Chou Jung-shih (周蓉詩), a France-based Taiwanese theater actress, will join other Taiwanese performers and a French artist in a production on the adventures of a soon-to-be-born baby that will debut in Marseille on Jan. 31.
Chou said she will collaborate with the Flying-Group Theatre from Taiwan and French visual artist/illustrator Ghislaine Herbera in staging the production La Naissance — Souviens-toi et va vers toi, which roughly translates as Birth — Remember and Go Toward You.
Using puppetry, illustrations, lighting and shadows, the show tells the story of a soon-to-be-born baby who goes on an adventurous journey in her dreams to find out “who she is,” according to Chou, who added that the story was inspired by a conversation between her and her four-year-old daughter.
A renowned theater actress who has performed internationally before, Chou moved to France in 2009 to develop her professional theater career and seek greater collaboration between French and Taiwanese artists.
“The economy is really bad in France right now, but a professional actor still gets subsidies from the government. If I had chosen to stay in Taiwan, I’m not sure whether I would have been able to raise my child working as a theater actress,” she said.
However, Chou’s time in France has not been easy either. There are few Taiwanese performers in Marseille, and as a Taiwanese who speaks accented French, her opportunities to play roles in French productions have been very limited.
Chou set up her own theater troupe called “Est et l’Ouest” in Marseille at the end of 2009 and began working on the script of her new production. It eventually won financial support from Theatre Massalia, one of the most prominent theaters in Marseille.
The performance will also be shown in Taiwan at the Guling Street Avant-Garde Theatre from Feb. 18 to Feb. 20.
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