Attend in person or via Zoom. Zoom registration at http://myumi.ch/MrejE

Madeleine A. Jalil Umewaka escaped the Lebanese Civil War and married Noh master Naohiko Umewaka, whose family has transmitted the tradition of Noh theater, from father to son, for more than 600 years in a line that no foreigner had previously joined by marriage. This lecture will recount this meeting of two cultures.

Madeleine A. Jalil Umewaka is the author of the autobiographies The Noh Master’s Wife (『レバノンから来た能楽師の妻』), published by Iwanami Shoten in 2019, and J'ai épousé un maître de Nô, published by le Prunier Sully in 2023. She serves as President of MJU Public Relations, organizing artistic and cultural events. Mrs. Umewaka received a B.Sc. Hons in computer science from the University of Reading, England, and pursued graduate studies at the University of Southern California, Osaka University, and the University of Tokyo. She has promoted and produced Noh theater, including contemporary Noh plays, in Japan and around the world. In 2014, she received an award acknowledging her activities in promoting Japanese and Lebanese cultures from Notre Dame University-Louaize. She is a producer of Tomorrow We Will See, a documentary about the thriving art culture in Lebanon, which received an achievement award from Lebanon's Ministry of Culture in 2015.

This lecture is made possible with the generous support of the U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant.

If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us at wugou@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.