Best Bets : THEATER : Haunting 1-Woman Show Looks to Eastern Mythology
Interested in Japanese and Chinese mythology? How about contemporary dance and music? Ghost stories? Brenda Wong Aoki fuses these elements into her solo storytelling performance Saturday at Ventura High School.
“Obake” is Aoki’s own creation, a collection of four ghost stories influenced by Japanese Noh and Kyogen theater techniques and injected with a modern feminist sensibility.
Props are used sparsely. The kimono-clad Aoki conveys her interpretations through an expressive voice and body movement that punctuates the narrative.
The stories include such common Eastern mythological images as immortal monkeys, ghostly lovers and demon quellers. One story is an amusing tale of the mischievous Monkey King, drawn from a series of Chinese tales, recounting how he manages to thwart the combined will of heaven and hell.
SHOW TIMES
The performance will take place 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Ventura High School’s Little Theater, 2155 E. Main St., Ventura. Tickets: $7, $5 Ventura Arts Council member, $2 children, and they are available at Momentum Gallery, 34 N. Palm St., Ventura. The performance is a benefit for Ventura Arts Council’s Artists-in-the-Classroom program. Call 653-0828 for more information.
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