The Paper Windmill Cultural Foundation has withdrawn an application for a drama project titled Human Condition VII (人間條件七) — which was to premiere at the National Theater and Concert Hall next year — accusing the national theater of being arrogant and disrespectful of artists and performers.
The foundation added that the Paper Windmill Theatre and the Green Ray Theatre — both part of the foundation — would refuse to perform at the national theater until its boards of directors elect a new president in two years or until the board dismisses its current president, Chen Kuo-tzu (陳國慈), and art director Lee Hui-mei (李惠美).
Foundation executive officer Lee Yung-feng (李永豐) said artists have always seen the national theater as their spiritual home, adding that “it is with great pain that I have to air the dirty laundry of the arts and humanities.”
It is simply that the theater has become too arrogant, Lee Yung-feng said, accusing the national theater of “drawing arbitrary lines for art and subjectively seeing the plays by the Green Ray Theatre and the Paper Windmill Theatre as not good enough to be shown at the National Theater and Concert Hall.”
Lee Yung-feng said the National Theater board questioned expected ticket sales for the show, despite previous performances of the Human Condition series, directed by Wu Nien-jen (吳念真), selling out for every performance.
Lee Yung-feng said Lee Hui-mei had not visited any groups since assuming the position and did not appear to be facilitating communication between groups and the theater.
Lee Yung-feng said the March 19 performance of the 368 Township and Counties Children Arts Project (368鄉鎮市區兒童藝術工程) at Liberty Square — marking the 200th performance of the project — is evidence of the breakdown of communication between groups and theater officials.
The national theater reportedly advised the Project troupe on March 18 that it could not use any fire sources on stage, Lee Yung-feng said, adding that even after he wrote to the media about the incident, Lee Hui-mei said her orders “were in full accordance with the law.”
The national theater has demonstrated a lack of respect for performance groups, Lee Yung-feng said.
Cello player Chang Cheng-chieh (張正傑) said the National Theater review standards are not limited to domestic groups.
The same system of reviews is used for international groups, such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra or the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Chang said, adding that if those orchestras knew they would have to be reviewed and classified just to perform in Taiwan, they might refuse to come.
Theaters in other countries adopt an open registration system and let the market take its course, Chang said, adding that in Taiwan, performance groups have to first tender information for review then jockey for time slots left over from the theaters’ own programs, while the National Symphony Orchestra can choose when it wants to perform.
The National Theater said it valued the suggestions and would look into improving its operations.
Vice Minister of Culture George Hsu (許秋煌) said the Ministry of Culture respected the national theater’s independence of operations and the board must provide oversight.
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