Aya Ogawa
is an award-winning Brooklyn-based playwright, director, performer and translator whose work reflects an international viewpoint and utilizes the stage as a space for exploring cultural identity, displacement and other facets of the immigrant experience. Cumulatively, all aspects of their artistic practice synthesize their work as an artistic and cultural ambassador, building bridges across cultures to create meaningful exchange amongst artists, theaters and audiences both in the U.S. and in Asia. They challenge traditional notions of the American aesthetic and identity by creating performances infused with a multiplicity of perspectives and languages, and by incorporating influences from outside the U.S. – of style, form, and content. As a theater-maker, they frequently use a collaborative creative process with performers and designers and push the form with an eye not only on spoken text, but physicality, musicality, and interactivity.
writer
Aya works collaboratively with actors and designers in generating material, exploring themes and ideas, and imagining the world of the play. They strive to portray the complexity of living in a modern, global society through intellectually and emotionally engaging plays, often weaving multiple narratives in various languages together. Their stories are often about isolation, migration and displacement, and center women/non-binary characters who must negotiate fractured identities and environments, break-downs of systems, and what emerges from the fallout.
director
A committed storyteller, Aya utilizes all the dimensions of the stage – an integration of text/narrative, physical movement, music/sound, lights/video/media, and spatial configuration. They create beautiful bold spectacle and meaningful audience interaction to disrupt passive viewership in conventional theater.
The deeper intention of both the work they generate with collaborators and the work of other writers they choose to shepherd and direct is to honor the lived experience of Asian immigrant women and to strengthen their communities.
translator
Known as one of the most prominent Japanese-to-English translators of contemporary Japanese drama, Aya has a long relationship with such artists as Toshiki Okada (chelfitsch), Yoji Sakate (Rinko-gun), Yudai Kamisato, and Satoko Ichihara (Q), among others. Their acclaimed translations have been produced in the US and UK, and published by Concord Theatricals and others.
2 minute trailer for LUDIC PROXY written and directed by Aya Ogawa commissioned by The Play Company, premiered April 1 - May 2, 2015 at WalkerSpace, NY.