Magcal Performing Arts Academy main performance Kensuke Yokouchi talks about his thoughts

Regarding the cancellation of the performance “Momijizaka Memories” by Magcal Performing Arts Academy

Regarding the performance scheduled for March 19th (Saturday) to March 21st (Monday/holiday), it has been confirmed that one of the Academy student performers has been infected with the new coronavirus, so the audience and performers will be canceled. We have decided to cancel this event as our top priority is the safety and security of our staff.
We sincerely apologize to the customers and everyone involved who were looking forward to the performance.

About ticket refunds
Due to the cancellation of the performance, purchased tickets will be refunded.

Magcal Performing Arts Academy was opened by Kanagawa Prefecture in 2014 with the playwright and director Kensuke Yokouchi as its president to develop talent in the performing arts.
The academy students have spent their time here at the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center receiving authentic and practical lessons in vocal music, dance, and acting from top instructors in each field, and working hard through friendly competition.
The work ``Bite Show'', which is the fruit of the efforts of the Academy students, has been in theater-in-theater format since its first performance in 2016, with seats for the audience built on top of the rotating stage of the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center Momijizaka Hall, allowing the audience to rotate 360 degrees. , we succeeded in using the entire theater as a stage, which became a hot topic, and we have completed all five performances by 2020.

The Academy will present a new omnibus musical in March 2022.
Encounters and farewells, young people's passionate feelings and tears, joy and bonds.
``Momijizaka Memories - Dedicated to those who climbed this slope -'' is an omnibus musical that revolves around the memories of Momijizaka.

What are the thoughts behind the culmination of the work, which features all Academy students?
We spoke to Kensuke Yokouchi, the writer and executive director of the film.

Mr. Kensuke Yokouchi

Mr. Yokouchi's origin, "Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center"

The reason I decided to open the academy was the prefecture's project to revitalize Kanagawa Prefecture, with culture as one of its pillars. At that time, various cultural figures with ties to Kanagawa Prefecture, including myself, were approached.
When I heard about the purpose of promoting art and culture in Kanagawa Prefecture, my first thought was that I wanted to do something about the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center, a place that was very important to me.
At the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center, at a time when there was no such thing as a "workshop" today, famous up-and-coming playwrights and directors held seminars for high school students, and theater competitions were held for junior high and high school students. It was a pioneering and extremely excellent theater hall.
So, while I was a member of the drama club and was thinking about quitting soon, I went to the theater for the first time to see Kouhei Tsuka's ``The Atami Murder Case,'' which later became a masterpiece.

I was so moved by the idea that such interesting things existed in the world, and it completely changed my life.
The Youth Center became my starting point, so to speak, as I decided to pursue a career in theater. His maiden work, which he composed at the age of 16 in admiration for Tsukasan, was also performed at the Kanagawa Prefectural Convention held here.
This place, which once shined as a mecca for young people who love art, gradually faded into obscurity as the times changed. With this background in mind, I started this project because I wanted to make this important place shine again, and in other words, I wanted to give back in my own way.
We decided to create a ``place to train young people specializing in theater,'' something that did not exist in Kanagawa at the time, using the Youth Center as a stage. In the future, he has set a goal of creating a ``school'' specializing in theater in Kanagawa Prefecture someday.

Seriously aiming for professional development

Now that we have created a place, we have to nurture it properly. The goal was to provide thorough education and develop ``real professionals.''
The instructors, including Lucky Ikeda and Keiko Fukazawa, taught seriously and hard.
However, it's not that easy to train young people with no experience from scratch, and it was a struggle for the first two years (lol).
Around the third year, things finally started to take shape, and gradually some of the students went on to music colleges and began professional theater careers. It was definitely worth it. More than anything, I was deeply moved by the fact that I was raising a child around the same age as me in the same place where I first discovered theater.

A scene from “Bite Show”

“Bite Show” is a performance that brings the efforts of Academy students to fruition.

In 2016, the Academy students were finally able to perform.
It was called a theater-in-theater, and the seats were built on the stage and the audience rotated around, making full use of the stage 360 degrees. To be honest, at first we were worried about the number of people in this theater, which can accommodate 1,000 people, and the idea came about through trial and error, but it turned out to be a huge success. The performance was possible only at the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center, which has a revolving stage.
And at the curtain call, I vowed, ``One day, I'll fill the audience.''

A scene from “Bite Show”

A scene from the ending of "Byte Show"

The culmination of eight years at the Performing Arts Academy “Momijizaka Memories – Dedicated to those who climbed this slope”

The Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center is a theater mecca and a sacred place for me as well.
To date, many people, including myself, have climbed the slope with their own dreams in mind, aiming for this place built on top of Momijizaka.
In particular, the story of the magistrate's office, which flourished from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji period, is a subject that I have always warmed to.
In this way, while tracing the history, I created an omnibus-like and documentary-like work about the scenery, places, and memories I saw on this slope.
As I mentioned above, until now we had seats for the audience on the stage, but this time, for the first time, we will be using real seats as "audience seats" (lol).Moreover, about 6 rows of seats in front of the audience will be removed and used as a stage. By doing so, the entire venue was created to resemble a slope.
It includes famous scenes from the ``Bite Show'' that was born on this slope, and I hope you enjoy this culmination of an all-out effort.

Passing the baton to the next generation

As I said at the beginning, when we founded this academy, our ultimate goal was to establish a school. Actually, it happened. A performing arts department was newly established at Prefectural Kanagawa Sogo High School in April 2021. This is an amazing achievement, as it is the first public high school in the prefecture to have a specialized department for studying performing arts. And students are scheduled to appear as volunteers in this performance.
I want this performance to be a place where we can carry on what we've been doing up until now: ``I want to cultivate the real thing, I want to learn.''
Of course there are the performers, but I'm sure that among the people who attend the theater, like myself, there are people who come into contact with theater here at the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center and who will lead to theater and stage work in the future. I think there should be.
I'm really looking forward to that.

A message to academy students leaving the nest