Born in Tokyo in 1962.
Graduated from International Christian University, College of Liberal Arts, Humanities Division.
In 1995, Hirata won the 39th Kishida Kunio Drama Award with “Tokyo Note (Tokyo Notes).” In 1998, he received the 5th Yomiuri Theater Award Outstanding Director Award, for his production of “Tsuki no Misaki (The Cape of the Moon),” a play written by Masataka Matsuda. Hirata wrote and directed “Ueno Dobutsuen Sai-sai-sai Shugeki (Attacking Ueno Zoo for the Fourth Time)” in 2002 and won the 9th Yomiuri Theater Award for Outstanding Production.
In 2002, he won AICT (Association Internationale des Critiques des Théâtre) Critique Award for his book “Geijutu Rikkokuron (Arts as the Basis of a Nation)” published from Shueisha. In 2003, he won the Grand Prix of the 2nd Asahi Performing Arts Awards with “Sono Kawa wo Koete, Gogatsu (Across the River in May),” which was an event for the Year of Japan-ROK National Exchange in 2002. In 2006, he won the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award.
In 2011, France’s Ministry of Culture honored Hirata with the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.
At present, Hirata is research professor of the COI Research Promotion Office at the Tokyo University of the Arts, visiting professor of the Osaka University Center for the Study of Co* Design, visiting professor and Special Advisor to the president at Shikoku Gakuin University and Kyoto Bunkyo University, and General Manager of the Fujimi Culture Hall KIRARI FUJIMI. He is also board member of the Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities and the Japanese Society for Theatre Research and advisor for cultural politics for Toyooka City.