Japan is seeing an increasing number of theater companies made up of elderly actors as baby boomers and other seniors seek to tread the boards.
In late May, a dozen members of an amateur troupe consisting of around 40 people aged 60 or older were busy rehearsing for a performance. The rehearsal space, a classroom in a shuttered elementary school in Tokyo, crackled with atmosphere.
Stage director Ema Kujira, 40, issued instructions as she watched the performers go through their paces. "A man talking to the wife who is divorcing him wouldn't get that close to her," she told one actor.