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Date: 2020.11.30
Location: National Taiwan College of Performing Arts
Interviewee: Director Su-Qiong Ou
Director Ou's professional explanation of the problem |
Learn more about the operation of the theater through the interview |
1.How does the troupe recruit new actors?
Answer:The troupe members are mostly the graduated students of National Taiwan College of Performing Arts. Since they have received complete training in elementary school, junior high school and senior high school, after graduation, they are selected by the troupe as new actors.
2.After you undertook the position as the director of Taiwan Peking and Kunqu Opera Troupe, did you encounter any obstacles or challenge in operating the troupe?
Answer:Traditional opera is not the mainstream of modern entertainment and we lost a lot of audiences.Due to the impact on the market, the troupe could not develop stably and it influenced the opportunities of performance and the actors’ job opportunities. The talents reduced significantly, creation quality declined and the funds were decreasing. These are the issues I encounter when operating the troupe.
3.How does the troupe pass on the experienced actors’ experience to the new generation?
Answer:Generally speaking, experienced actors remind the young ones to reinforce the competence of acting. They should constantly strengthen their skills, make efforts on practicing the singing and techniques and maintain the concentration and passion on Chinese opera. Experienced actors have accumulated their experiences and techniques through the performances of traditional Chinese opera. By daily rehearsal, they instruct the young actors and allow them to perform on the stage. They constantly gain the practical experience and obtain the feedback from audiences. Thus, they can reinforce their own performing art.
4.How does the troupe promote traditional opera in Taiwan?
Answer:Taiwan Peking and Kunqu Opera Troupe aims to promote the dramas and the subjects are everyone. As the important troupe to preserve and continue traditional Chinese opera in Taiwan, it successively plans the promotion of traditional opera in the schools, participates in traditional opera festival and holds traditional opera camps. In addition, in response to the aging society of Taiwan, it develops traditional opera experience and learning courses to the retired group and community residents.
5.How does the troupe enhance international and cross-Strait exchange?
Answer:Taiwan Peking and Kunqu Opera Troupe has been invited by China and different countries of the world for several times to perform on the stages. It attempts to cooperate with excellent international theater workers, troupes and actors. It actively participates in art festival and drama festival of international large cities. It not only exchanges with and learns from others, but also exposes Taiwan dramas. At present, cross-Strait cultural exchange of traditional opera is extremely frequent and the troupe often performs in Beijing and different cities. It invites the Chinese troupes to Taiwan. In the exchange, the actors of Taiwan and China create, rehearse and perform together with pleasant cooperation. They are popular with the audiences. It launches the positive cooperation. We hope that we can continue the collaboration to reinforce cross-Strait artistic and cultural exchange of traditional opera.
6.It is the era of multi-entertainment, most of the audiences of traditional opera are the elderly instead of the young ones. In this situation, how does the troupe increase the audiences?
Answer:With the impact of diversification in Taiwan, traditional opera is no longer the mainstream of entertainment. Besides, Beijing Opera and Kunqu Opera were introduced from China and the audiences in Taiwan were few. Thus, people constantly suggest the localization of Beijing Opera and Kunqu Opera in order to meet the interest of the audiences from different generations. Thus, we should maintain the balance between the tradition and innovation of Chinese opera. At present, our directions to increase the audiences are below:
(1)We design and direct children’s plays with tour performance to cultivate the children’s competence to watch the dramas.
(2)We create new plays with local features of Taiwan and design the dramas upon the stories n Taiwan. We develop interesting stories and present the Chinese opera by modern theatre techniques to attract the young adults.
(3)We adapt traditional dramas with the same stories and speedy progress. Singing becomes shorter and we combine western music to reinforce the atmosphere of the stage in order to keep the middle aged and elderly audiences.
7.How does the troupe propose the development opportunities for the graduated students?
Answer:Taiwan Peking and Kunqu Opera Troupe is a professional team. In order to create a remarkable play, it requires professional talents from different fields. Thus, the graduated students of Chinese opera college from the troupe are not only the professional actors, but also the talents of script writing, stage lighting, music production, management of costumes and properties, directing and monitoring. Hence, the graduates have diverse job opportunities.
Interviewee:Su-Qiong Ou, Director of Taiwan Peking and Kunqu Opera Troupe
Source of Photos:Photographed by the research team