“The Rashomon Effect” – What is it? Complimentary tickets to support students and what they may discover through theatre

Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra (CATS), through a grant from Community Players Trust,  is offering high school and college-age students free tickets to experience of “The Rashomon Effect” – the phenomenon of perception and truth and understanding the general irregularity of eyewitnesses. The Effect is named after Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 acclaimed Japanese film — Rashomon —  the stage version will be presented as CATS’ 2026 spring play at the Nevada Theatre from April 23 to May 16, 2026.  The story centers around the demise of a samurai whose death is described in four contradictory ways. “The Rashomon Effect” has been used as a storytelling method in which an event is given contradictory interpretations by the individuals involved, thereby providing different perspectives and points of view of the same incident.  The term is used to describe how different witnesses are able to produce incompatible, yet plausible, accounts of the same event.

As students in high school and college may ponder a possible career in the criminal justice system, law enforcement, or psychology, an introduction to the phenomenon of “The Rashomon Effect” offers a “glimpse” that explores reality and truth. While “The Rashomon Effect” is more widely known in these professions, by no means does it not extend to other professions.  CATS would like to expose students to the complexities of human perception through this play.

This theme will be explored in CATS’ 2026 play by Fay Kanin and Michael Kanin, based on stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and directed by Sonny Alforque. The play will be beautifully and exquisitely executed by our team of directors, designers, fight consultants, taiko musicians, and dramaturg.  Our director has been creating the various scenes to tell the “four contradictory stories.”  Our dramaturg has been hard at work, providing research, context, and support to the production’s team and being authentic to the time period of medieval Japan. She works with the director and designers to ensure that the show is historically and culturally accurate.  Our sound designer has been working with our taiko musicians to create melodic and powerful “percussions” to “punctuate” the story. The costuming and hair and makeup designs will be authentic to the 12^th century Heian period of Kyoto, Japan.  The set designer is creating “rain” on stage.  Our fight choreographers are working with the actors on physicality and Japanese-style sword fighting. These – and much more —  await!

Using live theatre as an artform to “illustrate a point” and produce teaching moments is powerful.  We hope the play will add an element to the students’ education and process in exploring a potential career choice.

Students should be at least a freshman in high school and through the senior year in college.  Choose a performance.  Contact Jeannie Wood, Executive Director of CATS, at info@catsweb.org, or call 530-263-6457.  Tickets will be held for you at the door. 

Choose one:  Dates and Times of Shows:

CATS enters its 32^nd year in 2026 serving the community with Asian-focused theatre and diversity in the arts.  We thank Community Players Trust for funding this program, especially to our young adult students, in particular, to learn about “The Rashomon Effect” through our spring play, Rashomon.  It will be entertaining, educational, and thought-provoking.