Space Tengu Costume Design Contest 

Osugi Musical Theatre of Komatsu, Japan is seeking designs for space tengu costumes for our fall 2007 original production, Yokubari Tengu (The Greedy Goblin) III: Adventures on the Tengu Planet. The top three costume designs will be made and worn in the musical. In addition, 100 designs will be chosen for our public art project. All designs will be exhibited in an art gallery in Komatsu, and some will be displayed on our website as well. 

Traditionally, tengu are often depicted as angry or fearsome, and only live on Earth. However, the winning costumes will be worn by happy-go-lucky “space tengus” from the Tengu Planet. (see Japanese flier for fanciful examples of space tengus - the trio on the left).  There are no restrictions on style. Designs will be accepted by post or e-mail (digital submissions preferred). Please draw both front and back views of the costume, with a long-nosed tengu wearing the clothes in a standing pose. Designs submitted by post should be B4 (250x353 cm; 11 by 14 inches okay) or A4 (210x297 cm; 8.5 by 11 inches okay). Designs submitted by e-mail should be 780 x1140 pixels and no larger than 500 kb jpeg or pdf files. 

Schedule 

Designs should arrive in our office (or e-mailbox) by Friday, June 1, 2007 

Announcement of winners will be on Saturday, June 30, 2007 

Show will be produced in Komatsu October 6-14, 2007

Prizes Grand prize winners (three): 20,000 yen and “Songs of Yokubari Tengu” CD 

Public art project winners (100) – “Songs of Yokubari Tengu” CD 

The winning three designs will be made by OMT staff. All prize winners (103 people) will be asked to “dress” a 15 cm statuette provided by OMT. Costumes for the statuette can be of any materials (cloth, paper, etc) or painted on. One month will be allowed for the “dressing” of the statuettes. The 103 statuettes will  be displayed in shops, public places, and galleries in the Komatsu area in autumn. 

Send entries to: Osugi Musical Theatre, Osugi Nakamachi mo 78, Komatsu 923-0186 Japan

tel 0761-46-1824 (from overseas: 011-81-761-46-1824)  

or e-mail to:     info(at mark)osugimusicaltheatre.com               (main OMT page is here)

Small print: No entry fee. Submitted designs and statuettes become the property of OMT. Please make a copy or a photo of your design before submitting it. We reserve the right to publish the designs on the internet or in any other media we chose, including posters, postcards, etc. Please let us know if you wish have your design be anonymous in any display or publication. On the back of the design (or in an e-mail) please include the following information as appropriate: name, address, phone, e-mail, entry division (elementary school, junior high, high school, general). OMT will not share personal data with anyone. 

The purpose of the project goes beyond getting original designs for the space tengu in our show. In our neighborhood, it is a way of getting lots of people involved in our production; worldwide, it is a way of sharing the joy and magic of a corner of Japanese folklore, while adding a new twist. Both locally and internationally we want people to be part of a fun whole world art project. This is, we hope, one small way of fostering international understanding and peace.