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Pacific Overtures Opens - Key Terms Defined
February 02 2012
détente [(day-tahnt)] A period of lessening tension between two or more major national powers, or a policy designed to lessen that tension. Détente presupposes that the powers will continue to disagree but seeks to reduce the occasions of conflict.
During the summer of 1858, Lord Abe signed five treaties with five different Western Powers to open up trade and diplomatic relations. They are, in order of appearance: The United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Russia, France
geisha [gey-shuh] a Japanese woman trained as a professional singer, dancer, and companion for men.
The traditional geisha is not just a lowly call girl, but rather a highly trained provider of lighthearted entertainment for men. The geisha’s art is her most important tool, and it is through art and the pursuit of beauty that she brings pleasure to men. That is her primary tool, with physical pleasure being only secondary. Geisha’s occupied a specific and ambiguous place in Edo culture, being respected artists but also with a stigma of shame attached. It is in this strange intersection that the geisha makes her home: necessary, invisible, fringe artist.
Pacific Overtures runs weekends in February at the Shamblin Theater on the Lipscomb University campus. Tickets are on sale! Buy them here