Hotaka Kawai × Shimogamo-shasow “Yellow Airship”

Toyooka Theater Festival 2025 Director’s Program

Hotaka Kawai × Shimogamo-shasow

“Yellow Airship”

Written by Hotaka Kawai
Directed by: Tsuyoshi Tanabe (Shimogamo-shasow)

What if we had been able to make it down the mountain without any of this happening? Maybe I would have mistaken the quiet thrill of reaching the summit for the overflow of emotion (emotion?) in a reunion with childhood friends. I might have even felt ready to face tomorrow with a fresh start. I definitely would have craved a beer to replenish my exhausted body and searched for a convenience store on the way home. I would have enjoyed the feeling of forgetting everything, at least until I got back. The bonfire crackles with a sharp pop. I look up and see her worried eyes on me. I feel the temperature dropping and glance around to realize that I hadn’t even noticed the sun had set. We were so talkative coming up the mountain, just making small talk as we moved forward on the path. Now, my butt is cold. The silence stands in stark contrast to all the chatter before. The forest and the darkness gradually close in. If one is to escape, would they go beyond the smoke rising from the fire, or towards the moon?

This work of drama, which won the 8th Sendai Short Play Award (2022), was written by up-and-coming playwright Hotaka Kawai. Directed by Tsuyoshi Tanabe from Shimogamo-shashow, who was closely involved in the writing process, it now makes its stage debut as a fully-fledged play. Experience the dialogue that overflows between three women lost in the mountains as they spend the night together.

【Area】Toyooka

【Venue】Toyooka Citizen’s Hall　(Toyooka Shimin Kaikan)

【Date and Time】
Sep.19(Fri)14:00
Sep.20(Sat)11:00, 18:00
Sep.21(Sun)11:00, 16:00

【Performance Duration】Approx. 80 minutes

【Performance Language】Performed in Japanese only

【Performers】
Hatsune Sakai,Natsuki Fukui (Shimogamo-shasow),Stella Takasegawa (GEKIDAN ZTON)

【Staff】
Stage Manager: Shuichi Yamanaka
Set Design: Akiko Kawakami
Lighting: Takuma Kawaguchi
Lighting Operation: Kikichi Sanada
Sound: Yasuyo Morinaga
Assistant Director: Shintaro Okada
Production Manager: Yuri Kuzukawa, Keita Kitagawa

【Accessibility】
・Wheelchairs accommodated
・Free entrance for aide
・Childcare services

If you require any of the following services, please contact the Toyooka Theater Festival Festival Center before purchasing tickets.
- Those who have a disability certificate and wish to be accompanied by an aide.
- Those who plan to attend the festival in a wheelchair.
- Those who wish to use childcare services.

Childcare services (reservation required)
Date:Sep.19(Fri)14:00, Sep.20(Sat)11:00, Sep.21(Sun)11:00&16:00
*Free childcare service provided.

【Notes】
*Preschool children are not admitted.

【Credits】
Presented by mogamos.LCC
Co-organized by Toyooka Theater Festival
Supported by The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, Japan Arts Council
Kyoto Art Center Artists-in-Studios Program

Kawai Hotaka
Kawai Hotaka is a playwright, dentist, and researcher of oral pathology. Born in Kobe, Hyogo in 1987, he works as a playwright in Okayama, writing plays on a commission basis rather than running his own theater company. He is also a Research Associate Professor at Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences currently focusing on oral cancer. Incorporating cutting-edge information obtained through his research in biology and medicine, he writes works that contemplate how contemporary science can coexist with humans.

In 2020, his work “The Gene of Spring,” inspired by research into growing organs derived from human cells within animals, was selected as a finalist for Japan Playwrights Association’s 26th New Playwright’s Award, and was performed again in 2021 as a project organized by Tenjinyama Cultural Plaza of Okayama Prefecture. In recent years, he has been writing for theater companies in Okayama, Osaka, Kagawa, and Tokyo.

He won the grand prize of the Sendai Short Play Award in 2022 for his work “Yellow Airship (Forest of Yellow).”

Tsuyoshi Tanabe
Playwright and director, born in 1975 in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka, Tsuyoshi Tanabe is the director of Shimogamo-shasow. In 2005, he won the Japan Playwrights Association’s 11th New Playwright’s Award for “Sono akai ten wa chi da [That dot of red is blood],” and in 2007, he won the 14th OMS Drama Award for “Someone on a Journey.” In 2006, he spent one year in Korea under the Agency for Cultural Affairs Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists. His play “The Club” (original story by Helme Heine) received a special recommendation as a child warfare cultural property by the Children and families Agency, Government of Japan in 2019. In addition to teaching playwriting online and in various locations, he has recently worked on a series of plays that have garnered multiple awards.

Shimogamo-shasow
Founded in 2004, Shimogamo-shasow is a group dedicated to creating contemporary theater works, led by Kyoto-based playwright and director Tsuyoshi Tanabe. The group’s performance activities extend beyond its home base, with tours held across Japan. In 2015, it made its international debut in Hong Kong and Macau. In addition to producing theatrical works, the company is also active in public outreach, offering initiatives such as playwriting courses to promote interest in the performing arts.

https://toyooka-theaterfestival.jp/en/program/9874/