ensemble tenshi 天地静
～ Producing Gems of Japanese Performing Arts ～
Ensemble Tenshi was founded by Tomoko Karina and Yukari Black, two immigrant artists from Japan, who are passionate about introducing the gloriously aesthetic world of Japanese period piece and epic stories to Local Angelinos and, further in the future, to entire American audiences authentically, viscerally and entertainingly with diverse ensemble of actors and artists.
our mission
Ensemble Tenshi produces epic, emotional and educational Japanese period piece plays based upon true historical events. We introduce true samurai heroes, brave knights and princesses, scheming imperial royals and many interesting characters in historical stories authentically and entertainingly by classically trained company actors to the audience of the melting pot diverse city of Los Angeles, throughout America and the world. Ensemble Tenshi also actively produce plays to introduce iconic modern Japanese playwrights who are hugely acclaimed and popular in Japan, but little known to the audience in the US.
We strive for timeless and universal moving storytelling with quality performance and production.
tenshi’s journey and future
In order to make high-quality productions possible, Ensemble Tenshi conducts educational activities for classical performing arts and history, e.g., speech, diction, Japanese classical Kabuki dance, singing, Japanese swordfight combat, accurate costume and mannerism, and historical background study to tell the biopic story accurately. Our productions have been and will be performed and created by performers and creatives of diverse ethnic, age, gender, and social backgrounds. We will invite young and adult actors to our workshops and training sessions prior to the rehearsal for the production to cultivate them to be fine classically trained performers, who will be essential for making our high quality and meaningful storytelling plays. Part of our mission is to nurture the talent of Tenshi member actors to become crafted, charismatic, compelling and charming so that the audience feel that they want to come back to see them in different roles every season.
We conduct workshops of translation of plays by hidden legendary Japanese playwrights into English led by leading dramaturgs and literary translators in the field, some of whom will be invited from Japan. We annually produce those modern plays as well as our original biopic period plays. We occasionally hold the play reading event with panel guests relevant to the timely themes with social awareness and historical importance.
