ii The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thursday, February 7, 2013 - 3B

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The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, February 7, 2013 - 38


COURTESY OF THE CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE
The exhibit will feature screenings of two of Yu's most famous works.
Exhibit celebrates
Chinese dramatist

EJ MICHIGAN ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY of MICHIGAN 6 COLLEGE of.ENGINEERtING
The James R. Mellor Lecture
showcases an individual whose
leadership has contributed to
the public good. Its intent is to
inspire the ideals of students
and other members of the
College community.
The Impact
of Engineers
on Society:
Differentiating
Practical from
Merely Possible
Friday, February 8 2013
11:30 a.m.
Chesebrough Auditorium
220 Chrysler Center (2121 Bonisteel Blvd)


Yu's work explores audiences. According to the
exhibit, "He is the only spoken
20th century drama playwright whose works
have been constantly revived
Chinese experience since they were first staged in
the 1930s."
By CARLY KEYES As a feature of the exhibit, a
DailyArts Writer screening of "Thunderstorm,"
arguably his most famous play,
Despite his passing in 1996, will show on Friday, Feb. 15.
Cao Yu, the foremost pioneer of "The Savage Land," a film by
modern drama in China, lives on Liang Zi based on a play by Yu of
in Ann Arbor. The University's the same name, screens on Fri-
Confucius Institute currently day, March 1. Both events begin
features an exhibition on his life at 7 p.m. in Angell Hall Audito-
and career. rium B.
Open for public viewing every A presentation will also be
day from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. until given by Steven Liu, president of
March 15, the exhibit is located the Association for Asian Perfor-
in Building 18 of the North Cam- mance and assistant professor in
pus Research Complex. Visitors the Department of Theatre and
learn about Yu through vivid Film at the University of British
images and detailed descriptions Columbia in Vancouver. Audi-
that catalogue his impressive ences can hear Liu's lecture enti-
body of work as a groundbreak- tied "From Aristotle to O'Neill:
ing Chinese artist. Western Influence on Cao Yu,"
His work exemplifies the on Friday, Feb. 8 at 4 p.m. in the
dilemmas and difficulties faced NCRC dining hall.
by generations of Chinese intel- Liu, originally from China,
lectuals throughout the 20th received his Ph.D. in theatre
century, and the exhibit pro- and performance studies from
vides a revealing narrative of the University of Pittsburgh
China during that time period. and now teaches theatre at
Joseph S.C. Lam, former chair UBC where he researches 20th
of the Department of Musicol- century Chinese theatre. His
ogy, currently serves as the book, "Performing Hybridity in
director of the Confucius Isti- Colonial-Modern China," which
tute, which officially opened in comes out in March, examines
November of 2009. He crafts wenmingxi (civilized drama),
and implements programs pro- the first form of modern Chinese
moting Chinese arts and culture theatre.
on campus. Long before the Yu exhibit
When Li Ruru, a senior lec- arrived at the University, Liu
turer at Leeds University in led the original effort to bring it
England and Yu's stepdaugh- from England to North America.
ter, developed the exhibit and In November 2011, UBC held
approached Lam about bringing the first showing, for which Liu
it to the University, her offer was directed a staged reading of the
instantly accepted. celebrated "Thunderstorm."
Lam commented on the sig- The exhibit calls this four-act
nificance of Yu's contributions play "a complex story involving
and unique playwriting tech- family hierarchies, adultery,
niques. incest, threatened murder and
"He's one of the founders of labor unrest."
Chinese spoken drama," Lam "It was the first major show
said. "He made his readers and that launched the genre of
his audiences see Chinese reali- spoken drama in Chinese his-
ties in a new light. Before that, tory," Lam said. "It is really a
Chinese dramas were performed reflection of early 20th century
with song and dance - more like China facing all of these modern
operas. Many of the more tradi- human relational and emotional
tional dramas - the more enter- problems all condensed into one.
taining ones - could be seen as It's like Arthur Miller's 'The
more 'fluffy' and could be a good Crucible.' I think they are very
style of show, but this is serious comparable."
stuff." ,"Thunderstorm" follows the
Lam hopes visitors to the twisted relationships that form
exhibit will recognize "the between members of a wealthy,
humanity that Chinese and non- upper-class family and a des-
Chinese people share, such as titute, lower-class family, and
family relationships, sacrifices the physical and psychological
for loved ones, social injustice destruction caused by forbidden
and so forth." fraternization.
Yu's exploration of human "I've directed and acted in
complexity continued to impact 'Thunderstorm,' and it's really

surprising how theatrically
powerful that play is," Liu said.
"I feel Cao Yu's concerns over
human relations and anxieties
transcend ideological divides.
That's certainly one of the rea-
sons behind his staying power."
According to Liu, due to
the controversial subject mat-
ter, "Thunderstorm" vacated
the stage for 30 years ' after
the Communist takeover.
But Liu mentioned that edit-
ing the play in subsequent
productions fosters a much
greater ideological problem.
"When it was first produced
in 1935 in Japan, they took out
the prologue and the epilogue
because the play was three-and-
a-half hours, and it was so long.
But the problem is that without
those, the (themes) of Cao Yu's
plays like fate, forgiveness and
suffering become restricted."
As the president of the Associ-
ation for Asian Performance, Liu
featured the Yu exhibit at their
annual conference, held together
with the Association for Theatre
in Higher Education conference
last August in Washington D.C.
Liu attends conferences often,
but he seldom travels for lec-
tures, which makes his presen-
tation in Ann Arbor a rare and
special occasion. He commented
on the opportunity to speak
about Yu as part of the exhibit at
the University, and gave a quick
preview of his upcoming presen-
tation.
"I want to emphasize that
the time when Cao Yu was most
active - the early decades of
the 20th century - he was very
much aware of world theatrical
traditions and was fearless with
his formal experiments that
allowed him to best express his
angst of life around him."
Liu described how contem-
porary productions of Yu's work
as a whole haven't reached their
full creative capacity.
"For a variety of reasons, the
mainstream reading and staging
of his plays have been unable to
fully realize the potential of his
works. I will present one direc-
tor, Wang Yansong, who has in
the past decade staged impres-
sive reinterpretations of Cao
Yu's three masterpieces that
have the potential to bring a new
understanding of Cao Yu, seven
decades after he burst into the
scene."
The Yu exhibit, featuring two
screenings of his most famous
work and a promising presenta-
tion by Liu, illuminates the rich
history of drama in China dur-
ing the 20th century - onstage
and off.

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