After the favorable reaction to their first Biennial Theater Festival two years ago, the Tokyo-based repertoire company Kaze will stage its second Biennial Theater Festival for a month from this weekend.

This year, the company founded in 1987 has lined up three colorful and confident programs, each full of international vigor thanks to Kaze's longstanding efforts to forge overseas links and encourage cultural exchange of dramas.

First up in the festival, Kaze tackles one of the favorites in their repertoire -- Bertolt Brecht's masterpiece, "The Threepenny Opera," directed here by Slovakian master of mime Milan Sladek. Second on the bill of festival fare is a collaboration project between Kaze and the Theater Eugene Ionesco Company from Moldova. In this, actresses from both companies will act the two heroines of "Picasso's Women" by Brian McAvera.

Finally, Kaze serves up the great French actor Olivier Comte in his solo stage "Le Vieux Clown (The Old Clown)," which drew rapturous acclaim at the Avignon Theater Festival and is now Comtes signature piece.

Biennial Kaze Theater Festival 2005 runs till Sept. 18 at the Repertoire Theater, a 6-minute walk from JR Higashi Nakano Station. For more details, call Theater Kaze at (03) 3363-3261 or visit www.kaze-net.org