NEW YORK -- How do you transport a quintessential Japanese play to the United States and still make it feel genuine?

Shinjuku Ryozanpaku theater company, which presented Juro's Kara ("Dr. Akagi," 1998) bizarre, twisted and highly relevant avant-garde masterpiece "Shojo Toshi kara no Yobigoe (A Cry from the City of Virgins)" here at the Japan Society last week, has the answer.

"We're gypsies; we're used to moving around," Sho Hara, who plays the lead character Taguchi, said at the cast party following the opening-night performance.