少し前の話になりますが、ハワイ大学🌈🌴歌舞伎プロジェクトを進めているハワイ大学演劇舞踊科のイエツッイー教授がある時「今日は歌舞伎用語に関する筆記試験でした」と言っていたことがあります
↑これは、今年3月に行った際の学部生のクラス
学生たちは専門用語の説明を懸命に記述していたようです
しかもとても皆良い成績をおさめたらしい
歌舞伎に興味を持ち、日本から6500km以上離れた南の島ハワイで、一生懸命歌舞伎用語を覚え、試験勉強をしている様子を思い浮かべると、なんだかうれしくなります😄
そして8月から始まる新学期から約1年かけて本格的に歌舞伎を学びます
元々歌舞伎は日本人の移民と共にハワイ🌈🌴に根付き、当時はいくつも芝居小屋があったほどだったんです
今ではハワイ大学🌈🌴で英語で上演されるのみですが、またこの説明は別の機会にね
門之助🤞
Dr. Iezzi of the department of Theater and Dance told us the students were taking test of kabuki terms.
According to her, they were really working hard and most of them could get good grades.
Imagining them living in Hawaii, more than 6,500km away from Japan, studying Kabuki terms for the exam made me smile.
Then as the fall semester starts in this coming August, they will study and learn about Kabuki basics more.
Did you know that there were Kabuki in Hawaii?
Probably not.
Japanese people (probably even those in Hawaii) hardly know that there were Kabuki in Hawaii more than 150 years ago.
There were many theaters that played Kabuki in Oahu and other islands.
Now that the generations have changed, the Kennedy Theater of the University of Hawaii is probably the one and only theater that has “hanamichi” and plays Kabuki in English.
I’ll explain the details of the project some other day.