People's Daily Online 14 June 2020; Author: Xuan Zhaoqiang

On the evening of the 13th, with the opening of the stage curtain, the STA Experimental Theatre restarted after being “dormant” for 145 days. A group of special audiences was invited to come to watch the first major performance after the reopening of the theatre, i.e. “Nurse’s Diary”, an original drama on fighting COVID-19. Among these audiences, there were Professor Zhang Wenhong, Leader of the Shanghai Specialist Team for COVID-19 Treatment and Director of the Infectious Diseases Department of Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, and many medical workers, medical researchers and community volunteers who fought in the forefront of COVIOD-19 prevention, and representatives of manufacturers which actively started the production of protective masks in support of the fight against COVID-19 outbreak.

As China’s first large-scale drama on fighting COVID-19, “Nurse’s Diary” was jointly presented by the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) and the Publicity Department of CPC Songjiang District Committee. It was jointly produced by the STA Performance Center and the Songjiang District Culture and Tourism Bureau, with the strong support of the China Theatre Association, the Zhejiang Writers Association, the Humanistic Songjiang Institute of Creation and Research and other parties concerned.

The sudden COVID-19 outbreak has made everyone grow in different ways. Therefore, “Nurse’s Diary” focuses on the theme of "growth", vividly displays the lives of many different people under the major test imposed by the pandemic, pays homage to medical workers, pays homage to the great fighting spirit against the pandemic, pays homage to the hard-won good life, and pays homage to the upcoming "July 1" (the birthday of the Communist Party of China).

“Nurse’s Diary”is the first drama in the history of STA that has gone from online to offline. The crew set-up and rehearsal of the play began online. As early as 9 March this year, when the situation of COVID-19 prevention and control was not completely stable yet, the crew set-up meeting of “Nurse’s Diary” was held online.

In the three months going from online to offline, the crew of “Nurse’s Diary” didn't wait passively for the theater to reopen, but in response to the strong demand of the public for literary and artistic works during this period, they made it as a radio play of the same name, and uploaded it to the Himalaya FM platform on 12 May which was the International Nurses Day for the public to listen to. This initiative not only served as a warm-up for the stage performance in the future, but also expressed the high respect and gratitude of cultural workers to medical workers on this special day. As STA’s first stage play that has conducted the crew set-up and rehearsal online, “Nurse's Diary” also provides new experience for future rehearsals, and will encourage STA to further explore the development trend of performing arts in the internet environment, thus turning this passive action caused by the COVID-19 outbreak into the active action in the future.

“Nurse’s Diary” gathers a galaxy of excellent creative personnel of STA. Professor Lu Jun, one of the playwrights, has had 36 large-scale plays put on the stage, and the script of this play has been revised for no less than six times in order to strive for perfection. Professor Yi Tianfu, Dean of the Department of Stage Design, is the director of the play and is in charge of the stage design and lighting design. His works have won the "Five One Project" Award and Mandarin Award for many times. Professor Xu Jiahua, the chief designer for costume, make-up and modeling for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, is in charge of the costume, make-up and modeling design of this play. The cast is composed of Liu Wanling, Wang Su, He Yan, Wang Xueming, Li Chuanying, Xue Guanglei, Wan liming, Xia Shuai, Xiekezati and other accomplished actors and actresses from STA. Shen Taoran, a young actor, and Li Bing, a TV host at the Shanghai TV Station, are also among the cast.

"Nurse’s Diary" is another work on major subject matter that STA has presented since the launch of four works on red theme (i.e. large-scale original drama "Military Song", symphony dance poem "Yellow River", Peking opera "Commander Mu Guiying" and large-scale recitation drama "Huang Yanpei" on the occasion of celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of new China last year.

Xie Wei, Party Secretary, pointed out that "Nurse’s Diary" is the first work that has been approved since STA promulgated the administrative measures for the production of major creation and performance projects and cooperative creation and performance projects. This is a play of great significance that focuses on the fate of the nation and the country, promotes the socialist core values, dedication and great love. This is a exemplary play, which fully embodies the project purpose of STA’s creation of theatrical works on major theme, and embodies the principles of STA’s creation of theatrical works, i.e. serving the education and teaching of teachers and students of STA, serving the talent cultivation of the school, and serving the national strategy and Shanghai’s construction of a culture metropolis.

According to the introduction, STA has always been keen in grasping the theme of contemporary real life, and the creation of high-quality works of realism is one of the important directions of creating works on major theme in the future. In the study and education of the "four histories", STA will also focus on how to promote the creation of works of realism on major theme, and strive to present more masterpieces on the occasion of celebrating the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.