Date in memory sets creative stage

Taiwan-based performing arts group U-Theatre is set to inaugurate the theater village with their well-known drum performance, Sword of Wisdom, at an open-air venue.

Unlike conventional theater festivals, Huichang Theater Village hopes to become a year-round project, including two theater seasons in spring and autumn, and productions to be staged throughout the year.

Wang Mingfu, a Huichang-born entrepreneur who established the county's vocational Hejun College, is also involved in the project. Apart from giving back to his hometown, he also wants to support those with a genuine passion for theater.

"I have been living and working in big cities for a long time, and I feel that contemporary urban dwellers, especially those with knowledge and cultural pursuits, often face two challenges — anxiety and a sense of drifting," Wang says.

"For such people, a good play is able to provide them with consolation and warmth. But I think what they truly need is a spiritual hometown where they can come to settle down."

Projects to invite theater practitioners, both veteran and emerging, to live and work in the theater village have been established, as well as for low-budget original productions to be created and rehearsed here, so that a network of artists across regions and countries can be created.