Kabuki at the crossroads : years of crisis, 1952-1965 / / by Samuel L. Leiter.

• Author: Leiter, Samuel L.
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (764 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Samuel L. Leiter's Kabuki at the Crossroads: Years of Crisis, 1952-1965 is the first detailed account of Japan's kabuki theatre in the years immediately following the end of the Occupation. It examines every aspect of this traditional theatre as it struggled to maintain its position in a rapidly changing postwar entertainment environment. It covers acting rivalries, major productions, theatres, international tours, the convention of men playing female roles, name-taking and memorial ceremonies, the company system and managerial strategies. In addition, the volume includes numerous appendixes chronicling the period, including a thorough chronology and 150 summaries of new plays never previously discussed in English.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- And Then There Was One: Tokyo’s Three Top Acting Companies -- Three K Factors: Kenkyū Kai, Kōryū, and Kaomise -- Kansai Kabuki at the Crossroads -- Communists, Teenage Girls, and Little Theatres: Three Alternative Kabuki Troupes -- When Tōhō Got its Mojo -- Yakusha or Haiyū?: Kabuki Actors at the Crossroads -- Changing Names, Memorial Flames -- Shūmei of the Century: The Danjūrō Dilemma -- Till Death Do Your Parts: Debuts, Education, and Mortality -- From the Ginza to Broadway: Kabuki Goes Global -- Playhouses, Programming, and Plays -- Chronology of Programs and Events, May 1952 to December 1965 -- Study Groups: 1952–1965 -- Traditional Plays and the Zenshin-za -- The Katabami-za at the Sumida Gekijō and Ōji Hall: 1952–1964 -- Kōshirō VIII and Tōhō -- Selected Awards: 1952–1965 -- Shūmei: 1952–1965 -- Acting Debuts: 1952–1965 -- Actors’ Deaths: 1952–1965 -- Production Statistics: 1952–1965 -- Actors’ Names -- Synopses of New Plays Produced at the Kabuki-za: 1952–1965 -- Bibliography -- Index.