JAPANESE PROBLEM    on tour

JAPANESE PROBLEM is a site-responsive work, designed to respond to unusual locations for unmatched immediacy.

Based in Vancouver, BC, Universal Limited has successfully toured the piece to several locations, performing in a variety of different spaces: The Langham Cultural Centre (Kaslo), Nikkei National Museum (Burnaby), Vancouver Japanese Language School/Powell Street Festival (DTES Vancouver), Gulf of Georgia Cannery (Steveston), the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria & University of Victoria (Victoria), and site-specifically at the historic Livestock Building at Hastings Park (PNE/East Van).

Themes: JAPANESE PROBLEM explores how we look at the other, how long it takes to be accepted, and how quickly that acceptance can evaporate. It encounters the pervasive effects of both trauma and not speaking of trauma, and the lingering effects through generations.

Original music, shadow puppets, and innovative staging find light in conveying stories about our darkest times.

JAPANESE PROBLEM is also an opportunity to speak to the experience of racialized exclusion, and a good complement to educational and community outreach. 

 

Show run time: 45 minutes                        The show is designed to be performed twice, with each performance followed by a 20 minute conversation.

Audience capacity: 30, depending on performance space.

Cost: Please contact us for a quote.

Booking: We aim to continue sharing the show in the future once the COVID-19 pandemic has retreated.

 

www.japaneseproblem.ca by Universal Limited Yoshié Bancroft, co-creator Joanna Garfinkel, co-creator Sindy Angel, collaborator Daniel Doerksen, composer/collaborator Brent Hirose, collaborator Nicole Yukiko, collaborator With contributions from: Laura Fukumoto Carolyn Nakagawa Cecile Roslin Munish Sharma

 
“I just wanted to send you a note to thank you for the amazing performance you put on for our students in Kaslo at the Langham. They really enjoyed the show and learned a lot.”
— Grace Broadfoot, Kaslo, BC
“I liked the play because I think it was very descriptive and it really drew you in. It made you kind of feel what it was like and I thought that the acting was good too.”
— Student, J.V. Humphries Secondary School, Kaslo, BC
“...thank you and your troupe for your powerful performance yesterday...the overwhelming response was the impactfulness of the play as well as some of the information presented that the attendees never knew about.”
— Kelvin Higo, Steveston Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre
 

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