Director. General Artistic Director of SPAC (Shizuoka Performing Arts Center) and General Director of Tokyo Festival. Studied theory of drama at the University of Tokyo under instructors such as Yushi Odashima, Moriaki Watanabe, and Hachiro Hitaka. Founded the Ku Na’uka Theater Company in 1990. Miyagi engages in various performance activities internationally and is highly acclaimed both in Japan and abroad for his directorial work combining contemporary textual interpretations with the physical techniques and styles of Asian theater. Appointed Artistic Director of SPAC in April 2007. In parallel with performance of his own work, he has invited a succession of theatrical works from around the world which cast a sharp eye on contemporary society, and also works on educational outreach programs with a focus on creating theater as “a window to view the world.” His “Antigone” was performed in the Cour d’honneur du Palais des papes in 2017 as the opening work of the Festival d’Avignon. It was the first time in the festival’s history for a work from Asia to be selected as the opening work, and the world depicted in the work garnered a strong reaction. Other representative works include “Medea,” “Mahabharata” and “Peer Gynt.” From 2006 to 2017, he was a producer of creative talent development program APAF Asian Performing Arts Festival (now APAF Asian Performing Arts Farm). In 2019 he was the General Director of the Performing Arts Division for the event Culture City of East Asia 2019 Toshima. He received the 3rd Asahi Performing Arts Award in 2004, and the 2nd Asahi Beer Arts Award in 2005. He was awarded the 68th Art Encouragement Prize for Drama in 2018 by The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and received the French honor of “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” from the French Ministry of Culture in April, 2019.

Director. General Artistic Director of SPAC (Shizuoka Performing Arts Center) and General Director of Tokyo Festival. Studied theory of drama at the University of Tokyo under instructors such as Yushi Odashima, Moriaki Watanabe, and Hachiro Hitaka. Founded the Ku Na’uka Theater Company in 1990. Miyagi engages in various performance activities internationally and is highly acclaimed both in Japan and abroad for his directorial work combining contemporary textual interpretations with the physical techniques and styles of Asian theater. Appointed Artistic Director of SPAC in April 2007. In parallel with performance of his own work, he has invited a succession of theatrical works from around the world which cast a sharp eye on contemporary society, and also works on educational outreach programs with a focus on creating theater as “a window to view the world.” His “Antigone” was performed in the Cour d’honneur du Palais des papes in 2017 as the opening work of the Festival d’Avignon. It was the first time in the festival’s history for a work from Asia to be selected as the opening work, and the world depicted in the work garnered a strong reaction. Other representative works include “Medea,” “Mahabharata” and “Peer Gynt.” From 2006 to 2017, he was a producer of creative talent development program APAF Asian Performing Arts Festival (now APAF Asian Performing Arts Farm). In 2019 he was the General Director of the Performing Arts Division for the event Culture City of East Asia 2019 Toshima. He received the 3rd Asahi Performing Arts Award in 2004, and the 2nd Asahi Beer Arts Award in 2005. He was awarded the 68th Art Encouragement Prize for Drama in 2018 by The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and received the French honor of “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” from the French Ministry of Culture in April, 2019.

Co-Director / Festival/Tokyo

Graduated from the Science of Design, Musashino Art University. She started her career as a theatre producer of reset-N in 2003. While working as an assistant manager at a commercial theatre from 2003–2006, She produced several performances and managed tours inside Japan and international exchange projects. Since 2007, A staff member at Art Network Japan. In the year of 2007–2012, she took part in the establishment of Kawasaki Art Center and focused on the various projects for contemporary dance and theatre and for young theater artists. A production co-ordinator since 2012 and the co-director since 2018 at Festival/Tokyo.

TOSHIMA International City of Arts & Culture Program Director

Project Officer, Planning Section, Toshima Mirai Cultural Foundation After working at a private company, a public hall and the office of the Yokohama Triennale 2011 PR team CARAVANS, he joined Toshima Mirai Cultural Foundation in 2012. To date, he has worked on projects including the Toshima Noh Performance, Folk Performing Arts in Toshima, the Junior Arts Academy Kyogen Course, and the Lion Festival of traditional performing arts in the Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan building. He has planned and produced the Daidengaku Ikebukuro Emaki event as part of the Tokyo Festival program since 2016. Performed mainly in Minami-Ikebukuro Park in the Ikebukuro area, the event includes a much-talked-about collaboration with cosplayers. Strives to create new audiences in the field of traditional performing arts.

Director of APAF Asian Performing Arts Farm

Director, born in 1976. Leader of theater/performance unit Tokyo Deathlock. Directly involved in staging diverse works from classic to contemporary drama, dance and performance pieces, with a focus on the personal experience of the individual in modern society. Tada engages in a borderless range of projects based on the collaborative power of theater, conducting workshops and creative activities with children and people who are not theater specialists at cultural facilities and educational institutes nationwide, and collaborations with theater professionals in Korea and Southeast Asia. He was appointed Artistic Director of the Cultural Centre of Fujimi City, KIRARI FUJIMI in 2010, the youngest artistic director to be appointed at a public theater in Japanese history, serving three terms over nine years until March 2019. He received the 50th The Dong-A Theater Award from Korea in 2014, the first non-Korean to do so. In 2019 he was Program Director, Performing Arts Division, for the event Culture City of East Asia 2019 Toshima. He is a director at the Seinendan theater company. Part-time lecturer at Shikoku Gakuin University and Joshibi University of Art and Design.

Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Autumn Selection Director
General Producer of Performing Arts, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre

Producer. Graduated from Faculty of Literature, University of Tokyo. Worked from 1985 at Parco Theater, from 1998 at Horipro Factory, and from 2010 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, where she engaged in the planning and production of theatrical works, dance works, musicals and international co-productions, presented visiting companies from overseas, and more. Principal projects include world tours of “The Bee, English version” and “One Green Bottle” (written & directed by Hideki Noda with an international cast); “The Trojan Women” (directed by Yukio Ninagawa / Coproduction between Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre & Cameri Theatre, Tel Aviv); “L’honneur de Napoléon” (written & directed by Koki Mitani); “Richard III”(directed by Silviu Purcărete); “Love Letters” (directed by Yoji Aoi); “The Fantasticks musical”(directed by Amon Miyamoto) ; and Japan performances of Tadeusz Kantor & Cricot 2’s “Let the Artists Die” and “I Shall Never Return,” the Broadway musical “Chicago” and by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Director of Festival/Tokyo

Born in Tokyo in 1969, he graduated with a degree in French literature from Rikkyo University. During graduate studies, he began to research and translate the later prose of Samuel Beckett. His involvement with theatre came first as a performance surtitles operator and script translator. A pioneering dramaturge in Japan, he has worked with a wide range of directors and choreographers in that capacity. Recent years he also takes part in various art projects. His major theatre credits include “Atomic Survivor” (directed by Hatsumi Abe, TIF 2007), “4.48 Psychosis” (directed by Norimizu Ameya, F/T09 Autumn), “The Marriage of Figaro” (directed by Tomo Sugao, Nissay Opera 2012), “The Opportunity of Efficiency” (directed by John McGrath, New National Theatre, Tokyo), and “Double Tomorrow” (directed by Fabien Prioville, Theatrical Group EN). His main credits for projects and works at non-theatre venues include the “House of Atreus” series and “Kaku Nagashima’s How-To-Make-Laboratory” (both for Tokyo Artpoint Project), “The World” (Kakuya Ohashi and Dancers), “YAJIRUSHI” (Saitama Triennale 2016 & 2020), and “Town and Theatre Skill Exchange” (Toyohashi Arts Theatre PLAT). He teaches at the Department of Musical Creativity and the Environment, Tokyo University of the Arts.

TOSHIMA International City of Arts & Culture Program Director
Chief Producer and Managing Director of OWL SPOT (Toshima Performing Arts Center)

After graduating from Waseda university, Nemoto joined the Shiki Theatre Company as a staff member. She studied abroad the following year, undertaking graduate performance studies at New York University. After returning to Japan, she joined the management team for the Aoyama Theatre/Aoyama Round Theatre, housed in the National Children’s Castle complex, where she handled the planning and production of theatrical /dance works and performing arts for children. Her professional engagements have included work for the Tokyo office of the Prix de Lausanne Dance Competition, and international co-productions of musicals. She joined the Setagaya Public Theatre to help set up its opening in 1996. As producer at Japan’s first public theater to focus on creative engagement, for 19 years she has helped to establish the theater’s reputation through her involvement in the planning and production of plays and dance productions, children’s projects and workshops, as well as collaborations with regional public theaters. She has held her current position since April 2016.

Programmer of Tokyo Festival

Born in 1977 in Chiba City. Commuted to Tokyo for middle school, high school, and university. Moved to France in 2000 and received a doctorate degree in theater arts from Paris Nanterre University in 2008. Specialized in the history of Western acting theory. Worked in the production department of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center from 2007 and the dramaturgy department from 2009. Chiefly in charge of international programs and has visited over 20 countries. Since 2014, Asian Producers’ Platform member(APP). After visiting 3 Southeast Asian countries in 2016 through the Asia Center Fellowship, he stayed in New York as an Asian Cultural Council (ACC) grantee, contemplating Asia’s contemporaneous performing arts. Part-time lecturer at the University of Gakushuin University. Authored the thesis “Aristotle’s Acting Theory – Theoretical Origin of Non-Musical Theatre,” translated Joël Pommerat’s “Les Marchands”, etc. Open Network for Performing Arts Management (ON-PAM) board member, in charge of the research office for advocacy.