Tomoyuki Nagayama

Tomoyuki Nagayama

Born 1967 in Miyakonojo city, Miyazaki Prefecture, Nagayama is a playwright and director. He is the representative of the theater company “Cofuku Gekijo” formed in 1990 and based at the culture centers of the two Miyazaki Prefecture cities of Kadogawacho and Mimatacho. His plays are characterized by the bringing of local folk culture and oral traditions into the daily life context to create works with the and using universality of fables, which are brought to life on stage through the use of the physical movement and vocal techniques of the Kyogen and Rakugo comedy traditions. In 2001, Nagayama’s play so bad year won the AAF Drama Award. This work and others are performed frequently by other companies, with one notable example being the play Konsui (Coma) that Nagayama wrote as an entry for the 2005 Tokyo International Arts Festival and was later staged as a play for two actors in 2009 by the leading actors Kenji Yamauchi and Kumi Hyodo of the Seinendan theater company with direction by Yudai Kamisato (Okazaki Art Theatre). Nagayama has also worked with director Motoi Miura of the Kyoto company Chiten, writing the plays Otogizoshi / gikyoku (Gekidan Urinko, 2010) and Kappa / aru shosetsu (Chiten, 2011). Since 2007, he has also created works at the Miyazaki Maarui Theater in which people with disabilities participate as actors. As a director, Nagayama has served as a theater director at the Miyazaki Prefectural Arts Center since October of 2006. Through activities such as his role as planner and director of productions of the “Engeki Jiku no Tabi Series” that brings together actors from theater companies in the Kyushu region, Nagayama is also known for his efforts to generate theater from the Kyushu and Miyazaki areas to the world audience.

Cofuku Gekijo company: http://www.cofuku.com
Miyazaki Prefectural Arts Center: https://miyazaki-ac.jp/