The Kanagawa Short Play Awards 2023 will be held on March 25th and 26th
The Kanagawa Short Play Awards 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 selected from the submitted works.
The Kanagawa Short Play Awards 2023 will be attended by the top two groups that win the right to perform in the 22nd Century Flying Frame Selection Tournament (a selection tournament for prefectural high school students), which can be considered a preliminary competition and was held in January of this year.
This time, we spoke to the top two groups, "Zama Comprehensive High School Drama Club" and "Magical Girl JINDAIS☆ (Kanagawa University High School Drama Club)," about their enthusiasm for the award.
[Prefectural Zama Comprehensive High School Drama Club] 22nd Century Flying 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 was forced to withdraw from last year's competition due to the impact of the coronavirus, but this year the situation has calmed down a bit and I felt hopeful that I might be able to take part, so I decided to give it a go.
I was so happy when we were selected as one of the top two teams! I felt like we were very lucky.
I feel that the production was appreciated for involving the judges and audience in the performance, which is rare in high school theater.
-Please tell us about the content of the performance (program) and what are the highlights of the program?
We will be performing the comedy "You're in the way and I can't study."
The play 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 exams. Her mother, who is funny and a little eccentric, wants attention from her daughter, and suddenly enters the room and does all sorts of things to disturb her studying. The audience is watching the interaction between the 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 best part of the performance 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 the play, we will try to 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 the training.
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 in order to elicit 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 competition. Challenging ourselves with new performances was hard work, but also fun.
I think that by thinking about difficult things for ourselves and overcoming them, 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 visitors.
We want to perform with all our might so that the audience can enjoy themselves to the fullest!
And we have a request for all the audience who watched 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 feedback to help us learn from it.
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 Flying Frame / Scheduled to be performed on March 26th
We spoke to three members: club president Matsumoto (who plays Seiichi), club member 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 Tosho Category Selection Competition held in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic at the time, we were unable to perform at 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 we had ever felt before.
I feel that the fact that all the members of the club were constantly smiling during practice led to a unified performance which 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 are the highlights of the program?
The play is called "Magical Relationships" and the script was written by our drama club coach, who is also an alumnus of ours.
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 one unique character after another.
I would also like you to pay attention to the fact that 16 characters are played by eight people.
The highlight of the work is the interaction between Maho and the apartment residents. It moves at a brisk pace, but I think you'll find the interactions between the characters interesting no matter where you look.
Also, Maho's emotions are most clearly expressed at the climax. I hope the audience can empathize with that too.
-Please tell us if you had any difficulties during practice.
The practice time until the actual event was short, about one month.
Among these, it was difficult to empathize with non-human characters such as a wizard and a cat, and to think up their movements and gestures.
Also, as this was my first time acting in a comedy, it took me some time to get used to the unique speed, and I also found it difficult to balance serious scenes with funny/retortician scenes.
Although it was difficult, the seniors and juniors were close and the practice was fun, and we were able to grow a lot by receiving professional advice from a coach who belongs to a theater company, so it was a good opportunity for us to reaffirm the appeal of our drama club.
This is the big day that they have finally reached after overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. Please come to the venue to see the joy of performing in front of a large audience, and the lively performances of high school students immersed in their roles and enjoying themselves to the fullest.
