17 October 2018

On 13 to 14 October 2018, the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) and the International Theatre Institute, together with the Nicolas Copernicus University of Poland and the Bulgarian National Academy of Theatre, Film and Television, held the “From Glotovsky to Lupa - International Symposium on the Impact of Polish Theatre on the Contemporary World” at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. The participants included experts and scholars from Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Germany, as well as scholars from across China. At the same time, the conference also invited world-class theatre master - director Lupa to share his theatrical concepts and practical methods with participating scholars from China and other countries.

The conference opened at STA’s Duanjun Theatre on the morning of 13 October. Mr Lou Wei, Party Secretary of STA, Mr Tobias Biancone, Director-General of ITI, Ms Anna Romsicka, Deputy Consul-General of the Polish Consulate-General in Shanghai, and the representative of the Nicholas Copernicus University of Poland delivered speeches. The opening ceremony was presided over by Professor Yang Yang, Vice President of STA. Following the speeches by the guests of honor, Party Secretary Lou Wei and Polish Deputy Consul-General conducted the plaque unveiling for the establishment of the STA Eastern European Theatre Research Centre, witnessed by the guests of honor and all participants to the conference. The representatives of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and more than 200 students of STA also attended the opening ceremony.

Subsequently, presided over by Professor Gong Baorong, Dean of the STA International College and Director of the STA Center for Foreign Theatre Studies, Polish director Mr Lupa and Professor Duda of the Nicholas Copernicus University of Poland held a wonderful dialogue with Professor Huang Changyong, President of STA, and Professor Hu Zhiyi of the Zhejiang University, i.e. a dialogue between the Chinese and Polish scholars and artists of theatre.

On the afternoon of 13 October and morning of 14 October, the “From Glotovski to Lupa - International Academic Symposium on the Impact of Polish Theatre on Contemporary World Theatre” was held in the Foxi Building. Experts and scholars from different countries engaged in in-depth discussions on such topics as "Polish Theatre and Its Influence" and "Lupa in China", "Glotovsky and Its influence" etc.

The successful holding of this symposium and the establishment of the Eastern European Theatre Research Center not only help us to deepen our understanding of Polish theatre, but also provide a platform for scholars at home and abroad to exchange ideas. It is not only the sharing and summing-up of Polish and even Eastern European theatre studies by Chinese and foreign scholars, but also the beginning of further development in the future. We hope to harvest more academic fruits on this basis.