 So welcome everybody to the Martin Siegel Theatre Center here at the Guaditz Center CUNY. My name is Frank Henschkamp, the director of programs and executive director. And as I said in my earlier introduction, we do many events in the year. They're all significant, but I feel that the Japan Playwright Project is really an exceptional one. We have worked for a year and a half to make that happen. Aya came over and said, Frank, it's time to do something again. And I really would like to thank Aya again not only for translating, but also for co-producing and making this all happen and being a bridge between two significant cultures of theatre. And it should happen much more. And we are always stunned and honoured that it's our little Siegel Theatre Center. We always think that it should be at the public or Lincoln Center here or there, but it does not always happen that way. But we hope it will be inspiring to the New York scene. These are significant writers, very important writers within the Japanese Theatre, which is one of the great, great traditions of theatre in the world. And it's a great honour. And again, we would like to thank the Japan Foundation to make that happen. And we have three of the representatives here, and Sanni and Koji and Kenji Matsumoto. So it's really a great honour. And again, thank you for seeing the importance of it and supporting it. Lots of people do see it, but when it comes to making things happen, it's much more complicated, so it's an extraordinary event. We had our first reading in the afternoon. Paveona's Food as Fable was a brilliant reading as to start. And I also know what we're going to see now is a very significant reading of a play from Jun Tsutsui, who is here with us. And like the other players, it really flew in from Japan to be here, to listen to the New York readings, to the actors, and hopefully also make connections. It's a fantastic thing. And really, thank you for taking out your time and also for writing that play, Sukunaizu, and Soraya, the great actress and director, who is very close to the Living Theatre, and she agreed to do this. So we would also thank Soraya for doing this. If you have your cell phone out, I should do the same. Just take it out for a moment and make sure it's off. I'll do the same. So thank you very much. After the third reading tonight, there will be a reception in the archive by around 36th Street. You have the information here. So I hope you will be able to join us. And Soraya, maybe a few words from you. Thank you. Hello. My name is Soraya Brucki. Nice to meet you all. Thank you so much for being here. It's been such an honor to work on this play and joy. It's hard to say joy because it's quite a significant moment that's happening in Japan. But I felt very connected and so did the cast as well, even though some of the cast are all from different regions. And so it's been a multicultural experience working on this piece as well. And I'd like to introduce Sukunaizu by Jun Tsutsui. I somehow hear that through the gap, through the draft, is cold. If you turn to this direction, innocent people who go there to toll the bell, they're tangling footsteps resounding in the room, empty of expectation. Yes, I'm believing. I'm throwing these words because I'm believing. But I don't know what I'm believing in. The silence of Siren? Disturbing. They are carried through the gap between the buildings to the hospital. They don't know how much they have drunk. Stumbling footsteps resounding in me. My stomach emptied of expectation. That's it. The work is done. Throw this thing into it and it's done. As I talked with officer of the city office, electricity and gas in this room seems to have been cut off recently. That's it. The work is done. Today. This. Most have been delivered by the enforcer. Here. That letter has been sent. If they would read the letter. Throw this thing into it and it's done. Yes, certainly they will. As I told officer. So I believe that. Of the city office? Here. I told him. Here at this desk. Neither of the sisters ever. I've waited for the response for a long time. Reply. It must have been delivered by the enforcer. To our call recently. That letter. This. That's it. The work is done. If they would read the letter. This. But sorry. Here. I'm so sorry. Throw this thing into it. All the time. I've waited all the time. And it's done. Sorry. I'm so sorry. At the desk where I've been waiting. Officer of the city office? Sorry. I'm so sorry. Told me to deliver the letter anyway. All this time. Just deliver it. I've been waiting. The electricity and gas in this room. I'm sorry. Recently it seems. I'm so sorry. To have been cut off. I've waited all the time. This room here. I've been waiting at this desk. Recently it seems. Sorry. I'm so sorry. The electricity and gas. Electricity and gas. Have been cut off. Seems to have been cut off. Those sisters. Again. Today. Even if we call on them. Enforcer must have delivered. The sisters never replied to our call. That. That letter. I wish they would read the letter. Electricity and gas. Then we can deal with it. Throw this thing into it. This. Just deliver the letter. At this desk. That's it. The work is done. Waiting. This letter. The enforcer is delivering. I'm just leaving the letter here actually. That letter. As long as the officer doesn't mind. I wish they would read it. There's nothing else. I'm sorry. I would do. I'm so sorry. The toll. Are you able to hear that? You aren't? Anyway, whichever direction you turn to. You feel the draft. Disturbing desires. No one knows how many there are. Resounding in me, my head. Deprived of the ability to expect. Throwing these words because I'm believing. But I don't know what I'm believing in. The toll. You hear that? You don't? It resounds in my stomach that is empty. Do you hear calm? Not yet? It's a bit complicated, but don't worry. Everybody is the same. Everyone is in the same situation. The bank said you'd be super rich if you plan to the magic seed bound to a crop like a dream and this vast land that your parents had. So the land's value got super high. Right? Right? When the value of the land was the highest, your parents suddenly passed away. And the government told you that a rule is a rule. As a duty of a citizen. As the heirs of the land. And to redistribute the wealth, the government imposed a loan on you that was equal to the value of the land. It is the same. Everybody is concerned equally. As for this land of your parents, everybody realized that the magic seed bound to a crop like a dream that the bank offered was a complete fabrication. And the value of your parents' land suddenly fell. For the government who overlooked the bank's fabrication for raising the value of your parents' land, the rule was the rule. You inherited the land when it was the most valuable so you have to pay it at the highest rate. Even though you value the place, selling it was out of the question. The value was too low and it wouldn't have helped at all. Just trust me and everything will be fine. Everything is the same. Everybody has the same idea. I have a clever plan that assures the steady crop and helps you maintain this vast land that your parents cultivated though it is not super profitable built a good apartment complex which is beautiful, right? Which is superb and of high quality. On this land of your parents you can live a steady life inheriting and maintaining the land that your parents left your parents who raised you and made you such decent persons. So build an excellent apartment complex on this land and pay the loan with the income from that. Everybody is the same. Everybody does the same thing. If you let us build a high grade, good apartment complex on this land of yours you, their noble daughters will be able to pay the loan steadily and monthly with income from the rent. Your parents in heaven must be happy that you can maintain the beloved land that is full of good memories until you two pass away. You will need to use all the income to pay the loan. You should manage on your own about the living costs. We can't take care of you that much. A single move for a long time incidentally, but what difference would it make if I cared? Do you want me to leave you alone? It's been very cold. Shall I put something on like a futon on you? Do you want me to have it done? What have you been doing next to me? You've never moved at all for quite a while. For instance, if I called you, what would happen? Would you turn to me? I called you from here to there and then for instance if you didn't make a move, what would happen? What would that mean? If I called to you and then nothing in this room moved called to you and then nothing in this world changed would that mean? Well, what would that mean? From here Well wait, do I still have a voice? For instance, if I spoke aloud what would happen? What would it mean? Well to speak aloud after all what am I supposed to produce a voice or try to say vocal training? What difference would it make if I prepared as an actor after all? What would it mean? By the way, sister have you been going on at all next to me? Hard to say vocal training Well am I still capable of speaking aloud? For instance, what would it mean if I couldn't even make a sound? What would that mean? But if my voice didn't reach there even if I produced a bit of voice or voice that you didn't hear that what would that mean? If my voice didn't make a sound and nothing in this world moved, if my voice didn't make a sound and nothing in this world changed or here, there or here either be so I don't know what if to do if with my voiceless voice I made a sound and then nothing happened so I can't make a voice The enforcer must have delivered it again today I wish they would read the letter Yes, certainly they will so I believe that having waited for their response on the phone for a long time I wish they would read the letter that enforcer must have delivered I've waited all the time I'm sorry so sorry sorry, I'm so sorry That's it, this year is done throw this thing into it and it's done For a phone call I've been waiting all the time I've waited all the time The last year we went to Disneyland a precious promise to my dear family a dreamland for everyone completely spotless the souvenir was Mickey Cookie I've waited all the time but sorry I'm so sorry That's it this year is done throw this thing into it, that's my job Sorry I'm so sorry for a phone call I've been waiting Officer told me to take a police officer with me it's easy to say but maybe not yet I thought that she has been stinking sorry, I'm so sorry I told them that it's been cut off electricity and gas enforcer must have delivered it again today I wish they would read the letter through this mail slot on the door into which I throw this thing the smell of garbage is coming out I told them that electricity and gas have been cut off the smell of garbage is coming out through the gap in the door that's it this year is done throw this thing into it and it's done then we can deal with electricity and gas this new year we'll be welcomed to Okinawa a precious promise to my dear family the blue of the sea the clear skies can't believe it's in the same country so for a phone call here I've been waiting all the time I wish they would read the letter that enforcer must have delivered sorry I've been so sorry all the time I don't get it this undergrounded sensation the land that our parents have cultivated the property our bodies I don't really get what has happened to them I don't get it this unidentified sensation the land that our parents have maintained the property, our lives I don't really get what has happened to them the land that we have inherited from our parents the property, our values I don't really get what has happened to them we always spend new years like this again on New Year's Eve rubbishy young boys are singing of love and dreams on TV oh? I don't want to watch it at all I'm not interested in it but my husband says we never watch it if we didn't watch it tonight so he means he's too busy usually so I watch it with him together reluctantly but watching it I realize that these young boys these days though I don't know them at all all these TV people but they're kind of cute I gradually come to think eating noodles, yes they are cute these young boys these days though it's just because it's New Year's Eve probably we always spend New Year's Eve like this how do you spend it? the faces appear to be identical at first but watching them in a TV show oh? I come to think this boy is cute that boy is cool funny though it's just because I don't have anything else to do probably my husband gets bored by the young boys performing on TV oh? and says this guy is stupid, out of it or that guy though he's dancing triumphantly in spite of the look he must be a slow runner we always spend New Year's Eve like this how do you spend it? and then finally always says that guy must be virgin oh? he doesn't know sex he's a virgin brat and I say that serves you right dogmatically and triumphantly guy doesn't know what real fun it is he says to the TV that delivers songs about love and dreams and while saying that messes with me he posts me on his shoulders in the legs in the ribs in various parts of my body and he keeps doing that actually they always spend New Year's Eve like this how do you spend it? while doing that he talks about things whispering is an excusing and I don't really know if it's true or not oh? he says God made humans mortal because humans like to make new humans and they enjoy that very much they enjoy making new humans so much that even God can't handle it anymore so he has no choice but to thin out humans otherwise there would be too many humans and they destroy the world eventually we always spend New Year's Eve like this there is a reason for suddenly speaking like this again I'm New Year's Eve I'm dead and don't have the sense of time Rubbish young boys are singing of love and dreams on TV I'm dead like this and don't have the sense of time out of the corner of my eye I'm dead and my body decays like this which articulates time but I can't read time since I'm dead but I know that that isn't about time changed at all and I accept my husband's blessing but that means to this moment this time of place since I've been dead and lost the timeline I don't know what speaking like this without reading the air means since I'm dead sorry if I've been interfering with time if I've been interfering with time I'm sorry because I know why I could have been though I'm not dying for pardon because I'm dead sorry for having lost the timeline I don't know to whom I'm speaking like this since I'm dead and my narration might be unreasonable and incommunicable but since I'm dead words come out of me I suddenly find myself dead like this and no one can take care of my feeble sister so I hope that my sister finds a way to take care of herself sister but I have been dead doing nothing having done nothing here electricity and gas have been cut off it is called and we are worried we recommend you to consult the city office about more living conditions for ending up like this for example the man who faithfully delivers the letter to us had seriously listened to me I had had him listen to me and know what to do I don't find a job at all I do not know what to do there is no job at all really I do not know what to do electricity and gas have been cut off it is called and we are worried we recommend you to consult the city office about your living conditions I don't understand I do not understand this enforcers job is to inform them that the fact that that place has been seized why we have to ask the city that seized our property and the government that took our land away for welfare aid that is his job and it is me who wait for them to come to this desk from that room that has been seized that is all here so far and I just stay calm as an officer I think the city if they paid municipal tax wouldn't have to carry out a seizure forcibly but the city eventually forcibly seized all the properties they had here and the rest is the enforcers job I do not understand I do not understand as an officer I know they have managed to repay monthly the loan for building the apartment complex and the debt to the government so we seized the place and things like welfare aid is the enforcers job as an officer they came and consulted me about things like welfare aid I would have done my best to hear about how crucial their situation is the officer has been waiting as the person in charge with responsibility always sitting at his desk and all I have to do would be to explain in detail that this is the water's edge those who can work must work as hard as they can those who don't have a job must look hard for a job at the desk he stays quiet calm straining his ears to listen to our scream our last scream if you are eligible for systems other than welfare aid such as pension or benefit make use of the resources that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have pension or benefit make use of them receive as much support as possible from your family although it is not a requirement for the aid that you can't the officer is the person in charge of the screen with responsibility at the desk calm me waits for the screen if you cannot make your own living in spite of all these efforts you are eligible for welfare aid it's demolished the house that our father built we would run around in the garden and the little footprints are erased living in the loans we watch it being demolished in front of us it's demolished the house that our father built sunflowers taller than us in the small garden withering little memories living in the loans we watch it being demolished in front of us what? are you pulling down your parents house? it's being pulled down already well you've lived here for so long oh are you pulling down your parents house to this apartment already well you have moved are you selling your parents land if you sell it now well it won't make so much money oh I think you look pale your face well maybe none of my business but why don't you go to the hospital well because you look really pale sure okay then it's embarrassing to ask now but it's kind of hard to find the right time what you can't go to the hospital so though it's embarrassing to ask now so could you please lend me a bit what do you mean by that well you can't be that strapped oh what about the income from the land that your decent father had all the other properties oh well that's our situation so I wonder if you could lend me a bit though it's embarrassing to ask now I appreciate if you could you know have some money no I wouldn't mind but it feels weird to lend money to you because you're a wealthy people we want to eat food what food but are you having trouble with food yes well you mean you haven't eaten well oh I'm a bit hungry our small stomachs are empty then maybe for the time being this is all I have now so we don't need so much though we want food we'll do our best there is a reason for suddenly speaking like this our parents said happiness is not something you find somewhere around you and just get true happiness does not exist anywhere we are worried how you are going to spend what we'll do here so we strongly recommend you to talk to your relatives or the city office you can be someone who deserves happiness what if I got happiness and look around and if I were the only one who was smiling I might be happy but I do not deserve happiness that is what our parents told us and we respected our parents so we have long been preparing for that only hoping that we would deserve happiness I could not become a person who deserves happiness I no longer deserve it since I was hungry I asked the neighbor to lend me money and she did I have become irrelevant to happiness there is a reason for suddenly speaking out like this I am dead like this suddenly and blood stays somewhere not circulating anymore and really I cannot take care of my sister anymore so I do not deserve happiness but my sister really deserves happiness she deserves happiness more than anyone else in the world so I wanted her to deserve happiness on behalf of me there are only my motionless sister and I in this room nothing else there is nothing else in this room no, yes there is something there are memories in this room in this room there are our memories of living here a sofa and two cushions on it the cushions are for holding and using as pillows we never put them behind in city in front of the sofa there is a table and instant coffee on it in the morning and cheap chile wine in the night but it is quite good a magazine wrap behind the table fashion magazines in it a small TV set a shelf under it and a medicine box in it an unreliable thermometer a scissor and a ballpoint pen a small broom for quickly brushing crumbs of sweets not yet has it well, not yet but now in this room there is only my motionless sister and I nothing else there is nothing in this room wait, perhaps this is true there is everything in this room except I and my sister and so there are two worlds a world that hasn't betrayed me exists exactly as I remember and only my sister and I are absent there it's unconceivable that there is nothing we don't have anything and there are only my sister and I in the world everything is reversed there is nothing a magazine wrap inside the table in a knitting textbook in it a small TV set a shelf under it and a medicine box in it an unreliable sticking plaster a scissor and a ballpoint pen a small broom for quickly brushing crumbs of sweets a clock on the wall not yet so now in this room there is my memory and we are absent in this room I whoa, oh this thing in my hand in this hand I am in it now I am with this sister of mine we two are here and that isn't all because there is one more evidence of our existence in this world so it's not reversed after all in this fucking world there are my this sister of mine I and one more thing there is a 5 yen coin in my hand a magazine wrap beside the table and a mail order catalog in it a small TV set a shelf under it and a medicine box in it an unreliable cold medicine a pen a broom for quickly brushing crumbs of sweets a clock and calendar on the wall everything is lost by the way has the new year come? not yet has it? well, not yet in this room there is my sister I and a 5 yen coin this room is the reality oh it's because I hold this 5 yen coin that there are the 5 yen coin I and my motionless sister so this is the only world of all things because of this 5 yen coin the world can't be reversed so there is nothing else nothing in our stomach how come we have to be in this world where nothing is reversed and I cling to a 5 yen coin after all only the hand that holds the 5 yen coin tells me that I am alive a 5 yen coin that is warmed by my temperature how come the 5 yen coin is the only evidence of my life my sister and I don't deserve the other world a magazine wrap beside the table a fortune telling book that tells nothing in it a small TV set a shelf under it and a medicine box in it an unreliable supplement a scissor and a ballpoint pen a small broom for quickly brushing crumbs of sweet a clock and calendar on the wall everything is taken away has the New Year come? not yet, has it? the toll the gap through the draft is cold if you turn to this direction those go where there to toll the bell hold coins of hope that are also being warmed in my hands in this empty and hopeless room if this 5 yen coin isn't warmed in my hand no matter how long I keep holding it if this 5 yen coin isn't warmed in my hands no matter how tightly I keep holding it well what would that mean? well now I can buy myself for myself decide whether I'm alive or not if I think I'm alive now that means I'm alive if I think I'm dead now that means I'm dead nobody else can tell where I am now anymore mesmerizing that I'll never see a doctor if they tell this is death that means I let the doctor decide whether I'm alive or not whether I'm alive or not is something that I decide right now I in this world can decide whether I'm alive or not by myself if I think I'm alive now that means I'm alive if I think I'm dead now that means I'm dead nobody else can tell me what to do anymore this enormity makes me suffocate do you still have a voice? am I supposed to be prepared as an actor after all? am I alive or not? that's what I decide I am allowed to decide things about myself I have never done that in my life by the way has the new year come? thank you first of all again to the actors and for Soraya to to grapple with that text is a very significant one I think there's an old tradition to question what's life and what's not life as it goes to his live comeback so it's a play that of course deals universally there was themes of theater in it all but in Poland Polish white always said theater is actually between the living and the dead is that fine space often characters are portrayed they're already dead they don't live anymore but now he also we are in that zone so first of all play to you have you seen the version in English on the stage? this is the first time I'm seeing it in English how does it feel to see your work? yes to see it in English at the same time at the same time other than me I'm also seeing it for the first time my work is always of course an important work but I can feel the joy of the moment I'm away from so today this is not only the first time I've experienced hearing my play in English but it's also the first time that someone else besides me has directed my work so I'm right now feeling the experience of joy and having my work extend beyond me this time I'm very happy that you have evaluated my work as a playwright but this time rather than myself I have the impression that it has been written before I actually work more often as a director so to be acknowledged in this way I'm a great honor but this particular play I feel like rather than me having written it I feel like I was made to write it by the two sisters yes so not always but for many people to know what kind of work it has been for many people and I always felt that I would love to have more people hear the story of these two sisters and so to have somebody else directed and thereby reaching more audience members I think that's wonderful tell us a bit about the story of the two sisters in Osaka a little north in the middle of the residential area in an incident that happened in an apartment complex in the suburb north of Osaka not Tokyo but Osaka and in 2011 in January women were found so in January 8th of 2011 the bodies of these two women were found and after some investigation they determined that they probably passed away in 2010 in December 22nd or 23rd and the police department were the first to find the bodies and after some investigation they determined that they probably passed away in 2010 December 22nd or 23rd initially my thought was to just take that time frame and portray what might have occurred during that time frame but then I actually went to visit this apartment complex where this took place so and once I got there you know on the internet if I searched really deeply I could find information about this area and this apartment complex but once I actually went there I saw very quickly that there were people living there that had no idea what had happened and that as time went on this incident would just begin to disappear and dissipate so I thought that it was really important to kind of portray also the economic realities and the environment of this whole living situation yes so as you saw in the play the time frame is this New Year's Eve into New Year's Day but I also wanted to make a point of communicating that the background of these women that their parents were quite well off so from one perspective you could say that these women were raised to be very pure of heart but another way of looking at it and several audience members in Japan made the comment that they were not able to make the comment that they just knew too little about the realities of how life worked and how money worked so as portrayed in the play there is the city office the welfare office and had they gotten themselves to that front desk they may have been able to get into the welfare system and received financial aid but because of the purity of heart that they grew up in or perhaps it was their pride that prevented them from being able to get themselves there so something else that I found in my research but I feel like for them to have had to ask for money to feed themselves must have taken a huge amount of just swallowing one's pride do you feel it's a microcosm of a Japan society or a Japanese feeling of the zeitgeist of Japan today when I initially wrote the piece I wasn't thinking of it in those terms but after having received a lot of feedback from audiences I do think that it is symbolic and dramatic of what has happened to Japan especially post bubble and I also remember that as I mentioned this incident was uncovered on January and it was a lot of information about Japan and Japan and Japan and Japan and Japan and Japan and the incident was uncovered on January 8th of 2011 and those of you might know that March 11, 2011 was of course the great earthquake and everything that happened after that so in a way I feel like the news cycle was so focused on that earthquake and the aftermath that this incident was quickly forgotten so there were a lot of people in the audience and were made to recall oh yeah this happened I remember this now so it became clear to me that it was an incident that actually had a deep effect on a lot of Japanese people at that time almost like a quiet private earthquake and that nobody heard it because no one was there maybe let's move to the actors first how did it feel how did you how did you approach that that work there was something about the repetition of certain words and certain minds that I think kind of revealed maybe the internal turmoil and I know that Soraya wanted to have a kind of physicality to the text so I think it almost felt like in my sister and our space we had this small square as our home that the thoughts were kind of underneath a lid and so the release of I'm playing the dead body but the reason I kept my lines were I have a reason to speak I have a reason to speak and so I think June was capturing the cry almost like a silent cry of this dead body but everything is contained and private and just one more thing it's a part of Japanese culture to save face and not to really review if you're suffering everything kind of had a mask in front of it I was intrigued by the challenge of playing a bureaucrat particularly after watching Kirsten Nielsen a lot especially back in June when she was defending the administration's policy of family separation how do people live with terrible news or terrible actions I still don't know if I've discovered that but it's a really intriguing thing to try to explore also after I said yes to doing this reading with all these lovely people my own father died on October 28 and so that actually made me a lot more curious about the borderline I got to witness a little bit of it with my dad in the ICU and it's definitely something that I believe belongs very much to theater as one of our kind of sacred missions to explore the borderline and the difference between which is I think quite thin the line between private, very private lives and the state or the city officials and where they intersect by the letters Soraya tell us a little bit how did you approach the tax when you read it first and what was your strategy well I read it first and for me what struck me the most was the poetry of it the images that came out the visual images that came out and I watched Jun's direction of Sokonazu in Japanese and I watched the video very influenced by the template of that and that gave it a form and then the personality the characters when I spoke to Jun he said each character has a different physicality separate different physicality and so I had such wonderful actors that each of them physicalized it in their own way and brought that to it it's kind of like the process of the play is kind of like a metaphor of to me of life in a way because it was like like you have the lines you have the play and then you have the movement which is the shell and then you have the actors which are the soul and the spirit of the life of the shell and then the words come out it's like what we are our different spheres like our physical body, our bliss body our soul body and then it comes alive in some ways I think you beautifully captured these kind of silences of what you said the silent cries you heard the whispers of their voices and the coin then falling on the floor any other comment maybe from the actors before we go to audience questions or something to share it was such a wonderful experience first with the piece that June wrote and then with the space that Saraya created I found it difficult to engage with some of the work because I had long been a fan of Japanese culture and I had seen it at least the way it's often depicted in our society as a land of decadence so for me personally I had to re-engage and challenge my own ideas of what Japanese culture and society mean and for that to exist alongside scarcity and that kind of work so but I had a minimal role in the play but these actors and our director and your work really was strong enough and the space was beautiful to come and interpret it thank you great ensemble Saraya gave the actors around the two, the sisters space, yeah I just want to say that the text itself inspired a lot of you felt it already that there was movement silence and text it's very particular where you how you moved where you moved because it would change the whole story and sometimes it was so and to be comfortable in the uncomfortability it's uncomfortable and the process is uncomfortable but that that's like something that we had to all trust thank you so maybe Michael and thanks again for all what you guys do up there in the audience and we open up for questions or comments and we'll just maybe say who you are with your name and then something that you would like to hi my name is Natasha from Australia so it's very exciting to see this I had a question for Jun it's really interesting Saray talking about the value of silence I think it is just important or if not more important than the dialogue in the piece I was very interested in how Jun approached structuring that piece because it's a very non-traditional structure and I think it makes the piece so unique it's such a unique way of delivering and exploring that event and I was wondering how you developed that structure so as a warrior I was thinking about Beckett Beckett so my first thought in tackling or approaching writing this piece is that since I was trying to express the process of dying I immediately went to Beckett I wasn't looking at Beckett's plays but actually his novels and there's a way it works that's a kind of a spiraling inward structure one of you mentioned the repetition of the text I was using that as a device to create the space on stage in which the present moment was not just the present moment but that there was a window of time that could open up on stage so when you look at the script itself it's just a sequence of phrases that are lined up kind of one after another so that way of representing text on the page is meant to hold a lot of silence today's reading I think took about 50 minutes but in my production it took about 2 hours for the whole play it took that much time to deliver the text very slowly it takes much more time to rehearse to make it longer yes amazing other comments or thoughts? questions? Mr. Jones said that he commented that the failure or whatever happened to these two sisters was because of their good heart my question is that is it customary that the parents do not educate the children to whatever they pass on to the children how to cope with whatever they receive or in the inherited is it a customary that they just leave it up to the children to figure out or they do not educate the children in order how to handle whatever they receive and also the whatever happened to these two sisters was it their pride that they they couldn't handle or they didn't like the failure I just want to know the idea of the culture of the Japanese how they could avoid such moments that happened to these two sisters thank you thank you Mr. Jones I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I