The Courtesan will be 75-minute staged reading at the intimate New Expressive Works on Jan. 27th at 7:30pm and Jan. 28th at 2pm & 7:30pm. This reading will incorporate the musical talents of UNIT SOUZOU and actors Ken Yoshikawa and Elaine Low.

In 2012, Dmae Roberts visited the Van Gogh museum and saw all these Japanese prints. She was surprised they to find the prints included in the museum. Then Roberts realized these paintings were Van Gogh's copies of Japanese wood-block prints. Many artists copied these prints including Manet, Degas and Monet. Japanese artwork really gave birth to Impressionism. She couldn't get the image of one painting, The Courtesan, out of her head. She imagined the subject of the painting talking to the artist. Then Roberts thought about global influences of art and cultures and how art can help give us hope even through devastation.

http://www.broadwayworld.com/portland/article/THE-COURTESAN-A-New-Play-by-Dmae-Roberts-Premieres-in-January-20161219#