Disappearance

          Last Wednesday I got to see my classmates' and professor's product of Disappearance. As I walked into the room, I was taken aback by the Christmas decorations and contemporary music playing in the background. I expected the play to be based on a modern story, but still performed in a very traditional Noh manner. Instead I got to experience influences of traditional Noh mixed with a modern storyline and very relevant themes.

         Disappearance housed several fundamental aspects that we learned about Noh in our Classical Asian Theaters class. The stage was bound by four corners that the actors and actresses moved within. Additionally, the jiutai (chorus) sat on stage where the audience members could see them, and they provided important narration and structure to the play. A specific and reoccurring event of the play was how Chaz's character (along with the help of the others) would align all the shoes outside of the four corners and point them away from the entrance. I thought this was a great detail to include, as it drew attention to an important tradition of Japanese culture.

           Beyond the physical presentation of the performance, there were contextual factors that identified this as a Noh play. One of the more important issues that exists in a Noh play is that there are unresolved matters between the living and nonliving. Typically the nonliving are ghosts, but in this performance's case the nonliving was a robot. Just as the struggle to be part of a family and show responsible to it is a frequent theme in Western theater, Chaz and his brother Stan have a relationship that exudes problems within the play. Stan's robotic character stands in as the ghost of the play, and the audience watches Chaz and his everlasting loyalty to Stan be tried and tested.

          This production exceeded all my expectations going into the night. The plot was both entertaining and thought provoking, and it was more than evident how hard both the on-stage and off-stage participants worked. While I am disappointed that those involved did not get the public accreditation and congratulations they deserved, I am so pleased that I got the opportunity to see such a wonderful performance from my peers and teacher.