ABOUT US

SAITAMA ARTS FOUNDATION (SAF), as the designated administrator of SAITAMA ARTS THEATER and SAITAMA HALL, strives to promote performing arts and culture more, and for Saitama prefectural citizens to have full realization of affluent life in the local community. To achieve them, our missions are;

• To create and promote performing arts such as plays, dance, music of high artistic quality.
• To provide spaces for cultural activities and presentations by renting our halls, rehearsal rooms, etc.
• To support cultivating the theatrical human resources and creating their cultural activities by offering educational programs such as lectures on technical aspects of theatre.

Artistic Program

THEATER

Under the guidance of the internationally-renowned drama director Yukio Ninagawa, who has held the post of Artistic Director since 1996, Saitama Arts Theater is engaged in a number of ambitious theatrical projects as a public theater. For example, our “Sai-no-kuni Shakespeare Series” aims to stage all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays. Other projects include the “Saitama Gold Theater,” whose performers are all aged 55 or over, and the “Saitama Next Theatre,” which showcases the next-generation of young actors. We create a fully-rounded line-up that gives people from all walks of the life the chance to enjoy a wonderful theater experience, such as our programs of staging works by internationally-active directors, or the “Sai-no-kuni Family Theater” aimed at families with young children.

DANCE

Saitama Arts Theater has long been a home to the best in Japanese dance. We have put together a program that surveys the international dance scene from the 1980s onwards, including works by Pina Bausch, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián and many others. We have also staged a number of internationally co-produced works, including Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal’s “Tenchi.” In recent times, while bringing you the latest in dance performance from Japan and overseas, our line-up has tried to reflect the state of contemporary dance, with its sense of depth and a diversity that transcends genres to incorporate aspects of performing and visual arts from all over the world.

MUSIC

We try putting together a musical line-up that brings out the best of our highly-acclaimed concert hall (604 seats) for its acoustics. Our reputation as a home for piano music was cemented by the “100 Pianists” series and this has now been followed by the “Piano Étoile Series.” We bring you the best in music performances; the internationally-renowned “Bach Collegium Japan,” the ensembles featuring top-class musicians and concert series such as “Artist’s NOW” and “Masterpieces for the Next Generation”, contributing to enrich the music scene in Japan.

TRADITIONAL PERFORMING ARTS

Since its opening, Saitama Arts Theater has been introducing the best of Japanese traditional performing arts, such as Noh theatre, kyogen and rakugo. In particular, aiming to be a launch pad for new comic performances, our theater periodically holds rakugo shows. We also established our “Sai-no-kuni rakugo Grand Prize” for the best young rakugo storyteller of the year selected by the audience’s vote. Previous winners have gone on to become some of the best and most popular storytellers of today, and our theater is now attracting attention as a breeding ground for the rakugo stars of the future.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITES

Our theater works together with the local community to arouse an interest in the theatrical arts through the programs that allow parents and children experience and join together. We are also engaged in cooperative programs with local schools, universities and other educational institutions.