2018年CRI Sino-US children's drama exchanges nurture young minds of both sides

 

A group of young future stars of the American stage are in Beijing to perform a series of classical Chinese stories.

These young actors have gone a big step further than simply putting on traditional Chinese costumes and theater paint. They have immersed themselves in the Chinese language and Chinese culture.

Chinese idioms are some of the seeds of traditional Chinese culture, and they have grown deep roots into the Chinese language. The idioms carry profound meaning because of their links to famous Chinese stories or historical events.

Since 2014, the China National Theater for Children has been adapting these idioms into funny, playful dramas that help young children to better understand their national culture.

"Now they refused my help simply because I look ugly. I feel so sad. I want to change myself. I heard there's a famous beautiful lady named Xi Shi. I wanted to learn all her postures¹ and behaviors."

Now, the Chinese theater has been joined by young American performers, as they tell the stories of idioms like the one known as "Dong Shi Xiao Pin" (东施效颦).

It tells the story of an incredibly ugly girl named Dongshi. Dongshi tries to imitate the behavior of a beautiful girl named Xishi. But her attempt at imitation only serves to make Dongshi appear even uglier.

15-year old Jenna Meaney is portraying² Dongshi. She has spent months studying the Chinese language to prepare for the role.

"So, I got the script. I learnt it in about three weeks. And then it was fun to like adapt and become this different person. It's honest; it's a lot different than performing in the US. I feel that like everything exaggerated. It was a challenge, but I like it. I would definitely love to come back here to China, because culturally it's just been a really amazing exchange."

"What a beautiful lady you are, Xishi.""Thank you, Mr. Fan."

Joining Jenna on stage is Thomas Huo, who plays the role of Mr. Fan, a prestigious³ painter, who draws a portrait for the beautiful Xi Shi.

"Well, it's my first time coming to China as an actor. And I feel like the more I do this, the more I interact with this culture, the more I'll be more accustomed to it, the more I know about it, the more I can know how to treat the people and how to act around."

Jenna and Thomas are both students at the Children's Theater of Charlotte in the American state of North Carolina. They are studying under the guidance of the theater's Director of Education, Michelle Long.

Michelle Long said that although this is her third trip to China, it is the first time for her to bring young student performers here. After seeing her students engaging with people in China, she believes that this experience can be an inspirational one for them, as they step into their roles in a Chinese drama.

"I think that the themes of each of them are universal. I think what was difficult to understand are some of the cultural norms, I guess, of that time period. Some of the things that are traditional here are not traditional in the US. And so it's important for us to learn what is important to the Chinese people so that we can better understand Chinese people."

For another play, Lord Ye's "Love of Dragons", the American performers also told the stories of the Chinese idioms using English.

"Happy Birthday! It doesn't matter. I'm really touched you learn to sing a song I wrote in such a short amount of time. Express my thanks. A drink! Cheers! Cheers!"

In order to ensure that the young actors were ready to take to the stage for a traditional Chinese play, the China National Theatre for Children sent their director Yang Cheng to the United States to help train the young performers.

Yang Cheng spoke⁴ with us about how he shared the stories behind the idioms with the students, and about how aspects of Western culture were put to use in this typical Chinese play.

Yang Cheng explains:

"On one hand, we told them a number of interesting stories behind the idioms during rehearsals⁵. On the other hand, as they were working hard to practice singing Chinese songs each day, they also began creating impromptu⁶ dances, which I think so funny in this brainstorming⁷ process. So we decided⁸ to inject their Western jokes and jazz music into this show."

"Chinese idioms were created, born from a historical and philosophical⁹ core.

The wisdom of Chinese culture was crystallized into phrases used in common language, guiding the Chinese people in living their daily lives. We bring you showing of ax skill of Luban, the master carpenter."

16-year old Maya Lucas has been acting¹⁰ with the Children's Theater of Charlotte for eight years. She is taking part in a performance that tells the story behind the idiom "showing off one's proficiency¹¹ with the axe¹² before Lu Ban."

"We took a lot of time after getting the script, just breaking down our character like the way what they would stand, and the physicality, the way they talk, the way they react to other characters. So I think the biggest challenge will just be making sure we tell stories truthfully and honor the culture, while still telling it in our American perspective. Not a lot of people are able to travel here, so that's been a really big thing. And I just think I'll take away the things I've learnt in acting because the styles are different between American culture and Chinese culture, so between the acting styles, between just travelling and learning in general, I'll take back all those things."

Maya Lucas's mom and aunt accompanied her on her tour to China, excited for the opportunity to see her stand confidently on the stage in a Chinese theater.

Michelle Long hopes their maiden¹³ cultural exchange tour will be just the start of the students' journey learning about Chinese culture.

"This is just a really wonderful opportunity for our students to start to learn about the culture, because now we had staff members that had come over each year within the last three years that understand about we want to make sure it's difficult to explain to them what you experience when you come to China and the warmth and how kind of the people are and the wonderful culture that were experiencing. It's difficult to bring that back to the United States. We want to make sure some of our students have the opportunity to come here and experience it themselves. So to come to the story where they could immerse themselves in learning the history of China was something that was very important for us and also to determine what story would be best for them to learn language and we continue to have that conversation about the language barrier and how do we share stories from our different cultures when they have that language barrier in between."

As well as having the opportunity to spend time in a Chinese theater, Maya and her peers have had the opportunity to visit some of China's most well-known tourist attractions, including the Forbidden City. Visiting some of these major cultural sites gives the young stars yet another opportunity to enhance their understanding of Chinese culture.

Performances of the Chinese idiom stories, which have filled the calendar of the China Children's Theater Festival in August, are not only an opportunity for the young actors on the stage. They are also an opportunity for people from China and America to come together to celebrate each other's culture, and to build stronger ties and better understanding between the two peoples.

1 postures   

姿势( posture的名词复数 )； 看法； 态度； 立场

参考例句：

• Modern consciousness has this great need to explode its own postures. 现代意识很有这种摧毁本身姿态的需要。
• They instinctively gathered themselves into more tidy postures. 她们本能地恢复了端庄的姿态。

2 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

3 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。

7 brainstorming   

献计献策,合力攻关

参考例句：

• With Brainstorming, treat the view on how to solve the problem rightly. 利用脑激励法(Brainstorming)，正确对待学生实验中的问题解决观。
• We are going to do some brainstorming soon. 我们很快就要做些脑力激荡。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

10 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

11 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

12 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

13 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。