At the invitation of the relevant overseas Chinese groups in Washington, the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) sent a performance troupe from its Chinese Traditional Opera School to participate in a series of the exchange activities in Atlanta, Washington and New York from 12 to 18 February 2014. The 30-member troupe was comprised of teachers, students, musicians, stage support personnel from the school’s Peking Opera major. During the visit, the troupe gave three performances in celebration of the Lantern Festival, and participated in a Peking Opera showcase event with a local Chinese language school.
The troupe prepared all the programs in the spare time during the school’s exams week prior to the winter vacation. After the Chinese New Year holidays, the troupe gathered again for another week of intensive training and rehearsals so as to ensure all the programs would meet the quality and other performance requirements.
Despite a variety of difficulties such as short lead time, heavy task, flight delay and jetlag, the troupe went right into the integration rehearsals soon after their arrival in Atlanta and staged a fully successful first performance in the second evening. Immediately after that, they packed up and travelled to Washington by bus in the rain at the same night.
The itinerary of this visit to USA spanned six days, incorporating three formal performances and one exchange event with a local Chinese language school. The local Chinese media made special reports about the troupe’s visit and all its activities. A large number of people from the Chinese communities enthusiastically attended the troupe’s performances. They spoke highly about the wonderful experience and enjoyment that the Chinese Traditional Opera School of STA has brought to them on the occasion of the Lantern Festival, an important Chinese holiday celebrated by Chinese people all over the world.
