KABUKI CABARET

It’s always exciting when San Francisco actor-storyteller-dancer Brenda Wong Aoki presents a new work, blending kyogen and noh traditions with Western forms and jazz by her no-less eclectic husband, Mark Izu.
— Robert Hurwitt, Theater Critic, SF Chronicle

Kabuki Jazz Cabaret blends dramatic performance with Chinese and Sri Lankan ghost legends, thundering Taiko, cascading contemporary Koto and haunting jazz. Veterans of the avante-garde theater and music scene, writer/actor Brenda Wong Aoki and her long time creative partner Emmy-award winning composer Mark Izu, bring together the best of the best: Grammy nominated multi-percussionist Dr. Anthony Brown, natori Koto master Shoko Hikage, 2010 Best Latin Jazz flutist Mas Koga, vocalist Moy Eng, and Taiko duo Janet Koike with National Heritage Fellow PJ Hirabayashi.

This all new program features: The Soul of the Great Bell, a traditional Chinese legend of a mighty emperor and the ghost of a young girl imprisoned in a temple bell; and The Night of the Demon Dancers, by writer/performer Nayomi Munaweera; a miracle story about her father paralyzed as a small boy in Sri Lanka.

Kabuki Jazz Cabaret was conceived and created by Aoki and Izu, who have developed a symbiotic blend of east and west, spoken word and music. Mark Izu, an Emmy Award-winning jazz composer, studied and performed Gagaku (Japanese Imperial music) for over twenty years with master Togi Suenobu. Writer/performer Brenda Wong Aoki is a student of Noh and Kyogen and a three-time NEA Theater Fellow. She is one of the premiere storytellers in America and an award-winning playwright recognized for her multidisciplinary works combining contemporary monodrama with traditional arts.

BOOKING

BRENDA WONG AOKI

For more information on Brenda's work, contact wongaoki@firstvoice.org or call (415) 221-0601

MARK IZU

For more information on Mark's work, contact mizu@firstvoice.org or call (415) 221-0601

FOR FEES & BOOKING

CALIFORNIA ARTISTS MANAGEMENT
SUE ENDRIZZI MORRIS • DONALD E. OSBORNE
sue@calartists.com • don@calartists.com
www.calartists.com

SAMURAI STORIES: PAST AND PRESENT

• Mermaid Meat
• Morning Glory
• Tales of the Pacific Rim
• Kabuki Cabaret
• All We Leave is a Story