At Matera, Italy, one of the three oldest human settlements in the world.
Hi, I’m Perry Yung. Welcome to my website. It’s presently under construction so please return for updates. I am a multimedia performance artist, actor, musician and shakuhachi flute craftsman. I first discovered the shakuhachi flute while performing in New York City as an actor in Ellen Stewart’s experimental theater production Oedipus the King. Night after night, the subtle sound of the flute became all encompassing. Soon, I started making the shakuhachi under the tutelage of Yukio Tsuji, the pit musician in Oedipus, as it was impossible to buy an instrument in the pre-internet days of 1994. Time passed and eight years later received a Japan United States Friendship Commission Artist grant to live in Japan to study with Kinya Sogawa. Since that time, the shakuhachi has become an integral part of my life encompassing crafting, performance in theater, film and TV and meditation. Please feel free to ask any questions whatsoever. I may not be able to reply right away but will do so asap. Thanks! – Perry
Education: Bachelors of Fine Art, Summa Cum Laude 1990. San Francisco State University.
Grants: Asian Cultural Council Artist Fellowship. Shakuhachi research for Edo Period instruments and music 2014. Lower Manhattan Community Council grant. Theatrical work with shakuhachi and Asian American identity 2005. Jerome Robbins Ear to the Ground Grant. Jet Stream. Mulberry St Theater. 2005. Joseph Papp Public Theater Playwrights Development Program. Rice Cooker Chronicles, 2003. Japan United States Friendship Commission Artist Fellowship 2002. La Mama Theater Artist in Residency 1993 – 1999. Martha Graham Scholarship 1991.
Shakuhachi Photos from the workbench – Jinashi, Jiari and Honshu red urushi lacquer.:
Hotchiku Shakuhachi Root bottom 
Hotchiku Shakuhachi Roots 
Raw root end bamboo stock 
Shakuhachi repars 
Styles of shakuhachi 
The work bench 
Mixing Japanese Urushi Lacquer 
Mixing Japanese Urushi Lacquer 
Filtering Japanese Urushi Lacquer
Performance works: Breath, World International Shakuhachi Festival, London July 2018. Family Playdate, La Mama Theater series. 2008 – present. Jet Stream, Mulberry St Theater. 2005 SLANT Performance Group, eight original theatrical productions involving shakuhachi. La Mama Theater. Joseph Papp Public Theater, domestic and international tours 1995 – present.
Recent Performance Gallery:
Jet Stream Mulberry St Theater NYC 2005 
Breath, World ShakuhachI Festival, London 2018 
La Mama Playdate 2014 
La Mama Playdate 2010 
Breath London 2018 
Breath London 2018 
Benji the Dove film 2016 
With Ylfa EdelStein St Marks Theater, NYC 2019 
Great Jones Variations 2013
Theater: Great Jones Repertory Group 1993 – present. SLANT Performance group 1995 – present. Ping Chong 1998 and 2008. Fred Ho and the Afro-Asian American art Ensemble 1991 – 2013. Pan Asian Repertory Theater 1992 – 2000.
Touring: PANORAMA, Motus and Great Jones, Rome, Partenza and Bari – Nov 2018. Pan Asian Repertory Theater. Cairo Egypt Johannesburg, South Africa. 1993 – 1997 SLANT Performance Group 1995 – 2008. Domestic and international. Trojan Women/Fragments of a Greek Trilogy. 1997 – 2002. Domestic and international – Italy, Greece, Croatia, Macedonia, Austria, Former Yugoslavia, Turkey, Taiwan, Japan and Korea to name a few.
Community Gallery
Sharing with Ranger at Santa Cruz Islands, CA 
Sharing with local in Doha, Qatar 
Sharing with nurse in Cape Town, South Africa 
Three Rivers College Ze Flutemaking and playing workshop 
Fire Lotus Temple flutemaking and playing workshop 
Zen Mountain Monastery Flutemaking and playing workshop 
A focuses 5 year-old 
WIth guard in Qatar 
Ralph Samuelson’s Shakuhachi workshop 
A curious 7 year-old 
Peaceful Protest 2016 Central Park NYC 
Fire Lotus Temple Flutemaking and playing workshop
Those interested in my television and film work can visit my actors blog. – https://perryyung.wordpress.com/