On the occasion of the 78th anniversary of Shanghai Theatre Academy, the Directing Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy held the Inauguration Ceremony of International Collaborative Innovation Center for Directing Art (STA) cum Book Launching Ceremony on 1 December 2023, and also launched the original play "The Brothers Karamazov" to pay tribute to the 78th anniversary of STA.
Huang Changyong, Deputy Party Secretary and President of Shanghai Theatre Academy, Nie Wei, Vice President of Shanghai Theatre Academy, Zhang Zhongnian, Former Vice President of Shanghai Theatre Academy, heads of the relevant functional offices and editor-in-chief the journal “Shanghai Theatre", as well as representatives of the Directing Department, including Lu Ang, the department head, Yin Yuerong and Shi Jun, the secretary and deputy secretary of the departmental party general branch, Professor Baicher, the PT expert of the department, and some of the faculty members and students from the department, and relevant directors from the Shanghai Yueju Opera Theatre and the Shanghai Peking Opera Theatre, and the audience of the STA Art Bookstore with pre-reservation, totaling nearly 100 people were present. The event was held in the Art Bookstore of Shanghai Theatre, and that day was also the third anniversary of the official opening of the bookstore.
The event was divided into two parts. The first part was the inauguration ceremony of the International Collaborative Innovation Centre for Directing Art (STA).
First of all, Lu Ang, the head of the Directing Department and the director of the International Collaborative Innovation Centre for Directing Art (STA), made a brief introduction to the centre. He said that the International Collaborative Innovation Centre for Directing Art is an academic platform for exchange and cooperation between Chinese theatre and Western theatre set up by the Directing Department on the solid basis of the successful holding of a series of "International Master Class on Directing" series, aiming to strengthen the disciplinary construction of the Directing Department, drive the input and improvement of the creative and research capacity of all teachers and students of the Directing Department, systematically sort out the theoretical system of contemporary international directing and acting techniques, and broaden the international coverage of directing and acting art in terms of creation and research, and strengthen the international influence and dissemination of the Chinese directing and acting school. In the future, it will work to achieve more fruitful results in the fields of academic research, translation and publication, cooperative research and study, Sino-foreign exchange, and creative seminars to fill the gap in this academic field.
Then, Nie Wei, Vice President of Shanghai Theatre Academy, and Lu Ang, Head of the Directing Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy and Director of the International Collaborative Centre for Directing Art, jointly unveiled the plaque for the International Collaborative Innovation Centre for Directing Art. After that, Huang Changyong, Deputy Party Secretary and President of Shanghai Theatre Academy, delivered a speech.
The second part of the event was the launch of new books of the Directing Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy, which was also the first activity after the inauguration of the International Collaborative Innovation Centre for Directing Art.
Three books were promoted at the book launch, namely "Anthology of Research on Theatre Directing – Sixty Years Collection of Academic Papers of the Directing Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy" for which Associate Professor Shi Jun is the editor-in-chief, "Modern Acting" translated by Guo Dongli, one of the founders of the Directing Department of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and "The Advocator of Political Theatre in Germany – A Study of the Directing Art of Piscator" written by Chang Peiting.
At the same time, to celebrate the 78th anniversary of the founding of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, the original play, “Brothers Karamazov”, specially presented by the faculty and students of the Directing Department was successfully performed at the Black Box Theatre. As one of the plays attending the Silk Road Traditional Performing Arts Festival and Symposium and as the production for the closing performance of the 43rd VGIK International Student Festival, the two performances of “Brothers Karamazov” on the occasion of the anniversary celebration were unanimously praised by the audience.
