Without doubt, Takahiro Fujita is the most prominent newcomer in the world of Japanese contemporary theater. To a considerable extent that's because the 27-year-old playwright/director has an unusual trademark style — to create works that often have the same lyrical phrases and series of movements repeated over and over again.
In fact, almost as soon as he founded his Mum and Gypsy company in 2007, critics began touting his prominent role in Japan's current trend toward "postdramatic theater" — drama with a focus on the interaction between text and the audience. As such, Fujita was (and is) credited with holistic works combining, rather than just featuring, elements such as music and video images along with nonrealistic sets, acting and rhythmic dialogue and actions.
In 2012, Fujita's trilogy of intrafamily issues of belonging and alienation — "Kaeri no Aizu, (Signal of Heading Home)," "Matteta Shokutaku, (Waiting Dining Table)" and "Kitto Shiofuru Sekai (A World of Falling Salt)" — won the Kishida Kunio Drama Award, the nation's most famous theater accolade.