The Kanagawa Short Play Awards 2023 will be held on March 25th and 26th.
The Kanagawa Short Play Award 2023, a theater and drama competition, will be held at the KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theater Large Studio on Saturday, March 25th and Sunday, March 26th, 2023, and the grand prize will be decided from among the performed works.
The Kanagawa Short Play Award 2023 will be attended by the top two groups that won the right to perform in the 22nd Century Flying Frame Selection Tournament (a prefectural high school student selection tournament), which was held in January of this year and can be considered a preliminary competition.
This time, we spoke to the members of the Drama Club of Prefectural Zama Comprehensive High School and the Drama Club of Magical Girl JINDAIS☆ (Kanagawa University High School Drama Club), who were selected as the top two groups, about their enthusiasm for the award.
[Prefectural Zama Comprehensive High School Drama Club] 22nd Century Flight Frame / Scheduled to be performed on March 25th
We spoke to three members of the drama club: Uchida-san (who plays the daughter), Sato-san (who plays the mother), and the drama club advisor.
-What motivated you to apply to the competition, and how did you feel when you were selected as one of the top two teams?
In late November, our advisor asked the two of us if we wanted to take part in a competition. I remember feeling very happy and rewarded as an actor.
I had to withdraw from last year's competition due to the influence of the coronavirus, but this year the situation has calmed down a bit, so I felt hopeful that I might be able to participate, and decided to give it a try.
I was so happy when we were selected as one of the top two teams! I felt so lucky.
I think the production was appreciated for involving the judges and audience, which is rare in high school theater.
-Please tell us about the content of the performance (program) and what are the highlights?
We will be performing the comedy "You're in the way and I can't study."
The story features two characters: a mother and her daughter. The daughter is an ordinary, earnest girl who doesn't want to be disturbed while studying for her entrance exams. Her mother, who is funny and a bit eccentric, wants her daughter's attention, but suddenly enters her room and uses every trick in the book to disrupt her studies. The audience is watching the interaction between mother and daughter from the other side of the wall.
I think the key point is how it portrays the contrasting personalities of mother and daughter in an entertaining way.
And the highlight of the show was, of course, the "act that involved the audience," which is not often used in high school plays and was well received in the judges' comments!
As we perform, we will grasp the characteristics of the audience and get them involved, so I hope you will enjoy the show with us.
-Please tell us if there was anything difficult about practice.
It was difficult to complete my first attempt at a comedy piece with only about three weeks to prepare.
I was told I could act freely, so I tried out a variety of movements.
Because there was such a high degree of freedom, it was very difficult to act while thinking about each step, such as how we should move to get a reaction from the audience.
We revised the lines every time we practiced, and continued revising them right up until the day of the preliminary round. Challenging ourselves with new performances was both challenging and enjoyable.
I think that by thinking about and overcoming difficult challenges on our own, we were able to grow little by little as actors.
-Finally, please tell us your enthusiasm for the main event and a message to the audience.
We want to perform with all our might and have fun so that the audience can enjoy themselves to the fullest!
And we have a request for all the audience members who came to see the film: please help us by filling out our survey.
We high school students don't usually have many opportunities to receive feedback on our acting, so we would be very grateful if you could give us your opinions to help us learn from them.
A questionnaire will be distributed upon entry, so please feel free to give your feedback.
[Magical Girl JINDAIS☆ (Kanagawa University High School Drama Club)] 22nd Century Flight Frame / Scheduled to be performed on March 26th
We spoke to three members: the club president Matsumoto (who plays Seiichi), club members Waguri (who plays Maho), and Kubota (who plays the black cat Goo).
-What motivated you to apply to the competition, and how did you feel when you were selected as one of the top two teams?
Our seniors in the drama club were selected as the grand prize winners at the 2020 Tosho Selection Competition, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic at the time, we were unable to perform at the KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre.
Recently, the situation in the world has calmed down, and I thought that it might be possible to perform at KAAT, which was not possible at the time, so I decided to take on the competition, carrying the hopes of my predecessors with me.
When we were selected as one of the top groups to receive guidance from the judges before the main competition, we were filled with a sense of surprise like nothing I had ever felt before.
I think the fact that all the members of the club were constantly smiling during practice led to a unified performance that was well received.
The seniors were also very happy to be selected as one of the top groups. We are very happy and excited to be able to perform this play at KAAT!
Please tell us about the content of the performance (program) and what to look forward to.
The play is called "Magical Relationships" and the script was written by our drama club coach, who is also an alumnus of our school.
A slapstick romantic comedy set in an apartment, starring the witch Maho.
A young man named Seiichi, who has just moved in, finds out that she is a wizard...and from there the story unfolds with the help of a cast of unique characters.
I would also like you to pay attention to the fact that 16 characters are played by eight people.
The highlight of the series is the interactions between Maho and the apartment residents. The story moves along at a brisk pace, and I think you'll find the interactions between the characters entertaining no matter where you look.
Also, Maho's emotions are most clearly expressed at the climax, and I hope the audience will empathize with them.
-Please tell us if there was anything difficult about practice.
The training time before the actual event was short, about one month.
Among these, it was difficult to empathize with non-human characters such as wizards and cats, and to think about their movements and gestures.
Also, as this was my first attempt at comedy, it took me some time to get used to the unique sense of speed, and I found it difficult to balance the serious scenes with the funny and retort scenes.
Although it was difficult, the seniors and juniors in the club were close and we were able to practice in a fun way, and we were able to grow a lot by receiving professional advice from a coach who is a member of a theater company, so it was a good opportunity for us to reaffirm the appeal of our drama club.
This grand stage has been reached after overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. Please come to the venue to witness the joy of performing in front of a large audience, and the lively performances of high school students as they immerse themselves in their roles and enjoy themselves to the fullest.
