Afraid of Troubles - Cannot Have Luck
Photo: Yoshiyasu Hattori
With a 45-year history since its foundation, Theater Urinko is a Nagoya company that specializes in productions for children and youth. It takes its name from the Japanese word urinko, meaning "wild boar piglet." The company holds over 450 performances each year at its own dedicated theater and at schools, bringing the joy of theater to many children in the Tokai region for quite some time.
For their new work at Aichi Triennale 2019, they will perform the play Afraid of Troubles - Cannot Have Luck by Russian children's author Samuil Marshak, who is best known for Twelve Months. The production invites Motoi Miura of the theater company Chiten--who worked with Theater Urinko on Otogizōshi/Gikyoku (The fairy tale book of Dazai Osamu: a drama) in 2010--as director, and media artist Ryota Kuwakubo as set designer. This is a fantastic production that makes masterful use of light and shadow, the story unfurling with the spell "Misery, suffering, unhappiness, who will happiness come to?" (The Japanese title is taken from the second half of this spell--"who will happiness come to?".) Is one person's happiness possible only when someone else takes on their unhappiness? This is an exceptional parable play with the wit and humor to match the world it constructs, sure to entertain children and adults alike.
Theater Urinko
- Founded 1973 in Aichi, Japan
- Based in Aichi, Japan
- Website
- http://www.urinko.jp/
Selected Works & Awards
| 2013 | Crime and Punishment, Urinko Theater, Aichi, Japan |
| 2010 | Otogizōshi/Gikyoku (The fairy tale book of Dazai Osamu: a drama), Urinko Theater, Aichi, Japan |
| 1993 | Summer Breeze from the Lid, Nagoya City Performing Arts Center, Aichi, Japan |
| 1988 | Kenji MiyazawaーAthletic Meet, Urinko Theater, Aichi, Japan |
| 1979 | Adventurers, Nagoya Citizens’ Auditorium, Aichi, Japan |
MIURA Motoi
- Born 1973 in Fukuoka, Japan
- Based in Kyoto, Japan
Photo: Hisaki Matsumoto
Miura Motoi is a representative, and the director, of Chiten. He spent two years in Paris as part of the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs' Artist Overseas Training program. Upon his return to Japan in 2001, Miura got up and running with Chiten, which moved from Tokyo to Kyoto in 2005. Representative works include Chekhov's Three Sisters, and Jelinek's Kein Licht (No light) and Sports Play. In 2013 Chiten opened the studio Under-Throw. He has been the recipient of many awards, including: The Kyoto City Award for New Artists in 2011; and the Yomiuri Theater Award Special Jury Prize in 2017. His publications include: Omoshirokereba OK ka? Gendai Engekikō (Is just being interesting OK?: A meditation on contemporary theater, Goryu Books) , and Yappari Higeki Datta. "Wakaranai" Engeki e no Omāju (Iwanami Shoten).
- Website
- http://chiten.org/
Selected Works & Awards
| 2017 | 24th Yomiuri Theater Award, Tokyo, Japan, Special Jury Prize |
| 2015 | Three Sisters, KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre, Kanagawa, Japan |
| 2012 | Kein Licht, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2011 | Kyoto City Award for New Artists, Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto City Award for New Artists |
KUWAKUBO Ryota
- Born 1971 in Tochigi, Japan
- Based in Gifu and Tokyo, Japan
Courtesy of New Indian Express
Kuwakubo Ryota is an artist, and Associate Professor at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS). After studying contemporary art, he started creating work using electronics from 1998. His unique style, "device art," emerged from work that takes a close-up view of phenomena arising at the various boundaries between digital and analog, human and machine, information transmitters and receivers, etc. Since his installation The Tenth Sentiment, first exhibited in 2010, Kuwakubo has focused on work of a kind in which visitors weave their own experience. He is also active as a member of Perfektron, an art unit exploring life themes and experimentation.
- Website
- http://ryotakuwakubo.com
Selected Works & Awards
| 2017 | Based in Gifu and Tokyo, Japan |
| 2016 | Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2016, Garden in Movement, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2014 | Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014, Whorled Explorations, Kochi, India |
| 2013 | Mono no Aware, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| 2011 | Ways of Worldmaking, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan |
| 2004 | Nam June Paik Award 2004, Phoenixhalle, Dortmund, Germany |
Information
Toyota
| Dates | Sat, Sep 21, 14:00 Sun, Sep 22, 11:00 |
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| Duration | 80 min | |||
| Language | Japanese | |||
Ticket
| Ticket prices | Adults ¥3,000 U25 ¥2,000 U18 ¥1,000 |
| Note | This program is available to children below school age. Please purchase U18 tickets. Admission is free for children if they sit on the lap of a parent or guardian. |
| Childcare Services | Available for all programs. Details will be announced in July. |
Map
Toyota City Cultural Hall
Address
Access
・1 minutes on foot from Shiminbunkakaikan-mae Bus Stop on the Meitetsu Bus.
・Approximately 15 minutes from the Toyota I.C. of the Tomei Expressway.
・Approximately 20 minutes from the Toyota Higashi I.C. of the Tokai-Kanjo Expressway.
