SPAC Season Program offers a lineup of the world’s masterpiece plays directed in a modern style. This year, three plays will be staged. The first is “The White Hare of Inaba-Navajo,” a popular play held at SPAC that was originally written and performed as a commissioned work from Musée du Quai Branly in France. The second is “The Elephant,” written by BETSUYAKU Minoru and directed by EMMA (TOYONAGA Junko), a promising director whose work will be performed at SPAC for the first time. The third is the long-awaited replay of “The Menam River Japanese,” written by ENDO Shusaku and directed by IMAI Tomohiko, which was originally scheduled to be performed in February 2020 but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With these selected works, we look forward to seeing you at our theater in the seasons from autumn to spring.

　

#1

The White Hare of Inaba-Navajo

2024
19, 20, 27,October
3, 4, 9 November
at 2:00pm

At Shizuoka Arts Theatre
In Japanese with English surtitles

Did you know that the story of the white hare of Inaba may also be found in the myths of an indigenous community in North America? It is a majestic and festive musical play that interprets a hypothesis advocated by Claude Lévi-Strauss, one of the greatest philosophers, anthropologists, and ethnologists of the 20th Century, with a theatrical imagination.

Conception and direction: MIYAGI Satoshi
Text: collective writing of KUBOTA Azumi and the troops
Music: TANAKAWA Hiroko

Cast: ISHII Moemi, OUCHI Yoneji, KAGEYAMA Hisae, KASUGAI Ippei, KAWAMURA Wakana, KIUCHI Kotoko, KIJIMA Tsuyoshi, SAKURAUCHI Yu, SUGIYAMA Ken, SUZUBAYASHI Mari, DAIDOMUMON Yuya, TAKEISHI Morimasa, TATENO Momoyo, NAGAI Sayako, NOGUCHI Shunsuke, HONDA Maki, MIYAGISHIMA Haruka, YAMAZAKI Koji, YOSHIMI Ryo, WAKAMIYA Yoichi, WATANABE Sayaka
　

Director’s Profile
MIYAGI Satoshi

Born in Tokyo in 1959, after studying aesthetics at Tokyo University under ODASHIMA Yushi, WATANABE Moriaki and HIDAKA Hachiro, he founded the KU NA’ UKA theater company in 1990 and soon began staging plays overseas as well as in Japan. As a result, MIYAGI’s work — in which he often fuses contemporary textual interpretations with physical techniques and patterns of Asian theatre — has long been acclaimed both at home and far beyond. Indeed, in 2004 he received the 3rd Asahi Performing Arts Award, and the next year the 2nd Asahi Beer Art Award. Since taking up his position with SPAC in April 2007, MIYAGI has staged many of his own works — including “Medea”, the Hindu epic “Mahabharata”, and “Peer Gynt” — and has invited artists from abroad to present pieces casting a keen eye on the modern world as they see it. In line with his aim to make theatre “a window to the world,” he has also started a new SPAC-based project aimed at the youth of Shizuoka. In 2014, MIYAGI was invited to the Festival d’Avignon, where he received excellent reviews for his open-air version of the Hindu epic “Mahabharata” staged in La Carrière de Bourbon. Following that landmark achievement, the festival extended the honor of inviting MIYAGI to present a Buddhist interpretation he created of the ancient Greek mythological tragedy “Antigone” as its super-prestigious opening program for 2017. On that occasion, which was the first time an Asian play had ever been selected to launch the festival, MIYAGI’s exalted “stage” was the open-air Cour d’honneur du Palais des papes (the Honor Court of the Palace of Popes). By the play’s end, those towering medieval stone walls were ringing out with long and splendid standing ovations welcoming the work’s director and creator along with SPAC’s actors and staff — while more than 60 European media all gave great reviews. In 2018, he received the 68th Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize of Drama. Also he received “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” from the Ministry of Culture of France in 2018. In 2023, he received the Japan Foundation Awards, La médaille d’or du Rayonnement Culturel de La Renaissance Française.

◉Archive for The White Hare of Inaba-Navajo in 2019
　
　

#2　　New Creation　

The Elephant

2024
7 December at 6:30pm
8, 14, 15 December at 2:00pm

At Shizuoka Arts Theatre
In Japanese with English surtitles

The “patient,” hospitalized with a keloid scar on his back caused by an atomic bomb, receives a visit by his nephew. This historic masterpiece was written in 1962 for the new company Jiyu Butai, formed jointly with SUZUKI Tadashi (the first General Artistic Director of SPAC), and it had an enormous impact on generations thereafter. It is directed by EMMA, a promising theater director.

Direction: EMMA (TOYONAGA Junko)
Text: BETSUYAKU Minoru

Cast: ABE Kazunori, KONAGAYA Katsuhiko, SAKAKIBARA Yumi, MAKIYAMA Yudai, YOSHIUE Soichiro, WATANABE Takahiko
　

Director’s Profile
EMMA (TOYONAGA Junko)

EMMA was born in 1988 in Kobe City. She is a play director. She values creating works with the regional community, through research on the region’s inherent culture and history. For the Setouchi Triennale, she created her work with an organization in Shodoshima for the preservation of Kabuki in agricultural villages and the local residents. She believes that a theatrical production itself is an activity to strengthen the relationships among people and to heal their hearts, and seeks the usability of artistic expressions in society. A joint research project represented by EMMA was adopted as a theatrical experiment by the Kyoto University of the Arts, and she is currently engaged in creation activity including fieldwork on islands. She currently works as a part-time lecturer at the Tokyo University of the Arts. She is also an executive director of the Japan Directors Association.

　
　

#3

The Menam River Japanese

2025
18, 19 January
15, 16 February
1, 2 March
at 2:00pm

At Shizuoka Arts Theatre
In Japanese with English surtitles

The Menam River Japanese is a grand-scale historical play on the turbulent life of YAMADA Nagamasa, a hero from Shizuoka Prefecture who was given an important post in the Ayutthaya Kingdom (Thailand) at the beginning of the 17th century. The direction by IMAI Tomohiko, artfully interpreting the relationships among people is brilliant.

Direction: IMAI Tomohiko
Text: ENDO Shusaku

Cast: ABE Kazunori, OUCHI Tomomi, OOTAKA Kouichi, KATO Yukio, KONAGAYA Katsuhiko, SATO Yuzu, TAKII Miki, FUSE Asuka, bable, MISHIMA Keita, YAMAMOTO Miyuki, YOSHIUE Soichiro, WATANABE Takahiko
　

Director’s Profile
IMAI Tomohiko

IMAI Tomohiko joined the company of Bungakuza in 1992 and left in 2020. In addition to appearing on many stages as an actor, he also works actively on movie and video contents. As a director, he was engaged in works such as “Pandra’s Bell” (by NODA Hideki), “Noises Off” (by Michael Frayn), “The Good Person of Szechwan” (by Bertold Brecht), “Memorial” (by MATSUBARA Shuntaro), and “Ne” (by ONO Kotaro). At SPAC, he directed “Our Town” (by Thornton Wilder) in 2010 and 2013, which evoked deep emotion among the audience. He won the 31st Kinokuniya Theatre Awards, the Best Actor Award of the 9th Yomiuri Theater Awards, and the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s 62nd Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists.

◉Archive for The Menam River Japanese in 2019
　
　

Ticket

#1 “The White Hare of Inaba-Navajo”
〈Shizuoka〉
◆Prior Reservation for Membership begins: Sat. 31 August at 10:00am
◆Advance Tickets Sale begins: Sat. 7 September at 10:00am

〈Hamamatsu and Numazu〉
◆In October

#2 “The Elephant”
◆In October

#3 “The Menam River Japanese”
◆In October
　
◎How to Purchase
at SPAC ticket center (10:00～18:00)
●Phone reservations　+81-54-202-3399
●Purchase at BOX Office

●Online reservations https://spac.or.jp/ticket
　
Day Ticket
Available at the entrance counter for leftover seats, from one hour prior to each performance.
　
◎Ticket Price
*All ticket prices include consumption tax.

●Individual ticket price: 4,200 JPY
●Student Discount:
　［U25 and University students］2,000 JPY
　［High school students and under］1,000 JPY
　*Please present ID/student ID at door
●Disability discount: 2,900 JPY ［for those with a disability pocketbook］
　*Please present disability pocketbook or Mirairo ID at door.
　*Free for One attendant.

　
*More than one discount cannot be claimed per purchase.
*Please claim any discount when making a reservation
　
　
［ “The White Hare of Inaba-Navajo” “The Menam River Japanese” ］
Produced and organized by SPAC-Shizuoka Performing Arts Center
Approved by Fujinokuni Arts Festival

Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan through the Japan Arts Council

Supported by Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities (for “The White Hare of Inaba-Navajo”)

　
［ “The Elephant” ］
Comission: Japan Cultural Expo 2.0
Organized by Toga Cultural Foundation, Japan Arts Council, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Co-hosted by SPAC-Shizuoka Performing Arts Center