SHOJI KOKAMI – Writer/Director

Kokami, a playwright and director, has been an outstanding figure in Japanese theatre since the 1980s. His first overseas production was in 1991, when he brought THE ANGELS WITH CLOSED EYES to London (Mermaid Theatre), Belfast, and Edinburgh as part of the Japan Festival; those performances were in Japanese with English subtitles. In 1997 on a Japanese government grant, he studied the British method of actor-training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. In 2007 on the artistic director’s request, he had his first English performance of TRANCE (directed by himself) at London’s Bush Theatre. In 2009 a rehearsed reading of HALCYON DAYS was held at the Japan Foundation

He writes and directs for his production company, “KOKAMI@network” and for other organizations; in 2004 he directed Romeo and Juliet at the Tokyo Globe Theatre, and on the invitation of Ninagawa Yukio he directed The Merry Wives of Windsor in 2002.

In 1995 Kokami received the prestigious Kishida Kunio Playwright Award for THE LETTER FROM SNUFKIN. His other awards include the Grand Prize in the short film category for TOKYO GAME at the San Diego Film Festival (1994) and the Best Play for Kinokuniya Theatre Award for WITH A SUNSET LIKE THE MORNING SUN (1987).　In 2010 he received the Yomiuri Literary Prize for his trilogy, including GLOBE JUNGLE.

Kokami’s distinguished teaching career includes tenures as visiting professor at Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music (2007-) and as professor of drama at Waseda University (2004-2007). He is also a board member of the Japan Playwrights Association, the Japan Directors Association, and the Association of Japanese Theatre Companies.

Kokami is also the author of a textbook, Lessons for Voice and Body. He regularly hosts radio and TV programs and contributes to professional publications.

He was born in Ehime prefecture in 1958.  While at Waseda University, he launched The Third Stage Theatre Company, for which he wrote and directed more than twenty plays. His works continue to attract audiences in the thousands.