TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The sixth "Keep on Dreaming" opera festival held a media event on Tuesday (July 11), introducing a full slate of performances scheduled for this summer.
The festival focuses on opera in all its distinct forms, ranging from Taiwanese opera, Peking Opera, hand puppet theater, and modern drama. Running over six consecutive weekends from August 12 to September 17, the festival will take place at the multi-functional hall of the Taiwan Traditional Theater Center in Taipei’s Shilin District.
Through these opera performances, audiences will be able to travel into the parallel universe of opera, leaping back in time and examining history that has been overlooked or forgotten.
"Since the opera festival was founded, 28 new works have been created with more than one-quarter being shortlisted for the Golden Melody Awards or nominated for the Taishin Arts Awards. Over the past few years, 90% of tickets have been sold, said National Center for Traditional Arts Director Chen Yue-yi (陳悅宜).
Chen said the festival encourages artists to work with the traditional medium to engage in contemporary dialogue. New works commissioned by the festival have proven successful both artistically and at the box office, attracting a new audience for such works.
A glimpse at the first performance in upcoming opera festival. (CNA photo)
To curate this year’s festival, two performing arts groups were invited to participate, along with four other groups selected from 19 submissions. Each performance questions history, reinterprets history from a contemporary perspective, or puts forward new contemporary themes.
Festival Curator Wang Chun-yen (汪俊彥) says this year’s theme is "Avant-Garde: Questioning History with Opera." He says each work was chosen due to its rich history, and through re-reading and interpretation, it opens up the future of opera.
Mr. Wing Theater Company will launch the festival with the work "Hezhu: A Play of Play(er)s," based upon the well-known Peking Opera performance "Lotus Meets Pearl."
The performance is directed by Wang Mo-lin (王墨林), an acclaimed theater director and author, who leads his acting troupe through a look back upon history and important lessons for modern-day audiences.
For more information about the festival, please visit the website of the National Center for Traditional Arts, and to purchase tickets, please visit OPENTIX.
