As one of pioneering dramaturgs in Japan, Kaku Nagashima has collaborated with many theatre directors and companies. Kaku also translated plays by contemporary, modern and classical authors including Samuel Beckett, Sarah Kane, Jon Fosse, Alan Harris, William Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen. He is a member of Shigeki Nakano + Frankens.
His major dramaturgical works: Atomic Survivors (2007, Tokyo International Festival, dir. Hatsumi Abe), ZooZooScene (2008, an adaptation from Zoo Story performed in a real zoo in Yokohama, Japan, dir. Shigeki Nakano), Cho-tancho (2010, a rap-music adaptation from The Seagull, dir. Shigeki Nakano), Les Grandes Vacances (2013, a butoh / dance performance inspired by a Japanese Sci-Fi novel, chor. Kakuya Ohashi), Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni (Nissay Opera 2012 and 2015, dir. Tomo Sugao).
Kaku also participated in international collaborations: Performing Women - 3 Reinterpretations from Greek Tragedy (2007, The Japan Foundation, a collaboration of India, Iran, Uzbekistan and Japan), The Opportunity of Efficiency (2013, New National Theatre Tokyo with National Theatre Wales, dir. John McGrath), Rashomon | Yabunonaka(Festival/Tokyo14, with Al-Kasaba Theatre, Palestine, dir. Yukari Sakata).
In recent years, Kaku became interested in bringing theatrical ideas and techniques out of the theatre to the town and takes part actively in art projects such as: Series of The House of Atreus (2010- ), Kaku Nagashima’s How-To-Make-Laboratory: Someone’s Dream (2013-16, Tokyo Art Point Project), “← (Yajirushi, or Arrow)” (Saitama Triennale 2016).
Kaku teaches at Tokyo University of the Arts, ZA-KOENJI / Creative Theatre Academy and Aichi University.
Last Updated: 2017