1. Choose one Noh play from among Atsumori, Shunkan, Miidera, and Izutsu
 

2. In reframing this play for 2003 and an audience in the U.S., what elements of the play
would you most like to retain and emphasize?
 

3. Feel free to make radical changes in your interpretations. Atsumori can remain a warrior play, for example, but you might envision him as a soldier from a modern war. The sorrowful mother in Miidera could now be a mother searching for the child who shows up on the 6pm news report. Could Napoleon play Shunkan? Most of the plays have comic and tragic elements so choose which tone you'd like yourinterpretation to have.
 

4. Once you have some ideas, you can search the net for images. To save an image, place the cursor on it and right click with themouse. You'll see "save image as...." Name and save the image, and then insert it in your document. Powerpoint screens can work well forgiving you a colorful background. Label your
images as shite, waki, chorus, etc. to correspond to the characters onstage in the Noh play. You can draw, paint, or cut out pictures from magazines, too.

5. Print out and bring your creation to class or upload it to the web for viewing that way.

Have some fun with this! The objective is to encourage us all to think about elements in these plays that interest us and to interpret them creatively. How does costume help bring a play to life onstage? How do original Noh costumes enhance the aesthetic experience of the theater?