Hiroshima Maiden

Dan Hurlin’s newest puppet theater endeavor dramatizes the true story of the Hiroshima Maidens — a group of Japanese women disfigured by the nuclear blast — and their infamous visit to the U.S. in 1955 to undergo reconstructive surgery. The climax of their strange odyssey was a face-to-face meeting with the pilot of the Enola Gay on the TV program This Is Your Life. Performed in the style of Japanese Bunraku puppetry, Hurlin’s life-like puppets evoke an astonishing range of emotions; one can barely gaze at the maiden’s face without feeling a lump in the throat. Robert Een’s original score borrows from Haiku poetry and will be performed live by a three-piece ensemble.