The revitalization of the Red House Theater (
The Red House, originally named the Octagon, was construction back in 1908 as a market place in Taipei's busy West Gate district. Subsequently, the second floor was developed into a theater, which became a popular hangout for both young and old. In its heyday, it was the venue for traditional theater and later was a popular cinema during the golden age of Taiwan's film industry.
The older generation still have fond memories of the Red House when it was "the place to go" during their youth back in the 1950s. "Whenever I told [my mother] that I was going to Hsimenting, she would begin telling stories of the time when she used to spend time there. She had so much fun at the Red House," said a young girl who was visiting the venue.
It is this sort of nostalgia that prompted the president of the Paper Windmill Foundation (紙風車文教基金會), Ke I-Chung (柯一正), to pick up this Taipei City Government project despite the lack of any government subsidy. Ke is one of many middle-aged Taiwanese who still have fond memories of growing up with the Red House Theater, which gradually fell into disuse during the 1970s, superceded by newly opened cinemas in the district.
The current project, which took over from an earlier project to turn the structure into a cinema museum got underway in March this year when the Paper Windmill Foundation took over after the abortive attempt by the city government to get the cinema museum idea off the ground.
Working with a skeleton staff of just 10 full-time employees, Paper Windmill took the project to make the Red House a center for various performance arts for a cost of just NT$25 million.
Tomorrow's official opening will include a traditional "house cleaning" ceremony in which bad spirits inhabiting the premises are sent away to be replaced by benign spirits.
Under the guidance of Paper Windmill, the Red House Theater will stay true to its nostalgic atmosphere, hosting Chinese opera and other traditional Chinese arts. According to Paper Windmill Foundation spokeperson Yang Hen-yu (楊涵予), an important aim is also to "develop a casual theater-going culture among Taipei citizens." Tickets for shows, held every Thursday to Sunday, will be priced inexpensively at around NT$400. As another nod to the past, tea will be served at all shows as was customary in traditional theaters.
To ensure a diverse range of entertainments, the basic schedule will be traditional Chinese theater on Thursday, musical performances on Friday, comedy shows on Saturday and children's shows on Sunday. On other days, the premises will be open to display a photographic history of the West Gate area and for an inspection of the building which is a third ranked historical site.
The Red House Theater is located at 10 Chengtu Rd., Taipei (
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