Profile

Masataka Matsuda

Born in Nagasaki in 1962. From 1990 to 1997 he was the head of the Jiku Gekijo, engaged in playwrighting and directing. In 1996 he received the Kishida Kunio Drama Award for “Sea and Parasol”. After the company was disbanded he has worked as a freelance dramatist, writing plays for the Seinendan, Bungakuza and the theatre group En, among others. His works has also been translated to foreign languages and staged abroad. “Sea and Parasol” was the first Japanese play to receive the Korean "Donga Drama Award". In addition to writing stage plays, Matsuda wrote the scenario for Kazuo Kurogi’s movie “A boy’s summer in 1945” (Utsukushii natsu kirishima) and “The youth of Kamiya Etsuko” (Kamiya Etsuko no seishun). In 2003 he fomed the “Marebito-no-kai”, where he has created a number of highly acclaimed works. He is a guest professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design.