We live various stories in our daily lives. However, it is rare for us to read stories written in words out loud. In this workshop, we will read aloud together plays such as “The Weeping Women,” which Kumiko Ueda is currently writing, as well as classical plays written long ago. Through this, we will discuss the social and familial issues that lie behind these stories.

An actor in exile, whom I met in France, told me a story about his strict Muslim mother, whom he had left behind in a desert town in Iraq. From my perspective, the environment seemed too harsh for a woman, but the image of his mother in his memory appeared to be quite different from the oppressed woman I imagined. I felt a strong urge to introduce this mother to the Japanese mothers in my own memory. I wrote this play with the intention of observing the existence of these women, distancing myself from the context of Western feminism, but it is still incomplete. By reading it with citizens, I hope to objectively observe the stories we live and the stories lived by the women of the past.

This workshop is held as a pre-event for the development of the “Minato Arts Center,” which is scheduled to open in 2027 at Hamamatsucho Station. We will focus on the perspectives of women who have shouldered the responsibility of care within families and society, and explore the possibilities of performance, taking into account the characteristics of the urban space of Minato City.

*The public recruitment for workshop participants has ended.
*For details on the venue and other information, please visit the website below:

Arts Commons Tokyo Website
https://artscommons.asia/news/959/