College mounts play banned in China
"The Other Shore," a play by Gao Xingjian , winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, will open on Thursday at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy.
It might seem a bit unusual for a Christian college in New England to put on a little-known avant-garde Chinese play with Buddhist themes. But ENC is doing it because students came to love the play and because the college wants to engage with residents of its Wollaston neighborhood, many of whom are Chinese.
Last spring, students in adjunct theater professor Adrienne C. Macki's class on intercultural performance read the play and responded strongly to its non-naturalistic, highly experimental nature.
"It's about a group of individuals who embark on a journey, searching for identity, freedom, and salvation," Macki says. "It unfolds in a dreamlike state; you learn about the nature of human society and the difficulties of communication in the modern world."
Soterios C. Zoulas , chair of ENC's communication arts department , calls it " 'Waiting for Godot,' but Chinese."
The play will be performed in English in a black-box theater, with the audience seated onstage.
Gao, a novelist, playwright, critic, and artist, wrote "The Other Shore" in 1986. "It questioned whether one conformist body had the right to make ethical decisions for the whole society," Macki says. Chinese officials banned the play, and Gao left for France, where he is now a citizen.
He won the Nobel prize in 2000, the first Chinese person to win for literature, but he is not widely known in the United States. Macki says she and Eunice Ferreira , ENC theater professor and the show's producer, chose "The Other Shore" in part because it resonates with what's going on in students' lives.
"College students are looking for their identity, trying to figure out the road for themselves," says Macki. "And the idea of salvation plays out well in a Christian college. This was a play that fit this particular campus and student population."
And, they're hoping, the surrounding population, too. The show is timed to be performed just days before Chinese New Year. Ferreira says that in the last 10 years the Asian population of Quincy has grown by 140 percent. And the school has been doing outreach in the community to attract audience members.
"We've been working with [the nonprofit agency] Quincy Asian Resources Inc. , Asian churches, youth groups, media resources," she says. Plans are in the works to have post-show talkbacks with Chinese community leaders, Tufts Chinese theater scholar Claire Conceison , and Eastern Nazarene religion professor Eric Severson .
"We want to make that connection between the play and members of the Asian community," says Ferreira.
Thursday through Feb. 17 at the Cove Fine Arts Center, Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy. Tickets: $5. 617-745-3715.
Opens tonight and runs through March 11. Tickets: $10-$18. 401-621-6123. arttixri.com.
