From the Paper
"This paper will be concerned with the Kabuki theater of Japan. It will discuss the virtuosity and techniques of the Kabuki actor, as well as the use of body language as it pertains to Japanese concepts of space. The origins of the Kabuki in Japan can be traced to the city of Kyoto in the early 17th century, A.D. Although the Kabuki is performed exclusively by men today, it was originally founded by a woman named Izumo no Okuni. Okuni led a group of women, most of whom were prostitutes, in the performance of narrative dances for the public. In this way, dance was used not just for its own sake but for the purpose of telling a story to the audience. Specifically, the gestures and body language of the dancers were used to tell the story while at the same time expressing the emotions of the characters. This was an important innovation in ... "

Abstract
This paper presents an overview of kabuki, including its origins, role in Asian culture, and aspects of performance. Discussion of how Shakespeare's works have been adapted to a kabuki form dominate the paper. Special attention is paid to the woman's role in kabuki theater.

From the Paper
"Drama is an ancient art form, steeped in various world traditions that have many precepts and edicts of rehearsal, production, and performance. The following is a presentation of two viewpoints, and the repercussions of the fusion of the traditions in performance and translation. The Asian world views performance as an attainment of character through repetition and form-study, to learn not just the dialogue and songs of a samurai or handmaiden, but to become that character using extra-ordinary body position (termed "extra-daily technique"), elaborate costumes and makeup, as well as traditional music. There are several styles of performance, but the most flamboyant is kabuki. Presently, there are four hundred plays in the conventional canon, but approximately thirty are performed each year in a seasonal cycle within Japan."

Tags:drama, england, japan, theater

Abstract
This paper discusses the form of Asian art called Kabuki, a stage performance style art. Before the age of recording devices, this art could only be experienced first hand, and every piece was different, even though it may be performed over and over again. Through this paper, one takes a look at Kabuki from it origins to its existence in modern day Japan, as well as its influence on Western theatre. The paper also includes many pictures of Kabuki theater actors and performances.

From the Paper
"Kabuki today has even harder competition than puppets and government oppression. Kabuki has survived the loss of its finest actors in WWII and also made it through censorship shortly after the war. But today it faces modern forms of theatrical entertainment in movies and television. Kabuki still holds root though as being a part of japans heritage, and still finds a place in the hearts of the older population. A lot of the key factors, which make the kabuki so great, are less known now, and because it is more of the old ways younger people are not as open to the kabuki. It is said that kabuki is stabilized in a near perfect state, and for that reason it will continue to stand the test of time and keeps its place in japans heritage. Despite the odds against the kabuki, popular actors continue to bring in audiences including a growing number of young people."

Tags:asian, art, experience, history, influences, origins

Abstract
This paper examines how three main groups of kabuki plays, the dance-drama, historical drama, and domestic drama make up the majority of kabuki theater and how they are adapted either from puppet theater, from kyogen dramas, or plays written specifically for kabuki. It looks at how Tokyo's Shochiku Company is one theatrical group that has made an impact on American theater by presenting kabuki in the heart of the U.S., in Texas.

From the Paper
"Kabuki has its origin in Japan's Edo period. The form can be traced back to performances by female shrine dancer Okuni in a dry riverbed in 1603. The dances performed by Okuni and her fellow female dancers combined religious dances and folk dance. Okuni's performances became highly popular, and many troupes soon imitated the style. Performances became increasingly risqu and boisterous, and women were banned from performing in 1629. In 1652, a brawl between two samurai competing for the attentions of a young male actor spurred authorities to ban young men under the age of 14 from appearing in kabuki (Spencer)."

Tags:art, drama, acting, far, east, tradition, shochuki

Abstract
This paper discusses the history of film animation in Japan. Particularly, it discusses anime produced by Japan's Studio, Giblias, and whether it plays a part in Japanese culture. The paper concludes that though Japanese animation has it's roots in western animation, it has developed and continues to do so in a very different direction and that it draws on its own cultural influences like kabuki theater and woodblock prints as well as developing it's completely unique style.

From the Paper
"By the 1990's anime took a more serious turn that in my opinion is not present in modern day western animation. While still outputting light-hearted so called children's anime, studios began to release more intellectual sophisticated anime such as Anno Hideaki's television series Neon Genesis Evangelion and Miyazaki Hayao's film Princess Mononoke. These films often touched on themes and issues that modern Japanese faced. To truly explain the Japanese nature of these films I believe that an in depth look at one of them in necessary."

Tags:television, film, Disney, children

Abstract
This paper explains three classical forms of Japanese performing arts, and one modern outgrowth of the theatre tradition in Japan. These are: Noh theatre, Bunraku puppetry, Kabuki drama and Butoh dance/movement theatre.

Abstract
This paper will discuss the training of actors in the Japanese traditional theatres of Noh and Kabuki. It will be argued that the acting conventions of both schools differ in terms of the different requirements of each form; with the more formalized Noh theatre demanding skill in dance, while the action and spectacle of the Kabuki requires physical training and the ability to project expressions with faces rather than masks.

Abstract
The paper discusses the construction of Shakespeare's Globe Theater and its modern reconstruction. The paper explains how, in addition to the theater providing hours of drama, seeing a play at the Globe Theater was a social event where everyone gathered to be entertained. The paper shows how the Globe Theater is a rich part of the world's social, literary and dramatic history.

From the Paper
"Of the literary and dramatic icons in the English-speaking world, none is so revered, so respected, and so well known as William Shakespeare. Producing 38 plays and 154 sonnets, The Bard is memorialized through both his drama and poetry, which continues to be read and discussed with fervor in classrooms today. Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-Upon-Avon has become the site of many a writer and dramatist's pilgrimage. In fact, the tiny house was once outfitted with windows where famous writers scratched their names, leaving their legacy with Shakespeare as he had left his legacy with them. Visitors to the birthplace today can still see some of the scrawled names on the window panes, which are now located behind protective glass--Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson to name just two (Shakespeare Aloud)."

Tags:entertainment, plays, playwrights, stage, theater

Abstract
This paper discusses the role of ancient Greek drama in Greek society. The paper explains the stage styles, how actors performed and the main types of plays performed in ancient Greek theater. The author discusses tragedies, comedies and a special form of theater called "dithyramb," which was sung by a large chorus. The paper goes on to discuss the importance of the elements of prose, lyrics and dancing in the ancient Greek drama. The paper then goes on to discuss some of ancient Greece's foremost playwrights, as well as theories about the origins of drama.

From the Paper
"The word 'Drama' as such has originated from the Greek words that mean 'to do', or 'to act'. When a story is acted out, it becomes a 'play', and this was the medium used by the ancient Greeks to act out their stories, which were either humorous and were about funny situations in their everyday lives, or they would be great tragedies, which would act out some important episode or period of their lives at the time. The speech and actions of the play would therefore, recreate human lives and its flow. It can be stated that ancient Greece was in fact the real birthplace of the future 'drama' of the Western world. In Greece, these plays or dramas were presented on stage twice a year, in honor of the God Dionysius, and there would be choruses made up of men who would be dressed up in goatskins, and who were meant to represent 'satyrs' or those mythical creatures who were partly goat, and partly man."

Tags:Greek, theater, aristotle, sophocles, tragedy, comedy, masks

Abstract
The paper examines Butoh (earth dance), an avant garde performance art that originated in Japan following World War II. The paper looks at the history behind the dance. The dance is a form of expression that is purely Japanese and allows the body to speak for itself, through unconscious improvised movement. Butoh is valuable as a training method not only for artists, but for individuals of other disciplines as well, for it frees the body of social constraints. Butoh is actually a hybrid form of art, incorporating elements of dance, mime, theatre, Noh, Kabuki, and even the Chinese arts of Chi kung and Tai chi. By the 1970s Butoh had caught the imagination of many younger artists and had begun to gain worldwide attention. Today it is performed by a number of groups and solo artists in metropolitan cities throughout the world, including Vancouver and Toronto.

From the Paper
"Butoh was founded by a rebellious modern dancer named Tatsumi Hijikata and his partner Kazuo Ohno (McLeod). It was first performed in 1959, and is a contemporary form of dance with little reference to either traditional Japanese dances or most Western forms of dance, however it does borrow elements from each (Hermon). Hijikata felt that the Japanese modern dance scene was simply an imitation of the Western mode, thus dissatisfied he sought to find a form of expression that was purely Japanese and also allowed the body to speak for itself, through unconscious improvised movement (McLeod). His first experiments were called Ankoku Butoh, or the Dance of Darkness, which basically referred to what was unknown to humans, including his surroundings and spiritually within (McLeod). Hijikata's dance attempted to touch upon the dormant genetic forces hidden within the "shrinking consciousness of modern man" (McLeod)."

Tags:tatsumi, hijikata, kazuo, ohno, ankoku, butoh, dance, of, darkness, kinjiki, forbidden, colors, yukio, mishima, sankai, juku, kokoro