With the belief that theater performance can be much more than just that for children, the Taipei Children's Theater Association (台北市兒童戲劇協會) has organized many interactive cross-disciplinary performances in recent years. Convinced of the therapeutic effect of theater, it organized up to 200 shows for child victims of the 921 earthquake two years ago. The association's record makes it an appropriate host of the upcoming 2002 Children's Theater Promotion Project (2002兒童戲劇推廣計畫), which starts this coming Thursday.
The seven previous events focused on bridging the gap between children's theater education in urban and rural areas. Training courses were held for teachers all over Taiwan. This year's project, apart from these courses, will provide interactive programs between parents and children.
The 10 recruited groups include the high-profile Song Song Song Children's Theater (九歌兒童劇團), Paper Windmill Theater (紙風車劇團), Cup Theater (杯子劇團). "In past couple of years, the number of children's theaters has risen dramatically but their quality hasn't. We had to recruit groups that are truly devoted to the field and have long-term plans for running their group. ... All the groups performing in the event are at least three years old and have staged at least 10 performances," said Yan Chiang-sheng (顏強盛), general director of the association.
The three groups have teamed up with Shoes Children's Theater (
Like all the performances in the event, "Auntie Peanut" will be followed by instruction sessions for the audience on interactive games and activities related to the performances. Parents can later carry them out with their children at home.
The 10 participating groups will start touring Taiwan with this interactive theater performance starting with Cup Theater's Aug. 1 show in Hsinchu. "Auntie Peanut" will also set out touring from Hsinchu Sept. 26. For detailed schedule, contact the association at (02) 2739-1183.
The year was 1991. A Toyota Land Cruiser set out on a 67km journey up the Junda Forest Road (郡大林道) toward an old loggers’ camp, at which point the hikers inside would get out and begin their ascent of Jade Mountain (玉山). Little did they know, they would be the last group of hikers to ever enjoy this shortcut into the mountains. An approaching typhoon soon wiped out the road behind them, trapping the vehicle on the mountain and forever changing the approach to Jade Mountain. THE CONTEMPORARY ROUTE Nowadays, the approach to Jade Mountain from the north side takes an
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and