Just Say Noh: Pitt to Host Japanese Classical Theater Performance on Feb. 23

Pitt’s Asian Studies Center will present a double bill of Noh, the classical theater of Japan, in the Stephen Foster Memorial’s Charity Randall Theatre at 7 p.m. Feb. 23.

Aoi no Ue (The Lady Aoi) and Hagoromo (The Feather Cloak) will be performed by acclaimed Japanese Noh artist Hisa Uzawa and a group of 12 actors and musicians wearing elegant costumes and masks.

Uzawa, an actor of the Tessenkai branch of the Kanze School of Noh, first appeared on stage at age three and made her first performance as a Noh lead actor at 13. She is one of the few women actors in what has been until recently a male-dominated profession.

For tickets to the Feb. 23 performance, call the University of Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre Box Office at 412-624-PLAY (7529) or visit www.play.pitt.edu. Tickets prices are $15 for reserved seats and $10 for students, seniors, children under 12, and Pitt faculty and staff members.

A local exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints, titled The Prints of Tsukioka Kogyo, will complement Pitt’s Noh performance. The exhibition will be open from Feb. 3 to April 7 in the Frick Art and Historical Center, 7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze. Kogyo (1869-1927) was a master of the Japanese woodblock print at the turn of the 20th century. The exhibition showcases his remarkably colorful images illustrating virtually the entire range of Noh repertory since the Meiji period (1868-1912), creating an elegant record of the genre’s customs and performances. For more information about the exhibition, call 412-371-0600 or visit www.frickart.org.

The University’s Noh performance is cosponsored by Pitt’s Asian Studies Center within the University Center for International Studies; the Japan Iron and Steel Federation; Mitsubishi Motors; and the Toshiba International Foundation.