Tadashi Suzuki is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT), the organizer of Japan’s first international Theatre Festival (Toga Festival), and the creator of the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. He played an important role as General Artistic Director at Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (1995~2007), and also serves as a member of International Theatre Olympics Committee, as one of the founders of the BeSeTo Festival (jointly organized by theatre people of China, Japan and Korea), and as Chairman of Board of Directors of Japan Performing Arts Foundation, a nation-wide network of theatre people in Japan.

His works include On the Dramatic Passions, The Trojan Women, Dionysus, King Lear, Cyrano de Bergerac, Madame de Sade, and many others. Besides productions with his own company, he has worked as a director in the international collaborative projects, such as The Tale of Lear co-produced and presented by the four leading regional theatres of the US, King Lear by Moscow Art Theatre, Oedipus co-produced by Cultural Olympiad and Düsseldorf Schauspiel Haus, ELECTRA by Taganka Theatre and etc.

Through the Toga Festival and Shizuoka Spring Arts Festival, Suzuki has introduced a wide range of the world’s foremost theater artists to Japanese audiences. Past participants include Robert Wilson, Tadeusz Kantor, Yuri Lyubimov, Theodoros Terzopoulos, Georges Lavaudant, Lee Breuer, Anne Bogart, Ratan Thiyam and many others.

Suzuki has articulated his theories in a number of books. A collection of his writings in English, “The Way of Acting” is published by Theatre Communications Group (US). He has taught his system of actor training in schools and theaters throughout the world, including The Julliard School in New York and Moscow Art Theatre. The Cambridge University Press published “The Theatre of Suzuki Tadashi” as one of the volumes of the “Directors in Perspective” series, based upon leading theatre directors of the 20th Century. This series includes works on Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Brecht, Strehler and Peter Brook, among others.

Not just one of the world’s foremost theater directors, Suzuki is a seminal thinker and practitioner whose work has a powerful influence on theater everywhere.

Suzuki’s concerns include the structure of a theater group, the creation and use of theatrical space, and the overcoming of cultural and national barriers in the interest of creating work based on that which is universal. Suzuki has been engaged in a long-term collaborative relationship with the celebrated architect Arata Isozaki. Suzuki and Isozaki have collaborated very closely in the creation of the eight theaters in Toga, Mito and Shizuoka of Japan. The result is buildings that transcend merely a combining of the theatrical arts with architecture, but reach a level of independence as a modern art form that has gathered attention from many circles on the leading edge of today’s arts world.

Suzuki’s activities, both as a director creating multilingual and multicultural productions, and as a festival producer bringing people from throughout the world together in the context of shared theatrical endeavor, reflect an aggressive approach to dealing with many of the fundamental issues of our times.

Mrs. Amal Allana is the chairperson of National School of Drama in India. She graduated from the National School of Drama in 1968, majoring in Direction and winning the Girish Ghosh and Bharat Puruskar Awards. Her further studies in Direction were in the Berliner Ensemble, the National Theatre, Weimar, and the State Theatre at Dresden, GDR. On her return to India she began her professional career and set up ‘The Workshop’, a theatre group, along with her husband Dr. Nissar Allana, a stage and lighting designer. Some of her productions which received critical acclaim were Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan, Strindberg’s Miss Julie and Wedekind’s Spring Awakening.

In 1975, Mrs. Allana was awarded the Homi Bhabha Fellowship for her research in traditional Indian and Japanese theatre, an encouragement that led her to visit Japan and study the Noh and Kabuki theatre. In 1977, she headed the Department of Indian Theatre at the Punjab University, Chandigarh. On her return to Delhi in 1978, she set up ‘Studio 1’ with her husband. Some of their memorable productions include Aadhe Adhure, The Exception and the Rule, Hayavadana, Khamosh Adalat Jari Hai (Silence! The Court is in Session), Birjis Qadar Ka Kunba (House of Bernada Alba), Ashadh Ka Ek Din, Mahabhoj, King Lear, Himmat Mai (Mother Courage) and Begum Barve.

Mrs. Allana’s interest in television led to Wapsi, a Tele-play that received an award from Czechoslovakia in 1983. This was followed by two 13 part series, Raj Se Swaraj and Mullah Nasruddin, which received the NEFA award. In 1990, she received a Ford Foundation Fellowship to research the contemporary theatre movement.

Up till now she has done over 50 productions, the most recent of which are Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Nati Binodini under the aegis of Theatre and Television Associates. As a director Mrs. Amal Allana’s intrinsic interest lies in searching for new forms of expression, a journey in which she draws sustenance from Indian, Asian and Western theatrical traditions.

She has received many honors including awards from Delhi Natya Sangh (1994), Sahitya Kala Parishad (1996), NEFA (1991), Czech TV (1982) and Sangeet Natak Akademi award for Direction (1998).

Xian ZHANG received his BA and MA in Dramatic Literature from Central Academy of Drama in China. After teaching at the Samuel Beckett Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies of Trinity College Dublin between 1990 and 1991, he has been teaching as a professor at the Department of Dramatic Literature of Central Academy of Drama from 1993 until today. The courses he offers include: the Study of Theatre (the Creation and Theories of theatre, the Comprehensive theatres); the Aesthetics of Theatre (the Study on Theories and Criticism of Theatre); History of Theatre (the Study on Creation of the Contemporary Chinese Theatre).

Prof. Zhang is an author of numerous books including Readings in Western Classics (co-author) (two volumes; 1987), Principles in Creative Writing (2003), A Beginners’ Course in Creative Writing (co-author; 2003), Guidebook to Entrance Exams for Dramatic Literature programs (co-author; 2003), What is the Truth? Collection of Theatre Theories and Criticisms (2006). He also has worked as an editor-in-chief for Theatre Art and Readings (2005) and Analyses of Western Theatre Classics (2005). He has written numerous articles about stage, film and TV，totaling near a million words. His plays, musicals and TV scripts have been widely produced.

He has won Theatre Criticism award, given by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) in 2003, Cao Yu Prize for Best Criticism in 2004, and Gold Prize for Playwriting in 2005.

Jeong-Ok KIM received his BA in French Literature from Seoul National University and furthered his studies in Universit de Sorbonne. He worked as a professor of the Department of Theatre and Film in Chung-Ang University for 37 years. Besides his teaching career, he directed almost 100 productions in theatre, opera, music-drama and film.

In the past, he was: President of International Theatre Institute for 3 terms; Chairman of Arts Council Korea; Artistic Director of Minjung Theatre Company. He is currently a member of Korean Committee for International Council of Museums; Artistic Director of Jayu Theatre Company; Honorary Professor of Chung-Ang University.

He received PaekSang Arts Awards; Seoul Culture and the Arts Award; Legion d’Honneur; The National Academy of Arts Prize; An Order of Cultural Merits; Nikkei Asia Prize; Ilmin Cultural Prize.

His publication list includes: The way of Dramatic Creation, A Clown Who Wants To Become a Poet, Theory of Film Art.

Miy-He KIM received her BA in English Literature from Korea University and her PhD in Theaterwissenschaft from Vienna University.

She is currently a Professor of Department of Theatre of Hanyang University. She served as Vice-Chairperson and Chairperson for Korean Theatre Studies Association; Executive Member of Korean Theatre Critic’s Association; Editor for the journal of Korean Theatre Studies; Chief Editor of Korean Theatre Journal; Chairperson of Institute for Theatre Materials.

Her publication list includes: Great Theatre People of the 20th Century (2006); European Theatre Directors in the First Half of the 20th Century (co-author, 2001); The Discourse & New Research of the Korean Theatre (co-author, 2003); Theatre, Its Various Facets (co-author, 2004). She also translated numerous books and plays from English into Korean; from German into Korean; and from Korean to German. For these efforts, she received The Best Translation Award of the 4th Daesan Literature Prize.

She is also actively working as a dramaturg for theatre productions.

Plenary Sessions: To be announced