Sole Proprietor Kevin Inouye, award-winning fight choreographer and fight director, Member of SAG-AFTRA and Associate Member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society: The traditional niche for people in my field is fight choreography. At its core, that is the creation of a series of physical motions strung together to tell the story of a fight.
While time and other constraints sometimes necessitate this, I find it a very constraining and inadequate description for what my job can be, akin to telling a director to just block the scenes and go home.
The mechanics of the moves, while important, should serve to support the artistic choices of the cast and production team. Both moves and choices should be informed by the technical, martial, hoplogical, psychological and artistic expertise of the fight director. There is a need for integration between disciplines and collaborators in order to create safe, engaging action that is appropriate to the production. That is the idea behind the business name, Fight Designer.
My goal is always to assist the cast and the artistic team in creating fights that truly come from and add to the characters and the story, in a way that enhances the style of the piece.
Everyone from audience to actors to directors should walk away feeling that they've seen, experienced, and learned something from the event, and those involved should enjoy the process of creation and discovery.
Fight Choreography (theatre - PARTIAL list)
Into the Breeches / Cleveland Playhouse
Clue / Cleveland Playhouse
Aida / Karamu House
Paradise Blue / Karamu House
Gloria / Cleveland Public Theatre
33 1/3 / Dobama
Tom at the Farm / Convergence/Continuum
I Hate Hamlet / Lake Erie College
When Farah Cries / Borderlight International Theatre Festival
Two by Tennessee / Karamu House
Fences / Karamu House
Cry Baby / Case Western Reserve University
As You Like It / Case Western Reserve University
Bethany / Case Western Reserve University
What Would Crazy Horse Do? / Relative Theatrics
Fascism! The Musical! / University of Wyoming
Adventures of the Black Girl in her Search for God / Borderlight International Theatre Festival
The Fantasticks / Snowy Range Summer Theatre
Angry Psycho Princesses / University of Wyoming
Peter Pan / Laramie High School
Uncanny Valley / Relative Theatrics
Mad Gravity / Snowy Range Summer Theatre
God of Carnage / Queen's Players
Butch Cassidy Variety Show / Queens Players
King Stag / Case Western Reserve University
The Comedy of Errors / University of Wyoming
Legacy of Light / University of Wyoming
The Liar / University of Wyoming
One Night / Contemporary American Theatre Festival
"The physical comedy and fight choreography by Kevin Inoye (sic) is so complex that real audiences will find themselves both laughing and gasping with worry for the safety of this poor cast. " -- Eugene Scene
