"The Teahouse of the August Moon"

April 12, 2012 - May 5, 2012

CATS opens its 18th season with the Tony award-winning comedy, The Teahouse of the August Moon, from April 12 to May 5, 2012, at the Nevada Theatre. Teahouse concerns the clash of cultures that resulted from the American Occupation of Okinawa from 1945 to 1952 following World War II.

John Patrick adapted the script from the 1951 novel by Vern Sneider. It opened on Broadway in 1953, winning numerous awards, including the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play of the Year, the Pulitzer Prize in drama, and the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award. MGM produced a movie based on the play in 1956 starring Glenn Ford, Marlon Brando, Machiko Kyo, and Eddie Albert.

In the play, Captain Fisby, is assigned to carry out “Plan B". In a tiny Okinawan village, he is to begin the process of Americanization by instituting a local democratic government, establishing a capitalist economy, and building a schoolhouse (Pentagon-shaped) in which the village children will be taught English.

The narrator of the play is an islander named Sakini, who often speaks in verse and is chided by American soldiers for being a lovable idiot. He serves as an interpreter to Captain Fisby, informing him of island customs. His monologues encapsulate the underlying wisdom of the play:

"We tell little story to demonstrate splendid example of benevolent assimilation of democracy by Okinawa."

Thank you for joining us at the Teahouse.

Click here for an article on The Teahouse of the August Moon in the Winter edition of FoodWineArt Magazine.

TICKETS:

Nevada City Box Office
at the Miners Foundry: 530-265-5462
Briar Patch Co-op in Grass Valley
...or click here to buy tickets online

Ticket Prices:

Thursday: General: $18 advance; $23 door
Youth (17 and under): $15 advance and door

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Matinees:

General: $23 advance; $28 door
Youth (17 and under): $15 advance and door

For groups of 10 or more, please contact Jeannie Wood at info@catsweb.org or 530-265-2990

For special student matinee performances, please contact Lisa Moon at catsweb@pacbell.net or 530-273-6362

Final Dress Rehearsal:

Preview:

Opening Night with Gala Reception:

Benefit for the Friends of Nevada County Libraries:

Designers:

Costumes: Sovahn LeBlanc
Lights: Thomas Taylor
Set: Pamela Hodges
Choreography: George Jayne
Hair and Make-up: Sara Quay
Props: Katherine Scourtes
Stage Management: Cathy Johnston

Cast:

Sakini - Dennis Yen
Col. Purdy – Rodger Hoopman
Cpt. Fisby – Danny McCammon
Lotus Blossom - Lyra Dominguez
Sgt. Gregovich – Casey Burke
Cpt. McLean- Darryl Stines
Old Woman – Priscilla Covert
Old Woman’s Daughter – Allison Chan
Grand daughter, Atsuko Tamaki- Aneka QingMei Torgrimson
Grand daughter, Maiko Tamaki – Xochitl Husted
Ancient Man / Mr. Oshira – Hock Tjoa
Mr. Hokaida – Jake Dabis
Mrs. Hokaida - Patty Lum-Ohmann
Mr. Omura, Mayor of Tobiki – Dix Sullivan
Mrs. Omura- Olivia Pritchett
Mr. Sumata, Carpenter- Jick Icasanio
Mr. Seiko – Virgil Wong
Miss Higa Jiga – Lisa Moon
Lady Astor: Calamity Jane and Snowy River (understudy) - goat

Images of The Teahouse of the August Moon

Sakini: Dennis Yen

Group: Ensemble cast

Captain Fisby: Danny McCammon and Lotus Blossom: Lyra Dominguez

Thank you to our business sponsors of The Teahouse of the August Moon

Upcoming Cultural Events

In keeping with the spirit of The Teahouse of the August Moon, CATS has developed cultural events, which focus on the Japanese culture throughout 2012.

Wakamatsu Silk and Tea Colony

Saturday, May 19, 8:15 am – 3:00 pm:

Join us on a bus trip to Wakamatsu Silk and Tea Colony, located in Gold Hill, California, the site of the first Japanese settlers to North America in the 1800’s. Learn of their stories of endurance and the legacy they left behind. Leaving Grass Valley at 8:15 a.m. [click here for registration form and details]

Japanese Tea Ceremony

Saturday, July 28, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon:

Experience tranquility in "peace in a bowl of tea" by a trained Tea Master Sumie (Soju) Ward in an authentic Japanese Tea Ceremony amidst a traditional Japanese teahouse and garden in Penryn, California. Drive your own car and "meet us at the teahouse." [click here for registration form and details]

Japanese Ghost Stories

Sunday, August 26, 2:00 pm
Nevada Theatre:

August is Halloween in Japan. What greater way to experience Japanese Halloween than to spend an afternoon listening to Japanese Ghost Stories come to life by three-time National Endowment of the Arts Theatre Fellow, Brenda Wong Aoki? Brenda Wong Aoki…is arguably one of the most influential performance artists of her generation” – Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, Winter 2011. [click here for details]

Tickets available at the Nevada City Box Office at the Miners Foundry (530-265-5462), Briar Patch Coop and the Book Seller in Grass Valley

American Past Time

Films on Japanese American Baseball
Sunday, September 23, 2pm
Nevada Theatre:

Did you know that the old American game of baseball kept many Japanese internees sane during WWII? See the movie, American Past Time, and meet associate producer, Kerry Yo Nakagawa. Kerry will also show the documentary, Diamonds in the Rough, about the hidden stories of famous Japanese players who played professional ball with American greats Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. More than an afternoon about baseball. [click here for details]

Tickets available at the Nevada City Box Office at the Miners Foundry (530-265-5462), Briar Patch Coop and the Book Seller in Grass Valley.

Sushi-making, Sake Tour & Tasting

Gekkeikan Sake Brewery
Sunday, October 14 8:30 am – 4:00 pm:

We are reviving the ever-popular Sushi-making, Sake Tour and Tasting at Geikkekan Sake Brewery in Folsom. Geikkekan has deep roots in Japan, with its parent company going back thousands of years. Learn how sake is brewed. Try your hand out at making sushi, as you sample a variety of sake and plum wine. Take our bus and leave the driving to us! [click here for registration form and details]

Nixon in China

CATS Goes to the Opera, Sunday, June 17, 7:30-8:30 pm:
Our only non-Japanese event this year is our fourth trip to the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, this time to enjoy a new opera masterpiece, John Adams' Nixon in China.

JOHN ADAMS

Libretto by Alice Goodman
Company Premiere

San Francisco War Memorial Opera House

Sunday, June 17, 2012 2:00 p.m.

Discounted Group Rate
($97 ticket; regular $117)

Orchestra Ring section (ground level)

$165/person: includes ticket and round
trip bus transportation from
Grass Valley to San Francisco
$97/person, if not riding the bus

John Adams' rhythmically rich recreation of a presidential trip to Beijing has established itself as a great American opera, a work of "clarity, simplicity, shocking elegance" that "will be around for the long haul" (The New York Times).

A quarter-century after premiering at Houston Grand Opera under the leadership of David Gockley, this modern masterpiece makes its long-awaited Bay Area stage premiere. Michael Cavanagh's "brilliantly effective" staging (Vancouver Sun) will feature Brian Mulligan, whose rich baritone thrilled audiences in San Francisco Opera's Faust (2010) and Werther (2010), in the title role. Lawrence Renes, whose conducting of Adams' Doctor Atomic won praise from London critics, will lead the orchestra. "What commands attention in the Nixon score is, quite simply, melody" (The New York Times).

Sung in English with English supertitles
Vancouver Opera production

Click here for the Registration Form