Richard Emmert has endeavored for decades to share the beauty and power of noh with English-speaking audiences and performers through "English noh."
Emmert, a Tokyo resident of nearly 40 years and artistic director of an international English noh theater company, wants its members to perform with the same energy and feeling found in the classical Japanese performing art. A man who wears many hats as composer, Kita School-certified noh instructor and performer, as well as professor of Asian theater and music at Musashino University, Emmert says in his first encounter with noh he was attracted to the performance — its movement and music — but not so much to its language or story.
"I was attracted to the energy, strength and power that is in all aspects of the performance. Of course, most people think that noh is very quiet, and therefore it's very soft. But it's actually a very strong performing art. In the movement, chants and drum calls, there's intensity," he said.