Oriza Hirata

Oriza Hirata is artistic director of the Seinendan Theatre Company, which he founded in 1983 while still in college. Besides his own plays that tour both Japan and abroad, he is a director of other playwrights’ work and an influential commentator on contemporary social and political issues. In 2011, France’s Ministry of Culture honored Hirata with the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. At present, Hirata is research professor of the COI Research Promotion Office at the Tokyo University of the Arts.