Equipping the next-generation professionals for the runway
A group photo of the master artists (seated) and students in the second season of “Youth Runway” program.
Shanghai Peking Opera Company’s preview performance for the second season of “Youth Runway” is to meet the audience at Zhou Xinfang Drama Theater later this month.
First launched in 2011, “Youth Runway” is a five-year program designed to nurture a promising group of versatile performers. The first season has seen many of them go on to receive coveted national theatrical awards.
The talent-training program gathers well-known Peking Opera artists, such as Shang Changrong and Chen Shaoyun, who mentor students in the opera art. The program also invites theater scholars and experts to host creative workshops for the performers.
At different phases of the program students take tests and the best of them get the chance to perform for the company.
Precocious Peking Opera performer Yang Yang found the program a rewarding experience. She says the program is not a “greenhouse” but more a competitive platform.
Yang, Fu Xiru and Lan Tian were crowned as Young Artists of Shanghai Literature and Art at the end of the program. Fu scooped the Plum Blossom Award, the highest individual theatrical prize in China, and the Shanghai Magnolia Stage Performance Award, along with Yang and Lan.
The budding opera stars have taken lead roles in several of the company’s new plays, including “The Blazing Dawn,” “Wu Zixu and Shen Baoxu” and “Tang Wan.”
Around 200 performances have been staged since the program’s introduction in 2011, including many Peking Opera classics such as “Cat in Exchange for a Prince,” “Xiao He’s Influence” and “Cave of the Silken Web.”
Fashionable and innovative elements of stage and marketing have also been incorporated into some of the program to cater for the younger generation.
The city’s theatergoers have welcomed the program’s photography contest, theater day and a flash mob of traditional opera.
Peking Opera fans also get the chance to be a judge and vote for their favorite actors.
The young performers, some of whom have already developed a loyal fan base, encourage audience participation.
Zhang Fan, director of Shanghai Peking Opera Company, believes “Youth Runway” has helped set up a talent cultivation model where young performers have distinguished themselves and gained opportunities for personal development.
The preview performances, to be staged from December 25 to 27, will gather nine young performers to showcase their vocal and performing skills in nine classic Peking Opera plays, including “Qin Xianglian,” “Village of Tigers” and “Princess Shuangyang.”
Meanwhile, lectures and workshops about the inheritance of Chinese traditional theaters will also be hosted.
Combat skill, such as the use of long weapons like a long-handled spear, is one of the basic skills of Peking Opera.
Performance info
Dates: December 25, 7:15pm; December 26, 1:30pm, 7:15pm; December 27, 1:30pm
Venue: Zhou Xinfang Drama Theater
Address: 1198 Tianyaoqiao Road
Tel: 6351-4885
