For Immediate Release: December 13, 2012
Media Contact: Siobhan D’Angelo, 914-826-7426, Siobhan.dangelo@villanova.edu
Villanova Theatre and the Villanova University Asian Studies Program present a
new play by Joanna Rotté
The Beautiful Life of the Woman Komachi opens Jan. 18
VILLANOVA, PA - Villanova Theatre and the Villanova University Asian Studies Program will
present a staged reading of a new play by Joanna Rotté. The Beautiful Life of the Woman
Komachi runs January 18-20, 2013 in the Connelly Center Cinema at Villanova University.
The event is free and open to the public.
Rotté, Director of Villanova’s Asian Studies Program and a Professor of Theatre, is a
distinguished actor, director, playwright and scholar. Her plays include All Victorious Ocean:
the Noble Life of Yeshe Tsogyai, Tantric Yogini; Prajna; Death of the Father; and Art Talk.
Rotté’s newest project, The Beautiful Life of the Woman Komachi is an adaptation in English
of five short plays from traditional Japanese Noh Theatre. Each of the five acts depicts a
transformative event in the astonishing life of Ono no Komachi: Japan’s best beloved, most
admired woman poet, beauty, lover, teacher, and ultimately spiritual adept.
The staged reading of this new play will be directed by Elizabeth Dowd. A 34-year member of
the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Dowd is the co-founder and Producing Director of the
Noh Training Project at the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble. The performance will also feature
original music by David Crandall, an accomplished composer, playwright, and lecturer. Both
Dowd and Crandall are founding members of Theatre Nohgaku, a company dedicated to the
performance and creation of Noh plays in English. Their combined 50-plus years of
experience in Noh theatre will be instrumental in mounting this new work.
Performances will be held Friday, January 18th at 7pm, Saturday, January 19th at 2pm and
7pm, and Sunday, January 20th at 2pm in the Connelly Center Cinema, located at the heart of
the Villanova University campus, 800 Lancaster Ave, Villanova PA 19085. The event is free
and open to the public, but patrons are encouraged to register in advance. Registration can
be completed online at www.villanovatheatre.org.
800 Lancaster Ave. • Villanova, PA 19085
610.519.7474 (box office) • 610.519.7454 (admin) • 610.519.6803 (fax) • theatre.villanova.edu
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The Beautiful Life of the Woman Komachi will feature graduate students from the Theatre
Department, Villanova University faculty, and alumni. The role of Ono no Komachi will be
played by four different actresses, as the play spans over 100 years of the poet’s life. (Please
see fact sheet for full cast list).
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
JOANNA ROTTÉ, PhD, is Professor of Theatre at Villanova University and a meditation practitioner in
the Shambhala lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to teaching Script Analysis and
Characterization at the graduate level, Dr. Rotté is a writer and director as well as member of Actors
Equity. On the Villanova main stage, she has performed Shen Te/Shui Ta, Hedda Gabler, Claire
Zachanassian, Catwoman, Hannah Hawke, Sister Beatrice, Mother Courage, Mary Tyrone, and
Madam Ranevskaya. For Villanova, she has directed plays by Tennessee Williams, Samuel Beckett,
David Rabe, Tina Howe and Sam Shepard as well as numerous works by Caryl Churchill. Her own
plays, Art Talk, Death Of The Father, Prajna, and All Victorious Ocean: the Noble Life of Yeshe
Tsogyai, Tantric Yogini have been featured presentations of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Dr. Rotté
is the author of Scene Change (A Theatre Diary: Prague, Moscow, Leningrad) and Acting With Adler.
She regularly writes for the print and online newspaper Soul Of The American Actor. She was Chair of
the Theatre Department from 1985-1992 and currently serves the university as Director of Asian
Studies. She lived and studied in Japan for two years in the late 1970s where she fell in love with
Japanese theatre and the aesthetics of Zen. Since that time she has held the aspiration to adapt the
Komachi plays of Noh Theatre for an American audience.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
ELIZABETH DOWD began her study of Noh in 1992 studying with Richard Emmert and Omura
Sadamu through a Creative Artist Fellowship from the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. That
experience led her to co-found with Mr. Emmert, the Noh Training Project at the Bloomsburg Theatre
Ensembe, where she has served as Producing Director and faculty over the past sixteen years.
Through NTP, Elizabeth has continued her Noh training with Mr. Emmert and with Matsui Akira,
Oshima Kinue and Kama Mitsuo. A Founding Member of Theatre Nohgaku, Elizabeth has performed
with them in At The Hawk’s Well, Pine Barrens, Pagoda, and Crazy Jane as well as the NTP 10th and
15th Anniversary productions of Kurozuka and Funabenkei. She has offered Noh workshops at
Universities across the United States. In addition to her work in Noh, Elizabeth is a 32-year member of
the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble where she acts, directs, and teaches.
800 Lancaster Ave. • Villanova, PA 19085
610.519.7474 (box office) • 610.519.7454 (admin) • 610.519.6803 (fax) • theatre.villanova.edu
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ABOUT THE COMPOSER
DAVID CRANDALL graduated with a double major in Japanese and music composition from the
University of Michigan and went on to do postgraduate work at Tokyo University of Fine Arts and
Music on a Monbusho grant from the Japanese government. He began studying noh chant and dance
in 1979 with noh master Sano Hajime of the Hosho school. In 1986 he was admitted as an apprentice
at the Hosho Noh Theater in Tokyo, studying with the current head of the Hosho school, Hosho
Fusateru, and working on a professional level until moving to Seattle in 1991. While working as a noh
performer and workshop lecturer, Mr. Crandall has also been active as a composer and playwright,
with an output that includes instrumental pieces (performed by the Tokyo Quintet and others), nohinspired dance dramas (Crazy Jane and The Linden Tree, produced and performed in Tokyo and
Hawaii), film scores (Nighters and Crime and Passion), and, most recently, children’s musicals
(Johnny the King and The Merchant of Cheat Street). He is a founding member of Theatre Nohgaku,
and participated in its first national performance tour (presenting Yeats’ At the Hawk’s Well in eight US
cities) in September, 2002.
FACT SHEET FOR The Beautiful Life of the Woman Komachi
WRITTEN BY: Joanna Rotté
DIRECTED BY: Elizabeth Dowd
ORIGINAL MUSIC BY: David Crandall
WHERE: Connelly Center Cinema, Villanova University
800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085
***Free parking available in VU’s Main Lot (Lancaster & Ithan Avenues)
WHEN: JANUARY 18 – 20, 2013
Friday, January 18 at 7:00pm
Saturday, January 19 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm
Sunday, January 20 at 2:00pm
SPECIAL EVENTS: Saturday performances feature Special Events:
Tea & Sweets Reception, following the 2:00pm performance
Music of the Noh, Performance/Talk by David Crandall, 4:30pm
TICKETS: This event is free & open to the public. Please RSVP online at www.villanovatheatre.org.
CAST
CREATIVE TEAM
Komachi- Acts I and V: Lauren Fanslau
Komachi-Act II: Jen Jaynes
Komachi-Act III: Joanna Rotte*
Komachi-Act IV: Janet Fishman
Chorus: Christine Petrini, Lesley Zaya
Narihira II: Peter Danzig*
Shosho IV & V: Steve Underwood
Kuronushi/Monk IV: John Mullany
Tsurayuki/Yukie II/Head Monk III: Steve
McWilliams
Servant I: Bekah Weagraff
Companion Monk IV/Monk V: Peter Danzig*
Emperor/Child III: James Tedjeske
Stage Manager: (stage directions) David Kriebel
Written by: Joanna Rotté*
Directed by: Elizabeth Dowd
Music by: David Crandall
Design by: Sarah Totora
Dramaturgy: Siobhan D’Angelo
800 Lancaster Ave. • Villanova, PA 19085
610.519.7474 (box office) • 610.519.7454 (admin) • 610.519.6803 (fax) • theatre.villanova.edu
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*denotes member, Actor’s Equity Association