
DallasNews: Dallas actor translates Japanese drama with wit
Fred Curchack perpetually makes silly puns on the title of Noh: Angels, Demons & Dreamers –even during his curtain speech on opening night. "Do you know Noh?" Mr. Curchack asks his audience. "No know Noh!" someone quips back. "The great Japanese actors take a lifetime to master this material," Mr. Curchack goes on. "With good old American know-how, we've managed in only a few months!" After three separate runs of the show in California, Mr. Curchack and co-creator Laura Jorgensen are performing Noh: Angels, Demons & Dreamers in Undermain Theatre's Basement Space in Deep Ellum. Jokes or no jokes, the piece is one of the most powerful Mr. Curchack has given us in the 20-odd years he has been based in Dallas...Masayuki Namiyoshi, classified as a "living national treasure" back home in Japan, was in San Francisco...When he saw Noh: Angels, Demons & Dreamers, he invited the performers to Japan and told them he'd tell all the Japanese Noh artists about the show... "He told us through the interpreter that we had captured the essence of certain traditions with just the minimum of means"...more...
The piece has received good reviews so they must be doing something right. Related FG Thread: No Way to Know Noh