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Our Theatre’s Palaces Awarded 2nd Joint Commission Project by National Performing Arts Center
On September 11, the 2nd edition of the National Performing Arts Center commission project was awarded to Our Theater's new work Palaces. The work will premiere in 2021 and tour Taiwan's three national centers.
The National Performing Arts Center is the umbrella organization for three national centers, namely National Theatre and Concert Hall in Taipei, National Taichung Theater and National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying). The project sees three centers joining resources and funds up to 10 million Taiwanese dollars to support potential productions aspiring for the big stages of the art centers.
The first joint-commission project announced in 2017 went to tech-savvy choreographer Huang Yi in A Million Miles Away which toured the centers early 2019 to wide acclaim. In the recently announced second edition, grassroot troupe focused on Taiwanese-spoken drama, Our Theater's new project Palaces stood out among the 6 projects submitted.
Palaces takes inspirations from Polish film director Krzysztof Kieślowski's 1988 The Decalogue and Taiwan folktale on the ten King of Hell trials and probes at the moral predicaments and anxieties in contemporary society.
“Perhaps Palaces being chosen signifies a new direction for Taiwanese theater works. A possibility away from urban cities, venturing into the rural unknown, and excavating stories from grassroot communities. It is in Chia-yi, the land and the people that made who Our Theater is.” said Artistic Director of Our Theater, Jhao-Cian Wang.
Palaces is set in a bleak commercial and residential building inhabiting loners or outcasts who are still closely connected in society. Weaving Taiwanese folktales into the original script, Palaces hints at a contemporary society caught in a seemingly very current moral austerity and anxiety.
Weiwuying's Artistic and General director, Chien Wen-pin appraised the work as “seemingly ready” and stressed the joint-commission had intended on supporting artists with such projects. “Weiwuying is a platform linking the artists with audiences, the local with the international scene, and with Our Theater, we look forward to introducing the unique artistry to our public.”