Two men tell their stories onstage

Only A Recollection of the Past is a semibiographical play by theater big names Tian Haojiang and Wang Weichung. Provided to China Daily

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Tian Haojiang, the Beijing-born and New York-based opera star, developed his keen interest in drama through the Taiwan classic The Village, which resonates with his complicated feelings as a traveler away from home. The nostalgic play tells a decades-long history of three Kuomintang soldier families who are exposed to the vicissitudes of life in a constantly complex discussion about going home to the Chinese mainland.

Before Tian and Wang Wei-chung, theater producer and Taiwan's TV tycoon, explored the possibility of staging a drama, both men knew nothing could be more riveting and revealing than stories of their own lives.

Although the two middle-aged men grew up under different education systems across the Straits, they discover that their lives were more similar than they thought. They're both from military families; they had both "eavesdropped" on radio channels from the other side of the Straits; they both had an older brother with whom they had a complicated relationship.

However, their parallel lives are also different in many ways-such is a reflection of the distinct changes within each society.

With some courage, Wang and Tian decided to showcase their own lives onstage. After writing for two years, they are now ready to present a semi-biographical play, Only A Recollection of the Past.

In the play, the two first-time actors switch among identities, such as their fathers, military officers and themselves, narrating or acting out their first dates, moments of departure and other inspiring, moving and thought-provoking snapshots from their lives.

The name of the drama is borrowed from a popular old Chinese song. It was the first song that Tian "eavesdropped" on a Taiwan radio channel, also the first subject that brought the two men together.