From 9 to 11 January, the play of the students of the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA), “A Word is Worth a Thousand” was staged at the Tiny Alice Small Theatre Festival in Tokyo, Japan. The play won the Special Jury Award which was the highest prize of the festival. Adapted from the novel of Liu Zhenyun, the play had Chen Yiruo as the playwright, Chen Jiawei as the director and Zhou Baodi as the script advisor.
As a modern play co-supported by STA’s Division of Student Affairs, Division of Academic Affairs, Creation Centre and Department of Directing in 2013, “One Word is Worth a Thousand Words’ had participated in the Shanghai University Student Innovation Program and STA Peck the Shell Program, with all of its creation and acting teams comprised of STA students. It had also participated in the performance exhibition of the Support Young Directors Program of the 2013 Shanghai International Arts Festival winning the unanimous praise of internal and external experts and audiences and it was so warmly received that the tickets were once very difficult to get. With the recommendation of Prof Gu Yi’an, it was then invited to go to Japan in 2015 to participate in the performance competition of the Alice Theatre Festival which has great influence in Asia.
The performance during the Alice Theatre Festival was warmly received and attracted a large number of Japanese audiences including Mr Lizuka Yutori who is specialized in the studies of Chinese contemporary literature and theatre at the Chuo University of Japan as well as the teachers and students of his research office. Mr Meng Jinghui, the famous director, who has also been invited to participate in the Alice Festival, also made the special arrangement to meet with the members of the STA team in Tokyo and held cordial exchange with them.
This performance visit to Japan showcased the positive spirit and artistic accomplishment of the STA students, which won the unanimous praise of the organizing committee of the festival as well as the Japanese audiences.
