As the opening performance season comes to an end, Lai Shengchuan’s theater dream in Huichang, southern Gansu, where it seemed impossible to get associated with theater, has come true! When waking up from the dream, looking back on this wonderful fate with his father's birthplace, Lai Shengchuan started talking about it from the spring of 1996...
"When I first came to Huichang, my impression at the time was that it was so far away. It didn't look very far on the map, but You need to travel around, fly to overnight green trains, and then charter a car and go over mountains and ridges to reach this place."
Adding a life choice for the young people here
In the eyes of many people, Huichang Theater Town was born out of nowhere , but in fact, Lai Shengchuan’s drama seeds were planted as early as 2015. In 1947, Lai Jiaqiu, a talented scholar from Huichang and father of Lai Shengchuan, left home to make a living and went overseas, but never had the chance to return here. "Thinking about my father coming out of here, I came up with the idea of bringing a play to a performance in 2014. At that time, there was no theater in Huichang, only an auditorium, which was not very suitable for performances, but I didn't care. I think the young people in Huichang, In particular, their future is actually very unclear. Either they go to the coast to work, or they go out to study in college and then never come back. I think these two choices are quite bleak for Huichang."
From that time on , Lai Shengchuan began to wonder, "Agricultural development is certainly important, but is it possible to inject a cultural factor here and use this factor to change the choices of young people and at least add one more life choice for them." So, in 2015, Lai Shengchuan came to Huichang with "Thirteen Relationships", and "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Spring" the next year. "One play a year, make a 10-year plan, and see if 10 years can have an impact on a small town."
During this period, the leaders of Huichang visited Lai Shengchuan at the Wuzhen Theater Festival. There, they asked whether Huichang could be turned into Wuzhen, but Lai Shengchuan answered "no possibility." "Of course I am willing to do more for my hometown, but if the final goal is the Wuzhen Theater Festival, it is impossible. Wuzhen must be unique and unshakable. It is a template and cannot be copied, but Huichang should be able to find its own My own cultural temperament."
What opened the eyes of Huichang people was culture
The Huichang audience, who had almost never watched a drama, faced "Thirteen Triangle Relationships" in 2015. They were quiet at first, slowly entered and understood the plot. state. At that time, Lai Shengchuan heard that the audience came out of the theater and concluded, "Don't be someone else's mistress." "Of course, "Thirteen Relationships" talks about far more than this issue, but I think it is good even if the audience discusses the plot."
In a few years In the face of this year's "Treasure Island Village", Lai Shengchuan said, "Is there any threshold for drama? As long as you relax and all the information comes in, even if the way I tell the story is a little special, I will use my skills to let you Enter the logic of my storytelling." Some people say that the Hong Kong Repertory Theater's "Sisters" is a bit difficult for the audience, but Lai Shengchuan said, "It doesn't matter, we have "Secret Love in the Peach Blossom Spring" tea-picking song and dance, and "Treasure Island Village", These are all very easy to understand, but we always have to set some additional standards for acceptance. There is nothing difficult to understand in "Sisters", but we have never seen such a theatrical expression."
According to Lai Shengchuan, in fact, The current drama town is a product of planning. “There were originally many houses, and those with historical value and solidity were kept. Some that had no historical value and seemed to be about to collapse were demolished, so they were demolished. The current square in front of the two banyan trees appeared." Hundreds of thousands of people poured in every day, and during the opening days of the theater town, full capacity was common. These days, many people in Huichang say they have opened their eyes. In Lai Shengchuan’s view, “The so-called eye-opening does not just refer to a few houses and two banyan trees in the town. What opens people’s eyes is culture. This is what we want to see.” Bring it to Huichang."
In the old house of the Lai family built in the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, there are photos of Lai Shengchuan's father and mother, the calligraphy of the Lai clan and blue bricks with inscriptions. At that time, Wen Tianxiang wrote the preface to the "Lai Genealogy" Every detail conveys the rich heritage of this family.If Lai Shengchuan's father gave Huichang people the confidence to "go out", then everything Lai Shengchuan has done now undoubtedly conveys the confidence to "return" to Huichang people. At a symposium hosted by Ding Naizhu, Mrs. Lai Shengchuan, a Huichang kid studying abroad expressed his intention to come back after seeing the news about the drama town. "Of course we can't expect such a thing to happen, but we can indeed have such a dream." Lai Shengchuan said.
The most important thing is what happened in the theater.
Huichang people have a strong sense of belonging and pride that people in many places do not have. In Huichang, if you chat with anyone, they will express their sympathy. I am grateful to the teacher and believe that Huichang’s future will be better because of the drama town. This kind of simple folk customs and kindness are also one of the factors that make the drama town successful in Lai Shengchuan's opinion. "Let's not talk about the cultural and creative industries. We are engaged in cultural and creative ecology. The kindness and simplicity of Huichang people are important factors in the ecological soil. Maybe some strange flowers will grow in the future."
Walking in the drama town , Lai's imprint can be seen everywhere - Lai's old house, Lai's mother's private cuisine... there are also Fortunately Yuan Coffee and Yao Youguang Beverage Shop. Although the words Lai are not visible on the surface of these names, they all come from the minds of Lai Shengchuan and his team. storm. Although I dare not imagine that Mozart is to Salzburg and Shakespeare is to Strathford, in Lai Shengchuan’s view, Huichang Theater Town is similar to the template of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the United States. “Ashland It is a small town with only tens of thousands of people. The Shakespeare Festival has been around for nearly 100 years. It is not a theater festival in the traditional sense, but lasts from February to November every year, and promises that the audience will rotate within 10 years. Read through all Shakespeare's works. Although Huichang Drama Town will hold drama seasons every spring and autumn in the future, drama activities will run throughout the year."
In Lai Shengchuan's view, "The Ashland Shakespeare Festival radiates to the surrounding areas San Francisco and Seattle are two big cities. During the theater festivals, people from these two cities will bring their children to stay in B&Bs or camp. They go fishing or sightseeing during the day and watch plays at night. This is how those children grow up. , generations of San Franciscans and Seattleites also grew up under the influence of the Shakespeare Festival. There is nature, drama, and Shakespeare here. Similarly, there are good mountains and rivers near Huichang, and many people let their children learn various things from an early age. , but how can we embed culture into children’s lives and make them feel that going to the theater to watch a play is a normal thing? This is the first challenge we face in this beautiful theater town. Let the audience enter the theater , the so-called cultural and creative ecology, the most important thing is what happens in the theater, not just the houses or catering markets outside."
A place of water and soil creates completely different possibilities
Huichang Theater Town Press Conference , Meng Jinghui is here; Huang Lei is here for the opening ceremony. They and Lai Shengchuan both have a common cause - Wuzhen Theater Festival. If the Wuzhen Theater Festival initiated by Huang Lei radiates to the Yangtze River Delta, the Aranya Theater Festival where Meng Jinghui serves as artistic director radiates to Beijing and Tianjin. In the future, these two Can a relatively mature drama festival interact with the new generation radiating from Fujian and Guangdong, Huichang Drama Town? In this regard, Lai Shengchuan said that this was a matter of time. "We have discussed whether it is time to mature and form an alliance of drama festivals, but we are still at the stage of imagination. The development of Chinese drama cannot rely solely on one Wuzhen Theater Festival. It is more like the origin and origin of domestic drama festivals. A seed, a firework, a rock, it can ignite everyone's confidence, but it cannot be copied. Aranya is close to the sea, and Daliang Mountain relies on ethnic minority elements. What is cultivated by the soil and water is completely different possibilities."
from From doing theater enlightenment in Taipei, to single-handedly supporting the start-up Wuzhen Theater Festival, to running theaters in Shanghai's commercial community, and finally to establishing a theater town in Huichang, Lai Shengchuan has made too many impossibles possible and has done too much. A pioneer who conserves ecology.In the eyes of onlookers, this kind of unreasonable behavior is just a "dream" in Lai Shengchuan's view. "I have a vague feeling that if this can be done to help this place, I will do it. Just like Wuzhen, several of our sponsors, starting from the first session in 2013, even without the title of 'sponsor' , will also do this, to put it crudely, just for 'love'. Maybe it is because of this that Wuzhen has a chance to succeed. Over the years, not only a few of us, but the entire Wuzhen people have shown love and confidence in Wuzhen Together we have made this happen. The area of Huichang Theater Town is only 1/15 of that of Wuzhen Xizha. If Wucun and the International Convention and Exhibition Center are added together, Huichang Theater Town only occupies 1/40 of its area. What we can do What an article, it must be something with a completely different texture."
The drama town still has a lot of potential that has not been stimulated.
At present, the drama town only has 4 performance spaces. During the opening performance season, these 4 spaces all appeared in different forms. In fact, in In Lai Shengchuan's plan, besides these four, there are still many potentials and areas that can be developed. "For example, the Laijia Old House Square where the Youren Shengu performance was performed this time is actually based on the Water Theater in Wuzhen. Although the old house is not great or particularly beautiful, it is just an old Hakka house in the ancient town, but it is originally excellent. Human God Drum brought the scenery, but when we arrived, we found that it was completely unnecessary. There was already a sacred and ancient sense of ritual in setting up the array in front of the old house. I saw that the old house where my father was born can actually be turned into a stage. The scenery is still very touching."
Although there are not many repertoires in this opening season, they bring together cross-strait and three places. Lai Shengchuan said that there will definitely be foreign repertoires in the future. "Before the epidemic, I had made an appointment with a Romanian director. He was a rhapsodic director. I hoped that he could make a play for the entire town, perhaps integrating local elements and including the entire town."
Today, Lai Shengchuan's theater team has become a "nomadic people". In his words: everyone worked hard to complete the opening season first. If there is no opening, there will be no follow-up. "The vitality of Huichang Theater Town is like the two 400-year-old banyan trees that inspired me. Many potentials have not yet been unleashed."
In fact, in addition to Wuzhen and Huichang, Lai Shengchuan also has a drama job in Nanjing that he particularly values —— Nanjing New Drama Collection, in short, is an extended version of Wuzhen's "Qing Sai". Relying on the heritage of the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, six original works that have never been commercially performed are selected from various places to be performed in Nanjing every year. Each play lasts more than 75 minutes. Then the judges will select outstanding works and give them bonuses to help more original works come out. In Shanghai, Wuzhen, Huichang, and Nanjing, Lai Shengchuan's theatrical map has been drawn and is just waiting for talented partners to fill in the colors.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Guo Jia
editor/Cui Wei
