Kenjutsu

Kenjutsu
Theater	The Hideout Theatre
Directed by	Kareem Badr Shannon McCormick
Cast	Audrey Rachel Sansom Brad Hawkins Cat Drago Jayme Ramsay Jeff Britt Jordan T. Maxwell Justin Davis Lacy Shawn Marc Majcher Quinn Buckner Ruby Willmann Shannon McCormick
Crew	Cindy Page (lights) Michael Yew (sound)
Run	Mar/Apr 2014

Kenjutsu (full title: Kenjutsu: The Art of the Sword) was a mainstage show at The Hideout Theatre that was inspired by Japanese samurai films.

Summary

The show depicted epic tales of corruption, power, and betrayal set in feudal Japan, inspired by Japanese samurai films such as Seven Samurai, Harakiri, and 13 Assassins.

The cast trained with, and used on stage, actual bokken (wooden samurai swords). Combat was performed in slow motion. (Somehow, every character Marc Majcher played survived every duel.)

Generally, the cast eschewed non-stop action, focusing instead on patience and developing tension.

Prior to the title being finalized, the show was referred to familiarly as Kurosawa in honor of director Akira Kurosawa.

More Information

• Initial show announcement on the Hideout's web site.
• Hideout blog post about the show by Kareem Badr.
• Interview with the directors by Wayne Allen Brenner for The Austin Chronicle.
• Show discussion on Andrew Ti's You Is This Racist podcast. (Conclusion: yes, it's racist.)