Mission of Teams
Sharing My Industry Experience with Younger Colleagues
The close relationship between operation and architecture
Initially a design and architectural consulting firm for theaters and performing arts venues, Theatre Workshop has expanded to offer operation and management planning, and has also launched a dedicated Facility Operation Department to conduct operation and management on behalf of venues it helped create. When I joined Theatre Workshop in 2018, its Content Business Office was launched. This office aims to respond to diverse venue needs such as planning and executing the venue’s in-house productions for highlighting and enhancing the venue’s uniqueness and independence. The Office is currently working on its first commission, which is content-planning for a public venue in Tokyo.
I am also involved in Consulting Department projects. Although architecture is not my specialty, operation and architecture are closely linked, and my experience in operation can be useful, I think.
I started my career at Wacoal Corporation, where I was involved in Spiral at Omotesando from the time of its launch. Spiral Hall was hired out for fashion shows and exhibitions, but since these alone could not fulfill the initial objective of the venue, which was to integrate life and culture, I also worked on in-house projects for presenting cultural content. Spiral Hall was the first venue of its kind in Japan to adopt the system of appointing artistic directors for one-year terms. Our artistic directors included Makoto Sato of Black Tent Theatre, leading figure of shingeki (New Drama) Koichi Kimura, Yukio Ninagawa, Ushio Amagatsu and Nobutaka Kotake, who invariably contributed to our cutting-edge lineup.
In 1995, I started working for the pre-opening office of the Tokyo International Forum, where I was involved in the venue’s launch and was responsible for liaising with architects, selecting equipment and setting down rules for venue hire. In addition to the venue’s in-house productions, I conducted sales for the venue rental side of the business. From 2017, I worked at Za-Koenji as the theater’s director.
Happy faces of younger staff reflect the positive workplace atmosphere
The Theatre Workshop website shows pictures of our young colleagues smiling, which I think aptly represents the company’s workplace atmosphere. Staff members are all very independent, yet contribute to the friendly atmosphere of the workplace.
I was surprised by the diversity of the areas covered by the company, and the number of venues in its portfolio. In addition to theaters per se, the company is involved in neighboring retail and dining establishments, conference venues and, at times, in the whole surrounding community, with implications for local tourism, international hospitality and the convention business. It is rewarding for me to be able to leverage my industry experience and share my acquired know-how with younger people.
Yuji Wada graduated from the Department of Biophysical Science at the School of Engineering Science, Osaka University. He joined Wacoal Corporation, where he worked for the launch and operation of Spiral, the arts venue owned by the company. He introduced the system of appointing artistic directors, making Spiral the first Japanese venue to do so, and brought to fruition many highly original performing arts productions. From 1995 he worked for the opening of the Tokyo International Forum, working subsequently for the marketing of its rental spaces, corporate planning and hosted projects till 2017. He was the director of Za-Koenji, a performing arts venue owned by Tokyo’s Suginami Ward. He joined Theatre Workshop in 2018, where he responds to diverse customer needs by leveraging his extensive venue management experience.