投稿 Guided Tour“Celebrating 100 Years of Toyooka’s Retro Architecture” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

An unexpected encounter with a monster awaits on your tour!
Mandara-yu has transformed into the dark “Yamidara-yu”!
And then—could it be!? Soto-Yu Red has fallen into darkness!

On this tour, your guide and the local heroes will lead the way.
As you stroll through the town, hearing stories of its history and culture, you’ll suddenly find yourself swept up in the unfolding drama.

During the hero show, your cheers might be the very power that fuels the ONSENGER. Laugh, be surprised, and cheer together with your family and friends!

A special guided tour that fuses a town walk through Kinosaki Onsen with a live hero show by the KINOSAKI SENTAI ONSENGER.
Experience a one-of-a-kind adventure you can find only here, in Kinosaki!

投稿 “Kinosaki Onsen Guide Tour”<br><small>~Battle of the Fiery Waters and Darkness: Mandara-Yu Arc~</small> は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

As physical contact and mobility were restricted, our ways of connecting with people and places were fundamentally questioned. In response to this backdrop, we conceived the program Intersecting Peripheries.

What we are drawn to are places that are neither urban nor central—not just in the geographical sense, but also in terms of values, history, and identity. We sense that cultural practices rooted in such peripheral contexts are deeply connected to global shifts.

This year, we were grateful to receive applications for the program from 36 countries around the world.

Artists, producers, and researchers from across the globe will gather in Toyooka, bringing with them their concerns and practices shaped by their own contexts, and allowing them to intersect.

From here, we hope to witness the emergence of new, web-like networks of dialogue and collaboration.

［Participants］

Group A – September 12 to 16

Arby Hamiya (Philippines / Based in Manila)

Arby Hamiya is a Filipino multi-faceted graphic designer who has evolved into multidisciplinary practices. Over the past years, Arby has collaborated with different creative projects, taking on various roles across production, performance and design. As an Executive Producer at Para Sa Sining Collaboratory, a pioneer team member at Kapwa Movement Project, and a collaborator at HUB: Make Lab, she focuses on collaborative and community-rooted artistic initiatives. Her cultural work intends to create new works with local communities and planning on programs and festivals in the future.

Angga Kusuma (Indonesia / Based in Dumai)

Angga Kusuma (Contor) is a theatre-maker and performance researcher from Dumai, a port city on the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. His practice investigates how everyday rituals and overlooked spaces—a security post, a coffee stall, a riverbank—become unofficial stages for power, memory, and absurdity. Rooted in his experience of growing up on the periphery, his work constantly asks: what unseen performances uphold our social reality?

Using methods of site-specific performance and performative ethnography, he deconstructs the languages of the body born from boredom, waiting, and unspoken social tensions. He is interested in creating dialogues between peripheries, bringing his lens from a Sumatran port city to explore and resonate with the unique social landscapes of other non-central regions, seeking the universal truths hidden in local specificities.

Nuttamon Pramsumran (Thailand / Based in Tokyo & Bangkok)

Nuttamon Pramsumran is a Thai artist and author who co-founded Circle Theatre Bangkok in 2018. She has collaborated on site-specific and community-based projects such as Loei Art Fest (2021) and Parallel Normalities (2021–2023) between Thailand and Japan. Currently based in Tokyo, she explores migration through personal and collective stories of Thai people living abroad. As an artist-in-residence at Treasure Hill Artist Village (July–August 2025), she deepens this exploration. Her current research focuses on the hidden waterways (暗渠) in Harajuku, Shibuya, and Setagaya, investigating their connection to urban life and the experiences of immigrants in the city.

Woo Yat Hei (Hong Kong / Based in Hong Kong)

Woo Yat-hei was born in Hong Kong, a dancer, performer and independent artist. His latest work Burn Out Nijinsky (2025) investigates the labor and inner world of performers, using intertextuality, parody, and satire as methods on reflecting how individuals become products of history and society. His previous works include Traffik Is-Land (2024, West Kowloon Cultural District Freespace Dance, HOTPOT East Asia Dance Platform); I Drag Deep Thought Word (2023, ROOM712); and Konstantin’s Video Essay (2022, Institute of Imagination).

He has formed a cross-disciplinary collective that conducted fieldwork researching in San Lau Street at the Sha Tau Kok frontier area, focusing on the ongoing interactions and intersections among the dynamics which were shaped by contextual and structural factors.

Tzu-Ching WU (Taiwan / Based in Taipei)

Tzu-Ching WU, born in Taiwan, based in Taipei. Graduated from Taipei National University of the Arts, dept. of theatrical design, major in set design. Now a member of an artist collective “House Peace”, and the resident artist of National Theatre and Concert Hall.

With a background in set design, her works focus on creating possibilities between theatre and space. She also makes interdisciplinary space design works of video art, installation and XR interactive performance.

Group B – September 19 to 23

Amos (Indonesia / Based in Yogyakarta)

Amos is a researcher and performing art practitioner from Indonesia. With a background in historical studies, his work engages with archival materials, historical narratives, and decolonial/postcolonial issues. As a co-founder of Kolektif Arungkala, a Yogyakarta-based multidisciplinary collective, Amos explores intersections of memory, microhistory, critical framework performing art, and socially engaged art practices.

James Harvey Estrada (Philippines / Based in Binangonan & Angono)

He is a Filipino educator, writer, director and performer, active in the Asian region, working on international collaborations on solidarity, fake news and human rights. Lecturer at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila teaching drama in broadcast performance and visual direction and techniques. 

In 2022 and 2023 he co-facilitated the Tokyo Festival Farm’s Asian Performing Arts Camp, gathering artists to research in Tokyo.. He also participated in Theatertreffen 2023 International Forum in Berlin, Germany.

His first written play “Maikling Dasal, Mahabang Gabi” following the stories of OFW drug mules won awards at the UPTC Play Festival for the best original story and since then has been staged to different parts of  Philippines. His newest work “Pagkalinga : Vibrations and Rituals of Care“. premiered at the Toyooka Theater Festival in September 2024. James has exhibited and created works in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and the US.

Ohelen (South Korea / Based in Seoul)

I am a Seoul-based multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of improvisational music, movement, and visual arts. My practice blends voice, live instrumentation, and physical expression to create immersive, site-specific performances exploring themes of identity, memory, and transformation. As co-founder of the collective “Odd Lips,” I engage in collaborative projects that challenge performance norms and explore social and environmental questions. I aim to dissolve the boundaries between performer and audience through theatricality, poetry, and spontaneous interaction.

Tomomi Onuki / 大貫友瑞 (Japan / Based in Tokyo)

Born in 1999, Tomomi Onuki is an artist and architect. She holds an MA in Architecture from Tokyo University of the Arts and studied performance at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart. While working in architectural design, she is active in performing arts.

Her practice explores the “non-heroic body” in a society where humans easily overwrite cities and nature, losing the sense of “being here, now.”

She creates performances that propose new relationships between humans and their surroundings.

As a member of the performing media art collective pito, she also develops workshops and performances that transform perceptions of body and space through memory and cognition.

OUT OF BLUE / Jaeeun Kim (South Korea / Based in Seoul)

I’m a Korean actor and multidisciplinary artist working across video, poetry, music, and performance.

My work focuses on subtle emotional dynamics, fragile relationships, and the quiet spaces between people and places, through which I explore emotion, scene, and the ecology of human connection.

Rather than anchoring myself to a single form, I move fluidly between mediums, letting each project shape its own rhythm and voice.

Across all forms of practice, I aim to invite reflection rather than explanation.

Pearlyn Tay (Singapore / Based in Singapore)

Pearlyn Tay is an independent producer invested in enabling artistic developmental and creation processes across disciplines and genres. Dedicated to dismantling and reconstructing ways of working, she seeks to cultivate intentional and meaningful collaborative spaces for artistic creation. She takes a special interest in the development of emergent practices for artists and producers alongside community- and network-building, culminating in her work at Producers SG (Emerging Producers Programme 2024-2026) and co-founding of Morasum Network. In various capacities across different disciplines, she has also worked with organisations such as Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay (Seedlings 2025; Contemporary Performing Arts Research Residency 2024; International Presenters Visit Programme 2024), *SCAPE (Street Art Residency 2025; Somerset Threads 2025), and Centre 42 (Cor Machina 2024) alongside producing independent work in theatre (Air in Skin 2023; A Mirage 2022; Erosion 2021).

Observer

Muhammad Abe (Indonesia / Based in Yogyakarta)

Muhammad Abe lives and works in Yogyakarta. He completed his postgraduate studies in Performance and Visual Arts Studies at the Graduate School of Universitas Gadjah Mada. Abe is the Director of the Indonesia Dramatic Reading Festival and Deputy Director of the Indonesian Performance and Theatre Conference, as well as a co-initiator and producer of Gymnastik Emporium. In 2019, he produced the Asia Playwrights Meeting in Yogyakarta. Together with the Indonesian Performance and Theatre Conference, he organized the Postdramatic Theatre Workshop in 2024 and served as facilitator for the Indonesian Producers Workshop (2023–2024) in collaboration with Yayasan Kelola. In 2025, he co-organized a documentary theatre workshop with aRRRah. In addition, Abe works as an independent producer for several Indonesian performance artists.

投稿 <small>International Exchange Program</small><br>Intersecting Peripheries は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Juggling show』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『juggling』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Balance　acrobat』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Kamimaro Magic Shwo』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Japanese style performance』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Midoryman』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Puppet Song Show』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『juggling』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Circus』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『”“Balloon Show by the U.S. Champion<br>　– A Heartwarming Time of Wonder and Surprise with Balloons –””』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『unicycle and juggling performance』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Statue of 「Kingyo-hime」』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『” Into the noisy world, looking for Hellsan<br>@Toyooka “』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『 Experimental music, voice performance』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Because I’ve forgotten』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Hamlet Pro Wrestling』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Sprayart Show』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Awakening of the Automaton』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『happening』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Pantomime』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『statue』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Clown mind comedy show』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『comedy』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Comedy Performance』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『street magic show』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『juggling』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Statue & Animation dance』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Breeze Memory』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Synchronize』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Koppe roaming clown』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Steampunk Statue』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Spiritual Sound Journey』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Koppe roaming clown』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Steampunk Statue』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Experimental music, voice performance』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 『Spiritual Sound Journey』 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

A heartwarming stage performance that will make both children and adults laugh.

Look forward to it!

投稿 “On a Stormy Night” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

Songwriting? Lecture performance? Writing?
We will deliver the raw creative scenes of one artist.

Reservations are not required, so please drop in whenever you feel like it, but what we do depends on the day and we may change our mind on the spot, so please check the schedule before coming.

*** Schedule during the period here ***

https://soraminoheya.hp.peraichi.com (or scan the QR code on the top image)

*Updated regularly!! Stay tuned for the contents!!

投稿 “The Scriptwriter and Director’s Creative Room” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

Based on the advice from the scriptwriter, you will make repeated revisions and suggestions, and finally make a presentation.
In other words, it is a “simulated experience of the work of a scriptwriter.” Experience is not required.
For everyone who thinks they can’t come up with unusual ideas…
How about a creative experience that will make you realize, “I can’t believe I can come up with such interesting ideas!”
(This is not a course to learn how to write lines and actions. You will create the core of a story, which is the most important part of story creation.)

This is the fourth time that the scriptwriting course at the Toyooka Theater Festival has been held, including online.
I look forward to seeing many more stories!

[Comment]
I feel that the act of creating a story is something that only talented people can do.
Why not try creating a unique story that only you can create through this course?
You will definitely come across an unexpected “This is it!!!!!” idea. I want to grow it together with you (Date Sorami)

投稿 “Experiential Course: Simulating the Work of a Screenwriter – How to Create a Story” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

Timeless Layers Upon Layers uses sensors to detect electromagnetic and inaudible vibrations within Toyooka’s landscape: hot springs, stones, trees, shrine precincts, and local buildings. These hidden pulses are translated into immersive visual and audio environments that invite the audience for exploration, spark cultural exchange, and reveal the living layers of place, engaging both community and visitors in new ways.

投稿 Timeless layers upon layers は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “For Encounters” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “Measuring the distance between you” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

This dance-infused acrobatic circus performance is an eloquent, subtly layered feat of artful invention. In the spotlight are two agile performers who know how to imbue their extreme technical prowess with considerable feeling. The ever-changing shifts, twists and turns of a fluctuating relationship are expressed with a seamless physical grace and strength, but also loaded at times with a tender emotional vulnerability. Whether lifting each other up or bringing each other down, ultimately everything this onstage couple have to ‘say’ is in their bodies. This show has been programmed by Dance Base in collaboration with Assembly.

投稿 Duo は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 Shadow Play “Whale Life ~Geio~” Domestic Tour 2025 in Toyooka は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

Gaki no Danjiki presents its first-ever dance production as the second installment of its “Tricking” series, which explores physical expression and movement as extensions of acting.
Titled “STUDY”, this piece was not created to belong solely to Gaki no Danjiki, but was conceived as a shared performance platform across genres and groups.
Through fieldwork and research conducted throughout Japan, the project seeks to generate
a performative language that captures the physicality of present day Japanese —
and the environments that seek to constrain or erase them.

—The environment welcomes modifier. But my body, somehow, does not.

投稿 “STUDY | Modifiers…the Environment Welcomes ←→the Body Resists” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “Research on birds for the recreation of ‘cockcrow：repetitions'” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

In this latest work, a teacher appears who teaches Japanese as a peripheral language—one in which the “center” has been erased—amidst an interplay of light and darkness. The sound of the viola, resembling the human voice, is embodied as a dog, and drones and cameras inhabit the space as autonomous presences.

These elements are barely held in control, as a play without parole—a visualized thought experiment that explores the respective differentials of meaning and instruction.

投稿 “The Dog, the Fly & the Japanese Language Teacher” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

A Japanese stewardess and a British pilot walk onto a plane. 25 years later, their son Joey is thinking of ending things with his Italian boyfriend.

Turning to his parents’ interracial relationship for guidance, he embarks on a journey to connect with his roots.

But as Joey learns more about his family, a pattern begins to emerge: the notes of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly underscore a century of Asian misrepresentation, orientalism, and exoticisation.

Connecting Milan to Nagasaki, Hong Kong to London, THE BUTTERFLY PROJECT is an irreverent look at the stories that shape us, whether we like it or not.
—
Madama Butterfly is a racist opera.

White performers still use yellow face to make themselves look Asian and misrepresent Japanese culture.

Hong Kong/Japanese/British theatre maker, Joey Jepps, together with Italian boyfriend Gabriele Uboldi, created THE BUTTERFLY PROJECT as a response.

The two write and perform, dissecting the opera and their own relationship onstage, asking what it is like to be in an interracial relationship when their respective cultural backgrounds clash in Puccini’s misrepresentation of Japan.

Employing verbatim interviews in Japanese and English, live projection and original music, Joey and Gabriele draw parallels between Madama Butterfly, Joey’s parents’ interracial relationship and their own.

投稿 “The Butterfly Project” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “Vacance” and Research Residency toward a New Creation は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

In the workshop, participants will walk around Toyooka Station and carefully observe areas that they would not normally look at. They will look for places that they are attracted to (such as wanting to sit, enter, or climb). These places will be likened to faces, and masks will be made under the guidance of a costume designer. At the end, a commemorative photo will be taken with the completed mask and at the location. The starting point of the workshop will be Toyooka Gallery, and after the workshop begins, participants will move to four other locations on a daily basis. Masks will be made using materials such as old clothes collected by costume designers from all over Japan.

The masks and photos that participants have made will be exhibited at the main venue, Toyooka Gallery, during the event, and will be mailed to their homes within one month after the end of the festival. At Toyooka Gallery, participants will be able to see the masks they have made, as well as photos of the places they are associated with, and videos of their walking routes. There will also be a drawing corner at the main venue where visitors can experience designing their own masks. Participation in the exhibition only is free and entry and exit is free.

投稿 “Where the Land’s Memories Walk: Toyooka” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

Set inside a real bank branch, bank employees perform an un-bank-like play—right at the counter.

This chaotic comedy about “trust” unfolds at an actual service window, brought to you by theater-loving citizens of Toyooka—where a deeply rooted culture of theater thrives—and the first graduates of Professional college of Arts and Tourism.
Don’t miss this uniquely local, laughter-filled performance born from a town dedicated to meaningful theater-making!

投稿 “The Shinkin Bank, Live Up to the Trust!” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

Previous guests have included dancers and choreographers Kenta Kuroda, Ayano Yokoyama, and Momoko Shiraga, as well as composer and director Masashi Nukata.

And this time, it will be the first live broadcast! Artists participating in the Toyooka Theater Festival may even join in. Feel free to come visit the site in person—if you’re in the area, please drop by!

We’ll also be holding workshops! Shumpei Nemoto and participants will collaboratively explore creating dance-like movements from everyday gestures. Meanwhile, Reina Kimura, who is creating a choreography for stairs called “6steps,” will visit the stairs with the participants (indoors if it rains) to spend time experiencing being choreographed by the stairs.

We look forward to your participation in both workshops! If you would like to participate, please check the Notes section. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via the inquiry form.

投稿 “Itoguchi to Toi: Radio and Workshop” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

This time, a new version will be presented, reorganizing the work performed at Terpsichore in September 2024, with a spatial direction suited to the venue.

As performers, Argentinean María de los Ángeles Pais and its director Yuki Miyawaki resonate with the spatial art created by Tatsuo Yamashina and the sound composed by Mayuko Matsumoto, weaving a moment of rising to the “here and now” through the trajectory of the body that continues to transform along with memory and senses.

投稿 Performing Arts Project”LOCUS”</br>− KISEKI − は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “Art Manager’s Sabbatical & Research Residence” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

For the Toyooka Theater Festival, Luck collaborates with Kyoto-based artist Masamitsu Araki to create and present a roaming sound performance in the Takeno-hama area, working together with local residents and students.

Situated within the San’in Kaigan National Park and once a thriving port of call for Kitamae-bune trading ships, Takeno-hama layers the natural sounds of sea, mountains, and river with the noises of daily life. After checking in at Kitamaekan, audiences receive a map and wander through the town, experiencing a one-time-only “soundscape” brought into being by the environment, the artists, and the performers.

You may join at any time during the performance window and take it at your own pace—feel free to linger, make detours, and spend time listening closely.

投稿 Sensible Activities TAKENO は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “Composition: Listening to Oto-Shakkei–borrowed soundscape from Takeno” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “Ukifune” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “DIVE/JOURNEY” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

A room. My room.
It’s a place where the things I like gather, where clothes that suit me are gathered, where my traces accumulate.
I sometimes wonder if my room and my body are the same.
Same and one, this body is already swallowed up by the room.
And sometimes this room is exposed to the outside world and swallowed up by the room as well.

The boundaries that should exist become blurred, me, the room, and the outside all mix together, and the room becomes a mess.
I can no longer tell where my body ends, where my room is, and where the outside world begins.
What will happen to me, living in this room, in this truly incident-like situation?

The 40-minute play portrays the actor’s confusion from a first-person perspective, but also takes a step back and sees it as something that is only happening in a small room.

During the day, even outside showtimes, residents stay in the “room,” so please come and relax in the room and touch the costumes. We look forward to your visit.

投稿 “Swallow a room” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “The Mycelium Rebirth” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “Research on Shadow Expression and Shinobue in Japan – Research Residency for the New Dance Performance Work “Dog Star”” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

Tanto is home to many Shinto shrines, and within their precincts are rural stages where traveling performers and local farmers once held plays and performances. Many of these traditional stages still remain today. During my stay here, I will create a new diabolo piece that draws inspiration from these historic stages while incorporating modern techniques.

In the flow of time shaped by nature, history, and human life, what do I—living in the present—feel and choose to express? The result of this creative journey will be captured in the form of a video, which will be shared at a later date.

投稿 “A Residency Journey Through the Stages of Tanto” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “The place where you can get a bite” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

［B］Yota<small>”Morning at the start of a long day”
A newly built house, a bustling shopping street, an abandoned multi-tenant building, a bakery that should have been there, a former pachinko parlor. For example, there are people who live in Toyooka. For example, there are people who start new lives. For example, there are people who move to other places. The year 2025 will be a year in which the world is a series of tragedies, such as wars, major earthquakes, and unprecedented pandemics, yet the contradiction of the feeling that none of these are happening before “”my”” eyes flows into the center of society and becomes a huge whirlpool. In such an era, where should “”I”” and “”you”” live? How should we live? Who should we live with?
If life is a long day, it is only the beginning of the morning when “”I”” am here now.
In a place/time unknown to her, she will face the new life that will continue from now on, while turning her eyes to the world in which she lives/used to live.

［C］Tatara Theatre Unit”Us Ver. ♡ Based on Heed My Plea”
I wondered if my faith and attachments were inside my skin, and I thought that one day they would swell up and break out like a pimple.
But nothing like that ever came out, and I realized I had no choice but to search inside my skin.
Lying in bed in my room, I slowly traced my skin with my fingers. Behind my ears, the veins in my neck, the sides of my stomach, the backs of my knees, my groin. My body trembled slightly, and I could hear something crackling under my skin.
Deeper into my skin, in my organs, deeper inside me.
Because my faith and attachments must be inside my skin.

投稿 ［A］kuniyoshigumi<small>“Tetsuko faints〜Woman with vasovagal reflex〜”</small></br>［B］Yota<small>”Morning at the start of a long day”</small></br>［C］Tatara Theatre Unit<small> ”Us Ver. ♡ Based on Heed My Plea”</small> は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

［B］Tanaka Misa ＋Akashi mariko＋Shimizu Haruka”DNA”
We sometimes think of our existence as something like a fragment that is isolated from other life. However, our bodies remember that we can never be isolated from all other life in our relationship with all life that exists at this moment, or from the system of genetic information of life that has been protected and passed down for hundreds of millions of years.
It is believed that life began about 3.5 billion years ago when amino acids and sugars reacted with the surface of clay minerals and iron-sulfide minerals in hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, establishing the self-replicating function of RNA. After that, a system of storing and transforming information through DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) was formed, and the system has been passed down while its form has changed according to the environment. Humans can share “”brain information”” through language and numbers. Conflicting information controls the body and has created a system that allows the extinction of the species itself, but as long as the body exists as a medium for feeling warmth, love, and beauty, the potential of human life will not be destroyed, and I would like to repeatedly recognize this through the filter of performance.

［C］Ayako Kato”(Meta)fiction by Violinist”
Who does this body belong to, really?
On April 4, 2025, I gave a solo violin recital called “Fiction for Violinists.” This “(Meta)Fiction” is an attempt to deconstruct and recreate that recital.
Classical music, and the contemporary music that is associated with it, are often called “reproduced art.”
Performers try to recreate the intentions of composers from scores of different eras and languages. The audience tries to read the intentions of the composers that are recreated through the performance.
The recital, where such exchanges take place as a matter of course, is itself a traditional form, and therefore also fiction.
Recreating music and bodies that are not “here and now,” layered, overlapping, and twisted. What remains at the end of the festival may not be the composer or the work, but rather a tiny body of 149 cm and just under 50 kg.

投稿 ［A］SR/Yuria Onishi<small>“Pulse”</small></br>［B］Tanaka Misa ＋Akashi mariko＋Shimizu Haruka<small> ”DNA” </small></br>［C］Ayako Kato<small>“(Meta)fiction by Violinist”</small> は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

Since 2019, playwright Shuntaro Matsubara and the duo of theatre makers Ayaka Ono and Akira Nakazawa — known as Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Spacenotblank — have collaborated on a series of productions. Their sixth collaboration, and their first in two years since Dance Dance Revolutions (presented in 2023 at the Free Space of the Kyoto Art Center), is a new work titled: Beautiful Ridiculous Scenario of the Sorcerer’s Apprentices. It will premiere in September 2025 as part of the Toyooka Theater Festival Director’s Program, staged at the Seishido Theater at the Professional College of Arts and Tourism. The cast features Chika Araki, Himawari Inoue, Rei Kagata, and Yuki Koga.

投稿 “Beautiful Ridiculous Scenario of the Sorcerer’s Apprentices” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “Yellow Airship” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “The Window of Spaceship ‘In-Between’” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

You are invited on a journey that transcends time and space, one that explores the origins of Kinosaki Onsen and its 1300-year-old history.

Come experience a one-of-a-kind dance portrayed by physical bodies freed from the constraints of daily life. Featuring a special guest performance by Akaji Maro.

投稿 Butoh performance “Butoh Tajimafudoki _Kinosaki reitou engi” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 <small>Kinosaki International Arts Center AIR Program 2025/26</small><br>Theater Opera<br> “The star has no sound −Clockwork Universe−” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 <small>Kinosaki International Arts Center AIR Program 2025/26</small><br>“The Bathhouse of Honest Desires” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

<Synopsis>
The soap factory that I had been working at for over 20 years went out of business. In lieu of any severance pay, they sent me off with a ton of soap. I lost my home, too. After sunset, I was drinking away my woes at a food stall on the street. “Well now, where do food stalls come from, and where do they go?” My drunken mind asked this question about 150 times, so I decided to follow a food stall that had closed up for the day. It was resting after weaving through the seam between evening and morning. It yelled at me, saying, “Go away, someone like you should get lost between the cracks of dusk and darkness!” “So you mean we’re in the same boat then,” I thought. A train that isn’t listed on the timetable takes you to the cracks—a spirituals train. They say the passengers sing songs throughout the ride…

投稿 Outdoor Performance vol.3 in Beach<br>Musical「Humming “paradise”」 は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

“Serenade of the Sea” is the second work to emerge from this project. It follows “Yurau,” (staged on Kikai Island and Komaba Agora Theater in Tokyo,) a piece developed from scientific data and local ecological knowledge spanning the past, present, and future of Kikai Island. “Serenade of the Sea” draws on restoration ecology data from 50,000 years ago, including coral and giant clam shells found on Kikai Island, which was formed by the uplift of coral reefs during massive earthquakes occurring once every tens of thousands of years. It also incorporates findings from the large-scale discovery of coral uplifted during the January 1, 2024 earthquake on the Noto Peninsula. The work premiered at the Public Zone of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, as part of “Anima Rave,” a program connected to the exhibition “Dancing with All: The Ecology of Empathy.” Based on feedback from researchers, the script and direction were revised to present a new iteration of the performance.

With its script and direction grounded in scientific data, this work embodies the intersection between science and art, offering a vision of our future. 

投稿 “Serenade of the Sea” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “From S Plateau” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “The Last Geishas: Re-creation” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

We now present an English reading performance based on this text, with Masashi Nukata from Nuthmique directing and composing music. 

The story revolves around a writer who, upon experiencing a near-fatal accident, comes to a quiet hot spring town and observes the contours of life and death as he takes in the nature.

Even in translation, Naoya Shiga’s writing leaves readers with a refreshing and universal impression that transcends time and borders. 

投稿 “At Kinosaki” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

“I had such a dream…” Once you hop off the train at Kinosaki Onsen Station, an entrance to the dreamworld with song, mystery, and dance awaits. It’s looking sunny with a chance of reverie. The weather in the Tajima area may be unpredictable, but we welcome you to join us on this mysterious train ride as we journey through the Autumn season, relishing the fantastical realm that unfolds at each stop. This immersive theater experience is brought to you by the West Japan Railway Company’s Sightseeing Train “Umi Yama Musubi” and the Professional College of Arts and Tourism. Stop by if you feel a bit lonely, and we promise you won’t regret it! 

投稿 “Ten Dreaming nights Last Go. in Umiyamamusubi With the journey I had a such Dream.” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

This history forms the backdrop for Tanto Sai Sai, a collaborative project where Karasuma Stroke Rock, along with children and residents from Tantō, create an original kagura dance based on local folklore. With this process, they aim to produce a theater piece that is rooted in the daily life of the community. The project has been staged across rural kabuki theaters in Tantō each year since 2022.

The festive, stall-lined temple grounds erupt with the sounds of applause…as summer comes to a close in Tantō, come experience “Tanto Sai Sai,” a dance surrounded by the nature of the season.

投稿 “Tanto Sai Sai” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

The first is a collaborative work between Namstrop and Seniors “Watashino koto wa dansu ni kiite [Ask dance about me]” .
The second part is a collaborative work between Unlocking Dance Plaze and Seniors “攞彩 Lo2 Coi2”

<Watashino koto wa dansu ni kiite [Ask dance about me]>
Here are some of the comments shared by seniors who participated in the workshop:
“Today was an amazing day. I will continue to face every day with a positive mindset. I feel like I discovered a side of myself I hadn’t known. I want to hold onto this power that keeps my body moving.”
“Dance, the heart, and the body are all connected. I want to see the glass as half full.”
We’re eager to hear the different comments that will emerge from people we’re meeting for the first time—including you, you, AND you!

We can’t do anything alone. But everything begins from being alone.

<攞彩 Lo2 Coi2>
“”さい”” (彩 Coi2) is most commonly understood as “”color,”” but in Cantonese, it carries richer meanings—such as luck, auspiciousness, or outstanding performance.
In traditional Chinese culture, many rituals and celebrations are tied to the concept of “”さい””, invoking blessings and good fortune. This choreography takes inspiration from ceremonial practices like drawing fortune sticks, spinning pinwheels, and fireworks, transforming them into bodily expressions and collaborative creations. By exploring the possibilities of movement and imagination through different bodies, we collectively craft a unique celebratory work that carries good luck.

We are looking for performers aged 60 and over (a little younger is also fine!) to join us in creating a performance together.
[Applications open: Tuesday, July 15]
*For those who can communicate in Japanese only.

投稿 ”Today is the youngest day of my life” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

After the performance, we will host a “Friendly After-Talk” session featuring a distinguished local guest, where visitors can engage in a warm and open conversation.

“The Restaurant of Many Orders”
Two gentlemen on a hunting trip in the mountains stumble upon a Western-style restaurant deep in the forest. A sign at the entrance reads, “Please come in. You are most welcome.” As they step inside, they are met with a series of increasingly strange requests.

“Morning of Farewell”
On the final morning with his ailing sister, the brother spends their last moments together in the snow, expressing his sorrow and quiet acceptance of her death through a heartfelt poem.

These two works by Kenji Miyazawa will be performed at the Asago Art Village.

投稿 “The New World of Reading and Percussion” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

投稿 “Workers!” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

What largely distinguishes the art form from other genres is how the performer remains “static” to create the piece. Its allure draws from the fact that living statue performances can be enjoyed by people of all ages and nationalities due to its non-verbal nature, and that it can be staged in various places that may have been restricted in the past, such as museums and theaters. 

Another positive aspect of living statue performance is that it does not require any technical or physical strength, unlike acrobatics or juggling. This allows anyone—from children to the elderly—to participate as “performers.”

投稿 “Living Statues” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

“The Restaurant of Many Orders”
Two gentlemen out hunting in the mountains stumble upon a Western-style restaurant in the woods. Drawn in by a sign reading “Anyone can come in without hesitation,” they enter, and are met with a series of strange orders.

“Eiketsu No Asa [The morning of the last farewell]”
On the final morning he shares with his ailing sister, an older brother grieves their parting in the snow, capturing both his acceptance of death and a quiet prayer through poetry. 

Two pieces from Miyazawa Kenji will be presented at Asago Art Village.

投稿 “The New World of Reading and Percussion” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

Performance “The Inch-high Samurai (short version)”
“The Inch-high Samurai” (premiered at Medikit Arts Center, 2012) is a 60-minute stage production based on the Japanese fairy tale “Issunboshi” which questions the scale of the physical body and the meaning of existence. We’ve shrunk all that into a neat short version! The performance will take place outdoors in Asago.

投稿 Workshop “TORU – TORARERU”<br>Performance “THE INCH-HIGH SAMURAI” short version は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。

Having already been performed in a wide variety of locations, this iteration of “The Moon Over the Mountain” for the Toyooka Theater Festival will be presented in Shinonsen Town. 

Did the protagonist Li Zheng willingly abandon his humanity, or did he ultimately want to remain human? While I hope that Li Zheng returns safely, I also wonder what it would be like to join him and explore the unknown. Perhaps life as a beast, in a world where language, thought, and philosophy do not exist, is also free of the confusion and suffering that comes with being human. 

This work’s appeal is in its ambiguity, where the comfort and discomfort of being human coexist. This play’s ambiguity allows me to experience disorientation and conflict each time I perform, and that is one of the reasons I continue to stage it. 

投稿 “The Moon Over the Mountain” は Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 に最初に表示されました。