New-York tribune., 1920-10-31
Japanese Stage Manager
Here to Study Color and
Light Effects in ssMecca''

Every night in the backstage vast
ness of the Century Theater, where
Morris Gest's spectacle mecca" is
presented, Kazuwo Iwamura takes In
the wonders of the vast lighting sys-
TEN. lwamura is storing up the de-
tails of the lighting arrangements
which help to make Oscar Asche's play
the brilliant spectacle that it is, He
has purpose. He intends to 20 back
to Toxic and show the japanese light
ing in the theater such as they have
never seen before.
Young Mr.. lwamura is the son Of
Admiral Baron Iwamura, of the
Japanese navy. Ever since he played
the part Of Light in production Of
The Blue Bird" in the Peers School
near Toxic, he has been interested in
the mechanics Of the theater, especial
~ IN the lighting arrangements. No,
he does not attribute his interest in
hghtlng to the fact that he played
Light in Maeterlinck's play. He
proved such a poor actor, he said.
that he had to find something else to
interest him in the thcater
For two years at the Imperial
Japanese Iheater in Toxic, Mr. Iwamu-
ra attended the performances Of the
anclent and modern dramas and by
Keen observation learned much about
lighting. Then he determined to nut
INTO practice the principles he had
learned and with Yoshi Hidikata and
several other friends he organized
the Iom chi-Kai, or Friend Theater
an amateur dramatic organization. Mr.
Hldlkata assumed the role of stapo
manager and Mr. Iwamura, Ightinc
manager, concerned himself with thu
lighting problems.
Not only did they work in tbe
Iomodachi- Kai, but Mr.. Hidikata. as
sisted by Mr.. lwamura, built model
'heater IN his house and together thew
experimented there. Hidikata tried out
lheones of solid setting and lwamura
puslea himself with Indirect lighting
eTpef'ments. eal'e 11 In the production Of
"lhe Death of Tantagiles," which was
made by the Tomodachi-K Iwamura
put INTO practice the lighting system
that he had studied in the modal
theater ''iooci
ilye month ago Kazuwo Iwamura
left Japan, bent on studying stage licht-
ing systems in America and Europe. Ha
came to New York at the fag end of
the theatrlcal season. He attended
every theater on Broadway which was
open then, but his efforts were unnro-
TucllVe OF very satisfactory results
lhen, through letters of introduc t;on
which he brought from Janan ''bn ba
reached Morris Gest, who took him into
lhe Mecca organization as an assist.
ant stage manager, salaried, and with
an opportunity to study carefully the
nghtlng effects used in the colorful
Orlehtal spectacle. The young Jana
nese Is making himself useful back-
stage nightly When he returns to
1ok,o ne hopes to make a production
scale. ~ s'sA"''c
i am amazed at the number ~
In Toxic we have only two mod.ryr
theaters and in both the lghtinp is
very poor From what | have seen
1hink Belasco's lighting system is the
oest system in America Mr. Gest
gained entrance to the Belasco and
Lyceum theaters for me, and | have
seen The Gold Diggers' five times
! also liked the lighting in the Zieg-
1.-The Tomodachi-Kai has a magazine
called lomodachi which has circula-
publication and have written re- re-.
port on the Belasco lighting system
TOR it. am also going to send a
thlrty-page report on Mecca to the
same magazine"
Mr.. lwan.lra's impressions Of the
American theater is q realistic one.
He has seen little attempt at the
symbolical in the American theater
Except at The Greenwich Village Fol-
lies 1920" whore little symbolism is
attempted; He is interested in the
synbolical in the theater
When he leaves New York Mr..
lwamura is going to Paris to pursue
his studies in lighting His brother.
who acted in the Tomodachi- Kai in
Toxic, is a student in the university
in the French capital