It’s refreshing to interview Hiromoto Ida. The Nelson-based actor, choreographer, dancer, and performer doesn’t get on Zoom with a bunch of scripted talking points. He’s completely spontaneous.
For example, Ida concedes that sometimes, he will respond to a journalist’s questions on the “surface”. He likens this to answering inquiries from an immigration officer. On other occasions, he will venture into much more thoughtful and heartfelt dialogue when discussing the arts.
“When I try to go deep, then I go to a really weird place,” Ida says with a laugh.
On this occasion, the founder of Ichigo-Ichieh Dance is speaking about his company’s upcoming production of Vacant Lot. The Firehall Arts Centre will present the Vancouver premiere from Wednesday (October 22) to Saturday (October 25).
The play is about a long-married husband and wife who visit an empty lot where they once owned a house and raised their kids.
“It’s gone and that hits her hard,” Ida reveals. “”The husband is more materialistic, so for him it doesn’t go that deep.”
Ida plays the husband opposite another Nelson-based dancer and theatre artist, Lindsay Clague, who is also the assistant director. Ida says that he choreographed every movement, even ordinary actions like sipping tea. As a result, he describes Vacant Lot as approximately 60 percent theatre and 40 percent dance.
“It’s stylized pedestrian moves, so it’s nice and clean,” Ida promises.
Vacant Lot based on a Japanese play
He has decades of experience as a dance artist. Ida choreographed several works–including Please Dad, SENTAK, KESSA, and The Gift—that have been performed at international dance festivals. Earlier year, he won a Screen Actors Guild Award—with 13 other cast members of Shōgun—for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
Vacant Lot is based on a 1992 play about a married couple called Sarachi, which was written by Japanese theatre artist Shoga Ota. There’s one scene in Sarachi left such a powerful impression on Ida that he almost cries every time he reads it.
Ida recalls visiting Ota’s small studio in Tokyo when he was a 20-year-old acting student.
“We had to take off our shoes and then we had to sit on this floor for, like, two hours,” Ida says. “It was for a different play that he wrote without any lines. It was very physical theatre and everybody moved so slowly.”
More than a decade ago, Ida began writing an English version of Sarachi, adjusting scenes to suit a Canadian story set in the 21st century. For example, in Ota’s play, a character reads a newspaper in the morning. Ida amended that because nowadays, people are far more likely to check their smartphones.
At the core of the play are the couple’s memories of shared experiences that only they know. They ponder what will happen to those memories when one or both spouses die.
In writing Vacant Lot, Ida could also draw on his experiences as someone who has been in a mixed marriage for decades.
“I have lived in Canada now for 30-some years, longer than the time I lived in Japan,” Ida explains. “So, I know the differences between both cultures.”
In addition, he could consult with Clague about the wording. But when he wanted to stage the play, she wasn’t available because she had a two-year-old child. So Ida waited until 2024 before premiering the show with her in Nelson.
He assures Pancouver that Vacant Lot has many funny moments. The script makes references to hot flashes linked to menopause, as well as the propensity of men in their 60s repeatedly going to the bathroom.
“As a man, I go pee all the time these days,” Ida says with a chuckle. “This is kind of a secret, but I added that.”
The Firehall Arts Centre will present the Vancouver premiere of Hiromoto Ida’s Vacant Lot from Wednesday (October 22) to next Saturday (October 25). For tickets and more information, visit the Firehall Arts Centre website. Ida and Lindsay Clague will also perform Vacant Lot on Friday (October 17) at ArtSpring on Salt Spring Island. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social. Pancouver is also on Instagram @PancouverMedia.
