FESTIVAL/TOKYO

Summary

Bringing together artists, journalists and the Program Director, this is a series of discussion events crossing over between praxis and theory during the month-long F/T Program.

Theme 1: "The Era of Involved Parties" in Theatre 14:00-16:00
In the post-dramatic theatre scene, many minorities or social underdogs have been appearing on stage, including children, the elderly, the disabled and immigrants. Considering the age of "involved parties" in theatre from the relationships between agent and content, between stage and audience, this symposium discusses the state of the customary theatrical premise of representation by proxy.

Moderator: Kyoko Iwaki (performing arts journalist)
Speakers: Akira Takayama (director), Masataka Matsuda (marehito theater company), Takuya Murakawa (director, video artist)
Guest Speaker: Naoya Hatakeyama (photographer)

Theme 2: Where is the Language of Theatre? 16:30-18:30
Following the 2011 disaster, poetry collections have become bestsellers and interest in unconventional language has increased. With their daily lives now dismembered overnight, what kind of words are people seeking in order to re-connect stories, to confront what has been lost? And where can we find a theatrical language in this? The discussion will consider Jelinek's post-3.11 "Kein Licht." and several Japanese plays and texts.

Moderator: Atsushi Sasaki (critic)
Speakers: Motoi Miura (director), Masahiro Miwa (composer)
Guest Speakers: Masachi Osawa (sociologist), Kazushi Hosaka (writer)

Update: Please note that Kazushi Hosaka has sadly been forced to withdraw from the symposium due to illness. His place will be taken by Tatsuki Hayashi (translator).

Theme 3: Plural Asia, Plural Perspectives 19:00-21:00
Asia exists in a delicate tension, including issues of international borders. On the other hand, subcultures and "idol" cultures from manga and anime are crossing borders and infiltrating into different peoples. Can linguistically localized and physicalized theatre be a base for sharing something, for opening up channels of dialogue? Asian conversation will be born out of sharing each culture's particular historicism, contexts and problems.

Moderator: Hidenaga Otori (theatre critic)
Speakers: Yudai Kamisato (director, playwright), Chiaki Soma (F/T Program Director), Wenguang Wu (film director, theatre director), Hyunsuk Seo (director, theatre researcher)
Guest Speakers: Shunya Yoshimi (sociologist)

Please note that these talks will be in Japanese only.