Blue Buttocks

  8月 12, 2008 - 7:07午後

After running CRS for four years, I have finally found time to return to making work for the theatre and screen. For those of you who don't know, I was very active as a performer, director, and videographer before opening CRS. Now, I am delighted to be able to invite you to see my new work, which opens what I believe is an especially entertaining program, Conversations with Barthelme, at CRS the next two weekends. In addition to my work, created with Hazuki Homma and inspired by the old tale of Bluebeard the wife-killer, Conversations with Barthelme also features two terrifically performed pieces by Harold Lehmann and Nathan Dame, a whimsical and thought-provoking short film by Jonathan Hayes about school-children searching for the meaning of life and death, and a startling conceptual work about cultural divides and generation gaps by the legendary Yoshiko Chuma and Shirotama Hitsujiya of Yubiwa Hotel.

I would also like to invite you to a film we have just added to our calendar. "The Miracle of the Gifted Quarter — Since it is the Truth" is a documentary about what we can learn from special-needs kids and has taken Japan by storm. We will be screening it (its NYC premiere) on Monday, August 25 and due to its popularity, we expect it to sell out so grab your tickets fast!

Our Art Camp! is designed to give kids a fun introduction to arts activities that are not usually taught: fashion design, making tutus, portraiture, collaborative artwork, theatre & the visual arts, weaving. Weaving is already full, so we encourage you sign your kids up for the other classes quickly before they fill up, too. We have some great teachers and it is sure to be a blast. All kids are welcome! And if you would like to attend with your child, that is fine, too. We've had quite a few adults express interest in taking the classes.

Sincerely,

Christopher Pelham
Director
CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing)

  7月 9, 2008 - 9:07午後

On July 6, 2008 Yasuko and I attended the North America premiere of Koji Wakamatsu's film "United Red Army" at Japan Society. I believe that it is one of the most important films to be made in recent years, and I hope that it will find its way to additional screenings and a DVD release so that you will all have an opportunity to see it. With shocking realism this film re-creates the story of the rise and fall of the United Red Army, established 1971, one of the may radical left-wing Japanese student groups that protested the Japanese government's support for America's war in Vietnam. Director Wakamatsu knew many members of the UAR personally and states that 90% of the film is true and the remaining 10% is imagined based on the known facts.

What we witness is a group of many of Japan's brightest university students showing incredible bravery and commitment to try to make the world a better place. We also see clearly that such iron determination without wisdom to guide it leads to tragedy.

  7月 9, 2008 - 7:46午後

6月22日の日曜日、CRSでは初の試みで、お子様のためのアート・ディを開催いたしました。
現在開催している９人の女性アーティストの個展のオープニングイベントとして、水彩絵
の具やSAORI織りの教室から粘土細工を用意し、子供たちがアーティストとふれあいながら作品を