Katsura Sunshine will present an online live talk show at 8 PM ET on Thursdays and Saturdays, streaming on YouTube and Facebook beginning March 19. The star will also return to New World Stages with the solo show Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo June 20.
The weekly performances will be different from the solo show seen Off-Broadway, maintaining elements of Rakugo that are specifically adapted for video. Some clips are already available to watch on Sunshine’s YouTube or Facebook pages.
Rakugo is the ancient Japanese art of comic storytelling where stories are passed down from a master to an apprentice. An apprenticeship lasts at least three years and consists of folding kimonos, cleaning the house and setting up your master's shows. Born in Toronto, Sunshine is the only Western master in the world out of 800.
Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo features a lone storyteller who, dressed in a kimono and kneeling on a cushion, uses only a fan and a hand towel for props to entertain the audience with a comic monologue followed by traditional stories.
The extended Off-Broadway production featured set design by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, lighting design by Ayumu Poe Saegusa, and is presented by Steven Honigman and Joe Trentacosta in association with Yumi Shinozaki and The Yoshimoto Creative Agency of Japan. The company manager is Marie Fukuda with general management by LDK Productions/Lisa Dozier King.
