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I, Manabu Noda, have worked in the Executive Committee since 2021, representing the Japanese section of the IATC. Japan has been on the ExCom since 2008, and with my predecessors of IATC Japan, Mariko Anazawa and Akiko Tachiki, I feel proud that we have lived up to the trust our international colleagues of the IATC have shown to us. It was our great pleasure to have had our IATC Colleagues in Japan with us in 2006 (IVP), in 2010 (International Symposium on Asia), and 2023 (ExCom). Also, I have been involved in Critical Stages/Scènes critiques since its launch.
In the face of wars, conflicts, and the pandemic, theatre has shown to us that there still remain vital paths to highlight, share, and discuss our human needs, wants, and aspirations. The IATC has enabled us to exchange our views on arguably the most human form of art, to learn the unknown, and to discuss what is to come. We have kept ourselves alert for the difficulties our international colleagues are caught in. We have offered helping hands for those who wish to join our dialogues in theatre criticism. And above all, we have been unflinching in advocating for the freedom of artistic expression. With some key elections in the world this year which may pose tough challenges in the future, it is of vital importance for us IATC to keep on dedicating ourselves to these missions. Working as an ExCom member for our common goals has always been a fulfilling job. I hope you will continue to show your trust for my second term so that I can work for you further.
Manabu Noda short bio
Manabu Noda (b. 1963) of IATC Japan is Professor at School of Arts and Letters, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan. As a theatre critic and researcher, he has written on British and Japanese theatre, acting and theatre history. He has contributed reviews to two national newspapers – the Asahi Shimbun and the Nikkei – as well as several theatre journals. He is Executive Committee member of AICT-IATC (2021- ), and editor of the Theatre Arts (IATC Japan). His English publications include “Distant Past, Distant Future, and Covid Proximity: From Japanese Theatre Scene before and after the Corona Breakout” (2022); “Seen from Close-up in the Distance: Shibuya as a bubble downtown,” Okada Toshiki & Japanese Theatre, ed. by Peter Eckersall, et al. (2021); “Immersion as the Inscription of Theatre-Maker’s Reading: Complicite, The Encounter,” Contemporary Drama and Performative Space: From Playwriting to Immersive Theatre (Theatre Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia: 2018); “The Fabric of Traditional Theatre: Archived Memories and the Question of Cultural Ownership,” Critical Stages/Scènes critiques, Issue 7 (2012); “From Articulation to Synthesis: Stage Passions from the Eighteenth to Early Nineteenth Centuries in England,” Aufführungsdiskurse im 18. Jahrhundert: Bühnenästhetik, Theaterkritik und Öffentlichkeit (2011); “The Politics of Stage Violence in Japan Today,’ Theatre and Humanism in a World of Violence, ed. by Ian Herbert and Kalina Stefanova (2009); and ‘The Body Ill at Ease in Post-War Japanese Theatre,’ New Theatre Quarterly, 23:3 (2007).