Hironori Naito
Hironori Naito
Head of the Minami Kawachi Banzai Ichiza theater company, Hironori Naito was born in Tochigi Prefecture in 1959. He began to pursue a profession in theater after seeing The Jokyo Gekijo production of Hebihime-sama (written and directed by Juro Kara). He entered Osaka University of Arts (theater dept.) in 1979, where he was taught by professor Satoshi Akihama (playwright and director) for four years. During that time he pursued the study of what he calls the “How to cheat with realism.” In 1980 he established the Minami Kawachi Banzai Ichiza theater company, directing a production of Juro Kara’s Hebihime-sama as the company’s inaugural play.
Acknowledged for the broad perspective he brings to his modern-style plays that survey the issues of contemporary life, Naito also writes and directs often for productions outside his own company. Among these, he has done the planning and directing of unique nationwide tour of the world-famous pianist Ikuyo Nakamichi.
In 2000 he won the Outstanding Director Award of the Yomiuri Theater Grand Prix. for the OMS production of Koko kara wa Toi Kuni (A Country Far from Here). In 2005 he directed a production of Chokyoshi (by Juro Kara) at Tokyo’s Theater Cocoon and the Hyogo Performing Arts Center. Since 2003 he has been pursuing theater activities ambitiously at the Ultra Market (Osaka Castle Hall, West Warehouse) since the closing of Ogimachi Museum Square, which had been his base of activities. Recent works include Hironori Naito’s Gekifu-roku Part 1 (first collection of Hironori Naito plays) and Aoki-san chi no Okusan (Wife of the Aoki Family).