is a Japanese avant-garde
theatre director
A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...
and playwright. He was at the forefront of the ''
Angura
, also known as the "Little Theater" (小劇場, ''shōgekijō'') movement, was a Japanese avant-garde theater movement in the 1960s and 1970s that reacted against the Bertolt Brecht, Brechtian modernism and formalist realism of postwar ''Shingeki ...
'' ("underground") theatre movement in Japan.
Early life and education
Makoto Satō was born in
Shinjuku
, officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropol ...
,
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, on 23 August 1943. In 1965, he dropped out of
Waseda University
Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...
to complete
Haiyuza Theatre Company's training program.
Career
In 1966, Satō co-founded the
Angura
, also known as the "Little Theater" (小劇場, ''shōgekijō'') movement, was a Japanese avant-garde theater movement in the 1960s and 1970s that reacted against the Bertolt Brecht, Brechtian modernism and formalist realism of postwar ''Shingeki ...
theatre troupe "Liberty Theatre" (自由劇場, ''Jiyū Gekijō'') to perform
Angura
, also known as the "Little Theater" (小劇場, ''shōgekijō'') movement, was a Japanese avant-garde theater movement in the 1960s and 1970s that reacted against the Bertolt Brecht, Brechtian modernism and formalist realism of postwar ''Shingeki ...
-style productions.
The troupe staged its early productions in a tiny rented basement beneath a plate glass store, which it promoted as its "Underground Theater" (アンダーグラウンド・シアター, ''Andāguraundo Shiatā'').
[ This seems to have been the origin of the name "]Angura
, also known as the "Little Theater" (小劇場, ''shōgekijō'') movement, was a Japanese avant-garde theater movement in the 1960s and 1970s that reacted against the Bertolt Brecht, Brechtian modernism and formalist realism of postwar ''Shingeki ...
," which was an abbreviation for "underground."[
In the late 1960s, the Liberty Theatre merged with several other groups to eventually become the , primarily under Satō's creative direction, which traveled around Japan staging productions in a large black tent and became one of the most successful and profitable Angura troupes.]
References
1943 births
Living people
People from Shinjuku
Japanese theatre directors
20th-century Japanese dramatists and playwrights
{{playwright-stub