- Chia-Ming Wang
Chia-Ming Wang graduated from the Department of Geography at Taiwan National University and completed his graduate studies at the Graduate Institute of Theatre Performance and Playwriting at Taipei National University of the Arts. Currently he is the head of Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group theater company. His work is known for its intricate structures that combine experimental and popular elements. Wang collaborates closely with actors to explore, confront, and rethink the possibilities of theater through his uniquely designed performance style. In 2018, he was invited to Tokyo Festival to perform “Café Lumière,” and in 2019 he was invited to perform “Dear Life” at the Paris Festival d’Automne, marking the first time in the festival’s forty-eight-year history that a Taiwanese dramatic work was performed. Wang directed the third stage of the opening ceremony of the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung City, served as a judge for the second round and the final film screenings at the 51st Golden Horse Awards in 2014, and served as curator and ceremony director for the Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music from 2014 to 2016.
WEB：https://www.swsg95.com.tw/en
Instagram：swsg95
Facebook：swsg95
Director’s Program
Kinosaki International Arts Center AIR Program 2025/26
“The Bathhouse of Honest Desires”
Chia-Ming Wang / Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group
✕ Kuro Tanino / Niwa Gekidan Penino
Area
- Kinosaki
Date and Time
Sep.21(Sun)19:00
Sep.22(Mon)14:00
Performance Duration
Approx. 100 minutes
Performance Language
Japanese, Chinese
*English, Japanese, Chinese subtitles
Admission Fee
【All seats unreserved】
Advance Tickets: ¥4,000
Same-day Tickets: ¥4,500
Advance Tickets U25/Student/Disabled Discount: ¥3,000*
Same-day Tickets Disabled Discount: ¥3,500*
U18 for advance and Same-day: Free*
Uzumaku Pass: ¥1,000
Clap Mates*
If there are remaining seats on the day, you can watch the performance for free who aged 19 to 25, or those with a valid student ID.
*Please proof required on the day of the event
“The Bathhouse of Honest Desires” is a new public performance jointly written and directed by the up-and-coming Taiwanese playwright and director Chia-Ming Wang and Japan’s Kuro Tanino, both of whom are currently garnering international attention at European international performing arts festivals. The two share a use of grandiose and elaborate set design; their language is slightly eccentric yet nostalgic, somehow removed yet tangible, a language of lasting impressions. Nevertheless, these two people from disparate cultures and languages have created a single mysterious story, along with unique and talented actors from Taiwan and Japan. The setting is a former public bathhouse. This bathhouse has been closed for a long time and is now a strange space overrun with cracks and aquatic plants. It is in this space that the women work. When darkness falls, the men come to visit. A dreamlike conversation ensues, one in which truths become indistinguishable from lies. Taking inspiration from Yasunari Kawabata’s “House of the Sleeping Beauties,” a dreamlike, ephemeral, and mysterious story reveals itself.
-
Performers
- Taiwanese Actor & Actress｜Fa、Chia-En Yang、Tai-Hao Tsuei、Yi-En Chen、Pei-Yu Hung
Japanese Actor & Actress｜Hairi Katagiri、Kiyobumi Kaneko、Sen Fujimaru
-
Staff
- Stage Manager：Grace Teng
Stage Design：Hsuan-Hsun Cheng
Costume Design：Ping-Ping Chih, Taco Chang
Sound Design：To-Fu Chen
Light Design：Tien-Hung Wang
Music：Blaire Ko
Producer：Yukio Nitta、Chika Onozuka
-
Accessibility
・Wheelchairs accommodated
・Free entrance for aide
・Childcare services
・English, Japanese, Chinese subtitlesIf you require any of the following services, please contact the Toyooka Theater Festival Festival Center before purchasing tickets.
Those who have a disability certificate and wish to be accompanied by an aide.
Those who plan to attend the festival in a wheelchair.
Those who wish to use childcare services.Childcare services (reservation required)
Date:Sep.22(Mon)14:00
*Free childcare service provided.
-
Notes
*Preschool children are not admitted.
-
Credits
-
Presented by Toyooka Theater Festival Executive Committee,Japan Arts Council and Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Produced by Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group、NIWA GEKIDAN PENINO （Arche LLC.)
Premiere / Commissioned by National Theater & Concert Hall, Taiwan
In cooperation with Kinosaki International Arts Center (Toyooka City)
Supported by the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan. -
- Kuro Tanino
Kuro Tanino was born in Toyama Prefecture in 1976. He is the founder of Niwa Gekidan Penino theater company, where he is active as a director and playwright. He was a Senior Fellow at the Saison Foundation until 2015, and founded Niwa Gekidan Penino in 2000 while still in medical school. Since then, Tanino has written and directed all of the company’s plays, receiving numerous invitations to major theater festivals in Europe, as well as Japan and other countries. In 2016, Tanino won the 60th Kishida Prize for Drama for “Avidya No Lights Inn,” as well as the Kitanippon Shimbun Art Commendation Award and the 71st Excellence Award from the Agency for Cultural Affairs National Arts Festival the same year. In 2019, he won the 36th Toyama Award in the category of Culture and Arts. Tanino has contributed to policy making in Toyama City since July 2022, and will take on the role of policy advisor for the city in May 2025.
WEB：https://niwagekidan.org/
X：@niwagekidan
Instagram：niwagekidanpenino
Facebook：niwagekidanpenino