The original folkstory begins as a poor elderly couple nurses a crane back to health. After they release the crane, a girl appears at their door, weaving beautiful cloths in exchange for not disturbing her as she weaves. As the girl’s health wanes, the elderly couple breaks their promise not to look into her room while she weaves and discover the crane, plucking its own feathers to weave the fabric. The girl, having her true form exposed, departs, never to return. In parallel with this story, a present-day tale of an American girl going to Japan to research folk tales and reconnect with her grandparents is also taking place. As the two narratives unfold, the worlds of past and present and real and spiritual begin to mix, exploring themes of cultural participation and authenticity.

This is a seated performance. If you require accessibility accommodations, please email boxoffice@nationalsawdust.org.

ABOUT HANNAH ISHIZAKI

Hannah Ishizaki is a composer and sound artist based in Princeton, New Jersey. Described as “Imaginative…effective and moving” by the New York Times, her music seeks to foster connections between musicians and the audience through the explorations of the physicality of music performance. Ishizaki finds inspiration in the process of composition, leading her to experiment with a wide range of instruments and sound generating methods—from acoustic instruments in an orchestra to digital sensors to rocks and zippers. Immersed in the world of collaboration, Ishizaki has worked with dancers, actors, filmmakers, and visual artists, to connect the seemingly unconnected and create innovative and multidisciplinary projects. Ishizaki is the current Composer-in-Residence with Young Concert Artists.

​Ishizaki’s work has been recognized throughout the United States and Internationally, and her compositions have been performed and commissioned by renowned musicians, ensembles, and institutions such as Midori Goto, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Sō Percussion, the Attacca Quartet, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the National Sawdust Ensemble, Karen Gomyo, Nathan Meltzer, Kevin Zhu, Mira Wang, Guy Johnston, and Sterling Elliot. Recently, Ishizaki was named one of five 2023 Hildegard commission winners, which is presented by National Sawdust and generously supported by The Onassis Foundation and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

Ishizaki is currently a PhD candidate in Music Composition and a recipient of the Mark Nelson Fellowship at Princeton University. Previous teachers have included David Ludwig and Chris Massa. She studied with Andrew Norman for composition and Areta Zhulla and Ronald Copes for violin at the Juilliard School, where she was the first composer to receive a Kovner Fellowship.

ABOUT CHIORI MIYAGAWA, CO-LIBRETTIST

Chiori Miyagawa is a playwright whose works weave fragments of narrative and shifting time, parallel realities touching in unexpected ways, with occasional echoes of Japanese culture she carries with her. Her plays have been produced by Off Broadway theaters such as Vineyard Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, and the Women’s Project; at experimental NYC venues including PS 122, HERE, La MaMa, and the Ohio Theatre; and regionally. Two collections of her plays are published: Thousand Years Waiting and Other Plays (Seagull Books) and America Dreaming and Other Plays (NoPassport Press). As a dramaturg, Chiori has held literary positions at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and New York Theatre Workshop. After serving as JoAnne Akalaitis’ Artistic Associate at The Public Theater, she followed the renowned director to Bard College, where she created the playwriting program and taught for 25 years. Commissioned by the Theater & Performance Program, she wrote her first sung‑through piece there, Migration, inspired by Noh Theater.  Her work has been supported by fellowships from NYFA, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard, the McKnight Foundation, the Van Lier program, the Asian Cultural Council, the MAP Fund, the Japan Foundation, and others. She is an alum of New Dramatists.

ABOUT MARK CAMPBELL, CO-LIBRETTIST

The Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning operas of librettist Mark Campbell are among the most  successful in the contemporary canon. Mark has written 48 operas, 7 musicals, 11 song cycles and 6  oratorios. His works include Silent Night, As One, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Cree, Edward Tulane,  The Shining, Sanctuary Road, A Nation of Others, A Thousand Acres, Stonewall, The Manchurian Candidate, Unruly  Sun, Later the Same Evening and Songs from an Unmade Bed. Campbell has mentored future generations of  librettists and composers at American Opera Projects, American Lyric Theatre and the American Opera  Initiative. He created and funds the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, the first award for opera librettists in the  history of the art form, and co-created the True Voice Award to support transgender and nonbinary singers.  He received the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Opera Association and in 2026 was inducted into Opera America’s very prestigious Hall of Fame. www.markcampbellwords.com

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