Hans Joachim Dethlefs, born in 1952, taught at the Department of German Studies of the Università degli Studi di Genova, as an associate professor at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, and as a professor of German and European Art History at the Institute for German Studies of Chuo University in Tokyo until his retirement in 2023. His research focuses on early modern art theory and the development of modern artistic terminology from L. B. Alberti to Goethe.

»The book [...] offers an eclectic selection of essays that offer valuable insights into East Asian performance practices alongside interesting intercultural perspectives by Japanese authors who look at European material with a fresh eye.«

• Performance Spaces in Ancient Chinese Cities: Street Theatres of the 9th Century Capital Chang'an; The Semi-Circular Theatre in Seleucid and Arsacid Babylon; The Perspectival Stage in Sebastiano Serlio's Second Book of Architecture (1545) and its German Reception in the Context of Wohlstand; Central Perspective in Catholic Churches and on Stage in Europe between the 15th and 17th Centuries; Notable Spectacles in the Late 19th-Century Kabuki Stage; Berlin and its Theatres between 1870 and 1890; The Theatres in Modern Shanghai: From the Perspective of Cultural History; Discussions on Theatre Spaces and Theatre Materials by the Leningrad School; Projection Technology and the Theatre Stage: Light, Space, Body Politics; Cultural Techniques of Play: A Global Perspective; Contributors.