A common cause

For the latest version of One Fine Day, over 300 people applied to participate, and 19 people were chosen.

The director spent about 10 hours interviewing each applicant, a couple hours each time for four or five times, helping them to find the proper stories to tell onstage.

"It was a long process, which was exhausting but exciting," says Li.

"We are total strangers but because of the play, we talk like friends. Those applicants told me their most personal stories and feelings, which they might never share with their families and friends."

One of the participants, Xu Yimian, a 33-year-old woman, lost her theater job due to the coronavirus pandemic.

After graduating from the Central Academy of Drama, one of the most established drama schools in China, in 2013, Xu worked in theaters, including the Drum Tower West Theatre and the Beijing Penghao Theatre, as a planner or doing other related work.

"Theaters were some of the first venues to be shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. They've gone without income all this time, and no one knows when they will be able to reopen," says Xu, who is working as a librarian in Aranya, a popular coastal resort in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, nearly 300 kilometers away from downtown Beijing.

"I applied to be in the play because I am interested in theater, even though I am no longer working in the industry," says Xu. "I am looking forward to sharing my stories related to the theater."

Another participant in the play is 19-year-old Li Jirui, who returned home to Beijing from the United States recently. She is studying Chinese study and economics at Stony Brook University in New York.

She watched the play's premiere in Beijing back in 2013. However, she was merely 12 years old then and couldn't really understand the stories shared by the people on stage.

"During the pandemic, my father, a childhood friend of the director, talked a lot with him, especially of his worries about me when I was in New York, and I was invited to share stories about my life there," says Li Jirui, adding that she has no experience of performing onstage.

Li Jirui says she'd love to tell her stories as "it is an important experience for all of us, which we will never forget".

"I guess many overseas Chinese students share similar experiences as me, such as making the decision to come back to China or not, and anxiety about flight cancellations," she says, adding that she hopes when the pandemic wanes, she can return to her university to complete her studies.