Japan Society: Online Contemporary Theater
Saturday, March 6, 9:30; Sunday, March 7, 4:30; Thursday, March 11, 8:00 (followed by a live Q&A), $15
Available on demand March 12—26, $15
www.japansociety.org
ayaogawa.com
In 2015 at Walker Space, Tokyo-born, Brooklyn-based playwright, director, performer, and translator Aya Ogawa debuted Ludic Proxy, a three-part immersive, apocalyptic play that takes place in the past (Pripyat, post-Chernobyl), the present (Fukushima, post-disaster), and the future (New York, underground). Ogawa has now adapted the middle section for the virtual multimedia production Ludic Proxy: Fukushima, streaming live through Japan Society on March 6, 7, and 11 (and available on demand March 12-26). The title, a phrase coined by a game designer, “refers to the phantom knowledge of something or somewhere real gained through game play,” Ogawa explains in a video about the reimagining. Originally commissioned by PlayCo in 2010, Ogawa was inspired to write Ludic Proxy following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, the death of her mother, and the birth of her second child. “The collision of [these personal life-changing events and the global disasters] created the foundation for this play. And it made me really think about, How does the intrinsic human tendency to play, to want to play, help us process the catastrophes that we experience in life?” she adds. The three-act play gave the audience the opportunity to help direct the narrative, like a choose-your-own-adventure story; that component will be adapted for the virtual presentation, about two sisters (Saori Tsukada as Maho and Yuki Kawahisa as Maki) in Fukushima. Online viewers will be asked to vote on what one of the sisters, an avatar for the audience, says and does, meaning that every live performance is unique.
Live, online show features interactive component for audience to help steer the action (photo © Ludic Proxy: Fukushima 2021)
“During this almost year that we’ve been living through this pandemic, I’ve really been thinking about the Fukushima section,” Ogawa continues. “It has audience interaction built into it that translates naturally to a digital platform but also there is something newly resonant about its premise today in 2021.” The sisters are attempting to connect in a way that relates to the problems so many American families are having today amid different belief systems involving politics and Covid-19, while honoring the tenth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster. If you buy a ticket for March 6 or 7, you will also have access to the subsequent live performances; the March 11 show will be followed by a live Q&A with Ogawa (The Nosebleed, Journey to the Ocean, oph3lia). From March 12 to 26, on-demand viewers will be able to control the path of the prerecorded narrative themselves instead of via online polling by everyone watching. Ludic Proxy: Fukushima is part of Japan Society’s ongoing program “Ten Years Later: Japan Society Remembers 3.11,” which also includes the March 9 symposium “Resiliency & Recovery: A U.S.-Japan Dialogue Ten Years after 3.11” and “Tea Time Season Three: Remembering 3.11.” In addition, Ogawa is the special guest at the next PlayClub on March 9 at 5:00, a live conversation about Toshiki Okada’s 2018 Time’s Journey Through a Room; sign up now to read a copy of the script, which also deals with the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and participate in the discussion, facilitated by Kate Loewald.