For the first time at our festival, we are pleased to present the traditional form of Japanese puppetry commonly known as ningyo joruri or bunraku. Three puppeteers operate large, beautifully crafted puppets using a system of rods and levers, each responsible for movement of different parts of the body. Stories are told without words, only by the manipulations of the puppets’ face and body, and create a wonderful theatrical world that has a magic all its own.

The Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe, directed by Martin Holman, is part of the Japanese Studies Department at the University of Missouri–Columbia. These students have been trained in Japan by artists from the 300-year-old Imada Puppet Troupe of Nagano Prefecture in central Japan.

Saturday, 3:30 and 5 p.m.;
Sunday, 4 and 5:30 p.m.;
Monday, 1:30 p.m.

Shoenberg Theater