‘Postcards from Ihatov’ is an Amusing, Escapist Adventure (Review)

metroweekly.com:

Postcards from Ihatov feels assured in its design and craftsmanship.Created and directed by multi-faceted visual theater artist Natsu Onoda Power, the world-premiere production skillfully blends music, poetry, puppetry, calligraphy, cutout animation, and, of course, drama to explore Iwatov, the imaginary universe where most of Miyazawa’s stories take place.The writer, known for his classic fantasy novel Night on the Galactic Railroad, named this fictional plane, filled with philosophical kids and talking animals who express deep inner lives, after his beloved hometown of Iwate.And, according to the be-whiskered professor (Matthew Vaky), who teaches lessons on Miyazawa to the play’s protagonist, an Unknown Author (Matthew Marcus), Miyazawa is still recognized as a favorite son of Iwate.The author’s affinity for home is reflected in his fiction, in the persistent images of the alder trees and fields of pampas grasses that characterize the Iwate landscape.

Power reflects that landscape in her textured scenic design, which also features a front scrim curtain upon which pages of Miyazawa’s writing are projected.

The production boasts layer after layer of such texture and detail.Projected onto a different screen, mounted upstage, scenes of cutout animation depict a Miyazawa children’s story.

Three performers — 1st Stage regulars Ethan J. Miller, Jacob Yeh, and Pauline Lamb — create the live animation through puppetry, moving paper cutouts across vivid backgrounds.