© Kikuko Usuyama
Toshiki Okada is a playwright, director and novelist who founded the theatre company “chelfitsch” in 1997. His work is characterised by a distinctive exploration of the relationship between language and the body.
Since making his international debut in 2007 with “Five Days in March” at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels, he has continued to present his productions in more than 90 cities across Asia, Europe, North America and South America.
He has staged commissioned works including “Ground and Floor” (2013, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Belgium), “Super Premium Soft Double Vanilla Rich” (2014, Theater der Welt, Germany), “New Illusion” (2022, Ob/Scene Festival, South Korea) and “Metamorphosis of a Living Room” (2023, Wiener Festwochen, Austria), as well as co-productions with theatres and festivals. He also directed “God Bless Baseball” (2015, Asian Arts Theatre), performed with a Japanese and Korean cast, and “Pratthana – A Portrait of Possession” (2018), based on a novel by Thai author Uthis Haemamool and performed with a Thai cast.
Since 2016, he has been associated with the Münchner Kammerspiele, where he directed productions in repertory over four consecutive seasons, including “The Vacuum Cleaner” (2019), which was selected for the 2020 Theatertreffen in Berlin. In 2022, his play “Doughnuts”, created for the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, was invited to the Theatertreffen. In 2024, he premiered “Homeoffice” at the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf. He has been appointed Artistic Director of The Performing Arts Festival: Autumn Meteorite Tokyo from 2025, and Artistic Director (Performing Arts) at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre from 2026.
In addition to his theatrical work, Toshiki Okada is also recognised as a novelist. He published “The End of the Moment We Had” (Shinchōsha) in 2007, winning the 2nd Kenzaburō Ōe Prize. In 2022, he received the 35th Mishima Yukio Prize and the 64th Kumanichi Literary Award for his novel “Broccoli Revolution” (Shinchōsha).
In the 2026/27 season, Okada will make his debut as a director at the Schauspielhaus Zürich with the world premiere of DER LAUBBLÄSER.
