In order to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Directing, on the afternoon of 2 December, the Department of Directing invited Professor Yang Yang, vice president of the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA), vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers Association and president of the China Mao Dun Research Association, to hold a special lecture entitled "Li Jianwu and Cao Yu - On TheatreCriticism and TheatreCreation" in the Black Box Studio, which was open to all teachers and students of STA. The lecture was strongly supported by the joint party branch of STA’s Library and PeriodicalsCenter in the preparatory stage, and was presided over by Professor Lu Ang of the Department of Directing.
This is a high-level academic lecture. Professor Yang Yang asked everyone at the beginning: there are first-class playwrights like Cao Yu in China, so are there first-class theatre critics? The answer he gave was yes. He listed the great contributions made by MrLi Jianwu to Chinese theatre in the 20th century as a first-class theatre critic. Professor Yang Yang spoke highly of Mr Li Jianwu's academic contribution to STA. He listed the commemorative articles written by Li Jianwu during the celebration of the 30thanniversary of the the founding of STA, as well as the original written approval issued by the Shanghai Education Bureau in 1945 that asked Li Jianwu to call together Huang Zuolin and Gu Zhongyi to prepare for the establishment of the Shanghai Theatre School, to and vividly introduced Mr Li Jianwu's concept of theatre criticism and theatre education practice. Professor Yang Yang's lecture was substantive in content, in which henot only listed a large number of books and papers as illustrations, but also showed the precious historical archives and some personal photos of Li Jianwu that he had collected.
The lecture had a strong effect on the spot. Professor Yang Yang delivered this over one-hour-long speech completely out of draft and made it at one go, which generated a warm atmosphere on the spot. The lecture attracted more than 100 audiences including teachers and students from the Department of Directing, library staff and retired teachers to listen on the spot. After the lecture, teachers and students said that they had benefited a lot. By learning more about the founders of STA, they not only felt proud of having such master-level predecessors, but also encouraged themselves to learn from the predecessors, seize the day and live it to the fullest and work hard.
