Talk:Oriza Hirata

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Fortunately for me and this page, there is quite a lot of information on Oriza. There is a ton of information relating to both his work and his personal life, including first-hand accounts from Oriza himself that will hopefully prove to be largely beneficial for this page. The one thing I haven’t found quite yet is more details on what his works talk about/what style they adopt outside of his most popular work, Tokyo Notes, but that is mostly just a matter of me having to find the plays I can and becoming familiar with them.

Sources I’m Working with: "Half a Century of Japanese Theatre I: 1990's Part 1 by Japan Playwrights Association." Asian Theatre Journal 17.2 (2000): 303-05. JSTOR. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. This article mostly references Oriza’s work in passing. However, what is helpful about it is it puts Oriza’s work in context relative to the rest of Japanese theatre during the time. Additionally, it goes into a non-insignificant amount of detail about how Oriza’s work is influenced and comments upon Japan’s relationship with Korea during the early 20th century, which seems to be the main focus of his most recognized works.

Hirata, Oriza. "Artist Interview: Speaking with Oriza Hirata, a New Opinion Leader in the World of Contemporary Theater." Interview by Akihiko Senda. Performing Arts Network Japan. The Japan Foundation, 23 Mar. 2007. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. <http://performingarts.jp/E/art_interview/0703/1.html>. This is a welcome source simply because of how extensive of a first-hand account it is. The interview is lengthy, and having Oriza talk so much about his work and craft gives a lot of details and insight that the other sources simply cannot compete with. Also, he talks quite a bit about his international relationships, personally, historically, and theatrically, which is great since he is such a prolific collaborator with regions around the world. I am still dissecting the wealth of information supplied here.

"Oriza Hirata." ORIZA HIRATA: SEINENDAN. Seinendan, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. <http://www.seinendan.org/eng/oriza/>. This is Oriza’s professional website. It’s succinct, and is a great resource for just referencing everything he is a part of in the world of theatre. It also has the most amount of information relating to his theater company he founded, which also includes a bit more about how Oriza’s work is in dialogue with the rest of Japanese theater.

Poulton, M. Cody. "Tokyo Notes: A Play by Hirata Oriza." Asian Theatre Journal 19.1 (2002): 1-120. JSTOR. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. This is merely an introduction to his most famous work, but it gives the most amount of insight in terms of why it is his most famous work, and how it has been picked up by both a regional and international audience. As an introduction, it serves as a great, focused piece that lays out the resonance of the play.

Rimer, J. Thomas, Mitsuya Mōri, and M. Cody Poulton. The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama. New York: Columbia UP, 2014. Print. This is another introduction, translated by the same person as the previous one, and on the same play. However, the two introductions are completely different than one another. Instead of honing in on the resonance of the play itself, this introduction takes a more general approach and reads closer to a short biography of Oriza himself. It is also nice just because it narrates Oriza’s life in a way that the other sources do not accomplish by simply stating the critical and international reception of his work.

From these sources, some of the most important elements I gathered are: 1. Oriza wants to make a distinctive Japanese theatrical voice that distances itself from its Western influence. This has created his unique style, which he coins as “contemporary colloquial theater theory.” 2. Oriza prioritizes his international relationships and loves to collaborate. He is prolific in many different theatre scenes around the world. 3. His most important work is Tokyo Notes, which is significant because of its commentary on Japan’s imperialist history with Korea. 4. Oriza is an academic who is active as a professor, and has founded his own theater company just to follow and foster his stylistic tendencies. As of now, there is no English article on Oriza (though there is a French one), so I’ll be attempting to structure the page myself over the following month or so. My current thoughts are to make macro sections for his biography, his work, his international significance. His biography would try and stay away as much from going into details on his work as much as realistically possible. His work would include details from the introductions I pulled, as well as the interview to comment on how he sees his craft. His international significance would put him in context relative to the world and possibly regionally as well. These would be the three major sections, but I also plan to do a brief introduction that just lists what he is involved with, references Tokyo Notes, and gives basic information like birthplace and age.