ABOUT

A new collective space, a new “commons,” in the city: welcome to Theater Commons Tokyo. Held under the theme of “Rebooting Touch,” this seventh edition of Theater Commons Tokyo will feature performances, installations, workshops, and other programs, as well as remote participation options that include a work set in the Metaverse!

Theater Commons Tokyo is a project to create a collective space for society that harnesses the collective wisdom of theater. By using theater – that is, by applying theatrical ideas – in the context of everyday life and the urban space, it aims to propose a model for theater(s) to come. Theater Commons Tokyo and its artists use the imagination of theater to create experiences in which diverging elements and time periods intersect, and the ordinary is defamiliarized through dialogue and discovery.

Curatorial Concept

Rebooting Touch
Chiaki Soma

Three years have passed since the onset of the pandemic. It seems that we are finally moving to the phase after the “age without touch” that limited travel and contact. Borders and places for gathering have gradually reopened. People have started to travel and be in contact with each other again, and the clocks that were forcibly synced to pandemic time seem to slowly be ticking at their own pace. At the same time, we have seen an increase in global-scale anxieties such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis and inflation; the question of how to survive amid uncertainty increases in urgency every day.

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  • Theater Commons Tokyo ’23
  • Date: February 23nd–March 5th, 2023
  • Venues: Various places in Tokyo
  • Organized by Theater Commons Tokyo Executive Committee
  • Taiwan Cultural Center, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan
  • Goethe-Institut Tokyo
  • Embassy of France in Japan / Institut français du Japon
  • Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
  • Arts Commons Tokyo
  • In partnership with SHIBAURA HOUSE
  • Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan in the fiscal 2022, Arts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture
  • Theater Commons Tokyo Executive Committee
  • Chairperson | Chiaki Soma (Representative Director, Arts Commons Tokyo)
  • Vice-chairman | WANG Shu-Fang (Director, Taiwan Cultural Center, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan)
  • Member | Peter Anders (Director, Goethe-Institut Tokyo)
  • Member | Samson Sylvain (Attaché culturel, Embassy of France in Japan / Institut français du Japon)
  • Member | Bas Valckx (Deputy Head Public Diplomacy, Political, Cultural Affairs, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
  • Member | Natsuko Odate (Board Director, Arts Commons Tokyo)
  • Auditor | Yohei Suda (Lawyer)
  • Theater Commons Tokyo Staff
  • Executive Director | Chiaki Soma (Arts Commons Tokyo)
  • Production Manager and Coordinator | Satomi Shimizu (Arts Commons Tokyo)
  • Project Coordinator | Sayuri Fujii (Arts Commons Tokyo, bench Co.), Makiko Yamazato, Haruka Shibata, Yuko Taniguchi, Sachi Abe (Arts Commons Tokyo), Ayumi Seki
  • Production Adviser | Fumiko Toda (Arts Commons Tokyo)
  • Project Advisor | Kyoko Iwaki, Natsuko Odate (Arts Commons Tokyo)
  • Editor | Satoko Shibahara, Mai Hashiba
  • Editor (Report) | Rieko Suzuki (Arts Commons Tokyo)
  • PR | Sayaka Iwamoto
  • PR Advisor | Naoko Wakabayashi
  • Translation | Lillian Canright, Hibiki Mizuno, Yume Morimoto (Art Translators Collective)
  • Art Direction / Design | Kensaku Kato (LABORATORIES)
  • Web Design | Kensaku Kato, Hiroki Ito (LABORATORIES)
  • Ticket | Kyoko Kinoshita
  • Intern | Coco Kashiwara, Haruka Fujisaki, Naoya Yoshioka
  • Legal Adviser | Yohei Suda (Lawyer / Arts Commons Tokyo)
  • Theater Commons Tokyo '23 Technical Staff
  • Stage Manager | Lang Craighill
  • Lighting | Aria Hoashi, Megumi Yamashita (RYU Inc.)
  • Sound | Takeshi Inarimori
  • Movie | Yuki Sato (Edith Grove)
  • Documentation Video and Photography | Shun Sato