"Being in the 'small theater' scene may well be the first step toward mainstream theater," Ju Zung-chin(朱宗慶), chairman of the National Chiang Kai-shek Cultural Center, said at the press conference for the opening of the 2002 International Theater Festival. He went on to cite the careers of Lee Kuo-shiu(李國修), artistic director of Pin Fong Acting Troupe, and Stan Lai(賴聲川), founder of the Performance Workshop, both of whom gradually rose to international recognition after showing their talent in
non-mainstream venues.
With this in mind, the CKS Cultural Center(中正文化中心), in cooperation with Huan Shii Theater Group(歡喜扮戲團), Taiwan's only group of sextagenarian storytellers, puts on the 2002 International Theater Festival as a way of looking for the next big thing. The month-long festival will include workshops, a book fair, photo exhibitions and theater performances.
Stressing the importance of vocal expression and body language in theater performance, the festival has invited local and foreign groups famous for these skills. "In choosing local groups for the festival, we were faced with the embarrassing situation that few groups in Taiwan can really compare with the international groups we invited such as Odin Teatret," said Peng Ya-ling(彭雅玲)of the Huan Shii Theater Group(歡喜扮戲團). "But at Ju's insistence, we chose the very best in terms of vocal expression and physical
methodology," she added.
Off Performance Workshop, the younger and experimental branch of Performance Workshop, whose dialogue-free dance adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear caught the organizer's attention, will team up with Sun Son Theater, acclaimed for their dynamic drumming-integrated group dance, in a new version of the show, Drumming with Lear. "We were invited to join the festival because of our minimalist approach to stage setting and props and the fact that we put more emphasis on physical expression," said Lee
Jian-chang (李建常), Off Performance's director.
Among the foreign groups are France's Voix Polyphonique, whose Le Roti L'imperatrice shows an amazing array of energetic vocal techniques, which keeps the audience well awake despite its minimal use of light and props.
After Voix Polyphonique kicks off the event next weekend, there are more international groups to come. Danish group Odin Teatret will stage five performances, including Traces in the Snow, in which actress Roberta Carreri will demonstrate how, for the past 30 years, she has trained actors to make a character come to life on stage.
Other foreign performers will include Birute Mar, Sagliocco Ensemble and Birgitte Grimstad, who will probably cooperate with Taiwan's U Theater.
Tickets for the shows are available at the venue or through Acer ticketing outlets for NT$500. For more information, visit the festival's Web site at http://www.ntch.edu.tw/service/festival.
China’s military launched a record number of warplane incursions around Taiwan last year as it builds its ability to launch full-scale invasion, something a former chief of Taiwan’s armed forces said Beijing could be capable of within a decade. Analysts said China’s relentless harassment had taken a toll on Taiwan’s resources, but had failed to convince them to capitulate, largely because the threat of invasion was still an empty one, for now. Xi Jinping’s (習近平) determination to annex Taiwan under what the president terms “reunification” is no secret. He has publicly and stridently promised to bring it under Communist party (CCP) control,
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned for this year, but with the Jan. 1 resignation by the currently indicted Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) two parties are now in play. If a challenger to acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appears we will examine that race in more depth. Currently their election is set for Feb. 15. EXTREMELY
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself. Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: that a nation which has always revered its entrepreneurs may now be at their mercy. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” Biden said. He named no names, but his targets were clear: men like Elon Musk
On Sept. 27 last year, three climate activists were arrested for throwing soup over Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh at London’s National Gallery. The Just Stop Oil protest landed on international front pages. But will the action help further the activists’ cause to end fossil fuels? Scientists are beginning to find answers to this question. The number of protests more than tripled between 2006 and 2020 and researchers are working out which tactics are most likely to change public opinion, influence voting behavior, change policy or even overthrow political regimes. “We are experiencing the largest wave of protests in documented history,” says
RSS