Tokyo International Players Perform Lafcadio Hearn Ghost Stories for Middle School Students
  • Drama
  • MS
Jon Reimer

The show was a 40-minute  presentation consisting of folktales from across Japan compiled and translated to English by 19th-century author Lafacadio Hearn.

In honor of Halloween, guest performers from local theatre group Tokyo International Players (TIP) came to Seisen’s MPR-1 Drama Room on Monday, October 28, to present Japanese ghost stories to MS students.

The show, directed by Seisen’s Drama Teacher Dr. Reimer, was a 40-minute  presentation consisting of folktales from across Japan compiled and translated to English by 19th-century author Lafacadio Hearn. Three actors from TIP – Jiaxian “Cookie” Qu, Jalani Blankenship, and Zach Pickle – embodied all the characters in the stories as well as the narration. 

Six stories of ghosts and yokai made up the performance: “Mizoame”, “Atsukitogibashi”, “Kappa”, “Hoichi the Earless”, “Rokurokubi”, and “Yuki Onna”. Each performer wore kimono and told the tales using mostly gestures and narration, with some props for dynamic effect. 

“It was a honor to bring this show to Seisen,” said Dr. Reimer. “I directed the show a year ago for Tokyo International Players and it continues to have life, touring to various locations around the country. I was especially happy to see how engaged our middle school students were with the storytelling.” 

The show is the first in a series of guest performances scheduled to come to Seisen this year to demonstrate theatrical performance by professional actors in the school’s performance spaces. The next scheduled performance is a 45-minute, two-person version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol by Black Stripe Theater of Tokyo, scheduled for P6 on Monday, December 2.

More photos shared in Vidigami: https://app.vidigami.com/seisen/c3BhY2V8MzE3MQ==/albums/ZXZlbnR8NjE5OTQy


MS students watch attentively as TIP’s Jalani Blankenship narratives ghost stories of Lafcadio Hearn.


Fabric and movement illustrate snow and wind in “Yuki Onna”, arguably Lafcadio Hearn’s most famous ghost story translation.

TIP’s Zach Pickle and Jiaxian “Cookie” Qu act out the characters of “Hoichi the Earless” as Jalani Blankenship narrates the story.


Puppets were used by TIP to depict the long-necked monsters in “Rokurokubi”.

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