"Snowflake," a silent one-man show created and performed by Gale LaJoye, will be held at the Rikkokai Hall in Shinagawa Sept. 26-28. Centering on a homeless man called Snowflake, the show follows his life after he finds a doll abandoned in a garbage dump.
"Snowflake" has been presented at more than 15 international children's festivals in North America, Britain, Australia and Japan. It has also appeared at numerous regional and national theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
In 1995 LaJoye was invited to present "Snowflake" at the All Japan Association of Children's Theater Festival on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. As a result of his performances at the festival, Theater World magazine in Tokyo voted "Snowflake" one of the best three shows of that year. Since then, LaJoye has toured extensively in Japan and has engagements scheduled through 2000.
The Michigan-born performer received his training in circus clowning with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Combined Show. He has mastered all the tricks of the trade in his 25 years of performing. His performances offer more than technical mastery, however, and have been described by one critic as "theater at its purest."
LaJoye's latest show, "Castles in the Sky," premiered at the Philadelphia International Theater Festival for Children in May 1996; and has been staged at festivals in Brisbane, Australia, Seattle, Wash., and Hokkaido.
LaJoye also offers a workshop for colleges, schools and general community audiences. Titled "Message in Movement," it is a series of character and body discovery process integrated with demonstrations and training in circus skills, comic theory and silent theater technique.