Born in Osaka, Suzushi Hanayagi (1928-2010) studied Japanese literature at the Women’s College in Osaka, while taking traditional Kabuki dance classes. She presented her first own creations in 1957 in Tokyo. In 1961, she took part in a Sino-American cultural exchange programme and subsequently gave masterclasses in the United States and Europe. She staged her works at Hunter Playhouse and the Judson Church in New York in collaboration with Carla Blank Reed. She performed at the National Theater and other theatres in Tokyo. The year 1984 marked the beginning of her collaboration with Robert Wilson for The Knee Plays (fragment of The CIVIL warS), followed by Alcestis, based on Euripide, at the American Repertory Theatre then in Stuttgart, Alceste in Stuttgart and Chicago, Death Destruction and Detroit II at Berlin Schaubühne, La Forêt at Berlin Werkstatt, De Materie at Dutch National Opera, King Lear at Frankfurt Schauspiel, Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights at Berlin Hebbel Theatre. Suzushi Hanayagi also collaborated with Julie Taymor and Seiji Ozawa on Œdipus Rex at Festival Saito Kinen by Matsumoto, with filmmaker Molly Davies and video designer Katsuhiro Yamaguchi.

At the Paris Opera: Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien, 1988; Madama Butterfly, 1993