Magcal Performing Arts Academy Main Performance: Mr. Kensuke Yokouchi talks about his thoughts

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

The above-mentioned performances scheduled to run from March 19th (Sat) to 21st (Mon, national holiday) have been cancelled due to the confirmation of a COVID-19 infection among the Academy students performing, with the safety and security of our audience, performers and staff as our top priority.
We sincerely apologize to all the customers and people involved who were looking forward to the performance.

Ticket Refunds
Due to the cancellation of the performance, tickets purchased will be refunded.

Magcal Performing Arts Academy was opened in 2014 by Kanagawa Prefecture to cultivate talent in the performing arts, with playwright and director Yokouchi Kensuke as its principal.
Here at the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center, the academy students have received in-depth and practical lessons in vocal music, dance, and acting from top instructors in each field, and have spent their time honing their skills through friendly competition.
The work "Baito Show," which is the culmination of the academy students' efforts, was first performed in 2016 in a theater-in-theater format at the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center Momijizaka Hall, with the audience seating placed on a revolving stage, allowing the audience to rotate 360 degrees, using the entire theater as a stage. It became a hot topic, and a total of five performances were completed by 2020.

The Academy will be performing a new omnibus musical in March 2022.
Meetings and partings, the passionate feelings and tears of young people, joy and bonds.
"Momijizaka Memories - Dedicated to those who climbed this hill" is an omnibus musical about the memories that are packed into Momijizaka.

What thoughts went into this culmination of the Academy's work, which features all of its students?
We spoke with Yokouchi Kensuke, who is the writer and executive producer.

Mr. Kensuke Yokouchi

Mr. Yokouchi's starting point, the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center

The reason I decided to open the academy was because of a prefectural project to revitalize Kanagawa Prefecture, with culture as one of its pillars. At the time, various cultural figures with ties to Kanagawa Prefecture, including myself, were approached.
When I heard that the goal was to promote arts and culture in Kanagawa Prefecture, the first thing that came to my mind was to do something about the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center, a place that was very important to me.
In an era when the word "workshop" as we know it today did not exist, the Kanagawa Youth Center was a pioneering and highly outstanding theater hall where famous up-and-coming playwrights and directors held seminars for high school students and held theater competitions for junior and senior high schools.
So, even though I was still a member of the drama club and was about to quit, I saw Tsuka Kohei's "Atami Murder Case" for the first time, a play that would later become a masterpiece.

I was so impressed that there was something so interesting in the world, and my life changed completely.
The Youth Center was where I decided to pursue a career in theater, so it became my starting point, so to speak. My first play, which I wrote at the age of 16, inspired by Tsukasa-san, was performed at the Kanagawa Prefectural Theatre Convention, which was held here.
This place, which shone as a mecca for young people who love art, has gradually become obscured with the changing times. With this background in mind, I wanted to make this important place shine once again, and I think it's fair to say that I started this as a way of giving back in my own way.
And so, we decided to use the Youth Center as a stage to create a place to train young people specializing in theater, something that didn't exist in Kanagawa at the time. And we set a goal of one day creating a "school" specializing in theater in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Seriously aiming to develop professionals

Now that we have created a place, we need to train people properly. We set out to provide thorough training and nurture "true professionals."
The instructors, including Lucky Ikeda and Keiko Fukasawa, also taught sincerely and with great dedication.
However, it's not that easy to train a young person with no experience from scratch, and I struggled for the first two years or so (laughs).
It finally started to take shape around the third year, and gradually some of the students went on to music college or started a professional acting career. It was definitely worthwhile. Above all, it was very moving to be raising children the same age as I was back then in the place where I first discovered my love for acting.

A scene from "Baito Show"

"Baito Show" is a performance that brings to fruition the efforts of the academy students

In 2016, the academy students were finally able to perform.
It was called a theater-in-theater, and we created seats on the stage and rotated the audience along with it, making full use of the stage in 360 degrees. To be honest, at first we were worried about attendance in this theater, which can accommodate 1,000 people, so this idea came about after much trial and error, but it was a huge success. It was a performance that could only be held at the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center, which has a revolving stage.
And during the curtain call, he vowed, "One day I'll fill the auditorium."

A scene from "Baito Show"

A scene from the ending of "Baito Show"

The culmination of eight years of work by the Performing Arts Academy: "Momijizaka Memories - Dedicated to those who climbed this hill"

The Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center is a mecca for theater and a sacred place for me.
To this day, many people, including myself, have climbed the hill with their own thoughts in mind, aiming for this place that stands on top of Momijizaka.
In particular, the story of the magistrate's office that flourished from the end of the Edo period through the Meiji era is a subject that I have been interested in for a long time.
By tracing the history of this area, I created an anthology-style, documentary-like work that tells the stories of the scenery, places and memories that this slope has seen.
As mentioned above, until now we have had audience seats on the stage, but this time we will be using real audience seats for the first time (lol). Furthermore, by removing about six rows of the front seats and using them as a stage, the entire venue will be given the image of a slope.
The performance will include some of the famous scenes from the "Part-Time Job Show" that was born on this hill, and I hope you will enjoy this culmination of our efforts.

Passing the baton to the next generation

As I mentioned at the beginning, when we founded this academy, our ultimate goal was to establish a school. And now, that goal has come true. Kanagawa Prefectural Comprehensive High School established a new performing arts department in April 2021. This is a major achievement, as it will be the first specialized performing arts department established at a public high school in the prefecture. And, students are scheduled to appear as volunteers in this upcoming performance.
We would like to use this performance as a place to continue what we have been doing up until now, which is to "nurture and learn from the real thing."
And of course there are performers, but I believe that there are also audience members who, like myself, will be exposed to theater here at the Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Center and go on to pursue theater or stage work in the future.
I'm really looking forward to that.

A message to graduating academy students