893 / YA-KU-ZA

WHO

GenEnCo

WHEN

08/16/2018 – 08/17/2018

WHERE

Victory Gardens Theater

ConFest 2018 | Chicago

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By Daria Miyeko Marinelli
Directed by kt shorb and Jesus I. Valles
Generic Ensemble Company (GenEnCo)

Thursday, August 16 @ 8pm
Friday, August 17 @ 3:30pm

Set over the course of a business lunch in an unknown Japanese restaurant somewhere in the United States, 893 | Ya-ku-za follows an ambitious young assassin’s bid to become the first female member of the infamous Japanese crime syndicate. Over a meal of sushi, witty banter, and quiet threats, 893 | Ya-ku-za explores the cost of ambition and change – questioning what it means to be first and what we’re willing to do to get there.

About GenEnCo
Founded in 2009, the Generic Ensemble Company is a fixture in Austin theater. Centering devised work by queer people of color, GenEnCo uses the Suzuki Method and Anne Bogart’s Viewpoints as principle training practices. Citations include: Open Meadows Foundation (2011, The Experiment), Q Rental Subsidy Grant (2012, The Experiment), B. Iden Payne Award for Best Original Script (2016, The Mikado: Reclaimed), and a two-year performance residency at the Dougherty Arts Center (2017-2019). GenEnCo has been featured on the cover of Austin’s free weekly newspaper, The Austin Chronicle, for its devised Asian American reclamation of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, The Mikado. Their recent production of Scheherazade, a devised work centering Middle Eastern narratives in the context of the “Muslim Ban,” was named one of the 10 most memorable theater productions of 2017 by the Austin-American Statesman, and an honorable mention for the Austin Chronicle’s top 10 “Theatre Riches” of 2017.