeen Ricks, Mark Roy, Custodians Theater Safety and Occupational Health William J. Reynolds, Director of Theater Safety and Occupational Health Jacob Thompson, Security Officer Ed Jooss, Audience Safety Officer Fred Grier, Customer Service and Safety Officer PRODUCTION Bronislaw J. Sammler, Production Supervisor James Mountcastle, Production Stage Manager Jonathan Reed, Senior Associate Production Supervisor Marla J. Beck, Senior Administrative Assistant to the Production Department Costumes Tom McAlister, Costume Shop Manager Robin Hirsch, Associate Costume Shop Manager Mary Zihal, Senior Draper Clarissa Wylie Youngberg, Draper Deborah Bloch, First Hand Linda Kelley-Dodd, Costume Project Coordinator Denise O’Brien, Wig and Hair Design Barbara Bodine, Company Hairdresser Linda Wingerter, Costume Stock Manager Robert Snipes, Assistant to the Costume Shop Manager Electrics Donald W. Titus, Lighting Supervisor Jason Wells, Linda Young, Head Electricians

Painting Ru-Jun Wang, Resident Scenic Charge Angie Meninger, Scenic Artist Nora Hyland, Assistant Scenic Artist Jennifer Herbert, Assistant to the Painting Supervisor Properties Brian Cookson, Properties Master David P. Schrader, Properties Craftsperson Jennifer McClure, Properties Assistant Rachel Reynolds, Properties Stock Manager Nishi l. Hamrick, Assistant to the Properties Manager Scenery Don Harvey, Neil Mulligan, Technical Directors Alan Hendrickson, Electro Mechanical Laboratory Supervisor Eric Sparks, Shop Foreman Matt Gaffney, Sharon Reinhart, Master Carpenters Lisa McDaniel, Ryan Gardner, Shop Carpenters Amy Jonas, Michael Backhaus, Assistants to the Technical Director Sound Josh Loar, Sound Supervisor Paul Bozzi, Staff Sound Engineer Palmer Hefferan, Nicholas Pope, Assistants to the Sound Supervisor Projections Erik Trester, Head Projection Technician Stage Operations Janet Cunningham, Stage Carpenter Kate Begley Baker, Properties Runner Charles Harbert, Sound Operator Elizabeth Bolster, Wardrobe Supervisor FOR THIS PRODUCTION Shaminda Amarakoon, Associate Production Supervisor Elizabeth Atkinson, Sound Engineer Valérie Thérèse Bart, Wardrobe Julia C. Lee, Deck Hand Kellen McNally, Stage Carpenter Christopher Swetcky, Master Electrician Elizabeth Elliott, House Manager Sarah Bishop-Stone, Robert Shearin, Jeffrey Smejdir, Benjamin Strange, Kate Wicker, Ushers and Production Crew

MESs March 25 to 27, 2010 Iseman Theater, 1156 Chapel Street

賴聲川

Stan Lai

(Lai Shengchuan)

Week-long Residency, April 5 - 9, 2010 Taiwanese playwright, theatre director, and filmmaker “Asia’s Top Theatre Director” “The best playwright Asiaweek in the Chinese language” BBC

Major events open to the public: Directing / Playwriting MASTER CLASS Tuesday, April 6, 6 pm - 8 pm Theater Studies Ballroom, 220 York St., Rm 101

Berkeley College MASTER’S TEA / Asian American Heritage DINNER keynote speaker Introduced and moderated by DAVID HENRY HWANG Wednesday, April 7, 5 pm - 7 pm Admittance by RSVP Berkeley Dining Hall, 205 Elm Street

DVD FILM SCREENING of Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land (An lian tao hua yuan 1992) Thursday, April 8, 7 pm Linsly-Chittenden 102, 61 High St.

For more information, please contact joie.chen@yale.edu Sponsored by

Berkeley College, the Asian American Cultural Center, the World Performance Project at Yale, the Theater Studies Department, the Council on East Asian Studies, the Film Studies Department, the Yale School of Drama, the Dean of the Arts, and the Chinese Undergraduate Students at Yale

up NEXT YALE REPERtORY tHEAtRE

THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS

By CARLO GOLDONI Adapted by CONStANCE CONGDON From a translation by CHRIStINA SIBUL Directed by CHRIStOPHER BAYES

NOW tHROUGH APRIL 3 yalerep.org YALE REPERtORY tHEAtRE

bATTLE OF bLACk ANd dOgS

By BERNARD-MARIE kOLtÈS Translated by MICHAËL AttIAS

Directed by ROBERt WOODRUFF

PHOTO BY DAVID COOPER

APRIL 16 tO MAY 8 yalerep.org

YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA

CARLOTTA FESTIVAL OF NEW pLAYS MAY 9 tO 15 drama.yale.edu

For tickets or more information, call 203.432.1234