Interest

Rie Kugimiya to Make Stage Debut in Play in Early 2012

Cranq, a theatrical company formed by voice-acting professionals, announced on Sunday that its second production will feature the company's "secret weapon — no, ultimate weapon": Rie Kugimiya. The acclaimed voice actress will make her stage debut in the Kenran toka Ranman toka (Dazzling, Blooming) play, which will run from January 31 to February 5 at the Gekijō The Pocket theater in Tokyo's Nakano area.

The cast includes the following:

Modern Boys Version:
Tomonori Yoshida (Arts Vision)
Kazutoshi Hatano (Kaleidoscope)
Hiroyuki Ueda (Gekidan Unit 3LDK)
Hirotaka Nagamatsu (Gekidan Herohero-Q Company)

Modern Girls Version:
Kumi Sakuma (amuleto)
Shiho Kawaragi (Kenyu-Office)
Akiko Matsuzaki (Genki Project)
Rie Kugimiya (I'm Enterprise)

Playwright Sanae Iijima (live-action Sazae-san) wrote the original play, and Shūichi Satō of Gekidan Unit 3LDK is directing. The story follows the ups and downs in the lives of four up-and-coming Japanese writers in the 1920s. (The Modern Boys version tells the story with an all-male main cast, while the Modern Girls version depicts the four writers as actresses.)