In its effort to support small theater groups, the National Chiang Kai-shek Cultural Center (國立中正文化中心) has long implemented an annual program aimed at giving them the chance to perform at the county's main cultural venue. The program goes by the title A New Era of Experimental Theater (海闊天空實驗劇展系列 -- 小劇場的新世紀). Four plays have been selected for the program this year, and include both new and relatively well-established small theater troupes.
According to Chen Yu-ru (
Hsu Wan-ying (
Hsu Ching-yue (
The series opened with an adaptation of Euripides' Women of Troy by the Critical Point Theater Phenomenon (
Starting next week, Playbox will be putting on The Sound of Shadows (
This will be followed by the Pai You Theater Group (
Legend's Hsu admitted she was surprised that the play had been selected because The Yellow Boat, a family-oriented play about a child with AIDS, is rather less conceptual in both content and presentation than work conventionally labeled experimental.
Although it includes only four shows, A New Era in Experimental Theater brings together some of the most talented of Taiwan's small theater operators. In providing the facilities of the Experimental Theater of the National Theater, the Cultural Center provides these groups with the chance to show what they've got in one of the county's best venues.
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
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