Samuel James Wood

Samuel James Wood is one of the United States' foremost practitioners of Bunraku, traditional Japanese puppetry. He was born in Warrenton, Virginia in 1985. A pupil and close friend of J. Martin Holman, he first studied Bunraku in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, making his stage debut in 2003 with the 170-year-old Tonda Traditional Bunraku Puppet Troupe.

He later went on to perform with Holman's Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe at University of Massachusetts Amherst, Smith College, Mount Holyoke, Amherst College, and Harvard University, well as at Austin College, Bowdoin College, Dartmouth College, Brown University, and the Modlin Center in Richmond, Virginia. In April 2005, the troupe performed at the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.. They most recently performed in New York City on February 25th, 2007.

He currently studies Japanese Language and Literature at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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External links

* [http://www.bunraku.org/ Bunraku Bay Homepage]
* [http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=UMASSASIAN Performance at the Kennedy Center]
* [http://modlin.richmond.edu/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/208/cid/ Bunraku Bay at the Modlin Center]