Rumi Matsui (松井るみ, born in Osaka, Japan) is a Japanese set designer and scenographer based in Tokyo. She is the president of Centreline Associates.

Biography

In 1985 Rumi Matsui completed her BA in graphic design at

Tama Art University or is a private art university located in Tokyo, Japan. It is known as one of the top art schools in Japan. History The forerunner of Tamabi was Tama Imperial Art School (多摩帝国美術学校, Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō) founded in 1935 ...

and joined

Shiki Theatre Company is one of Japan's best-known and largest theatre companies. Shiki Theatre Company employs over 800 actors and staff, and stages about 2800 performances a year. Shiki Theatre Company operates nine theaters for their exclusive use. Originally, t ...

. This led her into further education in theatre design at

Central School of Art and Design The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

in London. After her return to Japan in 1990, Matsui began her career as a set designer and scenographer establishing Centreline Associates Inc. in 1991. She has designed over four hundred theatrical productions and won numerous awards including Yomiuri Drama Grand Prix for the best set designer and the Kinokuniya Drama Award. In 2004, her Broadway debut

Pacific Overtures ''Pacific Overtures'' is a Musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by John Weidman, with "additional material by" Hugh Wheeler. Set in 19th-century Japan, it tells the story of the country's westernization ...

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater was ...

was nominated for the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

's Best Scenic Design of a Musical.

The Fantasticks ''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neigh ...

was taken to London's West End in 2010. She has also designed a number of opera sets such as Junior Butterfly for the 52nd

Puccini Festival The ''Festival Puccini'' (Puccini Festival) is an annual summer opera festival held in July and August to present the operas of the famous Italian composer Giacomo Puccini. The Festival is located in Torre del Lago, Italy, a town located between L ...

at Torre del Lago Puccini in Italy and Tea: A Mirror of Soul at

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the fir ...

in New Mexico. In recent years, she has been expanding her practice to concert set design, notably including Japanese pop group

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

at the National Athletic Stadium in 2014. Matsui also contributed the scenic design to Korin; a play inspired by ancient mythology about the origin of Japan, which was given as an offering to and performed at Kyoto's oldest Shinto shrine

Kamigamo Jinja is an important Shinto sanctuary on the banks of the Kamo River in north Kyoto, first founded in 678. Its formal name is the . It is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan and is one of the seventeen Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto which ...

. Matsui was a member of the jurors for

Prague Quadrennial Held in Prague once every four years since 1967, the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space or Prague Quadrennial is the world's largest event in the field of scenography, consisting of a competitive presentation of contemporary work in ...

'07 and she was listed as one of the Honorable Scenographers by OISTAT (International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians) in 2007. Matsui is currently a guest instructor of set design at

Tokyo University of the Arts or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, scul ...

, and remains the president of Centreline Associates Inc., one of the major theatre set design companies in Japan.

Selected works

Musical

*''

Rainbow Prelude is a manga by Osamu Tezuka, and also the name of one of his books in Kodansha's line of "Osamu Tezuka Manga Complete Works" books, contains a collection of Tezuka's short stories. The stories included in the book are "Rainbow Prelude", "Th ...

'' (2014), directed by Yukio Ueshima *''

The Addams Family ''The Addams Family'' is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' over a ...

'' (2014), directed by Akira Shirai *''

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

'' (2013), directed by Kazuya Yamada *''

Mozart, l'opéra rock ''Mozart, l'opéra rock'' ("Mozart, the rock opera") is a French musical with music by Dove Attia, Jean-Pierre Pilot, Olivier Schultheis, William Rousseau, Nicolas Luciani, Rodrigue Janois and François Castello, lyrics by Vincent Baguian and Pa ...

'' (2013), directed by Philip McKinley *''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' (2012), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''Gold –Camille and Rodin'' (2011), directed by Akira Shirai *'' Piaf'' (2011, 2013), directed by Akira Shirai *''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

'' (2011), directed by Toru Kikkawa *''

Gone With the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Win ...

'' (2011), directed by Kazuya Yamada *''Only Yesterday'' (2011), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''

'' (2010), directed by

Amon Miyamoto Amon Miyamoto (, born January 4, 1958, in Tokyo) has directed numerous productions in Japan and worldwide, from musicals, straight plays, opera, and kabuki as well as other art genres. In 2004, he became the first Japanese director to direct a m ...

*''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...

'' (2009, 2012), directed by John Caird *'' Blood Brothers'' (2009, 2010), directed by Glen Walford *''Rudolf –the last kiss'' (2008), directed by Amon Miyamoto *''

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial ''The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London urban legend, legend. A barber fr ...

'' (2007, 2011, 2013), directed by Amon Miyamoto *''Here's Love'' (2004, 2005), directed by Toru Kikkawa *''

Urinetown ''Urinetown: The Musical'' is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, burea ...

'' (2004), directed by Amon Miyamoto *''

The Witches of Eastwick ''The Witches of Eastwick'' is a 1984 novel by American writer John Updike. A sequel, '' The Widows of Eastwick'', was published in 2008. Plot The story, set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick in the early 1970s, follows the witch ...

'' (2003, 2005, 2008), directed by Kazuya Yamada *''

The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 an ...

'' (2003, 2005), directed by Akira Shirai *''

'' (2000, 2002, 2004), directed by Amon Miyamoto

Play

*''

Mercury Fur ''Mercury Fur'' is a play written by Philip Ridley which premiered in 2005. It is Ridley's fifth adult stage play and premiered at the Plymouth Theatre Royal, before moving to the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. Set against the backdrop of a ...

'' (2015), directed by Akira Shirai *''

Sanada Ten Braves The are a legendary group of ninja that assisted the warlord Sanada Yukimura during the Warring States era of Japan; that is, the late Sengoku period and its immediate aftermath, also known as the Azuchi–Momoyama and the early Edo periods. Th ...

'' (2014), directed by

Yukihiko Tsutsumi is a Japanese television and film director. He began directing commercials and music promotion videos as an employee of Nihon Television. After spending time abroad, he returned and started his own production company, ''Office Crescendo'', from w ...

*''

Pygmalion Pygmalion or Pigmalion may refer to: Mythology * Pygmalion (mythology), a sculptor who fell in love with his statue Stage * ''Pigmalion'' (opera), a 1745 opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau * ''Pygmalion'' (Rousseau), a 1762 melodrama by Jean-Jacques ...

'' (2013), directed by Keiko Miyata *''

Lost in Yonkers ''Lost in Yonkers'' is a play by Neil Simon. The play won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Production The play premiered at The Center for the Performing Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on December 31, 1990, then moved to Broadway at ...

'' (2013), directed by

Kōki Mitani is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after ''Taihō Kōki'', the youngest sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics at Nihon ...

*'' True West'' (2013), directed by Scott Elliott *''Bun to Fun'' (2013), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''Headache, Stiff Neck, Ichiyo Higuchi'' (2013), directed byTamiya Kuriyama *''

The Dresser ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'' (2013), directed by Kōki Mitani *''Soldiers in the Tree'' (2013), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''Sonan,'' (2012), directed by

Yukiko Motoya is a Japanese novelist, playwright, theatre director, and former voice actress. She has won numerous Japanese literary and dramatic awards, including the Akutagawa Prize, the Noma Literary New Face Prize, the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Kenzaburo ...

*''

The King's Speech ''The King's Speech'' is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays the future King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech and language ...

'' (2012), directed by Yumi Suzuki *''Yabuhara, the Blind Master Minstrel'' (2012), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' (russian: Вишнёвый сад, translit=Vishnyovyi sad) is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by ''Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition ...

'' (2012), directed by Kōki Mitani *''The Sister'' (2011), directed by Masahiko Kawahara *''Crazy Honey'' (2011), directed by Yukiko Motoya *''Rain'' (2011), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''

Top Girls ''Top Girls'' is a 1982 play by Caryl Churchill. It centres around Marlene, a career-driven woman who is heavily invested in women's success in business. The play examines the roles available to women in old society, and what it means or takes fo ...

'' (2011), directed by Yumi Suzuki *''Jeanne d'Ark'' (2010), directed by Akira Shirai *''

Harper Regan ''Harper Regan'' is a two-act play by Simon Stephens that premiered at the National Theatre in 2008. Setting Set in UK, Autumn of 2006 : from Uxbridge to Stockport to Manchester and back. Synopsis One woman's struggle with the difficulties of ...

'' (2010), directed by Keishi Nagatsuka *''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'' (2010, 2013), directed by

Mansai Nomura is a well known Kyogen stage actor, and film actor. He played Abe no seimei in '' Onmyoji'' and ''Onmyoji 2'', an original work by Baku Yumemakura. He received the Best Actor prize at the Blue Ribbon Awards for his work in '' Onmyoji''. Career ...

*'' The Seafarer'' (2009), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''Sakurahime'' (2009), Kazuyoshi Kushida *''Henry IV'' (2009), directed by Akira Shirai *''Shun-kin'' (2008, 2009, 2010, 2013), directed by

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatrical director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films ''The Manchurian Candidate'', ...

''Review: 'Shun-kin' knows the art of seduction''
Charles McNulty, ''

The LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', Los Angeles, 28 Sep 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2015. *''Kuni Nusubito'' (2007, 2009), directed by Mansai Nomura *''Hysteria'' (2007), directed by Akira Shirai *''

The Fastest Clock in the Universe ''The Fastest Clock in the Universe'' is a two act play by Philip Ridley. It was Ridley's second stage play and premiered at the Hampstead Theatre, London on 14 May 1992 and featured Jude Law in his first paid theatre role, playing the part of F ...

'' (2003), directed by Akira Shirai *''Pitchfork Disney'' (2002), directed by Akira Shirai *''

The Elephant Man Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then wen ...

'' (2002), directed by Keiko Miyata

Opera

*''

Die tote Stadt ' (German for ''The Dead City''), Op. 12, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold set to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold. It is based on the 1892 novel '' Bruges-la-Mo ...

'' (2014), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''

Lear Lear or Leir may refer to: Acronyms * Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios, a Mexican association of revolutionary artists and writers * Low Energy Ion Ring, an ion pre-accelerator of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN ** Low Energy Antipr ...

'' (2013), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''

Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Flittermouse'' or ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original ...

'' (2013), directed by Akira Shirai *''

La Damnation de Faust ''La damnation de Faust'' (English: ''The Damnation of Faust''), Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a "''légende dramatique'' ...

'' (2010), directed by Sakiko Oshima *''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...

'' (2010), directed by Akira Shirai *''

La Traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

'' (2009), directed by Amon Miyamoto *''

Turandot ''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is "Nessun dorma", whi ...

'' (2008), directed by Amon Miyamoto *'' Tea: A Mirror of Soul'' (2007, 2010, 2013), directed byAmon Miyamoto *''

Daphne Daphne (; ; el, Δάφνη, , ), a minor figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in whi ...

'' (2007), directed by Sakiko Oshima *''White Nights'' (2006, 2009), directed by Akira Shirai *''Junior Butterfly'' (2006, 2014), directed by

Masahiko Shimada is a Japanese writer. He has won the Noma Literary New Face Prize, the Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature, the Itō Sei Literature Prize, and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award. His work has been translated into English. Biography While stud ...

Takarazuka Revue The is a Japanese all-female musical theatre troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals and stories adapted from films, novels, manga, and Japane ...

*Star Troupe: ''South Pacific'' (2013), directed by Ryo Harada *Flower Troupe: ''Poetry of Love and Revolution - Andrea Chénier-'' (2013), directed by Keiko Ueda *Snow Troupe: ''Spring Lightning'' (2013), directed by Ryo Harada

Concert

: Spring Concerts (2014) * AKB48: Summer Tour (2013)

Awards

*38th Kazuo Kikuta Drama Award (2013) *19th Yomiuri Grand Drama Award for Best Designer (2012) *15th Yomiuri Grand Drama Award for Best Designer (2008) *59th

Nominee for the Best Scenic Design of a Musical (2005) *Yomiuri Grand Drama Award for the Grand Prix of Best Designer (2002) *Kinokuniya Drama Award (2002) *Novi Sad International Theatre Festival Special Jury's Award (2001) *8th Yomiuri Grand Drama Award for Best Designer (2000) *Kisaku Ito Award for newcomers (1997)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsui, Rumi Living people Japanese artists Japanese scenic designers Broadway set designers Year of birth missing (living people)