Roaming Shopping Street Festival
Performance Design: Sceno-ha (Scenographers’ Collective)
Carrying the city around the streets: A festival float performance created by scenographers
F/T kicks off this year with a highly original project celebrating Tokyo’s communities and their inhabitants as well as the intersections of people that take place there. The “Roaming Shopping Street Festival” is inspired by and staged in three shopping streets in Toshima. Made by local teams and led by the Sceno-ha collective of Japanese stage designers, the performances involve first building festival floats based on research into each shopping street’s particular history and characteristics. The resulting floats are moving versions of the shopping streets that are paraded around the areas. Encapsulating visions of the past, present, and future of the shopping streets, the floats provide roaming encounters with familiar yet unknown communities and people's lives. After the parades in each street, the floats gather at a plaza in front of Otsuka Station. The scenes and landscapes conjured up when the three floats come together with locals and spectators create a unique theatrical experience in the streets of the city.
Information
| Name | Roaming Shopping Street Festival |
|---|---|
| Schedule |
Part 1: Street Parades |
| Tickets | Free (no reservation required) Continues in case of rain. Canceled in case of storm. Regardless of weather conditions, an announcement confirming that the street parades will take place will be made on the F/T website the day before at 19:00. An announcement on the floats finale will be made on the day at 12:00 for both days. However, please be aware that these decisions are still subject to change. During the street parades, audiences can watch the floats parade around the local shopping streets from the start point. The floats finale is a performance featuring all the floats used in the shopping street parades. Both the parades and the finale take place outdoors. Audiences are advised to wear sensible clothing and footwear. Please be aware that there are no cloakroom or luggage storage facilities. Please be aware that the performances will be photographed and filmed for publicity and documentation purposes. These materials may be used on the festival website or in the official festival report. Members of the press may also photograph and/or film the events. |
Artist Profiles
Photo: Ryosuke Kikuchi-
Sceno-ha (Scenographers’ Collective)
Comprising the stage designers Itaru Sugiyama, Ryo Sakamoto, Ayami Sasaki, and Tomomi Nakamura, this collective of scenographers was formed especially for the F/T19 Opening Program. The group aims to work on projects involving the creation of scenes and scenery rooted in stage design, though without presupposing the need for text, actors, or directors. Its name derives from “scenography,” combined with a Japanese word meaning “group” or “school.”
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Itaru Sugiyama
Stage Designer
A member of the theatre group Seinendan since his days as a student at International Christian University, Itaru Sugiyama went to Italy as part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Overseas Study Program for Artists in 2001. His wide-ranging output encompasses set design for theatre, dance, musicals, and opera as well as running stage design workshops and overseeing theatre venue renovation projects. His accolades include Best Scenography Award at the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre 2006 and the Yomiuri Theatre Prize for Best Production Team Member in 2014.
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Ryo Sakamoto
Stage Designer
Born in 1984 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Ryo Sakamoto graduated with a degree in aesthetics from Kokugakuin University. He started working in stage design with Rokushakudo, a theatre design research studio, from 2009. He has since handled stage design for a range of companies including mrs.fictions, Setagaya Silk, Gareki no Taiko, kyouei-mizugi, and syncrojesse. His work involved everything from the design to production of theatre stage sets for fringe productions in Tokyo as well as production design for film and also interior design. Since 2017, he has further served as set designer for the Ubumuntu Arts Festival, which is held in Rwanda, East Africa. In 2018, he designed the venue for a Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony.
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Ayami Sasaki
Stage Designer
Born in 1983 in Kagoshima Prefecture, Ayami Sasaki graduated with a degree in film and theatre studies from Tama Art University. She is a member of FAIFAI, serving as the group’s stage designer for its various theatre and dance productions, concerts, and exhibitions. She also does stage design for other groups’ productions. Her recent credits include FAIFAI “Gorilla: What is Human?” (F/T in the City Performance Series at F/T17) and the 2018 AAF Drama Award production “City III.” She also works as sundiy, a DIY team she formed with the architect Mayumi Oka. She loves having home parties.
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Tomomi Nakamura
Stage Designer
Born in Niigata Prefecture, Tomomi Nakamura graduated from J. F. Oberlin University with a degree in cultural studies. She started studying stage design while an undergraduate. She is now a freelance stage designer, working with such companies as HANCHU-YUEI, Q, Baoba, Bird Park, and AmayAdori. She is also a member of Kusunoki-so (by the Kamiike Mokuchin Bunka Network) and director for the nonprofit S.A.I. Previously at Festival/Tokyo, she has served as stage design coordinator for “Rashomon | Yabunonaka” (2014), Zombie Opera “Danse Macabre” (2015), “Toky Toki Saru” (2017), and “Palestine, Year Zero” (2017).
Cast & Creative
| Performance Design: | Sceno-ha (Scenographers’ Collective) |
|---|---|
| Part 1: Street Parades |
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| Minami-Nagasaki Area | |
| Performance Design: | Ryo Sakamoto (Sceno-ha) |
| Arrangement and Research: | Sorami Date |
| Arrangement: | Kaori Goto |
| Performers, Choreographers: | Sayuri Iimori, Kota Kihara, Hanano Teshirogi, Kotaro Yagi, Kaori Goto |
| Float Attendant: | Naoka Fukushima |
| Ikebukuro Honcho Area | |
| Performance Design: | Tomomi Nakamura (Sceno-ha) |
| Research: | Mari Hoshi (HarapekoFullmoon) |
| Choreographer: | Wataru Kitao (Baobab) |
| Performers: | Makoto Ito, Takayuki Ueda, Wataru Kitao (Baobab), Komugiko Kuriko, Syunya Numata, HEIDI (Bath tub NY), Fuyuko Mezawa (Baobab) |
| Float Attendants: | Mari Hoshi (HarapekoFullmoon), Tadashi Yamamoto |
| Otsuka Area | |
| Performance Design: | Ayami Sasaki (Sceno-ha) (FAIFAI) |
| Object Design: | Ryoko Ando |
| Visual Design: | Kei Hagiwara |
| Float Attendants: | Mihoka Kawamura (FAIFAI), Daisuke Kusabiraki, Fumika Kuwabara, Shintaro Tamada, Koji Yamazaki (FAIFAI) |
| Part 2: Floats Finale (TRAM-PAL Otsuka) |
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| Performance Design: | Itaru Sugiyama (Sceno-ha) |
| Choreographer: | Wataru Kitao (Baobab) |
| Performers: | Sayuri Iimori, Makoto Ito, Takayuki Ueda, Mihoka Kawamura (FAIFAI), Wataru Kitao (Baobab), Kota Kihara, Daisuke Kusabiraki, Fumika Kuwabara, Kaori Goto, Komugiko Kuriko, Shintaro Tamada, Hanano Teshirogi, Syunya Numata, HEIDI (Bath tub NY), Fuyuko Mezawa (Baobab), Kotaro Yagi, Koji Yamazaki (FAIFAI) |
| Music: | Kengo Tokusashi |
| Sound Coordinator: | Akira Aikawa (Sound Weeds Inc.) |
| Costumes: | Daichi Tabata |
| Float Transportation: | Takashi Otsuka (KADOMAN), Minoru Aoyama (AOYAMA UNSOU Inc.) |
| TRAM-PAL Otsuka Coordination: | Progress-ing corporation |
| Technical Manager: | Eiji Torakawa |
| Assistant Technical Manager: | Nahoko Yokokawa |
| Stage Assistants: | Shiori Fukuzawa, Kyoko Kishi |
| Set: | Shigeru Takabe (Toho Stage Craft Co., Ltd.) |
| Publicity Design: | Yui Takada (Allright Graphics) |
| Main Visual Design: | Tomomi(C)Nishikawa |
| Photography & Video: | Hibiki Miyazawa, Takashi Fujikawa (Alloposidae) |
| Production Coordinators: | Toshifumi Matsumiya, Mayuko Arakawa (Festival/Tokyo), Maiko Iwama, Naho Kato (TASKO inc.) |
| Production Assistant: | Miki Kanai |
| Interns: | Manami Ishibashi, Nanami Uematsu, Ryoko Koketsu, Ryo Sugita |
| Front of House: | Urara Tsukuni |
| In special cooperation with | the Ikebukuro Honcho Shopping Streets Association, Association for Cooperation Project of Toshima Minami-Nagasaki Tokiwaso, Minami-Otsuka Network |
| In cooperation with | Japan Weather Association, Masjid Otsuka, coconogacco |
| Presented by | Festival Tokyo, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, and Japan Arts Council |
Opening Program organized with the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and Japan Arts Council
Venues
Minami-Nagasaki Hanasaki Park
- 3-9-22 Minami-Nagasaki, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
- 4 minutes’ walk from Exit A2 of Ochiai-minami-nagasaki Station on Toei Oedo Line.
- 10 minutes’ walk from South Exit of Higashi-Nagasaki Station on Seibu Ikebukuro Line.
Ikebukurohoncho Denshanomieru Park
- 4-41 Ikebukuro-Honcho, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
- 2 minutes’ walk from North Exit of Shimo-itabashi Station on Tobu Tojo Line.
Masjid Otsuka
- 3-42-7 Minami-Otsuka, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
- 2 minutes’ walk from South Exit of JR Otsuka Station.
- 1 minute’s walk from Mukaihara on Tokyo Sakura Tram (Toden Arakawa Line).
TRAM-PAL Otsuka
- 3-53-8 Minami-Otsuka, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
- 1 minute’s walk from South Exit of JR Otsuka Station.
- 1 minute’s walk from Otsuka-ekimae on Tokyo Sakura Tram (Toden Arakawa Line).
