Winners

本屆評選結果說明

About the Results

首獎 First Prize

To the Lighthouse

Author / Datouma (Beijing, China)
到燈塔去

On 23 August 2017, a powerful typhoon hit Macau, Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. The Macau Meteorological Bureau put out its warning too late, so Macau residents had no idea of the severity of the situation and were unprepared, leaving the city to suffer massive damage. This play attempts to narrate the events of Typhoon Hato from multiple perspectives, while investigating the historical, cultural and political currents underlying this incident. Characters include the Filipino-Chinese bungee instructor on Macau Tower and his gambling-addicted grandmother, a Filipino former domestic helper; the high school student who yearns to see the wide world despite her fear of heights and never having left the Macau peninsula; a typhoon enthusiast from Hong Kong; and the gods of wind and sea, who have taken on human form. These individuals of different ethnicities, classes and languages find their destinies brought together by the typhoon.

PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO

Datouma was born in 1989, and began writing at the age of nine – mostly fiction and plays, with an emphasis on experimenting with the fringes of form and the many varieties of narrative. Publications include the novellas Murder Television and How to Write a Non-Bestselling Novel, and the novel Skinner. Murder Television was adapted as a play with the same title, and performed in 2016. Datouma received First Prize at the 2^nd Douban Writing Competition – Fiction Category, was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 16^th Chinese Media Literature Awards, and was shortlisted for the 1^st Blancpain-Imaginist Literary Prize. Other work has appeared in Harvest, Selected Short Stories, Huacheng, Fiction World, Shanghai Literature etc.

貳獎 Second Prize

Deserted City

Author / Wublesara (Ordos, China)
困獸之鬥

In a town surrounded by plains and deserts, aimless inhabitants lead existences full of hope, without knowing what exactly it is that they’re hoping for. They built the town up and lived through its most prosperous period, only to find themselves lost after its precipitous decline. All they can do now is sit in the dark—because even their electricity supply is insecure—and gaze up at the dazzling city that has been constructed across from them in the desert. In a world of rapid social development, they have allowed themselves to be left behind.

PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO

Qi Wen is a young Mongolian playwright and graduate of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. She composed for and performed in the documentary play Builders (建築家) at the Nanluoguxiang Theater Festival. Her playwriting credits include Still Loving at the End of the World (天荒情未老), Mantis Sparrow Cicada (螳螂黃雀蟬) and it’s okay to cry.

參獎 Third Prize

Homeland 1961

Author / Luo Jing (Quanzhou, China)
原鄉1961

“Homeland 1961” is an old tenement building in Quanzhou that has since been converted to a hostel and coffee shop, owned by Chen Qiuyue. Her husband, a returned overseas Chinese, built this place and then departed, never to be seen again. Chen Qiuyue raised her three children here, but is now suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. When local officials notify her that the building is due to be torn down, her children have varied responses: to flee, or to fight back. As layer after layer of the family’s pain is revealed, Chen Qiuyue prefers to take refuge in her beloved Qizi operas. Her granddaughter shows up after many years away, and has to deal with her difficult relationship with her father as well as her collapsing marriage. Over the course of an afternoon conversation about Qizi opera, grandmother and granddaughter find common ground. When everything is in flux, what is worth holding on to? Whether or not the old building is torn down seems to be more than a question of bricks and mortar…

PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO

Luo Jing was born in Quanzhou in 1982. She is a college professor with a PhD in Literature who writes plays in her “spare” time. She graduated from Xiamen University in 2010 with a degree in theater and traditional Chinese opera, and is now a lecturer and researcher at Huaqiao University. In 2008, she completed her first play, The Daily Rented Room, which was named an “Outstanding Script” at the Fujian Province Thirtieth Anniversary of Reform and Opening Up Modern Playwriting Competition. In 2009, she received First Prize at the 23^rd China Tian Han Play Competition. In 2018, her play Embracing Midsummer won Third Prize at the Fujian Province 27^th Playwriting Conference. In 2019, she finished her script Homeland 1961, which won Third Prize at the World Sinophone Drama Competition For Young Playwrights.

評審委員

Jury

Shih-wei Wu

Graduated from the Institute of Theater Arts, National Taipei University of the Arts, a senior theater creator. His works have won the Golden Bell Award for Best Screenplay, the First Prize at the Taipei Film Festival, and the "Everyone's Satisfaction Award" at the Fringe Festival. Adjunct lecturer in the Department of Drama, University of the Arts, and currently an assistant professor in the Department of Performing Arts and Fashion Management at Taipei University of Ocean Science and Technology. He is an outstanding artist who can serve as a director, screenwriter, actor, producer, etc. in various positions.

Lu-sheng Cao

[Final Review, Chinese and English Plays]

Professor in the Shanghai Theatre Academy and vice editor-in-chief of Theatre Arts . Author of Post-modern Theatre and translator of Environmental Theatre and Theatrical Experiences (戲劇經驗). Also author of stage plays such as Zhuangzi Tests His Wife (莊周戲妻), Who Killed the King (誰殺了國王), 1993 (九三年), As Dusts Settle (塵埃落定), Sister Yuqing (玉卿嫂), The Story of Chunqin (春琴傳) and Maste Hungyi (弘一法師). Winner of the 2005 National Stage Art Engineering Project’s Outstanding Stage Play Award.

Austin Mang-Chao Wang / CEO of Taipei Performing Arts Center

[Final Review, Chinese and English Plays]

Austin graduated from Master of Fine Arts in Stage and Lighting Design, University of Southern California, USA. Worked as Senior Production Manager and Stage Designer for Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, works like Moon Water, Songs of the
Wanderers. And He has worked with other troupes as well, such as Performance Workshop, Ping-Fong Acting Troupe, Contemporary Legend Theatre, and Ming Hwa Yuan Arts & Cultural Group as stage and lighting designer or technical director for their productions. Selected honors and awards: National Award of Arts presented by the National Culture and Arts Foundation (2014); chief stage designer for the opening/closing ceremony of Taipei Deaflympics (2009); jury member of Prague Quadrennial and the convener of Taiwan team, with the Taiwan Hall project winning the Gold Medal for Best Use of Technology (2007); and Belvedere International Achievement Award presented at the Poland Presidential Palace in Warsaw (2004). From 2016 to March 2021, he was the director of Taipei Performing Arts Center, and currently the CEO of Taipei Performing Arts Center.

LI Huan-Hsiung

[Second Review, Chinese Plays]

Li is currently Artistic Director at Mr.Wing Theatre Company, as well as Associate Professor Rank Specialist and Director at the Graduate Institute of Performing Arts, Tunghai University. As a founding member of the Rive-Gauche Theatre Group and Creative Society Theatre Company, Li made his name as early as the Avant-garde Theatre Movement of 1980s Taiwan and became one of the most active and influential figure in contemporary Taiwan theatre. Later in 1990s, Li expanded his career into the category of musicals, operas and multimedia stage productions, and becoming one of the most presenting theatre director in Taiwan.

Li’s recent directing works include: Giacomo Puccini's Turandot (Deutsch oper am Rhein/National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts-Weiwuying, 2015-19). Jonathan Dove's Monster in the maze (National Taichung Theatre, 2016). Mr.Wing Theatre Company's The Rainbow of Time: a musical; Turn Left, Turn Right: a musical ; Jimmy’s Subway:a musical; The Cherry Orchard 2047; Lutz Hubner's the company thanks (featured in TIFA); Starlight Theatre; Taipei Dad/New York Mom (featured in TIFA). Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma, Richard Wagner’s The Ring Cycle, Richard Strauss’s Elektra, Richard Wagner’s Parsifal and On the Road with the NSO.

John B. Weinstein

John B. Weinstein is Dean of the Early Colleges at Bard College, and Associate Professor of Chinese and Asian Studies at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. A scholar and translator who publishes on Republican period mainland theatre and contemporary Taiwan theatre, he served as president of the Association for Asian Performance from 2006 to 2011. He is the editor and co-translator of Voices of Taiwanese Women: Three Contemporary Plays (Cornell East Asia Series, 2015). He has directed plays in both English and Chinese in the U.S. and Taiwan.

[First and Second Review, English Plays]

Katherine Hui-Ling Chou

[Final Review, Chinese and English Plays]

Distinguished Professor of Eng. Dept., National Central Univ., Taiwan; project director of Performance Center at NCU; founder of ETI, a digital archive of Taiwan’s modern theatre since 1985; Awardee of NCU Outstanding Research, 2005, 2009-14, 2020; Playwright/director of Creative Society Theatre Troupe since 1997.

After receiving her PhD of Performance Studies at NYU, USA, Katherine Hui-Ling Chou co-founded Creative Society Theatre Troupe in Taipei, and has been the troupe’s core member, director and playwright since 1997. Her artistic credits include: The Apocalypse of Fudingjin (playwright/director, Wei Wu Ying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, 2020), Jian Ji: A Just Life (playwright, Grand Opening of Wei Wu Ying, National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, 2018); President’s Invitation (director of the 3.0 edition, MFA Theatre Troupe of Nanjing Univ. China, 2015~); One Hundred Years on Stage (co-playwright, premiered in 2011); Have Wok, Will Travel (playwright/director, Creative Society, CS, premiered in 2011); He Is My Wife, He Is My Mother (playwright/director, CS, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2018); Dreams on Manuscript (playwright, 2009), to be AND not to be (playwright/director, CS, 2006-2008); Reel Murder (director, CS, 2005), Click, My Baby (playwright/director, CS, 2004), Dejavu (director, CS, 2003, 2006), Memory Album (playwright/director, CS, 2002); I Want You, I Want You Not (playwright/director, CS, 2000).

She is also the author of Performing China: Actresses, Visual Politics and Performance Culture, 1910s-1945, and numerous refereed journal articles and chapters of refereed books edited by Richard Schechner (MIT,USA), David Der-wei Wang (Harvard U. Press, USA), Ru-ru Li (Palgrave,UK), Steve Siyuan Liu (Routledge, Canada), etc. Her current research focus is on performing arts in creative industry, and digital theatre/performance. She initiated the World Sinophone Drama Competition for the Young Playwrights in 2015 and has since then chaired the Competition.

Steve Ansell

Steve Ansell is the Artistic Director at stage@leeds, (University of Leeds, UK). An Artistic Director, teacher, writer and musician with over twenty five years experience Steve is also the founder of Screaming Media Productions and Gi60 (the world’s only international one minute theatre festival) and is currently an associate artist at The Viaduct Theatre Halifax, UK. Steve has directed work in the UK and US including the premiere of Dennis Kelly’s DNA at the National Theatre in London. Steve is the author of Tiny Plays: A Practical Guide to One Minute Theatre (Routledge 2017) and is currently working on a spoken word adaptation of Tang Xianzu’s ‘Nanke Ji’ entitled DREAMING Under the Southern Bough which will tour the UK and China in Autumn 2016.

[First and Second Review, English Plays]

Shih-Lung LO

[First Review, Chinese Plays]

Shih-Lung Lo graduated from National Taiwan University with an MA in Theatre Studies, and he received his Ph.D. in Theatre Studies from Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris, France. From 2012 to 2017, he taught Chinese language and literature in Paris Diderot University and Paul Valéry University in France. In 2017 he joined the faculty of National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. Now he is Associate Professor of the Department of Chinese Literature, and Director of Chinese Language Center of National Tsing Hua University. His Ph.D. dissertation La Chine sur la scene française au XIX e siècle was published in 2015 under the sponsorship of Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation. Besides academic writings, he has translated several French classical and contemporary plays, including Derniers remords avant l’oubli and Juste la fin du monde of Jean-Luc Lagarce, Caligula of Albert Camus, La Demande d’emploi of Michel Vinaver, Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse of Charles-Simon Favart, and Un verre d’eau of Eugène Scribe. He is also a regular contributor to Stage and Screen Reviews published by Nanjing University. From 2021 on, he participates in the production team of IC Broadcasting for the program “Open the Wardrobe: Stories Behind the Scenes.”

Shih-Hue Tu

Assistant Professor and Chair, Department of Performing Arts, Shu-Te University.

[Second Review, Chinese Plays]

Walter HSU

[First Review, Chinese Plays]

Jen-Hao Walter Hsu, Associate Professor and Chairperson, Department of Theatre Arts, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. His research focuses on modern and contemporary Chinese-language Theatres. He has published research articles in top-ranked journals in Taiwan and other countries. He is also an active performance critic in Taiwan.

Dar-lurn Liu

Instructor of National Taiwan University, Dept. of Drama and Theater. Acclaimed set designer.

[First Reviewer, Chinese Plays]

Rossella Ferrari

[First and Second Reviews, English Plays]

Rossella Ferrari is Professor of Chinese Studies in the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. Her main expertise is in the performance cultures of the Chinese-speaking world. Her research interests include avant-garde studies, intercultural performance, intermediality, adaptation, memory studies, and transnational and inter-Asian approaches to the study of Sinophone cultural production. She is the author of Pop Goes the Avant-Garde: Experimental Theatre in Contemporary China (2012) and Transnational Chinese Theatres: Intercultural Performance Networks in East Asia (2020), and the co-editor of Asian City Crossings: Pathways of Performance through Hong Kong and Singapore (2021).

Jia-Iuan CHIN

[First Review, Chinese Plays]

Jia-Iuan Chin is an associate professor at the National Cheng Kung University in the Department of Chinese Literature, where she teaches modern drama, theatre and theory. She has participated, directed and devised experimental theatre as well as produced the International Women Festival of Taiwan and some alternative theatrical works in experiment theatres and public spaces. Her PhD thesis centered on contemporary Taiwanese Opera and she has been published in several academic journals on themes relating to space, technology and audience. Chin seeks to link and combined the studies of performing arts and the observations of the public space to advance the way in which we talk about theatre aesthetic.

Victoria WANG

[Final Review, Chinese and English Plays]

Professor at the Department of Music of the National Tsing-Hua University and the Director of the Chun-shan Concert Hall on campus.

Graduated in 1991 from the Columbia University in NYC, MFA program of the Theater Management, Victoria started her professional career ever since. She had been formerly the Executive Director of the Chien Kuo Foundation for the Arts, the Executive and Artistic Director of the National Taichung-chung Theater, the Taipei Arts Festival, the Taipei Children’s Arts Festival and the Taipei Fringe Festival.