On the evening of 23 September 2023, the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games grandly opened at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium.
Sha Xiaolan, a visiting professor from the Stage Design Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy, was the chief director and chief producer of the opening ceremony. A number of teachers and outstanding alumni of the Stage Design Department, leading a team of postgraduate students, undertook a number of design tasks.
On 17 September, Professor Hu Zuo, Party Secretary and Dean of the Stage Design Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy, and party went to the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, the main venue of the Hangzhou Asian Games, to see and pay tribute to the teachers, students and alumni of Shanghai Theatre Academy who were making the final preparations for the opening ceremony.
“Team STA” formed by alumni, teachers and students of the Stage Design Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy originated from the 29th Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Since the brilliant success in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, teachers, students and alumni of STA’s Stage Design Department have been active in the cultural performances of major national events in recent years. For the World Expo Shanghai 2010, the G20 Summit Hangzhou 2016, and the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, STAers were members of the core creative teams, taking on the tasks of stage design, lighting design, costume and character modeling, and so on.
Sha Xiaolan, a visiting professor at the Stage Design Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy, was the chief director and chief producer of the opening ceremony of this Asian Games. Professor Pan Jianhua of the STA Stage Design Department, whose team consisted of doctoral and master students of costume design from the STA Stage Design Department, was in charge of designing the dresses for the ushers of the participating delegations to these Asian Games. Huang Chen, an outstanding alumnus of the STA Stage Design Department was one of the chief visual designers for the Opening Ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games, and he was also one of the main visual effects designers for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
