[Index]
[Introduction]
[Site map]
[Our Ideas and Methodology]
[History]

Our Ideas and Methodology

The Hirosaki Theatre Company is located in the town of Namioka, a regional town outside of Hirosaki City in Aomori prefecture, northern Japan. The Theatre group was founded in 1978 and has been determined to stay in the town of its conception making it quite unusual within the Japanese Amateur Theatre scene. Mr. Koji Hasegawa who presides over the Hirosaki Theatre and who is responsible for writing and producing the bulk of the troupe's plays, insists that retaining the groups regional roots and thus providing works with a distinct flavour, is a major part of its success. Hirosaki Theatre regularly produces at least four plays per year and shows them both locally and in centers such as Sendai, Yokohama and Tokyo.

Hirosaki Theatre productions are often a slice out of daily life, with character relationships and dialogue developing on stage just as they may do in real life. However to produce this realistic yet dramatic effect on stage actors must work individually to condense what they know as everyday life. On stage it is not the central point of an instance that is being presented, but rather the instances surrounding it that are painstakingly pieced together to form a production that will hold an audience.
The playwright produces a script that will be understood and conveyed by the actors, but they in turn have the opportunity to adjust word and speech patterns that fit their own individual personalities and even reflect their area of upbringing. The Hirosaki Theatre members believe that if all cast members rehearse lines in a unified speech not familiar to the individual, important factors such as rhythm and tempo will be lost. The actors involved with the Hirosaki Theatre group come from all parts of the country and have even included foreign women and men so it has become a necessity to use varying dialects and even foreign languages on stage.
Within a single production the playwright, director, the actors, as well as all those involved behind the scenes work closely together. Once rehearsals are up and running, other production members such as stage management, set, lighting, and sound technicians will have the opportunity to voice opinions and offer advice. This way all members of the production team will play an active role in ensuring that an overall rhythm is produced and the play is a success. Performing arts must be presented in such a way that people from all over the country will understand. The final product will not only be shown in Hirosaki but also in many other major and regional centers around the country. In ensuring the success of each play a high degree of universality must be achieved, success in achieving this means that the play can be shown anywhere in the world.

It is thanks to the continued support and dedication of the troupe's founding members that Hirosaki Theatre continues to be among the upper ranks of Japanese Theatre, and the upbringing of younger actors and directors is of utmost importance to the troupe. It was with this in mind that the fragment series was written. Not your typical story line, the actors in particular present the point of the story from a very personal stance. The Fragment series is particularly noted for its very long monologues. Almost like recitation the lines must be delivered in such a way as to sound real, putting heavy emphasis on ones individual ability to professionally deliver such long lines. While plays such as these require great skill they are performed in the hope of raising the skills of the actors involved. The very first of this series was performed in 1994 and was called simply, "Fragment". It expands at the rate of one per year. Another aspect of Hirosaki Theatre's experimental works is the use of the younger inexperienced actors. At present Seigo Hatasawa as a writer and director concentrates largely on works for these younger actors. Mr. Hatasawa himself is one of the senior actors within Hirosaki Theatre and writes not only for theatre but also writes and produces radio dramas Using Seigo Hatasawa's writing ability Mr. Hasegawa encourages him to produce plays for the younger actors thus improving his playwright and direction ability while researching new areas into which Hirosaki Theatre can venture into in the future. To date Mr. Hatasawa has written and directed at least five plays for the Hirosaki Theatre.

So it is in these ways that the Hirosaki Theatre Company operates, maintaining its regional roots while pursuing performances into larger areas, and by all accounts it has proven to be most successful. With the thousands of Theatre Troupes that exist in Japan, Hirosaki Theatre is one of about only ten that receives funding from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, a government organization. While the Japanese theatrical body places great emphasis on promoting regional theatre the centre of importance still seems to be within Tokyo and its surrounding metropolitan areas. As Hirosaki Theatre works to change this ideal it believes that Japanese theatre as a whole will grow and improve.

The recent inclusion of an Australian woman into the production team is the first step to taking Hirosaki Theatre overseas. It is the hope of Mr. Hasegawa that he can take his own actors to cultural centres such as New York and London to perform, or produce collaborations between countries. His first attempt at this in December of 2002 with "Indian Summer" was a great success. Young actors were chosen from regional theatre groups in Thailand and the Philippines to perform with the Hirosaki Theatre members in Japan where all actors had to perform in four languages including the common language of English. It is international ventures such as this one that can expand the horizons of the Hirosaki Theatre Company in the future.