they eat it. As with Noh, many professional performers are born into a family, often starting performing at a young age, but others are not born into families and beginning practicing in high school or college. Unlike Noh drama or nihonbuyō dance, who earn their living primarily via teaching and support from underlings in the iemoto system, but similar to rakugo comedy, professional kyōgen players earn their living from performing (possibly supplemented by side jobs), and maintain an active touring schedule. Due to the limited repertoire (a classical canon, of which many are no longer performed due to being dated, and few new plays enter) and frequent performances, a professional kyōgen actor can be expected to be familiar with all roles in all plays in their school's repertoire, and to perform them with some regularity. While there are a number of kyōgen families, there are at present two leading families: the Nomura 野村 family of Tokyo (traditionally Edo region), and the Shigeyama 茂山 family of Kyoto (traditionally Kamigata region) of the Ōkura school, both of which are often featured performing on TV, appear in the news, and tour overseas, and have been involved in popularizing and some efforts at modernizing kyōgen. See also the List of Living National Treasures of Japan (performing arts), whose kyōgen members feature individuals from these families, among others. Foreign actors In the post-war period, foreigners have participated in kyōgen as amateur performers. A notable early example was the 1956 performance by scholar and translator Donald Keene in the play with Tetsuji Takechi in the role of the sake shop owner, before an audience including such prominent authors as Tanizaki, Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima. This is featured in his series of essays, Chronicles of My Life in the 20th Century, and inspired the title of his anthology The Blue-Eyed Tarokaja: A Donald Keene Anthology. Today foreigners (resident in Japan, with sufficient Japanese skills) are able to practice with amateur troupes. In addition, since 1985, an intensive summer program (originally 6 weeks, now 3 weeks) in kyōgen for beginners has been run at the Kyoto Art Center, taught by Akira Shigeyama (of the Shigeyama family) and others, and organized by scholar of Japanese theater Jonah Salz. Plays There are a few hundred plays in the repertoire (about 180 in the Okura school), but many are now rarely performed, as the audience will not understand the jokes,