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Ms. NO TONE theatre company was founded in Tokyo to explore the meaning of contemporary theater on a national and international level. The company creates innovative works of theater for modern, multi-cultural audiences. The members are gathered who collaborate with Reiko Hiramatsu on a project basis. The work always starts to be created from the theme deviated from something -rule, role, position, convention. The company name Ms. NO TONE means the person who lose the acoustic sense. "Listen to the drama" is the company motto. Reiko Hiramatsu / Director is the founder and leader of Ms. NO TONE Theatre Company. In 1999 she founded Ms.NO TONE and has collaborated with a number of artists in various ways, including directing the film. She got the best directors award in 2001 at Japan Performing Arts Foundation. Download: Reiko Hiramatsu & Ms. NOTONE Theatre Company CV [PDF] Reiko Hiramatsu Directed and other Works *The Micro Apartment, or, it's not that it's bad, it's just that you're confused Premiere:February, 2013 Time:45min. Text, Direction: Reiko Hiramatsu Based on a novel by Mitsuyo Kakuta Cast: Maki Takemoto, Morry Burns, Noriko Kusaka, Reiko Hiramatsu Venue: Yokohama Koganecho Hachibankan Performed in Japanese Stage Photo Ms. NO TONE Theatre Company's "The Micro Apartment, or, it's not that it's bad, it's just that you're confused" involves peculiarly Japanese problem and meta-versions of reality. Blurring the boundaries between reality and fiction, it explores a train of thought concerning theater's discursive potential and its transmission systems. Scene1 Three women start to play the text on desk concerning a family. Two sisters talks that they started to twitch at the corners of her mouth and cheeks since they have given their own private rooms. And that mother scrounges around their room. They were different of dealing with their mother's doing. Scene2 It is revealed that Scene 1 is the rehearsal of the Audition that three women audition for some theater production. They have been waiting for a long time. And they don't like the text of the audition. That makes them feel gloomy. Scene3 They start rehearsal again no other choice. In text younger sister plays the opposite of the image of her mothers daughter, however older sister plays exactly the same image of it, and she says it is revenge. Their mother cannot to stop to eat the chocolates for satisfy empty feeling. It is like the toil of woman's house. Scene4 Finally a man comes to say that it is their turn. They wonder what should they play? But anyway they try to play for put people on notice this toil of woman's house. And they go out. A man eats the chocolate that three women have been eating. But he spits out it because it is the plastic chocolate replicas. *Our Western Music Studies --From the Day We Accepted Twelve-Tone Scale To Japanese "J" Pop-- Premiere: February 2011 at Yokohama Koganecho New Studio SiteD Time: 1.5 hour Stages/Acts: 1/1 Casts: 4 Written and directed: Reiko Hiramatsu Music: OORUTAICHI, Joseph Nothing, Morry Burns Set Design: Yusuke Aoki Costume: Michiyo Sato Cast:Yume Tanaka, Tomohiko Kumagai, Morry Burns, Reiko Hiramatsu -Stage- This is the presentation performance about do-re-mi as 12-tone scale for Japanese by 4 actors & musician. The performance was showed at community space. Before 150 years ago there is no 12-tone scale in Japan. They tried to move ahead with the introduction of western 12-tone scale, receiving substantial amount of authority. The performance explore the subject of what kind of fantasy we cherish hoping our westernized lifestyle. And it asks what the standard of note / tone is for our body. It is as if 4 actors & musicians play live. During the period of Yokohama Triennale, the Lectures and Sound Lives about "Our western music studies" were held. *Unsex Me Here? from W.Shakespeare's Macbeth Premiere: February 2011 at BankART studio NYK, Yokohama Time: 1.5 hour Stages/Acts: 1/1 Casts: 6 Written and directed: Reiko Hiramatsu Costume: Michiyo Sato Dramaturg: Eimi Ozawa Photo: Katrin Paul Cast: Tomohiko Kumagai, Kanako Nishida, Takiya Kuwahara, Ruriko Ichikawa, Yuichiro Tachimoto, Miwako Ogushi -Stage- It is with thick pillar and the picture of woman's face covers the floor. The right side of the stage is with the dressing room and some dresses that are working on by someone on the dummy. The actors/actresses are sometimes rehearsing Macbeth text at the dressing room. And they play Macbeth on the floor of the picture as stage. They search for meanings in the Lady Macbeth's line "Unsex me here". While a woman dresses the other women in the clothes they wanted to be undressed, a man dresses the other men in the clothes they wanted to be dressed. Another Macbeth is played by people of different sexes. This performance received critical attention and acclaim as follows; Seeing this Macbeth, I dreamed a different view from Macbeth. And it's a shock to realize that is exactly the view of Macbeth. It is the avant-garde offshoot of Macbeth and beyond doubt the faithful to the original Macbeth simultaneously. This extremely specificity caused a dramatic effect. It is tried to be reconstructed and refigure Macbeth, not destroyed. - Yoichi Ohashi / Anglicist, Specialize in Shakespeare and Critical study of postcolonial and gender theory, Professor of the University of Tokyo *NOTE / TONE Premiere: 2010 at Teatro do Sonhyo, Tokyo Time: 1.5 hour Stages/Acts: 1/1 Casts: 5 Written and directed by Reiko Hiramatsu Music composed by OORUTAICHI Actor & Performer; OORURAICHI, Misako Sato, Tomohiko Kumagai, Sayu Yamamoto, Shunsuke Noguchi Post Performance Talk; Atsushi Sasaki/HEADZ, Morley Robertson/Journalist [Story] A singer tries to compose a song. A song is like split-the-difference approach; Chicago House plus Debussy plus John Cage plus Japanese Pop song also plus like the song bursting into the Japanese Charts. It looks musical schizo. The father of his girlfriend was arrested of playing the Beatles songs at his piano bar as Copyright Infringement. Another man who lives in Meiji period that is 150 years ago appears and he tries to move ahead with the introduction of western twelve-tone scale, receiving substantial amount of authority. Japanese Note / Tone is transformed around the period. This work explore the subject of what kind of fantasy we cherish hoping our westernized lifestyle. And it asks what the standard of note / tone is for our body. [Stage] It is with 8 black breast-high box on stage. The iPhone, Violin, Shamisen--a three-stringed Japanese musical instrument, Sampler, CDJ machine are placed on the box. The actors and actresses take it and play the number that OORUTAICHI composed for fulfilling the requirements of the script to tell the story. *A branched garden in blue - A play with quotations from Jorge Luis Borges "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" Premiere: 2009 at Yokohama Art Museum Time: 1.5 hour Stages/Acts: 2/2 Casts: 8 Written and directed by Reiko Hiramatsu Actor; Gentaro Shimofusa, Atsutaro Yoshimiya , Ayaya Satsuki, Mizuki Misumi, Takiya Kuwahara, Keizo Kaji [Story] A brain surgeon found the word Ukbar in the pirated encyclopedia of his friend. He researched of the word but there was no Ukbar anywhere even in National Diet Library in the beginning of 1990¡Çs when it was unfamilliar with internet. When he began to forget this strange word, he listens to the word Ukbar from the patient who has the memory that she used to be in Ukbar. Gradually the encyclopedia of Ukbar itself was found in London, a dispute arose over if it stands for country or idea. And before long the world would become Ukbar.¡¡ Text is transferred and linked to another text uncountably numerous. A maze like Borges world would be haunted what the original text is, where it would be and whether it really existed or not. [Stage] Audio spotlight technology is used as the device which could get an overview of differentiation; Communication in Emotion, Communication in Text Refer to; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3KZjysoEo A few of the actors and persons involved are high-functioning autism and Asperger disorder in fact. The work features the way of their own communication. *Western Music Studies --From the Day We Accepted Twelve-Tone Scale To Japanese "J"-Pop-- Premiere: 2007 Time: 1 hour Stages/Acts: 1/2 Casts: 1 Written and directed by Reiko Hiramatsu Acted by Tomohiko Kumagaya This is as sort of the monologue ¡ÈOn the Harmful Effects of Traditional Japanese Music¡É which is adopted by Chekhov¡Çs monologue ¡ÈOn the Harmful Effects of Tobacco¡É. A man talks to the audience about the harmful effects of five-tone scale that is traditional Japanese music at his wifes request. His wife¡Çs father owns the music school and they are moving ahead with the introduction of western twelve-tone scale, receiveing substantial amount of Japanese authority. This work explore the subject of what kind of fantasy we cherish since opening of Japan to the world, hoping our westernized lifestyle. *Kafka's Before the Law At Teatrul National Radu Stanca Sibiu-curtea interioara in Romania (Sibiu 2007) Before the law stands a gatekeeper. To this gatekeeper there comes a man from the country and prays for admittance to the Law... The dialogue mixed Japanese, English and Romanian repeats and loops persistently as if it is Bolero of M. Ravel. What is inside of the Gate of Law? What is sin? What is the definition that is right and wrong/food and evil? Kafka's proposal of the question is to be frame and to flesh and visualize. *Kafka's Amerika Amerika, Kafka's original title "The Man Who Disappeared", is the cinderella among Kafka's three novels. It describe a pitiless descent through American society. America, when Kafka wrote about it, was a mythical place, a promised land to Europeans. Now this is challenge to realize what is all about of Amerika for us Japanese. *Akira & Naoko Performed at 1700 years old Shinto Shrine in Shizuoka and also Theater Iwato in Tokyo. The story is about lives of a woman and 2 men. Time is when people has conquered all before them who live in an age of high-speed economic growth of Japan after the World War II. 25-stringed horizontal Japanese harp weaved a narrative and melody. *EUMENIDES Written by Aischylos, in Daendo Shizuoka, Spring Greek Tragedy Festival 2005. This is the story of which the son, Orestes killed his mother and a Not Guilty decision was brought in by the judge and Athena so that Erinyes became Eumenides. *Home, Sweet Home (Hanyu no Yado in Japanese) Written & Directed by Reiko HIRAMATSU, participated in BeSeTo Asian Theatre Festival 3 actors on tall chairs chat at home and audience gradually notice that they are Termites. They finish to eat all of a House of certain Human family where have gradually vanished before they finish to eat. They sometimes become human family and imply the difference of centripetal and centrifugal. *Drifting Away --- Dance and Conceptual Art Installation at Toga Arts Park in Toga Spring Festival *Alfred Jarry's 'KING UBU' for Tokyo Summer Theatrical Festival. *Another Project for Short Film, 'Looking for UBU ROI'. Official page *Participated as an actor in 'Mid Summer Nights Romeo' with Austrarian company Frank Theater at Toga Spring Festival in Toyama. *Directed the Documentary Film about Tommy Trantino who is a prison born artist. Movie page *SOUND WALK OPERA BASHO The stage is based on the Japanese Haiku poet Matsuo Basho and his world view of the acoustics. The audience, walking around the forest park, listen to the sound of which Basho had exactly felt on the road edge in his time of days. *Buried Alive in the Blues This is the story about the rock star and the requiem for the consumed music. *Brecht Bertolt's 'The Deccision' She took Brecht's text in Japanese pop club culture and made the audience dance in Brecht's music. She won the Best Directors Award prize on this production in Toga Summer arts festival. *Music is Not A Music This is the story of a woman who is unable to hear music. This is based on Yukio Mishima's work. It still was enacted by dancers, actors and a Buddihist musician as part of the Tokyo 2000 performing arts festival. *Maze inside Telephone This is the story which made a theme---Can you transmit voice through the media? The sound of guitar which Jimmy Hendrix played, was live voice. Is the live voice which we are talking? A man lose the maze of the telephone line in search of his real voice. *A DAY Collaborated with comic book artist Fukuyama Yoji on a new work. Participated in all performances by theatrical company SET. These performances count 30; some representative performances include the works that collaborate Japanese musical instrument and folk ballads and Gospel singers from the United States. And the Next scheduled performance is *Home, Sweet Home at this November for BeSeTo Asia Theater Festival in Tokyo. |