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For this month: The Nagoya Noh Theater. Noh ("ability") is a Japanese theater art developed around the 15th century. Like opera, watching a real noh production is too expensive for comfort, but a Lion's Club in Nagoya sponsored one on their anniversary, and we foreign students got some free tickets. The menu for that night did not feature a full noh drama (which could drag on for up to six hours), but just the Kyogen ("crazy words") portion. Kyogen is comic relief inserted between the five acts of noh, mainly so that the audience will not fall asleep, I guess. Kyogen consists of short plays, the dialogue recited in a highly inflected manner, with strict attention to the body's kata (form). The Nagoya Noh Theater, by the way, is the biggest in Japan. The stage is made entirely of fragrant hinoki (Japanese cypress). Graceful and elegant, the whole place is a sight for sore eyes.