In April 2010, Junnosuke Tada became Japan's youngest-ever artistic director of a public theater when, at age 33, he was appointed by the Kirari Fujimi Theater in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture.
Such meteoric progress (in Japanese terms) was an emphatic vindication of Tada's decision to concentrate on creating live theater with his fellow students rather than on his film course at Nihon University College of Art. He chose the stage, he said, because he realized it was easier to be creative sooner and more cheaply through theater than film. So, after he graduated in 2001, he founded his Tokyo Death Lock (TDL) theater company with his friends.
Two years later, while still working with TDL, Tada reached a turning point when he also joined leading dramatist Oriza Hirata's Tokyo-based Seinendan company. At Seinendan, he was given the opportunity to direct more experienced actors and learn about business and how subsidies are awarded. Then in 2005, Tada added a third string to his bow when he started working part-time with the sound staff at the Kirari Fujimi theater — where TDL was awarded a three-year contract as its resident company in 2008.
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