Western audiences are familiar with stand-up comedians, but the public can experience a sit-down version of this art form March 27 as the University will host an English-language performance of Rakugo, a traditional Japanese form of comic monologue.
The Rakugo troupe has been on the Hilltop Campus this week to interact with faculty and students as part of the Visiting East Asian Professionals Program in Arts & Sciences. It will offer a free public performance at 3 p.m. March 27 in Brown Hall, Room 100.
Dating to the 17th century, Rakugo involves a storyteller with animated facial expressions who narrates comic tales of everyday life predicaments while seated on a cushion. The monologues are accompanied by music from a samisen, a three-stringed, guitar-like instrument.
For more information, go online to artsci.wustl.edu/~veap, or contact Krystel Mowery at 935-8772 or veap@artsci.wustl.edu.
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