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ROHM Theatre Kyoto Program 2021 Lineup

ROHM Theatre Kyoto Program 2021 Lineup

This year’s lineup explores the theme of voices. This carries two main senses: firstly, to restore our voices (that is, our activities); and secondly, to listen to the voiceless voices.

ROHM Theatre Kyoto Program 2021 Lineup

On January 10, 2021, ROHM Theatre Kyoto marked its fifth anniversary. Bearing the slogan “A theatre that’s always there in your life,” and featuring people of various ages, commemorative posters were put up around Kyoto from the start of the year. Beginning with Traditional Theatre as Contemporary Performing Arts Series Vol. 4: Gagaku—Encounter with Contemporary Dance, we held an anniversary program of performances and events. Though the state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic meant we had to organize these events while making special efforts to reduce the risk of infection, we were encouraged by the enthusiastic reactions of our audiences who came.

Following the incredibly challenging year that was 2020, we are now able to announce our lineup for the 2021 ROHM Theatre Kyoto Program.

This year’s lineup explores the theme of voices. This carries two main senses: firstly, to restore our voices (that is, our activities); and secondly, to listen to the voiceless voices.

The global coronavirus pandemic has forced the performing arts to suspend or reduce output. Gathering together, which we might call the true thrill of the performing arts, and in particular, raising our voices, has become restricted. Today, efforts are underway to reopen the performing arts in Japan after taking measures to reduce the safeguard against infection, but overseas artists are still unable to travel to Japan, and the situation for 2021 remains unpredictable. Within a performance and production environment that matches the circumstances, ROHM Theatre Kyoto will seek out the forms of expression for us, create opportunities, and, in collaboration with artists committed to their relationship with audiences, present a program of performances and events. Against the backdrop of the recent growth of such movements as Black Lives Matter, we will listen to those voiceless voices of the socially vulnerable not heard for so long, and imagine and think together through a diverse program of exciting artists from across disciplines at home and abroad. Our program of music events includes events especially emblematic of the main lineup theme of voice and language, and brings together performers employing the voice as a means of expression as well as encounters between orchestras and readings.

Unfortunately, for several of our planned productions in preparation for several years, we had to make the anguishing decision to cancel or postpone prior to announcing the lineup.

At a symposium about harassment in the theatre industry and ways to improve dialogue, held on February 14, 2021, at ROHM Theatre Kyoto, we announced a set of anti-harassment guidelines for everyone who spends time at our theatre. We solicited opinions through the theatre website and used these to device the guidelines, which are currently undergoing final revisions. Based on this input from others, we are working toward formulating the set of guidelines, though the need for further input from experts and to consider and adjust accordingly has led us to postpone the date for publishing the guidelines. We thank everyone for their patience.

This is an initiative aiming to establish a place where everyone is respected and where we can enjoy a healthy exchange of opinions and dialogue as a public theatre in the city of Kyoto.

By our accumulated efforts to make the ROHM Theatre Kyoto Program and theatre itself more accessible, we aspire to cultivate a genuine theatre culture that is firmly rooted here in Kyoto and which can lead to new growth in the future. I hope you will continue to follow the activities of our theatre in 2021.

Yukako Ogura
Program Director

ROHM Theatre Kyoto Program 2021 Lineup: Six Categories

  • 1│New Productions

    ROHM Theatre Kyoto aspires to harness its role as a venue that not only hosts productions but also produces new ones in partnership with artists from Japan and beyond, in this way building up a body of work to serve as the theatre’s legacy.
  • 2│City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra Program

    ROHM Theatre Kyoto is the second hall affiliated with the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. The theatre strives to expand the appeal of the orchestra through not only presenting musical concerts but also collaborations with other types of events.
  • 3│Continuing the Traditional Performing Arts

    The theatre shares the appeal of traditional Japanese performing arts by introducing old forms of performance like buyo, noh, bunraku, and gagaku as well as local folk performances in unique ways.
  • 4│ROHM Theatre Kyoto Selection

    The theatre presents superb examples of the performing arts from Japan and beyond. It also supports the work of the next generation of talent and holds programs in partnership with various other Kyoto-based venues and organizations like Kyoto Experiment.
  • 5│Learning

    In addition to developing learning programs suitable for elementary, junior high, and high school students, the theatre conducts research and holds lectures on the performing arts, as such fulfilling its role as a place for creativity and practice.
  • 6│Community

    Through activities that take place outside the halls and programs closely tied to various lifestyles, the theatre aims to energize the local area and deepen its partnerships with other facilities and organizations in Kyoto’s Okazak i community.

ROHM Theatre Kyoto Program Archives

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