"Framing Movement and Stasis: Stage Properties in the Noh Yuya and Ohara gokō", November 11 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will hold its first colloquium of the Fall 2016 semester, "Framing Movement and Stasis: Stage Properties in the Noh Yuya and Ohara gokō", on November 11. An abstract of the talk by associate professor Dr. Elizabeth Oyler:

The noh stage is famously sparse, making scant use of props and no use of sets. Those props that are used are stylized sometimes beyond recognition, but they often are crucial focal points for the play. This presentation focuses on props in two plays: Yuya, in which a structure representing a palanquin is used to transport the shite (main character) to Kiyomizu temple for a flower-viewing party and Ohara gokō, which employs both a structure representing a palanquin and another representing a modest Buddhist retreat. Both genzai (realistic) plays depict women whose identities are in part defined by their relationships to freedom and entrapment (and movement and stasis). This presentation explores how props associated with movement and settledness are employed to draw attention to the sometimes contradictory nature of these concepts for the shite.

The talk will be held in 4130 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.