NOH HOLDS BARRED : Troupe Hopes to Show Orange County How Modern a 500-Year-Old Art Form Can Be

Things aren’t always what they appear to be, either in real life or in the theater--particularly in Noh drama, the 500-year-old Japanese art form.

The ranting insane woman who is holding you, the viewer, captive with her reminiscences is actually a grieving mother working through her deep loss for her son. The mighty swordsmith is a god in disguise, and the officiously pompous priest reveals his true colors as a petty persimmon thief. The tension caused by these double characterizations, a tension compounded in Takigi Noh , or Noh by torchlight and under the stars, is the all-important crux that keeps the venerable Noh dramas alive and well.

“People often think of Noh as a stately, solemn form of theater with minimal movement and little action,” said Sadayo Kita, 63, leader of the Kita Noh Theater troupe that will perform three works tonight in Costa Mesa as part of a North American tour. “But in actuality, we perform the same stories which are staged in more popular forms of Japanese theater such as Kabuki. The difference lies in the Noh actor’s motivation. In our art, we try to show what lies within, and what is often revealed is the quieter more subdued inner self.”

Sadayo Kita, whose family includes 15 generations of Noh actors, is one of the new breed of stars trying to revitalize and internationalize a theater that many see as bound by traditions and not readily accessible to non-Japanese audiences. “One of the reasons we want to come to America is to show that the dramas are universal in their appeal and scope.”

Kita’s first American experience was a six-month teaching stint at the New York Institute of the Performing Arts. “I was asked to train a group of advanced acting students to do ‘The One-Horned Hermit’ (‘Ikkaku Sennin’). I thought that six months was an awfully short time to expect beginners to achieve anything like professional skills in technique, but I was amazed at what they were able to accomplish in the end.”

On the same project, Kabuki actor Baiko Onoe taught another group of students the dance-drama “The Thunder God” (“Narukami”), which recounts the same story and is largely based upon the Noh play.

One play that the troupe will be premiering during tonight’s presentation at the Isamu Noguchi-designed “California Scenario” sculpture garden is the tragic masterpiece “Sumidagawa.”

Company member Mansaku Nomura, who specializes in comedic roles, recently returned from performances in the Soviet Union where, he said, “the audiences were warm and responsive, though they probably did not understand a single word of Japanese.” The play he has selected for Costa Mesa is the farcical “Persimmon Thief.”

“Normally we bring the popular master-and-wily-servant plays for foreign audiences, but this time we decided to do a priest play. Priests are characters (who) are easy to identify within any culture. They represent the overbearing authority figure who makes himself the butt of ridicule with his blustering manners and his exaggeration of his power and abilities.”

For Mansaku, America holds particularly fond memories. After a one-year teaching stint at the University of Washington in Seattle, he came to Los Angeles for performances and workshops.

Recalling that visit 25 years ago, Nomura, now 58, said, “I am quite sure that this was the first time kyogen --the comedies paired with the Noh--had ever been presented in the United States. The enthusiastic response of the audiences has brought me back again and again. American audiences laugh and enjoy Kyogen far more than any Japanese audience can ever imagine doing. Since then I have been eager to perform abroad as much as possible, and I think that this is about my 20th visit.”

Like Nomura, Anshin Uchida, 53, has long and close ties with Southern California. Uchida is the second principal actor and performs the double role of the swordsmith and fox deity in the play “Kokaji” on tonight’s program.

Uchida makes regular visits to teach Noh to eager Los Angeles students. “My father began coming to Los Angeles to teach in the 1930s before the outbreak of the war,” he said, “and I inherited his students. There are some who are in their 80s and still avidly continue their training. . . .”

Laying out a dozen or so photos edge to edge, Uchida, shortly before the U.S. tour began, gave members of the Kita troupe a first glimpse of the Costa Mesa plaza where their outdoor performance by torchlight will take place.

Uchida explained: “The stage will be built in front of a knoll, using the pine trees as a backdrop. Isamu Noguchi’s stone garden is bathed in artificial moonlight, and the stage is lit by torches. The audience will be seated on chairs arranged among the rocks and on both banks of the stream which divides the plaza.” Sadayo and Mansaku anticipate that “the effect will be stunning.”

“Performing Noh in a modern environment surrounded by the mirrored walls of skyscraper is a way of bringing our art to the people. We are all excited about the prospects of giving new meaning and new life to these classic pieces by performing them in a setting at once contemporary and natural,” Sadayo explains. “I know that it will be a performance I’ll remember for a lifetime.”

The Kita Noh troupe performs tonight at 7:15 p.m. in the California Scenario Sculpture Garden at Town Center Park Plaza in Costa Mesa. Tickets: $25. Information: (714) 241-1700, Ext. 303.