撮影：杉能信介
撮影：杉能信介
撮影：杉能信介
撮影：堀川高志
撮影：田中亜紀
Starting this fiscal year, Arts Council Tokyo is holding report sessions with groups that have received grants in the Arts Council Tokyo Long Term Grant Program.
In Session 3, we will explain “New ‘Hakobune’ Project,” created by Niwa Gekidan Penino (Arche LLC), the recipient of a three-year grant starting in fiscal year 2014.
Kuro Tanino, leader of Niwa Gekidan Penino, remodeled a room in his own apartment to make the studio/theater he called “Hakobune” (ark), and until 2013 he carried out creation and production activity based in this studio. When the dilapidated apartment building was set to be torn down, Tanino came up with the idea of a “revolving platform stage” for the new “Hakobune.” With this big puzzle box-like space as the theater company’s symbol and creative nucleus, they ceaselessly updated their creative methods and expressive formats over the three-year period. Kuro Tanino, performers and staff members will talk about their three-year journey, from Box in the Big Trunk, the play in which the platform stage was used for the first time, to Avidya: No Lights Inn, first presented in 2015 and winner of the 60th Kishida Kunio Drama Award, and then to Darkmaster, created with actors from Osaka over a long span of time. Additionally, a guest participant with thorough knowledge of Niwa Gekidan Penino’s reputation in other countries (mainly in Europe) will speak about the company’s appeal from the perspective of the presenter (inviting organization).
Anyone with an interest in the company’s activities, the Long Term Grant Program or the performing arts in general is encouraged to attend.
Arts Council Tokyo Grant Program: Public Talk
Activity Report of Long Term Grants-Session 3:
Niwa Gekidan Penino (Arche LLC) – “New ‘Hakobune’ Project”
(2014 selected project: 3 years)
Niwa Gekidan Penino
Niwa Gekidan Penino was formed in January 2000 with members of the drama club at Showa University. There is a crystal-clear vision in the company’s performance spaces and elaborate stage designs, including outdoor performances and the theater space “Hakobune,” created from a remodeled apartment. Niwa Gekidan Penino has been invited to numerous international festivals in Japan, such as “Festival/Tokyo ’09 Autumn,” “World Theatre Festival Shizuoka,” and “KYOTO EXPERIMENT.” Their play Frustrating Picture Book for Adults was performed in Berlin (Germany) in 2009; and in 2010 it was performed in Zurich (Switzerland) and Groningen (Netherlands), and was nominated for the prestigious Swiss theater award the ZKB Patronage Prize 2010. In 2014, the company carried out a five-city U.S. tour of The Room, Nobody Knows. In 2015, Box in the Big Trunk was invited to the Wiener Festwochen (Austria) and the World Theatre Festival (Germany), receiving a rating of five stars from a Vienna newspaper. In 2016 they carried out a four-country European tour of Avidya: No Lights Inn, receiving high praise; and in 2018 they are set to give performances in France. In 2016, writer/producer Kuro Tanino was awarded the 60th Kishida Kunio Drama Award for Avidya: No Lights Inn. Also in 2016, he won the Kita Nihon Shimbun Performing Arts Encouragement Award and the 71st Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival Excellence Award.
Outline of the Project
With the revolving platform stage “Hakobune” as the company’s new symbol, this project aims to become an internationally active creative group, based on elaborate stage designs and a precise and original worldview. The performances for which the grant was awarded were Box in the Big Trunk (performances in Switzerland in 2014), Käfig aus Wasser (commissioned by Theater Krefeld Mönchengladbach, Germany, 2015), Avidya: No Lights Inn (2015 premiere, 2016 European tour) and Darkmaster (2016 Tokyo performance).
18:45 Venue opens
19:00
[Part 1] (group presentation)
Summary of the three-year project
Changes and transitions in processes
Current activities after completion of the project
[Part 2] (interview format)
Activities accomplished through the Long Term Grant
Outcomes and identified issues
Goals and visions for the future, etc.
Question-and-answer session
21:00 End of event
Speakers
Kuro Tanino (leader of Niwa Gekidan Penino, playwright/producer)
Ichigo Iida (actor), Kayo Ishikawa (actor), Susumu Ogata (actor), Yui Matsumoto (assistant director)
Guest speaker: Max-Philip Aschenbrenner (performing arts presenter)
Moderator
Shoko Sano (Senior Program Officer (Theater), Planning & Grants Division, Arts Council Tokyo)
*Please note that the program is subject to change.
50
*Advance reservations required.
Free
Please contact to forum-grant@artscouncil-tokyo.jp
Including mentions of: Your name, organization, occupation, number of people attending, contact phone number, and E mail.
Deadline of reservation
17:00, Tuesday February 20 2018
*If you require sign language interpretation, please apply before 17:00 on Friday, January 16.
*Your personal information will be handled as strictly confidential, and used only to operate this event and to send you information from the organizer about this event.
Free
Please contact to forum-grant@artscouncil-tokyo.jp
Including mentions of: Your name, organization, occupation, number of people attending, contact phone number, and E mail.
Deadline of reservation
17:00, Tuesday February 20 2018
*If you require sign language interpretation, please apply before 17:00 on Friday, January 16.
*Your personal information will be handled as strictly confidential, and used only to operate this event and to send you information from the organizer about this event.
Planning & Grants Division, Planning Department, Arts Council Tokyo
TEL: 03-6256-8431 (10:00-18:00 excluding weekends and holidays)
E-mail: forum-grant@artscouncil-tokyo.jp
Arts Council Tokyo (Kudan First Place 8F, 4-1-28, Kudankita, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
