Yiyi Zhang

Yiyi Zhang is a theatre practitioner, dramaturg and practice-based doctoral researcher at Tokyo University of the Arts. Born in Shanghai and based in Tokyo, she draws from her own lived reality in researching theatre across different cultural and linguistic boundaries. Her production of the multilingual musical theatre The WORLD (2024) was performed without translation in seven languages, with native and non-native performers speaking the languages and incorporating various dialects. The work explored how linguistic “errors” carry distinct histories through the medium of the acting body. For Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre’s Tokyo Borderless Theatre Project (2025), she created a participatory performance set in one of Tokyo’s most culturally diverse neighbourhoods, surfacing the memories and realities of migrant communities. Her current research at Shizuoka Performing Arts Center takes her practice into multispecies dramaturgy, exploring where the migration cycles of eels may intersect with the lives of the Japanese-Brazilian community. Alongside her creative work, she was selected for KYOTO EXPERIMENT’s Critique Project and participated in Arts Council Tokyo’s Overseas Study Program at the Edinburgh International Festival.