GENKI青年会: 2021

August 30, 2021 No comments

August 21, 2021 No comments

July 25, 2021 No comments

Hey all!

It's come to my attention that I just completely forgot to announce the cast on this blog so... Here they are!

The cast of the 2021 Tosaben Musical!!

Sarah Curtis (Chiaki) is a former JET ALT from New York, USA who was placed in Tsuno, Kochi. She was also in Alice in Tosa-land as Tosa-neko, the Tosaben-speaking cat. With a bright personality and a POWERFUL voice, we're excited to have her as Chiaki!

Nora Farley (Towa) is a former JET CIR from Minnesota, USA who was placed in Aki, Kochi. This is her second time participating in the Tosaben Musical. Unfortunately, the last show was Tosa Quest, which was cancelled due to Covid-19. But now that the show is online, she's back in! Solid soprano with excellent Japanese fluency. Super excited!

Ashley Sheppard (Jan the Monkey) is a former JET CIR from Nova Scotia, Canada who was placed in Aki, Kochi. She played the Queen of Yuzu in Alice in Tosa-land. We're glad to have her strong, deep voice and bold personality. She's got a few fun characters, so look out!

Jenae Bakke (the Elephant) is a former JET ALT from Oregon, USA. She was placed in Tsuno, Kochi and this is her third time participating in the Tosaben Musical. She worked in props for Alice in Tosa-land after her schedule didn't let her join as cast and she was the witch Chizu in the ill-fated Tosa-Quest. But third time's the charm! It's not on a stage, but we're glad to have her gentle soprano voice in the mix!

Rachael Page (Grey the Tanuki) is a former JET CIR from Newcastle, UK and was placed east in Umaji-mura, Kochi. She has played a Flower and the Shimanto River in Alice in Tosa-land and the lead Yoshiyuki in Tosa-Quest. We're excited for her very versatile acting and clear voice!

Eve Blackaby (the Hunter) is a former JET ALT from Essex, UK who was placed in Kochi City, Kochi. She played the lead in Alice in Tosa-land and this is her second show. She has a background in theatre, so she knows what she's doing. Excited to have her onboard again!

The 2021 Tosaben Musical is scheduled to be released in June.

March 19, 2021 No comments

February 08, 2021 No comments

Due to a lack of interest, the Tosaben Musical will no longer be a live stage performance.

To be honest, it wasn’t a surprise. With half of last year’s participants leaving, new JET arrivals being severely delayed, and of course, Covid-19, it was to be expected.

I’m still bummed about it, though. I love musical theater. I had plans to create a Zazu-like puppet for Towa, who is a yairocho (fairy pitta, Kochi’s prefectural bird) and one of the lead characters. I had charts and a list of materials and everything. Winter break was going to be my time to construct it. Past Genki productions didn’t work with puppetry (as far as I know), so I was excited to dabble in that. And now there's no show.

But just because the Tosaben Musical is not going to be on a stage doesn't mean it's over.

Instead of a live performance on a stage with props and lighting, the 2021 Tosaben Musical will instead be a digital script reading with the musical numbers presented in the style of a music video. This is something that can be done by one person or many. In a time when live theater is struggling, we need to find ways to adapt.

This idea of a script reading is not an original idea. I was inspired by Team Starkid and their most recent endeavor, Nightmare Time.

Starkid is a popular theater group famous for comedic musicals such as A Very Potter Musical and Twisted. This year, Starkid was supposed to perform Nerdy Prudes Must Die, the third installment of their horror-comedy Hatchetfield musical series. However, because of Covid-19, the musical was postponed.

In its place, Starkid presented Nightmare Time, a live script reading of several short stories taking place in their Hatchetfield universe. Nightmare Time was conducted over the video conferencing platform Zoom. While most of the stories were straight plays and not musicals, musical numbers accompanied each story in the style of a music video. It was performed and streamed to a live online audience. The first of three episodes is available on YouTube.

While Nightmare Time was performed live, the 2021 Tosaben Musical likely won't be. We will be reaching internationally for our cast. And if worst comes to worst, a story can be told by one person.

The 2021 Tosaben Musical is still happening, even if it’s in a new format. Currently, we are assessing the schedule and adjusting the production pipeline. Genki has never done this before and it’s going to be a lot of work, so I’m pretty nervous. But I know it’ll be worth it in the end.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

See you in 2021!

Kaili

Director (2018 - present)

November 02, 2020 No comments

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