TBA:06 ON STAGE

YUBIWA HOTEL

CANDIES Girlish Hardcore

“Yubiwa Hotel is not just for the eyes—it stimulates all five senses. This theatre is an irrepressible force in the alternative theatre scene.“ —Mainichi Newspaper

The performers of Yubiwa Hotel inscribe a mesmerizing dreamscape, harnessing a hybrid language of Japanese pop culture, traditional Buddhist practice, and abstract movement as they explore what it means to be a modern Japanese woman. Finding promise in a political terrain that embraces both utopia and pandemonium, this eccentric procession of shape-shifting schoolgirls, ghosts, strippers, and cartoon animals poetically interrogate sexual stereotype and cultural liberation. Equal parts ritual play, solemn parody, and slumber party gone awry, CANDIES discovers new breeding ground for future heroines.


Shirotama Hitsujia discovered her passion for cabaret singing and performance art after studying literature at Meiji University in Tokyo. In 1994, she founded Yubiwa Hotel, a key force in Japan’s alternative theatre scene. Yubiwa Hotel has created more than forty works, all written, directed, and performed by women. They are known for a burlesque–like aesthetic that ranges from the delicate to the outrageous, and often use non-traditional spaces like warehouses, galleries, underground dance clubs, rooftop tennis courts and strip clubs. Their work has toured internationally and includes Long Distance Love (2001), Yubiwan Beauty (2001), and It’s Up to You (2003).

TBA pass holder reservations required.

Presented with the support of The Saison Foundation, Japan Society in New York, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Sponsors:

Agency for Cultural Affairs