Looking back at the "Crown Art Festival" and "Fangfeng Art Festival"

Text: Chen Huiyi

In December 2016, Taiwan's Experiment in Place (ET@T) held a lecture titled "Perspective and Time Difference: Post-screening Discussion on Archives of Theater Screenings in the 1990s." The lecture was hosted by Guo Liangting, an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Drama, National Taipei University of the Arts. Guests participating in the lecture included Yu Shanlu, assistant professor of the Department of Drama, National Taipei University of the Arts, theater director, theater critic, and poet Hong Hong, and Taiwan Wo Chen Meimao, the founder of the Ke Opera Troupe and the founder of the Taipei Small Theater Alliance. In this lecture, they shared their creative experiences while growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as their observations and experiences of the development of small theaters in Taipei.

Taipei Small Theater Route

During the lecture, Yu Shanlu mentioned his "route for watching theater", which aroused my interest, so I also tried to list the route I took to watch theater in Hong Kong when I was growing up. These include Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong Arts Center, Sheung Wan City Hall, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Shatin Town Hall, Fringe Club, Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre, Forward Bullpen Theatre, Jockey Club Black Box Theatre, Skyline Outside the theater, there is also "Blank Space".

When I recalled my experience of watching theaters in Hong Kong, I also began to pay attention to the movement of small theaters in Taipei mentioned by Shanlu Yu. Since I first came to Taiwan to perform a Hong Kong play in 2000, Taipei has become the place closest to me besides Hong Kong. Every year, no matter whether there is a special reason or not, I come to this city to relax. In 2004, I participated in the Walker Theater Company's performance "Taipei Mistaken Trip". Since then, I have not only come to Taipei to watch theaters, but I also often wander around the city streets aimlessly. Until 2018, I came to the National Taiwan University of Arts to study for graduate school. I thought I already knew Taiwan very well, but I was still not accustomed to it.

In addition to the ET Experimental Theater and Kuling Street Small Theater that are still in operation today, what other venues in the past contributed to Taiwan’s small theater culture today? If I really follow those places of literary youth in the past to explore, am I just a check-in? Yu Shanlu's "Theater Route" first starts in Taipei, and then follows Roosevelt Road to National Taiwan Normal University 1st Road. This route includes the National Theater Hall's ET Experimental Theater, the intersection of Pingdong Road and Jinshan South Road. entrance, the B-Side Theater opposite the gas station, the a8 air-raid shelter and Gengxin Experimental Theater on Xinhai Road, the underground society Underworld on Shida Road, and the Errand Theater on Heping East Road, as well as the "Sweetness" that was later taken over by Walker Theater Company Honey" coffee shop and so on. I believe that most of what Yu Shanlu mentioned are small theaters, and most of these venues are located underground, with a mysterious and rebellious atmosphere.

Free and open crown arts festival

Tracing back to the earliest experimental theater in Taiwan, we must definitely mention the Enlightenment era initiated by the late theater artist Yao Yiwei. In July 1980, teacher Yao Yiwei planned the "First Experimental Theater Exhibition", which marked the birth of the term "small theater" in Taiwan. In the catalog of the "Experimental Theater Exhibition", he quoted the words of American stage director Zelda Fichandler: "We need money, but equally important, we need to individually find, improve and explore the concepts that shape our theater." 1]" This kind of thinking will influence the development of Taiwan's performing arts industry in the next 20 years. Until the 1980s, the Crown Theater was established in December 1984. At that time, Ping Heng, the daughter of Ping Xintao, the founder of Crown Culture Group, had just returned to Taiwan after receiving a master's degree in dance from New York University in the United States. She shared her experience in American performing arts venues with her father. Therefore, the Crown Building was undergoing renovation at the time, and Ping Xintao decided to convert the basement into a performance venue, becoming Taiwan's first black box theater. The venue design and operation methods of the Crown Theater were based on the small theater model in the United States. It became one of the most well-equipped performance spaces among self-operated venues at that time. Many Taiwanese theater companies choose to premiere their works at the Crown Theater. In addition to having a significant impact on Taiwan's theater scene, the Crown Arts Festival can also be regarded as the first window for cultural exchanges between small theaters in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Since 1984, the Crown Theater has hosted the Crown Mini Art Festival, which was officially renamed the "Crown Art Festival" in 1994. As Ping Heng, the founder of Crown, said, Crown Theater is just a small kitchen for artists, where artists can devote themselves to creation, rehearsal and thinking without worrying about adapting to large venues, production costs or catering to mainstream tastes [2]. Crown Arts Festival is an open platform for artists to collaborate with venues. In 1991, Hong Kong's "Sha Zhuan Shang Theater Company" was invited to the Crown Arts Festival for the first time to perform "Cold War Chronicles II". This performance rekindled the passion for the small theater movement. As Ping Heng described, the Crown Arts Festival is like a kitchen, and this young theater troupe from Hong Kong, composed of more than 20 members, has turned this kitchen into a hot pot full of creativity, pushing the boundaries of small theaters [3]. At the "Avant-garde Theater Talks between Cross-Strait and Three Places" in 1993, Zhang Hui once said: "If Zuni Theater is the big brother of alternative theater, then Sha Zhuan Shang is the younger brother. Some of the members on Sand Brick are engaged in painting, some play music, and some dance. Therefore, their performances are more diverse and experimental. [4]》

The Crown Arts Festival emphasizes a free and open platform and does not set theme or group restrictions in program planning. Most works are introduced through word of mouth. After receiving the support of Crown, the then theater director Hong Hong established the "Secret Hunter Theater Company" and served as the resident creative group. He also helped write copy and recommend some teams. Through the introduction of Hong Kong City Contemporary Dance Company manager Kwong Wei-lai, Crown Arts Festival invited "Sha Zhuan Shang Theater". This event laid the foundation for a lasting connection. This initiative also inspired Honghong to use Crown's resources to further promote exchanges with external groups, naturally transforming this venue into a vibrant creative platform and nurturing important young theater groups, such as "Shakespeare's Sisters", "Taiwan Walker Theater" and "Critical Point Theater Video". The beginning of the Crown Arts Festival coincided with the peak period of Taiwan's small theater movement. The movement had its fair share of shocks, struggles, successes, failures and awakenings, shaping today's theater landscape. In 2011, the Crown Theater and some other private theaters were suspended from use by the Taipei City Government because they were located underground and were not suitable for registered office use. After 27 years, the "Crown Theater" ended its historical performance.

A new generation of "Fengfeng Art Festival"

Director Chen Meimao, founder of Taiwan Walker Theater Company, was still full of witty words during the post-screening discussion of "Scope and Time Difference: Archive Screening of Theater in the 1990s": "I thought the 1990s was the prelude to the vigorous small theater movement, but it turns out that that time has already arrived. Climax, what happens next is just the "afterplay" after the climax." And he himself was one of the driving forces behind the climax of the 1990s. Taiwan Walker Theater Company was founded in 1992 by Chen Meimao and Yang Changyan. Zhang Shuoxiu later joined as the troupe leader and Chen Meimao as the artistic director. Walker has a strong style, and all his works are original screenwriters. He is good at teasing the political system and social phenomena, and especially loves the local entertainment ecology and the interests of the people. In addition to creating, Chen Meimao also took over the "Sweet Mi Mi" small theater of the Gengxin Cultural and Educational Institute and changed it to the "Taiwan Walker Cafe Theater". In 1995, she held the "Fourth-Rate Star Art Festival". At that time, Walker's curatorial direction was already very clear. The festival focused on young creatives, and the issues impacted the main body of Taiwanese theater at that time, challenging sovereignty with generational ideological trends. In 1997, Chen Meimao, Jiang Shifang, and Hong Hongde established the "Small Theater Alliance". In 1998, they successfully fought for the vacant Taipei City Police Station Zhongzheng 2nd Branch to operate an arts and cultural space, temporarily named the Taipei City Police Station Small Theater. In 1999, the first Fangfeng Art Festival was held. The curatorial direction of the art festival was also focused on young and new-generation theater creators, and it also marked the banner of "freedom, avant-garde, freshness, unknown, and violent, who is more coquettish?", emphasizing that It was the most inclusive small theater event in Taiwan at the time, with the goal of cultivating a new generation and innovative force. What's more important is that the "Fangfeng Art Festival" has become an important opportunity for young Hong Kong creatives to come to Taiwan for exchanges.

The second "Fangfeng Art Festival" in 2000 was the first time it cooperated with the Hong Kong Arts Center's "Wave Next Generation" (New Wave). The Arts Center publicly collected proposals and selected the "Wave Next Generation" participating groups. After the performance The work will then be handed over to Walker to be selected for re-performance at the "Fan Feng Art Festival". The second show did not have a theme, and it was clearly stated that "Specialized in small theaters for minors: leading the show 99", allowing creators to express themselves freely. The Hong Kong groups that came to Taipei through Wave that year were "Twenty Beans Box Painting" and "Eared But Not Literary Insect Dou". Chen Meimao believes that this arrangement is the simplest and most direct, because he is convinced of the art center’s selection criteria and judges, and everyone has a common belief in young creations or the discovery of the new generation. At that time, the director-general of the art center was none other than Ru Guolie, and the manager of the art center was Zhong Xiaomei. They and Chen Meimao also got to know each other during the "Sand Bricks" era, and continued the friendship of the theater revolution. For the works of "Twenty Bean Box Paintings" and "Eared But Not Literary Insect Dou", he does not need to require all kinds of precision, because the Hong Kong works themselves already have a strong color of freedom, which is what a young man from Hong Kong has been doing. The things that grow on one’s body represent the possibilities of Hong Kong people.

The third Wave and Walker were closely integrated again. In January 2001, the Art Center invited Walker's choreographer Zhang Shuoxiu (Social) to perform A Thousand Cuts and Thousand Miles. Since most of Wave's audiences are young college students and artistic creators, "A Thousand Cuts and Thousand Miles" has strongly shocked the Hong Kong audience. As the promotional copy states: "The meaning of life is to be falsely positive when it is really meaningless. The purpose of life is to survive even if it is boring to death." In the words, the actors simultaneously presented violence, perversion, mental illness and self-destruction, which made the audience in the closed Macaulay Black Box Theater breathless. In this performance, the actors use their real names on stage and present themselves almost authentically, without disguising themselves as characters. Situations of abuse or being abused in the monologues often come from their own stories or those of family and friends. In some episodes, the actors even speak in terms of their real-life identities and situations. Furthermore, the director aims to create a space where actors and audience can coexist. During the performance, the actors are clearly aware of the presence of the audience. This is a performance with audience interaction, an immediate live performance. Therefore, the actors do not hide or try to forget the reality that they are performing on stage, but occasionally refer to the rehearsal and performance process. They show themselves naturally in front of the audience, and switch scenes, plots, identities and program content in front of the audience at will, just like switching TV channels. What they put on was a real live performance show in front of the audience. Finally, the actor passed the stage carrying a bag of nearly rotten fish offal from behind the stage, which made the whole space heavy and tiring.

The one that was selected to go to Taiwan through Wave is Sim Theater's "A Simple Day for Pelotus", which is also the author's personal experience. Sim Theater is composed of a group of ID Sons and Daughters Workshop students who have entered the drama workshop before. There are about 40 students. , participated in an 8-month experimental art creation. After the workshop, the students were still active in advanced activities. He even formed his own team and submitted a proposal to participate in Wave. After being selected and receiving a basic production fee, they began to co-create and rehearse a story about personal growth, education and family. Frankly speaking, I don’t remember much about the creative content, but everything about starring in Taiwan is still fresh in my mind.

The Taiwan performance of "Pelotus's Simple Day" is directed by Ye Wenhua, accompanied by four actors, one lighting and all backstage producer, a total of six people. I still remember that after receiving a call from the manager of the Art Center, Zhong Xiaomei, that we had the opportunity to perform in Taipei, the six of us immediately prepared for the performance. Each of us held multiple hats and took care of external performances outside of the performance. I also served as the producer, booking air tickets and Financial Management. Contact Chen Meimao via email before departure to coordinate performance needs. At that time, we also discussed whether there would be someone available to pick us up from the airport? But of course it was impossible. A group of six people arrived in Taipei and gathered directly at the theater. In the light rain, I saw Chen Meimao walking and smoking. He winked at us and did not stop. He continued to walk towards the theater. After opening the door, he simply said "The theater is available for use" and left. But we didn't catch up, we just chatted and gossiped about how Chen Meimao's name turned out not to be female; I wonder what delicious food is near the theater? It felt like a group of tour group tourists were sitting and chatting in a teahouse set up at the scenic spot. Because the director needed to find a local young Taiwanese actor to perform with him, Chen Meimao introduced Huang Biwei to perform with him. So when Huang Biwei came to the theater, everyone got back to work. Not long after, the theater staff also came to the theater, and just when we were thinking about starting to warm up and rehearse, the staff gave us buckets and cleaning supplies, saying they would be used when we needed them. Since my Mandarin is not good, I had to ask again and again to find out that the staff wanted us to clean up before we could start rehearsing. So we started sweeping the floor, wiping the table, the auditorium, and cleaning the backstage and frontstage tables and chairs. The staff was also busy helping us with lighting issues. Only then did I realize that venue operating funds are limited, and small theater groups should not wait for all kinds of care as a matter of course. And I unexpectedly discovered that the venue texture of the Guling Street Theater is the performance space I am most familiar with outside of the cowshed. .

The artistic exchange between the "Crown Art Festival" and "Fangfeng Art Festival" makes art more diverse, rich and dynamic. They not only allow us to enjoy high-level performances and artistic works, but also allow us to experience the infinite possibilities of art. Such art festivals open a window to different cultural and artistic fields for us, allowing us to understand the world better, while also deepening my love and respect for art. I hope there will be more art exchange activities like this in the future so that we can continue to be inspired and moved by art.

"History of early small theater exchanges between Hong Kong and Taiwan (1980s-1990s)" series (4)

Comment

[1] Written by Yao Yiwei: The First Experimental Theater Exhibition of Yao Yiwei Academic Network 1980 https://yaonet.tnua.edu.tw/autumn/exptheater/no_1/

[2] Ping Heng: PAR Performing Arts Experiments with Various Dream Kitchens The First Crown Art Festival 1994

[3] Note 2

[4] Written by Zheng Zhizhong and Wang Molin: PAR Performing Arts Cross-Strait and Three Places Avant-garde Theater Talks 199