Setting the stage for future talent

Fu Yixuan, secretary-general of the China Theatre Association, recalls some of his best days in college and his experience of producing plays in a school theater.

"Scripts, makeup, stage sets, music and lighting, we did everything together in the school theater, which was so much fun. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed it until I actually participated in working on each play," recalls Fu, who majored in journalism in college.

"I remember that I made lots of mistakes during the performances, and I even had to improvise onstage because I was too nervous to remember my lines," he says. "Now, though, I have watched many theatrical productions thanks to my job, I still feel excited and intrigued whenever I watch plays by young students, which remind me of my own time in the school theater."

Fu shared the memories of his school theater at the Beijing People's Art Theatre on Tuesday, during the opening ceremony of the New Era International Showcase of Campus Theatre.

The event opened with a play, titled Those Who Survived, staged by the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania, and the Radu Stanca National Theatre.

From Wednesday to Saturday, five productions by students from China and abroad are being staged at the theater of the Central Academy of Drama and the theater of the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, both in Beijing.

"Young students from different schools and countries gather together to stage their own works and communicate. They are young, passionate and dedicated to theater," says Fu.

According to Luminita Birsan, a professor of the theatrical arts department of the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, the play, Those Who Survived, is adapted from Euripides' Trojan Women and tells the story of the women who survived the Trojan War.

"Theater gives you a chance to be someone else and live in a different space and time. This play, by Euripides, one of the great Athenian playwrights and poets, takes us back to ancient Greece," says Birsan, who also works with the established Sibiu International Theatre Festival.

"Our students are provided with opportunities to perform during the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, which enriches their theater experience. The festival has also staged theatrical productions by Chinese artists and I hope that Chinese students can also come and perform," she says.

Those Who Survived was staged at Cao Yu Theatre, part of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, which opened in 2021 and is named after the renowned playwright and the first president of Beijing People's Art Theatre.

"It's quite meaningful to have the opening play staged at this theater because Cao Yu started his theater career during his university years. His debut play, Thunderstorm, was published in 1934 when he was 24. He wrote the play during his final year at Tsinghua University," says Zhang Peng, vice-president of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, adding that the company has been working with universities and even middle schools to train young talent.

Since 2012, the Beijing People's Art Theatre has been working with Beijing No 166 High School to build a theater base, which offers theater training programs to over 40,000 students.

During the New Era International Showcase of Campus Theatre, organized by the China Theatre Association and the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles, productions of traditional Chinese operas are also staged.

These include the Yueju Opera production, Lyu Bu and Diao Chan at the Fengyi Pavilion by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the Peking Opera production, Madame White Snake, by the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts.

"I grew up in the United States and I learned Chinese by reading scripts of traditional Chinese operas. Yueju Opera, performed in Cantonese, has a large fan base not only in China, but also abroad, especially among people who speak Cantonese. Our students create and perform Yueju Opera productions, which is a way to preserve the ancient art form," says Martin Lau, dean of the School of Chinese Opera at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and producer of Lyu Bu and Diao Chan at the Fengyi Pavilion.

Other highlights include Puppetry: Growing Pains by the Shanghai Theatre Academy and The Butterfly Lovers by the Central Academy of Drama.