Z Space

San Francisco International Arts Festival in collaboration with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, U.S./Japan Cultural Trade Network, and Theatre of Yugen present

Yukio Mishima’s KinkakuJI

May 7 - 9, 2026
Z Space’s Steidler Stage

Directed by Leon Ingulsrud | Performed by Major Curda | Set Design by Chiharu Shiota

Yukio Mishima’s 1956 literary masterpiece erupts into life as a haunting stage spectacle in this West Coast premiere of KINKAKUJI. This new work of theater pulls together an international team of artists including New York-based American director, writer, and actor Leon Ingulsrud, rising young Korean-American actor Major Curda, and Berlin-based, internationally acclaimed visual artist Chiharu Shiota.

Based on a horrific true event in postwar Kyoto, Mishima’s novel recounts the deliberate act of arson against the gold-leaf clad 14th century Kinkakuji temple by an alienated young Buddhist monk. The story explores the mind of its protagonist, Mizoguchi, a faltering outcast studying to become a Zen Buddhist monk who develops an obsessive fascination with the sacred temple’s aesthetic perfection. Led down a path of increasingly destructive behaviors as he struggles to reconcile his artistic aspirations with past trauma and personal demons, the monk’s obsession evolves into a violent desire to possess beauty by destroying it.

Under Leon Ingulsrud’s direction, Major Curda depicts the monk’s psychological unraveling as a staged monodrama, shifting between frenzied narration of disembodied episodes, cold self-analysis and euphoric revelation in the shadow of Shiota’s haunting, suspended scenic design. At the height of his distress, tormented by Kinkakuji’s imposing beauty, his own perceived ugliness and the escalating cruelty of his reality, the monk, portrayed by Curda, burns the ancient temple to the ground.

KINKAKUJI brings Chiharu Shiota’s internationally lauded stage design to U.S. venues for the first time. Her starkly beautiful environments create a profound sense of wonder, where familiar objects become evocative in unexpected ways and the delicate appears titanic. In KINKAKUJI, Shiota’s signature red, black and white yarn structure creates an unprecedented level of otherworldly, three-dimensional immersion within Mishima’s shimmering psychological landscape.

KINKAKUJI will be presented in collaboration with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco’s exhibition, Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries, on view at the Asian Art Museum from April 3 to July 20, 2026.

KINKAKUJI was commissioned by and premiered at Japan Society (New York) in September 2025, and is presented by San Francisco International Arts Festival in collaboration with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, U.S./Japan Cultural Trade Network, Inc., and Theatre of Yugen in San Francisco.

Personnell

Director: Leon Ingulsrud
Performer: Major Curda
Stage Designer: Chiharu Shiota
Original Music Composer: Ethan Phelps
Sound Designer: Padra Crisafulli
Original Lighting Designer: Marie Yokoyama

Artist Biographies

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 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 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 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 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 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.