For the 10 participants, the performance was much more than a debut — it was a personal and collective rite of passage.

"I've seen another version of myself through this experience. But more importantly, I know it's not just about me — it's about us," says Dou Yuyang, one of the participants.

In the play, the Grim Reaper asked Molly what single item she would bring to the afterlife.

Cai Jiaqi, one of the other actors, says that he asked himself the same question. "And after this entire month of training and bonding, I think I have had the answer. I want to leave with love, and that's what every person in this group made me feel," Cai says.

The workshop was designed not only to hone craft but also to explore the actors' perceptions of life and death. Huang describes it as "a relay of questioning" that permitted him to reflect on change, and find new sources of strength.

As one of China's most successful theater directors, with over 50 plays under his belt, Huang has collaborated with the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the National Theatre of China in addition to staging his own productions.

Born and raised in Beijing, he obtained his bachelor's degree from the China Agricultural University with a major in biochemistry and molecular biology, before deciding to become a theater director after watching Antique, a play directed by Beijing People's Art Theater director Lin Zhaohua, in 1997.

One day in 2005, he and his friend Wang Cailian were wandering aimlessly near the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, lives adrift in a fog of uncertainty, unsure of what the future held.

Then a young director, Huang held teaching intern positions at the drama academy and Beijing Film Academy. Wang, who lived in the same dormitory at the drama academy, was preparing for his second attempt at the doctoral entrance exam for a scriptwriting major at the drama academy.