Masataka Matsuda　Playwright / director / head of marebito theater company

Born in Nagasaki in 1962. From 1990 to 1997 he was the head of Jiku Gekijo, in a double-function as playwright and director. For his plays he was awarded numerous prizes, such as the OMS Drama Prize for "Saka no Ue no Ie" (1994), the Kishida Kunio Drama Award for "Sea and Parasol" (1996), the Yomiuri Theater Award for "Tsuki no Misaki" and the Yomiuri Prize for Literature for "Natsu no Suna no Ue" (1998). In 2000 he received the incentive prize for culture by the prefecture of Kyoto. After the Jiku Gekijo had dissolved, Matsuda wrote plays for several companies such as Seinendan, Bungakuza and the theatre group En, among others. Apart from his works for theatre he has been also involved with writing screenplays. One of his acclaimed works in this field is the script for Kazuo Kuroki's movie "A boy's summer in 1945" (Utsukushii natsu kirishima) which is based on the novel "The youth of Etsuko Kamiya". In 2004 he founded the marebito theater company, where he serves as both playwright and director. In a questionnaire by the theater magazine "Theatre Arts", he was ranked first place in the category "experimental artist". Currently he is holding the position of a guest professor at the Kyoto University of Arts and Design.

marebito theater company

Founded in 2003 as with the aim of seeking new possibilities in theatrical art. Their first performance "Island Style Vibrating Organ" was staged in May 2005. "Cryptograph", created by marebito in 2007 was invited to Egypt, China and India and gained them attention in an international frame. With "Voiceprints City - Letter to FATHER", a part of Festival/Tokyo 09 Spring, they started the "Hiroshima-Nagasaki" series continuing with "PARK CITY" and "Hiroshima - Hapcheon". While tracing fictional sceneries apart from everyday-life, they question the reality of today. marebito's workbase is located in Kyoto.