Critical Reflections on Contemporary Chinese Theatre

From the 19th to the 21st of September 2019, the Chinese Section of the IATC held an event titled “The Critical Reflections on Contemporary Chinese Theatre: A Competition.” There were two distinct juries, one for articles published in Chinese and one for writing in English. The Chinese jury included Peng Tao, Lin Ke Huan, Song Bao Zhen, Cheng Hui, Ma Wen Qi and Zhou Quan, whilst the English language jury consisted of Savas Patsalidis, Lissa Tyler Renaud and Kalina Stefanova. Twelve Chinese pieces and three articles in English were chosen by the juries to be the winning ones.

The award ceremony for the winning articles was jointly hosted by the IATC Chinese Section and the third Lao She Theatre Festival. A conference attended by all the laureates and members of the juries took place in the Central Academy of Drama (Beijing) and the award ceremony was in the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center. On behalf of the IATC, President Margareta Sörenson and Secretary General Michel Vaïs also attended the presentation and award ceremony, in the framework of the Lao She Theatre Festival, on September 21. This festival is named after Lao She (1899-1966), who was one of the most famous and influential modern playwrights in China. This year, the Festival has featured twelve productions from China and abroad. The Festival guests were invited to participate in a heated debate on the issues of the Chinese theatre, from Xi Qu to contemporary performance. As was widely reported by Chinese media, this series of events curated by the Chinese Section of the IATC promoted dialogue between theatre critics from China and their colleagues from abroad.