The Ashton Building, 1549 University Ave W #204 St Paul, MN 55104 * boxoffice@greentproductions.org
* www.greentproductions.org * 715-808-2521
* www.greentproductions.org * 715-808-2521
Photo Credits: Dan Norman & Twin Cities Horror Fest
Kaidan: Stories & Studies of the Strange was created for the Twin Cities Horror Festival and played at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis from Oct 22 - Nov 1, 2015. The show is inspired by Lufcadio Hearn’s 19th century collection of Japanese ghost stories. Three tales are dramatized using Green T’s movement based performance style and live music to lend an unsettling creepiness.
The three tales are:
Jikininki: the story of a greedy priest reborn as a hungry ghost, condemned to devour corpses.
Yuki Onna: the tale of a snow demoness, and
Oshidori: the heartbreaking story of a hunter haunted by the spirit of a bird he widowed.
The three tales are:
Jikininki: the story of a greedy priest reborn as a hungry ghost, condemned to devour corpses.
Yuki Onna: the tale of a snow demoness, and
Oshidori: the heartbreaking story of a hunter haunted by the spirit of a bird he widowed.
Video credits: Kenneth Staton
Reviews:
IRA BROOKER OCTOBER 26, 2015
MN Playlist
Horror in movement
Movement-based horror has been a staple at the movie theaters for ages, but there’s something extra unsettling about seeing those movements unfold live on stage without the benefit of Hollywood effects. While Green T Productions’ Kaidan is rooted in classic Japanese folk tales, the actions speak louder than the words. Long-haired, faceless ghosts converge silently on a traveler. A corpse spins and writhes like a breakdancer possessed. A beautiful specter vaults her suitor with gymnastic grace. A massive, shapeless demon lumbers out of the shadows to feed. If the storytelling seems an afterthought, it’s mainly because the imagery is so indelible.
Not quite a dance piece, not quite a traditional narrative, Kaidan is all the better for its hybridization. (It’s also the rare TCHF production centered on non-white performers, another welcome distinction.)
TC Horror Fest Review: Kaidan
Author: Rob Callahan
American Underground The Independent Arts and Culture Blog
"Tormented wraiths haunt an eerie landscape best avoided by helpless mortals. Inspired by Lufcadio Hearn’s 19th century collection of Japanese ghost stories, Green T Productions uses a movement based performance style and live music to lend an unsettling creepiness to the tales in Kaidan: Stories and Studies of the Strange."
Kaidan: Stories and Studies of the Strange plucks three folk tales from one of Lafcadio Hearn's final collections and presents them together in a one hour play, on a living set made from a yūrei chorus.
Green T are known for their sets that literally come alive -- ok, not literally, but there are moments while watching when you literally forget that this isn't literally true -- and their grand, vivid productions. Kaidan is more of what they're known for, weaving the three stories together into a one hour show that isn't quite a play, is also not quite dance, neither is it pantomime, nor acrobatics, and certainly not any kind of musical; yet at any moment you could look and mistake it for any or all of these.
The three stories that make up Kaidan are:
Jikininki - "A wandering priest stumbles upon a hermitage and discovers a fellow priest under a horrid curse."
A priest (Natalie Rae Wass) finds shelter in a nearby village, where she is called upon to perform funeral rites for the recently deceased. Unfortunately, a corpse eating spirit comes in the night and devours the body, leaving Wass to seek out the mysterious spirit's origins, confront the dreaded jikininki, and free it from its curse.
Oshidori - "A hunter, tormented by an enormous spider, accidentally shoots a bird whose mate haunts the hunter with her profound loneliness."
Kaysone Syonesa plays Sonjô the Hunter in this adaptation. In the original, Sonjô killed one of a pair of oshidori out of hunger, and was then haunted by its mate. In this telling, the kill is made when the hunter's arrow misses its intended mark, instead impaling the hapless bird. This twist lends the death more impact and brings a far greater sense of tragedy to the story. And, even though it was just a puppet, the staged death of the oshidori drew a collective pained gasp from the audience.
Yuki Onna - "After losing his father to a Snow Demoness, a young woodcutter meets and marries a mysterious beauty. All is well, until it isn't."
Joann Oudekerk plays the Oyuki, a spirit who kills a mortal man but takes pity and spares another. She then promises that he'll keep his life, but only as long as he never tells anyone what he's seen. To keep tabs on him, she takes human form and stays close to his side, hoping the need to kill will never come again. This is one of the most widely adapted tales Hearn ever wrote down. It has made its way into dozens of animated series and feature films, progmetal lyrics, video games, and (if you're old) you probably saw it in a Tales From the Darkside story with Rae Dawn Chong and James Remar. While most of those adaptations took liberties, Green T's take remains truer to its source, and the interplay between Oudekerk, the young woodcutter (played by KiSeung Rhee) and the rest of the cast is a thrill to see.
Kaidan: Stories and Studies of the Strange
Ed Huyck
CityPages
Green T Productions uses a trio of Japanese ghost stories as inspiration in this elegant piece. Characters are haunted by grotesque, faceless sprites, a massive creature that eats the dead, and the spirit of a graceful swan killed by accident.
The acting is occasionally stiff, but the choreography makes up for these moments. There’s a simple beauty to the origami birds as they quietly swim on the water, or the giant spider creature made up of the company. And blank-faced ghosts? Always scary.
IRA BROOKER OCTOBER 26, 2015
MN Playlist
Horror in movement
Movement-based horror has been a staple at the movie theaters for ages, but there’s something extra unsettling about seeing those movements unfold live on stage without the benefit of Hollywood effects. While Green T Productions’ Kaidan is rooted in classic Japanese folk tales, the actions speak louder than the words. Long-haired, faceless ghosts converge silently on a traveler. A corpse spins and writhes like a breakdancer possessed. A beautiful specter vaults her suitor with gymnastic grace. A massive, shapeless demon lumbers out of the shadows to feed. If the storytelling seems an afterthought, it’s mainly because the imagery is so indelible.
Not quite a dance piece, not quite a traditional narrative, Kaidan is all the better for its hybridization. (It’s also the rare TCHF production centered on non-white performers, another welcome distinction.)
TC Horror Fest Review: Kaidan
Author: Rob Callahan
American Underground The Independent Arts and Culture Blog
"Tormented wraiths haunt an eerie landscape best avoided by helpless mortals. Inspired by Lufcadio Hearn’s 19th century collection of Japanese ghost stories, Green T Productions uses a movement based performance style and live music to lend an unsettling creepiness to the tales in Kaidan: Stories and Studies of the Strange."
Kaidan: Stories and Studies of the Strange plucks three folk tales from one of Lafcadio Hearn's final collections and presents them together in a one hour play, on a living set made from a yūrei chorus.
Green T are known for their sets that literally come alive -- ok, not literally, but there are moments while watching when you literally forget that this isn't literally true -- and their grand, vivid productions. Kaidan is more of what they're known for, weaving the three stories together into a one hour show that isn't quite a play, is also not quite dance, neither is it pantomime, nor acrobatics, and certainly not any kind of musical; yet at any moment you could look and mistake it for any or all of these.
The three stories that make up Kaidan are:
Jikininki - "A wandering priest stumbles upon a hermitage and discovers a fellow priest under a horrid curse."
A priest (Natalie Rae Wass) finds shelter in a nearby village, where she is called upon to perform funeral rites for the recently deceased. Unfortunately, a corpse eating spirit comes in the night and devours the body, leaving Wass to seek out the mysterious spirit's origins, confront the dreaded jikininki, and free it from its curse.
Oshidori - "A hunter, tormented by an enormous spider, accidentally shoots a bird whose mate haunts the hunter with her profound loneliness."
Kaysone Syonesa plays Sonjô the Hunter in this adaptation. In the original, Sonjô killed one of a pair of oshidori out of hunger, and was then haunted by its mate. In this telling, the kill is made when the hunter's arrow misses its intended mark, instead impaling the hapless bird. This twist lends the death more impact and brings a far greater sense of tragedy to the story. And, even though it was just a puppet, the staged death of the oshidori drew a collective pained gasp from the audience.
Yuki Onna - "After losing his father to a Snow Demoness, a young woodcutter meets and marries a mysterious beauty. All is well, until it isn't."
Joann Oudekerk plays the Oyuki, a spirit who kills a mortal man but takes pity and spares another. She then promises that he'll keep his life, but only as long as he never tells anyone what he's seen. To keep tabs on him, she takes human form and stays close to his side, hoping the need to kill will never come again. This is one of the most widely adapted tales Hearn ever wrote down. It has made its way into dozens of animated series and feature films, progmetal lyrics, video games, and (if you're old) you probably saw it in a Tales From the Darkside story with Rae Dawn Chong and James Remar. While most of those adaptations took liberties, Green T's take remains truer to its source, and the interplay between Oudekerk, the young woodcutter (played by KiSeung Rhee) and the rest of the cast is a thrill to see.
Kaidan: Stories and Studies of the Strange
Ed Huyck
CityPages
Green T Productions uses a trio of Japanese ghost stories as inspiration in this elegant piece. Characters are haunted by grotesque, faceless sprites, a massive creature that eats the dead, and the spirit of a graceful swan killed by accident.
The acting is occasionally stiff, but the choreography makes up for these moments. There’s a simple beauty to the origami birds as they quietly swim on the water, or the giant spider creature made up of the company. And blank-faced ghosts? Always scary.