Festival/Tokyo 2016 (F/T 16), Japan’s most popular theater festival, is set to kick off its ninth edition this weekend, bringing together leading international and local performing acts from October 15 through December 11.A range of events and performances, from theater to dance, will entertain audiences for the next two months, responding to the festival’s theme “Beyond Borders.” A total of 16 productions and four satellite events, including talks and film screenings, are scheduled to take place. The festival will feature acclaimed artists hailing from Japan, Europe, and beyond – some of whom will perform in Japan for the first time. These diverse events will take place in traditional theater venues as well as outdoor spaces in order to “expand the reach of the performing arts,” according to the festival’s organizers. Visitors can catch these shows at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Owlspot Theatre, Nishi-Sugamo Arts Factory, Ikebukuro Nishiguchi Park, and Morishita Studio, among others.This annual must-see event will exclusively feature, for the first time in the country, the Polish theater giant Krystian Lupa. Renowned for pulling off outstanding set designs, this acclaimed group will showcase “Woodcutters,” based on the novel of the same name by Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre from October 21-23.Other star attractions include Kunyung Park’s Theatre Company Golmokil from Korea, which previously performed a satirical play about the former president of South Korea. Here, the group will perform another compelling play, “All Soldiers Are Pathetic,” which addresses existential questions through four storylines including one about an army deserter, and another about a Korean kamikaze pilot.F/T 16’s anticipated musical and dance acts consist of the two-day outdoor event Festival Fukushima by Project Fukushima at the Ikebukuro Nishiguchi Park. Originally initiated in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japanese Earthquake, the festival will feature the Ikebukuro Bon dance. Additionally, a choreographed performance by Sebastian Matthias titled “x/groove space” is on the agenda in November, where dancers will embody and represent the “groove” of different cities through movement and dance.“Festival/Tokyo 16” will run from October 15 through December 11 in Tokyo and Ikebukuro.
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