PROGRAM

Continuing Beginnings

As we reach the milestone of our tenth anniversary in 2026, ROHM Theatre Kyoto shines a spotlight on the work of artists with ties to our city. Creative endeavors nurtured in Kyoto will take to the stage, each enriched with its own layers of time and experience, while other new efforts will begin that steer that journey toward the future. Like last year, we will explore the theme of “continuing beginnings,” developing it one step further.

To commemorate its seventieth anniversary, the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra will hold two projects in partnership with performance groups representative of Kyoto’s musical culture. In December, Project B’s Britten: Spring Symphony sees such dancers such as Yoko Higashino and Masako Yasumoto undertaking a new kind of performance showcasing the resonance of music and the body. Masahiko Takeda will present a new work as part of the experimental sound performance series Sound Around. In our Repertory Premiere program, Nagara Wada (shitatame), Yuya Nishida (Gekidan Furosya), and Masato Nomura (RETRONYM) will stage new plays that examine the world in the artists’ particular ways. The internationally acclaimed multimedia performance group Dumb Type will present 2020, its first new work since 2002. Originally meant to be staged in March of the eponymous year, the production was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and only a filmed version was released. Audiences will now finally have a chance to experience 2020 live at its premiere in Kyoto. The grand finale of our program of events commemorating our milestone year will be a dramatic reading of a play by Hideo Tsuchida (MONO), a leading playwright and director from Kyoto. Tsuchida’s play is inspired by the city and people of Kyoto, and the reading aims to encourage broad public participation by recruiting performers through an open call.

Several noteworthy international productions will also come to Kyoto. Rosas and A7LA5 are two of the leading forces in contemporary dance today. Their Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione is an attempt to re-examine the relationship between humans and the natural world through an exploration of the ode to nature that is Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. HAVE A GOOD DAY! is the first production from Lithuania to appear at ROHM Theatre Kyoto. In this contemporary opera highly acclaimed around the world, ten supermarket cashiers sing, humorously and incisively depicting everyday labor and consumer society.

In addition, the theatre will actively engage in projects and outreach programs for children, aiming to offer better opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to have contact with the performing arts.

With gratitude in our hearts for our many supporters over the past decade, we will build upon that solid foundation and move on to our next challenges. It is our hope that the new encounters and creative works we facilitate will lead to new stories. We sincerely look forward to welcoming you to the theatre.

Yukako Ogura
Program Director
March 2026