MESSAGE28

視野の広い、人間力の高い俳優に育ってほしい宮田 慶子 演劇研修所長

Develop into actors with rich human qualitiesMIYATA Keiko Director of NNT Drama Studio

I’m MIYATA Keiko, Director of the NNT Drama Studio. Thanks to the kind support from everyone, the New National Theatre, Tokyo can now celebrate its 20th anniversary. Also, many of our graduates from the NNT Drama Studio are now appearing in professional theatre. To support the New National Theatre in its next phase, I hope we can continue to produce many fine, solid actors with rich human qualities.

【Beginnings of the Drama Studio】

The Drama Studio was opened in April 2005 as the third training facility affiliated to the New National Theatre. The first Director was KURIYAMA Tamiya, whom I succeeded in April 2016. The Studio has produced 119 graduates to date.

【The Drama Studio curriculum】

The Studio offers a three-year course. In the 1st year, students receive basic training as actors. From the 2nd year, they start working on a text in the form of scene studies. In the 3rd year, they put on showcase performances using the stage of the Pit at the New National Theatre. During these intensive three years, they work very hard every single day to become good actors. At the same time, I think the course gives them the chance to acquire the mental and lifestyle attitudes they need to spend their whole lives in the acting profession, as well as the most important guiding principles for actors.

【Memories of the very first students and the recent graduates】

I have been involved in the Drama Studio as one of the instructors ever since it opened 13 years ago. The studio in Nishi Shinjuku used to be a nursery school, and I remember getting together with students to decorate the classrooms and grow flowers in our little flowerbeds. I have great memories of working together with the students to improve the environment or the studio. Another memory is the very first preview performance, an ambitious production of “The Threepenny Opera” directed by myself. I was very impressed to see the students giving everything they had into the performance.
Another memory is the graduation performance of “Mother” by the students graduated last year, the first performance after my appointment as the Director. This was a very special play for me, and I have very good memories as I myself found it hugely stimulating to be working together with them on the production.

【The Drama Studio in the future】

As society becomes increasingly dominated by the Internet, we even hear that AI could possibly outdo humans, but stage performance is the one creative act that could only ever be done by living human beings. I sincerely hope that our graduates will go through their lives with pride in the acting profession. I want them to know that drama is certainly not something that is just confined to the stage, but that it also has a relationship with society. In their three years at the Studio, I want them to experience for themselves the role of drama in connecting with the outside world in various ways, such as through exchanges with children or people with disabilities, in the form of outreach activities.
I also want to find opportunities for the Drama Studio to develop internationally, so that our students can interact with people in other countries as part of their lives as actors. I mean this not only in the sense of performing foreign plays but also, for example, through exchanges with overseas drama schools or participation in festivals. My biggest wish is that the students will accumulate practical experience and develop into actors with wide perspective and rich human qualities.