Born in 1985, Takahiro Fujita is one of the youngest playwright/directors to receive recognition among Japan’s “zero generation” (theater people emerging after 2000). While studying theater at Japan’s Obirin University he started his “Mum and Gypsy” theater company. He has pioneered a new form of theater that takes memories as expressions of a person’s inner world and depicts them from different angles in repeated scenes that take on the feeling of refrains and produce a result that might be likened to a collection of photos of sensitive young women. In this interview Fujita talks about his first encounters with theater and the development of his art until now.

Based in a renovated building that was formerly Germany’s oldest tram warehouse, tanzhaus nrw is one of Europe’s foremost dance centers engaging in a wide variety of dance workshops and performance events. It is an organization with roots that go back to 1973, when artists of Dusseldorf gathered with an empty factory as their base of operations. At the age of 65, Bertram Mueller continues to lead tanzhaus nrw as director. We spoke with him about the center’s history and current programs.