MIKUNI YANAIHARA PROJECT

Dancer and choreographer Mikuni Yanaihara launched this solo project in 2005 for the purpose of producing “theatrical works.” Its productions are famous for their overwhelming loads of information and physical exertion, and the way its comically exaggerated characters mobilize words and wild body movements that seem to be dancing with each other at breakneck speed to generate a pull brimming with driving force. Titled “3nen2kumi,” its first work made its public debut at Kichijoji Theater in 2005, and was also performed at the Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater Festival in 2008. “Hey Timon, Let’s Think Positive!” its fifth work, won an award for excellence at the Shakespeare Competition in 2010 and took the 56th Kishida Kunio Drama Award in 2012. The company staged a re-creation of “Caesar’s Strategic Loneliness” in Bangkok Thailand with Thai actors in 2015, and “The Cherry Orchard,” which premiered at Festival/Tokyo 14, in the Wuzhen Theatre Festival in China in 2016. At the latter, it was given the highest score by the Festival judging panel that year for its bodily expression and dramaturgy, which were rated as unprecedented yet somehow distinctly Japanese. Therefore,the company has recently been attracting keen attention in other Asian countries.

Award
2010 “Hey Timon, Let’s Think Positive!” The Excellence Award at the “Shakespeare Competition” sponsored by the Kyoto Prefectural Cultural Arts Center
2012 “Hey Timon, Let’s Think Positive!” The 56th Kishida Kunio Drama Award

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