Yukio Mishima's KINKAKUJI

KINKAKUJI (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion) makes its West Coast premiere as a rare stage adaptation of Yukio Mishima’s landmark novel. Directed by Leon Ingulsrud (SITI Company co-founder) and starring Major Curda, the production charts Mishima’s spiraling psychological drama, inspired by a real postwar act of arson. Curda portrays an alienated young monk whose obsession with beauty turns destructive, while Chiharu Shiota’s evocative stage design transforms the space into a haunting inner landscape. Text, performance, and design collide in a visceral meditation on beauty, obsession, and destruction.

Artist Biographies

Leon Ingulsrud

Leon Ingulsrud is a director, actor, teacher and writer whose work bridges cultures and continents. Born and raised in Japan as the son of Lutheran missionaries, he began his professional career with the Suzuki Company of Toga and later served as a resident director at Art Tower Mito in Japan. He has directed more than forty productions across the globe—from classical texts to original works and adaptation —guided by a deep commitment to collaborative creation and cultural exchange. Mr. Ingulsrud was a founding member of the New York-based SITI Company and served as one of its artistic directors from 2011 until the company’s closing in 2021.

Major Curda

Major Curda is a multi-disciplinary mixed Asian-American actor/storyteller known for their work on various projects in theatre, film, television and voiceover. Curda has collaborated on various projects in development with New York Stage and Film, New York Theatre Workshop, The O’Neill/NMTC, One Year Lease Theatre Co., Ma-Yi Theatre Co. and Mercury Store. Curda had the privilege of performing in Broadway’s KPOP and playing Romeo in NAATCO’s Romeo and Juliet; and they can be found recurring in multiple seasons of the CW’s Riverdale and Netflix’s Atypical.

Chiharu Shiota

Chiharu Shiota (Stage Designer) is a contemporary artist best known for her site-specific, ephemeral installations in which fragments of memory are woven within webs of yarn that consume entire exhibition spaces. Since 2003, Shiota has also designed stage sets for performances at major theaters, including the Grand Théâtre de Genève in Geneva (2024); Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (2011); and New National Theatre in Tokyo (2009).

Ethan Phelps

Ethan Phelps is a composer and pianist, currently pursuing a Classical Composition BM at Purchase College’s Conservatory of Music. Ethan previously attended Long Island University where he composed music for Ellen McLaughin’s The Oresteia (Fall 2024) and Karel Čapek’s Rossum’s Universal Robots (Spring 2025). Recent performance credits include providing piano accompaniment for a staged reading of Amy Witting’s You’re the Reason I’m Still Here at the Public Theater in New York (Spring 2025).

Padra Crisafulli

Padra Crisafulli creates theatrical experiences as a sound designer, composer, director and generative artist, and is most energized when mixing the unexplainable with the unavoidable. Past credits include: La Jolla Playhouse, Park Avenue Armory, National Museum of Serbia, Prague Quadrennial and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. They were awarded the Triangle Rainbow Theatre and Riant’s Best Director Award for their online work, as well as a Hæth Grant recipient through Possum Creek Games. MFA in Sound, UC San Diego. BFA in Directing, Carnegie Mellon University.

Marie Yokoyama

Marie Yokoyama is a Japanese lighting designer based in New York. She has designed various productions at Japan Society, including recent shows such as Ryoanji; Cage Shock; OKI: Music of the Ainu; and note to a friend. Her other recent credits include: La Bohème (Arizona Opera); Madama Butterfly (Vancouver Opera); Waitress (ZACH, TX); Twelfth Night (Theatre2, AK); Dangerous Days (Miami New Drama); Cyrano de Bergerac (KC Rep); Conscience (Portland Stage); and Human (Asheville Creative Arts). Upcoming productions include Madama Butterfly (co-production Calgary Opera, Arizona Opera, Grand Rapids Opera); Madama Butterfly (Colorado Opera); Jagged Pills (Redhouse, NY); and Stuck Elevator (Grand Rapids Opera). Yokoyama received a MFA from Yale School of Drama, and is a member of USA829.