Seinendan Theater Company + Osaka University Robot Theater Project

Co-presented with The Japan Foundation 

Running time: 75 minutes, including intermission

Imagine a time when "robot maids" are commonly found in family households. That’s the much-anticipated setting of these two heartrending short plays by Oriza Hirata, founder of Japan’s celebrated Seinendan Theater Company. In Sayonara (android and human actors), an android is bought to console a girl suffering from a fatal illness, but when its mechanics go awry, the meaning of life and death to humans and robots comes into question. In I, Worker (robots and human actors), a husband’s struggle to cope with the loss of his child is juxtaposed with the malaise of one of his robots, which has lost all motivation to work. This double bill was developed in collaboration with Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro, a leading international researcher on robotics and Director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University. Sayonara will be performed in English and Japanese with English subtitles. I, Worker will be performed in Japanese with English subtitles.

TICKETS
$28/$25 Japan Society members

Thursday, February 7 performance is followed by a MetLife Meet-the-Artists Reception.

Buy Tickets Online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. – Fri. 11 am – 6 pm, Weekends 11 am – 5 pm. 

Thursday, February 7 performance is now SOLD OUT. A waitlist will begin at the Box Office one hour before curtain.

The six-city tour of this program also includes:
Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, OH),  January 31 – February 2
Philadelphia Live Arts (Philadelphia, PA), February 15-16
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts (Burlington, VT), February 21-22
Canadian Stage (Toronto, Canada), February 26 – March 2
Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh, PA), March 8-9

This program’s six-city tour is co-produced with The Japan Foundation and organized by Japan Society.

 
MetLife Meet-the-Artists Reception support is provided by MetLife Foundation.