With natural charm of grey bricks and black tiles, green water and fine drizzle, and open cultural mind, the Wuzhen Theater Festival has become the world's top drama event after the French Avignon Theatre Festival and the Edinburgh Theatre Festival. This year, this art event with the theme of "Magnanimity" will be held in Wuzhen from October 18 to October 28, 2018. On May 28, the Wuzhen Theater Festival Organizing Committee announced the propositions and rules of the Young Theater Artists Competition, and officially launched the registration of the Young Theater Artists Competition and the Outdoor Carnival.
The theme of the 6th Wuzhen Theater Festival is Magnanimity.
According to Shuo Wen Jie Zi, Magnanimity is the quality of tolerance and inclusiveness;
It is the quality of openness and good-heartedness.
To be magnanimous is to be generous, to be understanding, to learn from others, to have an attitude of compatibility and a selfless state of mind.
Open-ended proposition of the Young Theater Artists Competition: Focus on the power of youth to awaken creative vitality
best new emerging talents of the theater and drama, has been highly valued by the Wuzhen Theater Festival Competition Judging Panel over the years. It also attracts more and more creative drama creators and enthusiasts to join in.
The three elements required for the 6th Young Theater Artists Competition are no longer three props, as in previous years, but three words: an adjective, a noun and a verb. The three words are arranged in the above order to form a complete sentence or a play name. The content of the three words is determined by the participants themselves, who have to make the judges feel the logic and creativity of the words in their submitted works. In addition, participants can use the tables and chairs provided by the organizing committee, but they are not allowed to make or carry other props. The entries must be stage dramas created according to the title and the performance time is less than 30 minutes. If the author makes modifications based on the existing creation, the first public performance of the work must be after June 1, 2017.
From now until July 31, 2018, you can log in to the official website of Wuzhen Theater Festival (www.wuzhenfestival.com) to register. The initial jury of the Festival will be selected according to online registration and will be announced a list of 18 shortlisted works on August 31, 2018. After that, all the shortlisted works will participate in two or three public performances during the Festival for the preliminary round. After the preliminary round, there will be 6-8 repertoires in the finals, and Award-winning work will be judged by the final judges Lai Shengchuan, Huang Lei, Tian Qinxin, Shi Hang and Zhou Liming.
This year's Festival still set up a Best Play Award (a prize of RMB 100,000), a Best Individual Performance Award (a prize of RMB 60,000) and a number of Special Attention Awards. The winning teams of Special Attention Award can go to the world-famous art festival to observe and study in the coming year.
The Wuzhen Theater Festival provide a platform for countless young people to realizing their dreams of drama. From illusory to profound, from illusion to reality, countless days and nights of drama creation, they grow and become braver through each thought, idea, and story. The dream of youth will be accompanied by the autumn wind of Wuzhen blowing over the ancient building of grey bricks and black tiles and get access to local people. As Wuzhen has become a stage for passionate and potential young playwrights and performers to present themselves, we hope that they can stick to their original missions and value highly the springtime.
Since the first Young Theater Artists Competition of the Wuzhen Theater Festival, groups of outstanding young theater artists have taken nutrition and showed their style at this stage. After winning a Best Play Award in 2013, Chen Minghao performed in specially invited plays for two consecutive years in 2015 and 2016; Li Bo who took part in the Wuzhen Theater Festival for three consecutive years and won the "Best Individual Performance Award", and Wu Bi, the winner of the 2015 Best Play Award, were promoted to the preliminary judges of the Young Theater Artists Competition in 2016. Previously outstanding dramas such as Ever Never and Candy Rain have been invited to perform on a larger stage. At the same time, the Wuzhen Theater Festival has focused on helping the young people to grow up. The winners of the Special Attention Awards of the 5th Wuzhen Theater Festival last year will embark on their journey to study at the Toga Theater Festival in Japan this summer.
The Outdoor Carnival: Open Arms to Welcome All Forms of Performing Arts
The Outdoor Carnival, which attracts hundreds of Chinese and foreign artists to participate every year, is also committed to the theme "Magnanimity" of this year's Wuzhen Theater Festival. Since the founding of the first Wuzhen Theater Festival, the Outdoor Carnival has always adhered to the concept of multiple openness, not only actively absorbing the performance forms of dramas such as contemporary drama performances and traditional drama arts, but also opening arms to welcome dance, music, modern art, cross-border creativity and other forms of performing arts. At that time, hundreds of artists performing groups will take the wooden houses, stone bridges, alleys and even the rafting boats in the Wuzhen Xizha Scenic Area as the stage, carrying cultural genes derived from different countries, to release their creative passion in this "Utopian Town". As an important place to connect art and the masses, the Outdoor Carnival is on longer limited to the practice and exploration of street performing arts, but will lead the audience to the art palace and gradually enjoy this lifestyle close to the essence of drama. In Wuzhen, you can appreciate everything of the nature while your body walking on the waterfronts and alleys, and taste the complexity of life while your soul wandering in the art space.
In addition, Wuzhen Theater Festival will continue to be committed to the inheritance and innovation of traditional culture, adhere to the harmony between tradition and modernity and the dialogue between the nation and the world. The Shigatse Tibetan Opera Performance Group, which first came out of Tibet to the Wuzhen Theater Festival last year, added a rich and colorful touch to the Festival with its unique performance form and rich Tibetan customs. The English version of The Secret Code of Tibetan Opera in Yaiiang, a documentary witnessed this journey, has been officially aired on Nepal's Himalayan TV Station this year. The dream of traditional culture on the world stage has already come true. In addition, Sichuan Opera from Yibin Youth Sichuan Opera Troupe, the Qimen Mulian Opera from Anhui and the Santiao comic dialogue from Tongxiang Wuqing Drama Club also left their impressive performance in Wuzhen. Each performance is a "living business card" of traditional Chinese national culture.
With nearly 7,000 street performances at the Outdoor Carnival over the five years, this year's Wuzhen Theater Festival will provide more mature and perfect support for performance and help the life of many artists. At the same time, more venues and sessions will be provided to enable artists to perform full performances and exchange during the festival. From now until August 31, theater groups from all over the world, performers and groups of all art forms can sign up for the official website of Wuzhen Theatre Festival (www.wuzhenfestival.com).
Interpreting the Dreams and Nights of Wuzhen, Leading New Trends of International Drama
The first Wuzhen Theater Festival has been in existence for five years since its inception in May 2013. Over the past five years, the scale of the Festival has continued to expand, from 19 performances of 6 plays and 580 carnivals in the first year to 100 performances of 24 plays and 1,200 carnivals last year. Hundreds of thousands of spectators have entered the theater of the Festival and nearly one million tourists have experienced the lively charm of the Festival.
The Wuzhen Theater Festival will become a giant of drama after years of accumulation and growth. In the future, under the leadership of the Wuzhen Theater Festival Presidium, this top dream team will continue to undertake the classic drama arts, lead new trends of international drama, cultivate youth Chinese drama talents, and create a new cultural lifestyle. Drama and Wuzhen are constantly blending with each other, interpreting the realest and most dreamy "Oriental Drama Dream".
Keywords: Wuzhen Theater Festival; Young Theater Artists Competition; the Outdoor Carnival.
Keyword:Wuzhen Theater Festival,Outdoor Carnival,the Young Theater Artists Competition