Motoo Hatta (1903–1976) was a Japanese stage director, playwright, and theater critic who contributed to the development of modern Japanese theater before and after World War II. As director of the traveling theater troupe Sakura-tai, he was in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945 and survived the bombing. After the war, he continued his work in theater while documenting the lives of the troupe members who perished in the attack. His best-known book, "The Last Moments under Gamma Rays: A Record of the Actors Who Died in Hiroshima," draws on his own experiences and extensive research to recount the story of Sakura-tai and is a documentary work that records the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and its impact on the theater community.
