This experimental challenge, started on instinct and enthusiasm, may change the world of theater!
Inaba Yoshie was recommended by five judges at the 33rd Yomiuri Theater Awards in 2025, and was nominated for the Outstanding Director Award with three of them giving her the highest score. As expected, she won the Best Director Award, making her the number one young director in both name and reality. The play she is directing, "Endless Room," will be performed at Studio HIKARI at the Prefectural Youth Center.
With anticipation, I took a look at the work's website, which reads, "I'm going to think about sound. This work is born from sound. Night, distance, whispers, silence, life, death - a musical that raises a variety of questions." A musical that considers sound? Does it discuss views on life and death? I wanted to know more about what kind of work it is! So I spoke to the artist himself.
-There is very little prior information about this work, "Endless Room," so how did it come about?
In the productions I have directed up until now, I have had a script first, then I would read it and draw up a blueprint, and then I would ask the various staff and cast members to work on it and create the production. I always felt like I was always dependent on the script, which may sound harsh, but I ended up becoming a "slave to the book." That style is not necessarily bad, but this time I was allowed to take on a new challenge, so I thought I would try starting from scratch without a book.
- Why did you choose musical theatre for this challenge?
I belong to a theatre company called Bungakuza, and have always worked on straight plays (theatres with only dialogue and no singing), but for some reason over the past two or three years I have been given work on musical plays and musicals. I don't dislike music, but I'm not particularly knowledgeable about it either. I just vaguely see "music" as a very "material to think about" in "theatre," and I thought it was a theme that needed to be studied in depth, rather than something that could be answered with one or two productions.
I've always felt that musical theatre, as perceived by Japanese people, has a different spirit from that of Western musicals, and while that sense of incongruity can be interesting, I felt that it would be difficult to adapt to a style that forces people to fit into a mold when creating a musical translated from an overseas language. However, when I was offered the job of creating a musical translated from an overseas language, I rushed ahead without any solution to the question of how to resolve that sense of incongruity. Fortunately, I was blessed with a great staff and cast, and the performance was a success, but it also highlighted a number of issues.
From there, I thought I would try to put on a performance that would allow people to physically read "sound."
I think that if everyone could ask questions and discuss things that have traditionally been considered ``obvious'' on an equal footing, such as ``What does music mean to theater?'' and ``Why do musicals have singing?'', we could get closer to solving the problem.
Initially, I wanted to take on the challenge of "starting from scratch without a book," and as a result, I decided to go with a style in which the scriptwriter, director, musicians, and actors all shared their opinions and created the play together.
So when I thought about who might be willing to take on such a risky project, I made offers to people who my intuition told me would be good candidates, and they all agreed, saying it sounded interesting, and that's how we ended up with the current group of people.
What was your connection with each of them?
I have never worked with the screenwriter, Izumi Kasagi, and we only had dinner together once when a mutual acquaintance introduced us, saying, "I think we'd be a perfect match!" I was also given a copy of one of her plays, and when I read it, I felt that we had similar linguistic senses and interests.
When I came up with this project, I had no basis for it, but I thought, "Maybe Kasagi-san would do it." In fact, when I made the offer, he responded with a grateful "I see, that sounds interesting."
And during our first meeting, the name of the film director that came up as an example was my favorite director. And it was a pretty obscure director's name. From there, I was like, "Well, don't you like this one too?" and he replied, "Yes, I do!" It was actually a little scary how well we matched.
I worked with music director Mugi Furukawa on the translated musical I mentioned earlier, and we both had questions as we created the piece. Yukiko Nishii also played the piano, which was an important motif in that musical. These two are the people I trust the most, and I've shared the questions I've had with them over the past three or four years.
I have only had the opportunity to have dinner with actor Nishikawa Daiki once, but he is a musical theatre major and has personally raised questions such as, "What should the current theatre world be like?" I thought he would definitely want to think about the question I asked today together.
I have worked with Haruko Sekiya and Koichiro Tomioka before. I think Sekiya is a very strict person. I feel that she is particularly prone to trial and error when it comes to musical creation, and she was on board with this project, which was unsure where it would lead, saying it sounded interesting.
Tomioka was also grateful, saying, "It's interesting to have a place for experimentation and challenges. Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"
-By working on this project with these people, have you found answers to the questions that you have?
In fact, the work is not yet complete. (At the time of this interview, January 22, 2026) However, I wonder, "What will this be like?"
I think that in previous projects, I would have stopped myself from asking such an obvious question, but this time, bringing it to light and asking the question is clearly linked to the creative process.
Kasagi-san creates the play as notes from everyone's discussions, and while using those notes as a framework, I'm taking an approach I've never tried before: capturing the sounds I hear in the moment, like the air conditioning or someone coughing, and then trying to connect them to the keywords written in the play. For example, rather than just being able to understand the specificity of something vague like "space" on my own, I get a "Oh! This is it!" feeling from everyone in the room. It's a time-consuming process, but it's thrilling at the moment. I feel like I've been able to embody it to the point where the audience can experience that thrill as well.
I would like to find an answer to that question, and I think I am beginning to find one, but the completion of this one work does not mean it is over; I am sure that questions and doubts on a higher level will arise. I think it will probably take 10 or 20 years to think about it, and there is a big difference between starting and not starting, so I think this is a meaningful step.
- Other than the sound, was there anything else you requested from everyone, especially from the scriptwriter, Kasagi-san?
I told Kasagi, "I often create works that deal with the view of life and death." This may be a bit of a leap, but performing a Shakespearean play from 400 years ago means that words from 400 years ago are spoken here and now, and I think theater is an art form that gives the feeling that the words of the dead are coming back to life.
The reason I go to the theater is because it allows me to remember and feel connected to important people, things, and times that I have lost, even in stories that have nothing to do with me. I think that theater is that kind of place. And I think the thing that strikes a chord in that way is sound.
I wanted to create a space where 100 people in the audience could recall 100 different important memories, so I explained that while Kasagi's own play is strong, I wanted it to be something that would allow each person to relive their own personal story.
The sense of incongruity I feel with musicals and musical theatre in relation to this personal story is that it feels unrealistic, like there's a membrane between the stage and the audience. This time, by presenting sound as something closer to home, I think it will become a dialogue rather than one-way communication.
-Finally, what was your intention behind the title "Endless Room"?
It was one of the several candidates that Kasagi-san suggested. I'm a fan of Michael Ende, so his "The Neverending Story" came to mind, and "neverending" gives off an image of fear, but also dreams and connections. On the other hand, "room" gives off an image of being personal and alone, so I thought the combination of opposite words would be good. This is also the first time that the title has been decided before the book has even been published.
In the second part of this article, we will introduce the path that Inaba, one of the most talked-about directors today, took to become a director, as well as his future prospects now that he has been in the industry for 15 years.
The 311th Kanagawa Prefectural Youth Arts Theater "Endless Room" (February 20-23, 2026 @ Studio HIKARI)
This work is born from words and sounds.
Distance, whispers, night, friends, love, silence, death...
A musical drama that takes shape based on keywords.
A new play by Izumi Kasagi, winner of the 69th Kishida Drama Award,
The play is directed by Inaba Yoshie, winner of the Best Director Award at the 33rd Yomiuri Theater Awards.
