The Taipei Theater Awards were launched on Thursday, with the hope of becoming Taiwan’s equivalent of the Tony Awards for contemporary theater and musical productions, Department of Cultural Affairs commissioner Tsai Shih-ping (蔡詩萍) said.
Tsai said establishing top awards for Taiwan’s stage productions has been one of his priorities since taking office because of his guest-starring roles in such productions.
It has also been a wish of theater producers, Tsai said, with directors Ko I-chen (柯一正) and Wu Nien-jen (吳念真) telling him there was a need for high-level honors and recognition for the industry.
Photo: CNA
The inaugural awards, to be presented in June next year, are to include awards for best theater production, best musical production and best experimental and innovative theater or musical production, which would be picked from the nominees in the first two categories, the organizers said.
Awards for individuals include best director, best playwright, best production design, best actor and actress in theater productions, as well as best actor and best actress in musicals.
A special contribution award for either a theater group or individual would be picked from nominees recommended by a group of experts and theatergoers, as well as by members of the public between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30, the organizers said.
Only ticketed productions staged in venues owned or run by the government in Taipei are eligible to compete in the inaugural edition of the awards, except for productions of traditional and children’s theater, the organizers said.
Even if a national theater awards program is established, the Taipei Theatre Awards would continue, Tsai said, citing the example of the coexistence of the Taipei Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards.
The Taipei Theater Awards would be an important benchmark for Taiwan, since “many productions premiere in Taipei,” Tsai said. “Audiences in Taipei can decide whether a production makes it or not.”
Organizers are scheduled to begin accepting submissions from theater and musical productions from May 1 to June 14 for ticketed productions staged in Taipei between July 1 and Dec. 31.
In addition to trophies for the winners, the city government is to hand out total prize money of NT$2.7 million (US$83,609), the organizers said.
Meanwhile, the privately run Taishin Bank Foundation for Art and Culture, which announced 17 nominees for the 22nd edition of its Taishin Arts Awards early last month, is to hold its awards ceremony on June 1.
The foundation is to present one prize for a visual artwork, one for a performing arts production and a grand prize picked from nominees from both categories.
The grand prize winner is to receive NT$1.5 million, while the two other winners are to be awarded NT$1 million each, the foundation said.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS