Project Title: “Ctrl L” “A Difference of Beauty”

Co-production between BIRD Theatre Company TOTTORI and Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB) of New York, US. BIRD Theatre Company TOTTORI (Artistic Director: NAKASHIMA Makoto) actively works to realize a society of co-existence, and produces JIYU Gekijo-Freedom Theatre, where people with and without disabilities share the stage. TBTB (Artistic Director: Nicholas Viselli) is a professional off-Broadway theater organization that features actors and writers with disabilities.
They will present two productions at the “BIRD Theatre Festival 15” in September 2022 to provide an opportunity to share with the audiences the diverse ways of living and the values of people with and without disabilities, as well as the inner beauty of human beings across borders and disabilities.

• Performances: September 24–25, 2022 (Venue: BIRD Theatre Company TOTTORI)
  * For more details, please refer to the “BIRD Theatre Festival 15” website.

Project Title: “A Conversation with the Sun (VR)”

Thai film director, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who has continued to update the history of cinema with numerous masterpieces, will collaborate with leading Japanese composer, SAKAMOTO Ryuichi, and a team of creators led by TANIGUCHI Katsuya, one of Japan’s most skilled VR production engineers, to create his first interactive VR performance. In these world premiere performances, the potential of virtual reality will boldly expand Weerasethakul’s cinematic world, creating an atmosphere that almost seems to anticipate the post-pandemic world. Audience members will be able to commune with presences and experience time suspended in a circle, creating physical sensations with the aim of creating a performance that enacts a ceremony experienced as a group. The world premiere performance of this work will take place during the international art festival, Aichi Triennale 2022, in October 2022.

Performances: October 4–10, 2022 (Venue: Large Rehearsal Room, Aichi Prefectural Art Theater)
* For more details, please refer to the “Aichi Triennale 2022” website.

Project Title: “Merzbow, Balázs Pándi & Richard Pinhas with Lieko Shiga: ‘Bipolar’ ”

This visual concert marks the first collaboration among internationally renowned photographer, SHIGA Lieko; Merzbow, a noise project by AKITA Masami; Balázs Pandi, a drummer who worked with Akita on the album Cuts; and Richard PINHAS, who pioneered experimental rock in France from the 1970s onward. The layered, improvised sounds created by the three musicians blend with Shiga’s new videos, which develop the concept of Human Spring, the work that she presented and exhibited in 2019. It will be performed at the Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival, Kyoto Experiment 2022, in October 2022.

Performances: October 8–9, 2022 (Venue: Kyoto Art Theater Shunjuza)
* For more details, please refer to the “Kyoto Experiment 2022” website.

Project Title: “Goodbye, and good wishes for your success ― a response to Annihilation of Caste ― a speech prepared by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar at the invitation of Jat-Pat Todak Mandal of Lahore in 1936 but NOT DELIVERED owing to the withdrawal of the invitation because the organising committee found the contents of the speech unbearable.”

Organized by the Kyoto Performing Arts Center of Kyoto University of the Arts, this project brings together theatre-makers from India and Japan, to create a theatre piece generated from “Annihilation of Caste,” an undelivered speech prepared in 1936 by B.R. Ambedkar (1891–1956), who is known as a leading figure in the fight for social equality for the oppressed classes, and was Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution. Co-directed by Kerala-based theatre director Sankar Venkateswaran and Kyoto-based WADA Nagara, and performed by Anirudh Nair, Chandra Ninasam, and TAKEDA Aki, the piece attempts to reflect on systems of exclusion and discrimination that are present in our lives today, in a playful and theatrical manner.

Performances: December 10–11, 2022 (Venue: Kyoto Art Theater Shunjuza)
* For more details, please refer to the Kyoto Art Theater Shunjuza studio21 website.

Project Title: “Hourglass”

This is a new work-in-progress by Company Derashinera, led by ONODERA Shuji, who has continuously engaged in international co-productions since 2016. Joining Company Derashinera members KAJIHARA Akiko, Lee Ren Xin (Malaysia), and Liu Juichu (Taiwan), who appeared in last year’s production, Toge, new cast member, Jung Young Doo (Korea) will help explore further possibilities. Through international collaboration and cross-cultural exchange among the cast members from different countries, they will sense the differences in physicality rooted in cultural background and lifestyle, while also examining what kind of physical language and imagination they have in common, in an attempt to capture a new “language.” An intensive, ten-day workshop will be held of this work-in-progress in preparation for future performances, and it will be performed for the public at Hoku Topia in December 2022.

Performance: December 23, 2022 (Venue: Hoku Topia)
* For more details, please refer to the Company Derashinera website.