Toshiki Okada

Born in Yokohama in 1973.
He formed the theater company chelfitsch in 1997. Since then he has written and directed all of the company’s productions, practicing a distinctive methodology for creating plays, and has come to be known for his use of hyper-colloquial Japanese and unique choreography. In 2005, his play “Five Days in March” won the prestigious 49th Kishida Kunio Drama Award. He participated in Toyota Choreography Award 2005 with “Air Conditioner (Cooler)” (2005), garnering much attention. His collection of short stories titled “The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed” was published in February 2007 and awarded the Oe Kenzaburo Prize. He has been on the judging panel for the Kishida Kunio Drama Award since 2012.In 2013, his first book on theatrology was published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha. He also directed works in a repertory program at Münchner Kammerspiele, one of the foremost public theaters in Germany, for four consecutive seasons beginning in 2016.”The Vacuum Cleaner” has been selected as one of the “ten remarkable productions”by the German theater festival, Theatertreffen, in 2020.He staged “Pratthana – A Portrait of Possession,” which is an adaptation of a novel by Thai author Uthis Haemamool, in Bangkok in August 2018 and at the Festival d’Automne in Paris in December,and received the 27th Yomiuri Theater Awards Selection Committee Special Prize in 2020.

Awards
2005　“Five Days in March” The 49th Kishida Kunio Drama Award
2006　Yokohama Culture Prize and Culture and Arts Encouragement Prize
2008　Novel “The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed” The Oe Kenzaburo Prize
2011 “Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech” The critics’ award from the Association québécoise des critiques de théâtre in Montreal
2020 “The Vacuum Cleaner” It has been selected one of the “ten remarkable productions” by Theatertreffen 2020
2020 “Pratthana – A Portrait of Possession” The 27th Yomiuri Theater Awards, Selection Committee Special Prize

Published works
2005 Drama “Five Days in March” (Hakusuisha Publishing Co., Ltd.)
2007 Novel “The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed” (SHINCHOSHA)
2009 Novel (paperback) “The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed” (SHINCHOSHA)
2010 Drama collection “Enjoy・Our・Freetime” (Hakusuisha Publishing Co., Ltd.)
2014 Drama collection “Current Location” (Kawade Shobo Shinsha)
2017 Drama collection “Five Days in March [recreated]” (Hakusuisha Publishing Co., Ltd.)
2020 Drama collection “Regret of Ghosts and Monsters Zaha / Monju” (Hakusuisha Publishing Co., Ltd.)