Festival of theater

SUPPORT FROM A MASTER: Meng Jinghui, one of the founders of China's contemporary theater industry, supports and helps promote the Beijing Youth Theater Festival, a cradle for young and talented theater directors (WEI YAO)

On May 18, the National Theater of China (NTC) moved into its magnificent new building, leaving behind its old home in a hutong. A day later, the one-act play section of the drama season Spring of the National Theater was opened by the bilingual play Faire Bleu/Loin d'Hagondange. Earlier, NTC's annual four-month festival of theater, which is usually seen as the most successful demonstration of market operations in the industry, was opened.

"The festival of theaters provides strong impetus for promoting market operations in the industry," said Zhou Zhiqiang, President of NTC. "By challenging the planning, operations, marketing and brand sales ability of a theater, it brings more energy out of a theater."

The non-professional and non-commercial season held by the Nine Theater has reached its fourth anniversary as well. During the four years, it has accumulated a good reputation and strong audiences.

"The festival of theaters has become a regular promotional activity, and different theaters show different levels of operations," said Mao Xiubing, chief consultant of the Dao Strategy Cultural Industry Research Center. "NTC's box office for plays during the festival is quite satisfying. The festival, serving as a platform, is beneficial for cultivating a larger theater market."

The Beijing Youth Theater Festival supported by the government is widely recognized as a huge platform for cultivating and discovering young talented dramatists, such as SanTuoQi Theater's head Zhao.

"It's a great stage for young and talented dramatists to show their artistic personalities and creativity. Here, there is no judgment about theories or box office. Every young dramatist is entitled to express his or her opinions out loud. They can form their respective artistic characteristics and unique viewpoints of aesthetics during the process of free creation, which is the most meaningful part of our festival," said Meng, art director of the festival. "Although some of the dramas we select are experimental and vary from what is prevalent in the field of commercial plays, I believe their young directors will help change the theater industry in the next 10 years."

Producers

As a way of collaboration with the promotion of the International Festival of Theaters, NTC implemented a series of reforms, such as the "producer-centered system" it established last year. In this system, the producer is given full responsibility for the creation, performance and management of plays, and the risks and profits are shared by the producer and the theater. "It's a brand-new system. A producer can also be employed from outside of the NTC," said Zhou.

"Many theaters don't have much experience in market operations for their plays," said Tian Xu, a producer from the Li Bonan Theater Studio, which has independently operated thousands of play performances. "Our studio helped four state-owned theaters produce four plays in 2010 and we opened sub-studios in those theaters. This year, we plan to copy this mode to the whole nation and help many other theaters to improve their operational skills."

Themes

Surviving in the market doesn't mean dramas have to be vulgar and shallow. The play To Be Continued produced by Fu hopes to express a more serious theme­—cherishing and caring about people around you all the time. As a compromise for the commercial market, Fu chose to demonstrate the theme in a relaxed way, such as the confusions of white-collar workers and the emotional problems of urban people.

The Final Battle, a play produced by NTC, reflects many problems existing in society, such as corruption and materialism.

"This play will touch on the dark side of society and prompt repeated applause and laughter from the audience. It will also be the first Chinese play to step on to the Broadway stage," said Liu Tiegang, producer of the play.