Nowadays theatre is born in the universities

― 4 different works presented by 4 different universities + forum including students and alumni
In recent years performing arts departments and faculties are appearing one after another in the universities. Front line artists and staff instruct and support the students in their creative processes. The environment at the universities is ideal in the sense that is gives the students an unique opportunity to engage in artistic creation. Different from before – we now witness a tendency for the artists/teachers to engage in a mutual collaboration with their students. This new mentality prepares the ground for new talents to emerge – from the cradle of the universities.
At Festival/Tokyo we focus on this trend by cooperating with each university, presenting the results in the frame of “Theatre/University”. In contrast with “Theatre/University 09 Spring”, where the focus was on the institutions nurturing the next generation of artists, “Theatre/University 09 Autumn” turn the attention to those who are being raised; namely the students themselves. In addition to showing the works created by the students, a forum searching for the future of the creation of theatre, including students and alumni, will be held.

Program

A: “KASABUTA”／ Oberlin University,

“KASABUTA” was created under the direction of the dancer Kuniko Kisanuki, who is an associate professor at Oberlin University. As this year’s work topic for the students of the theatre course, Kisanuki named “KASABUTA”, which stands for a condition, that makes one eager to tear off the things, we are usually protected by. In this production, the feelings of danger accompanying the process from injury to recovery are put into focus and investigated regarding their potential of physical expressions.

B: “Kinoshita Kabuki – Date Musume Koi no Higanoko”／ Kyoto University of Art an Design Students

This work was created by Yuichi Kinoshita, who is currently a student in the master course of Kyoto University of Art and Design, and his company Kinoshita Kabuki with the participation of many students and alumni of that same university. Applying the traditional genres like Kabuki and Bunraku and adding the flavor of contemporariness, Kinoshita picks up only one part of the Bunraku masterpiece “Oshichi’s Burning Love”, namely “Greengrocers daughter Oshichi”. Concentrating on the antagonisms ‘Society / Individual’, ‘System/Anti-System’, ‘Life / Death’ he re-tells the story as a tale of people led by the nose.

C: “Koshimaki Osen” ／ Kinki University

Following the performance of Shojo Kamen in the Festival / Tokyo 09 Spring, in the autumn festival one of Kara Juro’s early plays, “Koshimaki Osen” will be presented. Performers and staff are members of the Kara Juro Theatre School, including Kinki University students and alumni regardless of their academic year. “Koshimaki Osen” was the first performance of Kara’s ‘Situation Theatre’ that was held in the famous “Red Tent” close to the Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku. In this legendary work, that was premiered in August 1967, Kara thematizes various aspects of the relation between mother and son in his typical mixture of ready-mades, psychological acumen and surrealism.

D: “Fastener”, “Hyozan no Ikkaku”, “Kenko Shonen”/Tama University Department of Moving Images and Performing Arts

While theat re and dance are dist inguished by their live expression, movie and photography are haracterized by the nature of being recorded. At the Department of moving images and performing arts of Tama University,students are encouraged to find their own expression through the two means above. The three works presented on this occasion are the fruit of the 2009 spring semester. According to the students, the theme was to “create a project whose theme was ‘theater’. Feeling the body, poetry, space and time, we wish to create a fresh expression. We look for subjects, we do experiments, and then we finally shape what we have discovered, into a work. In the act of “shaping” we discover our own expression.”

Presented by: Festival/Tokyo
Co-presented by: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)
Co-operated by: Oberlin University, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Kinki University, Tama Art University