"The play was written nearly 30 years ago, but I feel the situation for women has hardly changed at all. In fact, it hasn't fundamentally changed for 100 years, even though Japanese women got the vote around 65 years ago," said theater producer Akiko Kitamura when asked why she chose to stage the well-known British feminist play "Top Girls" in Tokyo.

"Top Girls" was written by Caryl Churchill, 72, a British dramatist well known for her feminist themes and exploration of gender politics. As one of Churchill's signature plays, it has been performed countless times worldwide since it premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1982. Though it has already been staged twice in Japan as major commercial productions (in 1983 and 1992), it still has much to offer the modern Japanese audience, says Kitamura, one of the few female leading theater producers in Japan.

Born in Kyoto, Kitamura, 63, grew up influenced by kabuki and ballet. She became an actress before meeting the dramatist Hideki Noda in the mid '80s, after which she chose to take a backstage role with his company. In 1989, she started her own actors' management and theater production company, called SIS Company, through which she has since become a major force in Japan's entertainment world. On top of her career, Kitamura, a single mother, managed to provide for and bring up her daughter. It is no surprise then that "Top Girls" resonates so well with her.