Project Title:  The Cycle Plays
Recipient Organization:  Theatre of Yugen
Lead Artist:  Allen Whitman (co-composer: Suki O’Kane)
Genre and Date Awarded:  Performing Arts, June 2005
To Be Presented:  Summer 2007

Composer and musician Allen Whitman (along with co-composer Suki O’Kane) is collaborating with Theatre of Yugen’s ensemble of actors, with guest musicians, and with playwright and director Erik Ehn to create The Cycle Plays – a project spanning three years in the development of five plays performed in traditional Japanese Noh format of a one-day, all-day theatrical event. The new plays are formed from the five categories of Noh repertoire: an opening God (celebratory) play, a warrior (man's) play, a woman play, a fourth category play exploring a range of subjects from heartbreak to madness, and finishing with a demon play. Theatre of Yugen is re-inventing these categories in the lexicon of contemporary America, respectively assigning them to new stories and adaptations: Winterland (the Sex Pistols last concert in San Francisco), Letters from a Small House (the Unabomber Ted Kaczinski), Dark Silent (Helen Keller), an adaptation of O’Neill’s Long Day's Journey into Night, and Pretty (the young kidnapping and murder victim- Polly Klaas).

Noh and Kyogen can be loosely compared to the Greek model of tragedy and comedy.  Noh is more akin to a poetic dance-opera than to a dialogue-based drama.  The movement is built from a vocabulary of “kata,” or patterns with a distinct structure; and text is stylized, chanted or sung. Noh is companioned with the comedic Kyogen  – short, light plays that are sandwiched in-between the dramas. The comedic counterparts for The Cycle Plays will be conceived and performed by collaborators drawn from the Bay Area improvisational and physical comedy community. Both indoor and outdoor locations are under consideration.  The singularity and duration of the event beckons to the curious, requiring an investment in the day, provoking introspection and discussion about the very nature of performance.

The artistic process, orchestrated by Theatre of Yugen, will bring together the collaborators for intensive week-long retreats several times per year for nearly three years.  They will retreat in varied settings:  rural environments for intensive collaborative work, educational residencies where students can be witnesses to and participate in the workshop process, and the Theatre’s home venue (NOHspace) where workshops and open rehearsals will be open to the public.

Lead artist and composer Allen Whitman has performed, recorded, produced, licensed, and written music for more than 30 years, touring Japan, Sweden, the United States, and Canada.  He has worked in a wide variety of musical forms and with a wide variety of musicians.  He is a founding member of the San Francisco cult psychedelic surf band The Mermen.  Whitman has worked with playwright Erik Ehn on productions in both San Francisco and New York, including a successful Noh adaptation of Frankenstein with Theatre of Yugen in 2003-04.

Playwright Erik Ehn is an artistic associate with Theatre of Yugen. His recent play Maria Ktizito, based on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, is the result of his research in that Central African country. Its premiere launched Atlanta's 7 Stages 2004-05 season. Ehn's work includes The Saint Plays, an ongoing cycle of plays loosely based on the lives of the saints and biblical characters. Other works include Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling, No Time Like the Present, Wolf at the Door, Tailings, Beginner, Ideas of Good and Evil, and adaptations of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. His dramas have been produced in San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, New York, San Diego and Chicago.

Theatre of Yugen is an experimental ensemble whose physically based, original work is informed by a discipline in the classic forms of Japanese theater—Noh and Kyogen.  Founded by Yuriko Doi in 1978, its work has been played to great acclaim in San Francisco and on national and international tours.  In 2001, long time company members Jubilith Moore, Lluis Valls, and Libby Zilber became Theatre of Yugen’s joint leaders.  New works are created through a collective ensemble process.  In 2003-04, at its 25th anniversary, the company received a special award from the Bay Area Theatre Critic’s Circle as well as a commendation from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, granted to those “who have exhibited excellence in the pursuit of and promotion of a more improved understanding of Japan.” 

Allen Whitman

Composer and musician, Allen Whitman has been playing electric bass and singing for more than 35 years.  In that time, he has built a diverse and accomplished biography— performing, recording, producing, licensing, and writing music; and touring Japan, Sweden, Canada, and most of the United States.  He has worked in a wide variety of musical forms and with a wide variety of musicians, including Tiny Tim, the Inkspots, and The Sandals.  From a decade-long tenure in the award-winning musical group The Mermen to over ten years of performing live music for live theater; co-producing many music albums; authoring a book; providing five years of monthly columns as well as stories, interviews, and editorials for such diverse publications as Wired, The San Francisco Examiner, Yahoo! Internet Life, Tape Op, EQ, Pro Sound News, Surround Professional; and serving on the board of the ground-breaking Independent Distribution Collective, Whitman consistently seeks the essential effective communion available to creator and observer/participant through the collaborative creative artistic process.

Professional Affiliations

• Board Member, Independent Distribution Collective, San Francisco-based collaborative music distribution organization, bringing independent and disenfranchised musical and audio forms to a mainstream audience (2004-present)
• The Fezguys, co-founder and writer, Internet audio education and enlightenment.  Co-author of The Fezguys Guide to Internet Audio as well as a wide variety of relevant journalism in numerous magazines and periodicals (1994-2000)
• The Mermen, co-founder/bassist, award-winning instrumental trio (1989-1999)

Composition for Theater

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (adapted by Erik Ehn), presented by Theatre of Yugen at Theatre Artaud (2004) and NOHspace (2003)
• No Time Like the Present, by Erik Ehn, presented by Sledgehammer Theatre, The Whitney Museum, New York, New York (1995)
• The Saint Plays, by Erik Ehn, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, California (1993)
• Moira McOc by Erik Ehn, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, California (1991)

Awards

• California Music Award, “Outstanding Independent Album, 1997,” and “Outstanding Independent Album, 1996”
• California Music Award nominee, “Outstanding Bassist, 1997”
• San Francisco Bay Guardian “Goldie Award,” (1996)
• San Francisco Weekly, “Wammie Award,” (1994)

Discography

• Carneyball Johnson, Carneyball Johnson, Akron Cracker Records (2006)
• Uh Oh, The Burdens, Yard Sale Rock (2004)
• Thursday Night, The Noodles, Zoka Recordings (2004)
• The Unfinished Tattoo, Leon “Whitey” Thompson, A4 Recordings (2004)
• A Pair of Olive Leaves, Poetz 4 Peace, Olive Tree Music (2003)
• Magic Thumper, biL, Positive Sound Massive Recordings (2003)
• Deep Field South, Deep Field South, Stray Records (2001)
• Million Mom March, nonprofit fund raising compilation (2001)
• Black & Blue, Westside Chemical, Stray Records (2001)
• The Amazing California Health and Happiness Roadshow, The Mermen, Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings (2000)
• Delectric, Delectric, Bluzoid Records (2000)
• Museum, Brandi Shearer, Bluzoid Records (1999)
• All in a Mouse’s Night, Doormouse, Solana Recordings (1997)
• The Endless Summer, The Sandals, Tri-Surf Records (1996)
• Brine-The Antisurf Soundtrack, Beach Recordings (1996)
• Songs of the Cows, The Mermen, Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings (1996)
• A Glorious Lethal Euphoria, The Mermen, Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings (1994)
• Food for Other Fish, The Mermen, Kelptone Records (1992)
• Krill Slippin, The Mermen, Kelptone Records (1991)