3 January 2020
In October 2019, the book “Essays on Academic Visits to Experience European Theatre and Education” was published. This is a collection of works written by dozens of teachers of the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA). Because it comes from academic visits, it contains academic elements, and because it is collection of essays, it also has the character of prose.
The book originated from the Academic Visits to Europe Project for Teachers of Shanghai Theatre Academy. In order to strengthen the capacity building of teachers, the “Academic Visits to Europe Project for Teachers of Shanghai Theatre Academy” came into being as a supporting measure of the Professional Development Project for University Teachers of the Shanghai Municipality. Since 2013, for six years, more than ten teachers have been sent to Europe for short-term academic visits every year, on which they participated in theatre festivals, watched dramas, visited universities, talked face-to-face with experts and scholars, and experienced local cultures. Places like Berlin, Vienna, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Athens etc all left the footprints of the STA teachers. Europe, with its splendid history and culture, has nourished our hearts and enriched our thoughts. In order to convey what they have seen and heard, as well as their beautiful and unique feelings, and at the same time leave a piece of historical memory for STA, the teachers have compiled the book “Essays on Academic Visits to Experience European Theatre and Education”.
On 7 December, thanks to the active promotion and thoughtful planning of the Shanghai Culture Square, the new book sharing session for “Essays on Academic Visit to Experience European Theatre and Education” jointly sponsored by the Shanghai Culture Square and the Shanghai Theatre Academy was held in the We Theatre of Shanghai Culture Square. More than 120 readers attended the new book sharing session.
The new book sharing session kicked off in a reading of the elected excerpts of the essays in the book by Tian Yuan, a teacher of STA’s Department of Acting, and Gu Jun, a student of the broadcasting and hosting major of STA’s College of Film and Television Academy respectively. With beautiful music, the natural and affectionate reading brought the readers into the world expounded in the book, and the cultural landscape of Europe was slowly revealed in the form of "enjoyable listening".
Teacher Zhang Jing, the chair of the sharing session and editor-in-chief of the book, first made a speech. She thanked the readers who came to the new book sharing session and thanked the Shanghai Culture Square for providing the platform and bridge for everyone to have the opportunity to exchange and learn from each other. Then, she introduced the compiling conception of the “Essays on Academic Visits to Experience Europe Theatre and Education”.
Then, seven STA teachers, including Yi Jie, Guo Chenzi and Qian Jue from the Department of Theatrical Literature, Shi Hao and Lu Le from the Department of Stage Design, Zhang Xiaoou from the Department of Directing and Wu Min from the College of Chinese Opera shared the experiences of their academic visits on European theatre from different professional backgrounds, and exchanged and talked with the readers on avant-garde drama, immigrant drama and cross-cultural communication.
After giving the wonderful talks, the teachers also answered the readers' questions enthusiastically. The sharing session lasted for two and a half hours in a warm atmosphere and with active interaction, which was half an hour longer than the scheduled time, but still could not stop. And, a book signing was carried out at the end of the session.
General-Secretary Xi Jinping said that culture is the soul of a country and a nation. Short as it is, this sentence carries a lot of weight. As a state-owned art university, the Shanghai Theatre Academy shoulders the responsibility of serving the society. As Teacher Zhang Jing introduced, we must make the book we publish affordable to art loving young people, and the publication of the “Essays on Academic Visits to Experience European Theatre and Education” from writing, editing to today's sharing session has been in itself a volunteer act.
