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TOSHIKI OKADA (1973 - ) |
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Nationality: Japanese Email: n/a Website: Click here to visit |
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Literary Agent: n/a |
Toshiki Okada was born in Yokohama in 1973 and formed the theater company "chelfitsch" in 1997. Since then he has written and directed all of the company's productions, practicing a distinctive methodology for creating plays, and has come to be known for his use of hyper-colloquial Japanese and unique choreography. In 2005, his play Five Days in March won the prestigious 49th Kishida Drama Award. In September 2005, Okada won the Yokohama Cultural Award/Yokohama Award for Art and Cultural Encouragement. As the representative of his country, he took part in Stuecke'06 International Literature Project and in December of the same year, he presented Enjoy at New National Theatre, Tokyo. He has also served as the director for the 2006-07 Summit, an annual drama festival hosted by the Komaba Agora Theater. In 2007 his collection of novels The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed debuted and was awarded the Kenzaburo Oe Prize. As a director he has directed Becketts Cascando for the Tokyo International Arts Festival, and Kobo Abes salient work Friends at the Setagaya Public Theater. More recently he also directed a workshop production of Strangeness with local actors at the Itami Ai Hall in Hyogo prefecture, Ghost Youth created through collaboration with students of Obirin University, and wrote a new play called Three Women for director Naoto Takenaka, among other projects. In recent years, he has widely drawn attention not only from the theater world and the contemporary dance scene, but also from those in fine arts and literature. In 2009, New National Theater of Japan commissioned Okada to adapt and direct Dea Lohers TAETOWIERUNG. As his stories as well as plays have continued to be published in Japan, his works have been translated into many languages and published abroad. Moreover, he has provided scripts for other theater companies in Japan. In October 2009, his newest piece Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech premiered in Berlin.
Adaptation / Translations of Plays by Toshiki Okada
Enjoy | ||
| 1st Produced: | 27 Mar 2010 | |||||
Organisations: | The Play Company | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN: | 978-0-573-69959-7 | ||||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #109127 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Translation - Experimental, Dark Comedy | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 6 | Female | 4 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Original Playwright - Toshiki Okada | |||||
| From acclaimed Japanese director/playwright Toshiki Okada, Artistic Director of the internationally-lauded chelfitsch Theatre Company, comes a chronicle of post-college ennui and 21st Century relationships in Japan's Lost Generation. The static lives of several self-obsessed GenX comic book store clerks are thrown out of balance by the presence of a younger female co-worker, who rightly makes them question the meaning of their lives in a shifting socio-economic landscape. Written in the hyper-colloquial style Okada has become famous for, this play is presented for the first time in English in a translation by Japanese American playwright Aya Ogawa, and was met with massive critical praise upon its New York premiere. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Five Days in March | ||
| 1st Produced: | 06 May 2010 | |||||
Organisations: | Witness Relocation | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #114262 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Translation | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 4 | Female | 3 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Original Playwright - Toshiki Okada. Translated by Aya Ogawa, adapted by Dan Safer | |||||
Synopsis: | Director Dan Safer and his Witness Relocation ensemble will apply their pop-culture dance/theater style in adapting this revolutionary Japanese work for American audiences. Five Days in March by Toshiki Okada is set in the days before the U.S. began its war against Iraq in March 2003. Minobe meets Yukki at a rock show. Their awkward conversation leads to five days of wild sex in a love hotel. Azuma sells Miffy a ticket to a bad movie. Miffy thinks Azuma doesn't return her feelings, so she decides to move to Mars. Yasui and Ishihara go on an anti-war protest. The police escort's uniforms elicit more comment than the war itself. Oblivious to the imminent invasion of Iraq, these hipsters obsess over the details of their lives, perfectly capturing the irony and impotency of Generation Y in Japan today. The story unfolds through actors who slip in and out of character while also narrating and playing out scenes. Productions of Witness Relocation combine dance and theater with the energy of a rock show, exploding contemporary culture into intensely physical, outrageous, poetic, and sometimes brutal performances in order to question the assumptions of the modern day experience. This unique fusion of forms connects Witness Relocation to Okada and his chelfitsch company of Japan: both are known for crossing and combining disciplines and for being equally adept at theater and dance. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Five Days in March | ||
| 1st Produced: | 06 May 2010 | |||||
Organisations: | Witness Relocation | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #114263 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Adaptation | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 4 | Female | 3 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Original Playwright - Toshiki Okada. Translated by Aya Ogawa, adapted by Dan Safer | |||||
Synopsis: | Director Dan Safer and his Witness Relocation ensemble will apply their pop-culture dance/theater style in adapting this revolutionary Japanese work for American audiences. Five Days in March by Toshiki Okada is set in the days before the U.S. began its war against Iraq in March 2003. Minobe meets Yukki at a rock show. Their awkward conversation leads to five days of wild sex in a love hotel. Azuma sells Miffy a ticket to a bad movie. Miffy thinks Azuma doesn't return her feelings, so she decides to move to Mars. Yasui and Ishihara go on an anti-war protest. The police escort's uniforms elicit more comment than the war itself. Oblivious to the imminent invasion of Iraq, these hipsters obsess over the details of their lives, perfectly capturing the irony and impotency of Generation Y in Japan today. The story unfolds through actors who slip in and out of character while also narrating and playing out scenes. Productions of Witness Relocation combine dance and theater with the energy of a rock show, exploding contemporary culture into intensely physical, outrageous, poetic, and sometimes brutal performances in order to question the assumptions of the modern day experience. This unique fusion of forms connects Witness Relocation to Okada and his chelfitsch company of Japan: both are known for crossing and combining disciplines and for being equally adept at theater and dance. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and the Farewell Speech | ||
| 1st Produced: | Japan Society: 333 East 47th Street, NY | 05 Jan 2012 | ||||
Organisations: | chelfitsch Theater Company | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #135583 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | piece 65 min | |||||
| Parts: | Male | - | Female | - | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | - | |||||
Synopsis: | chelfitsch Theater Company returns to New York to perform Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and the Farewell Speech, the quirky triptych created by the internationally acclaimed playwright/director Toshiki Okada. Hot Pepper& captures the empty and ungrounded nature of Generation Y in Japan today through three humorously absurd scenes set in a corporate break room. Characterized by a seemingly insubstantial narrative accompanied by exaggerated gestures-turned-choreography, the groundbreaking works of chelfitsch (Five Days in March and Enjoy) have drawn global recognition, making them a leading theater company in Japan and abroad. Performed in Japanese with English supertitles. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Sonic Life Of A Giant Tortoise, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | Jack | - - - | ||||
Organisations: | PlayCo | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN: | 978-0573704239 | ||||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #62649 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Translation | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 2 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Original Playwright - Toshiki Okada | |||||
| Their lives seem perfect but underneath the surface things are different | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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