"We always start creating our next work by having a meeting with everyone involved in the drama club," high school teacher Michiko Ishii explained.
"We discuss what is actually happening around us and what we should focus on in the next play. So, what we create actually comes out of our daily lives."
It was no different when Ishii, 50, and her students launched into their latest project last May — an original work now titled "Ahiruzuki 13 (Duck Month 13)" that had its premiere last month before packed audiences at the Oji Fringe Theatre in Tokyo. But over this coming weekend of March 20-22, comes the acid test — when the school-age cast perform "Ahiruzuki 13" as part of "I-Play Fes 2014" on their home ground in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.