Komaba Agora Theater will stage a monthlong theater festival this summer, as they have done twice a year since 1989, aimed at exposing young, regional theater companies to a wider audience.
From this year, however, the festival is being relaunched as an annual event called "Summer Festival PAN."
The change follows the appointment of festival director Mikuni Yanaihara, who is known for her work in the international theater world, as well as having founded the Nibroll dance company. To mark her debut as festival director, Yanaihara has lined up a notably colorful program of dancing and theatrical performance drawn from the entire country.
Yanaihara will also present her own most recent play, "Hey Timon, Let's Think Positive," which riffs off Shakespeare's "The Life of Timon of Athens" to depict humans' power to overcome adversity.
Summer Festival PAN will be performed at the Komaba Agora Theater through Sept. 27, and "Hey Timon, Let's Think Positive" runs from Sept. 1- 4 at the same venue. The theater is a 3-min. walk from Komaba Todaimae Station on the Keio Inokashira Line. For more information, call (03) 3467-2743 or visit www.komaba-agora.com.