Staging a successful college activity

Star director among speakers at forum on campus theater, Chen Nan reports.

Renowned playwright and director Stan Lai misses his days as a student when he first started making plays in a school theater.

Now, of course, it is much more organized. There's a script, a director instructing the cast and crew on where to go and what to do. There's a cast performing what's on the script, and there's a crew undertaking various jobs, such as working on makeup, stage sets, music and lighting.

"Back then we had nothing but pure passion and a dedication to theater. A couple of friends shared the same views about theater and we worked hard to realize our ideas onstage," says Lai, 68, who was born in Washington and returned to Taiwan, where his family hailed from. He studied dramatic art at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his PhD in 1983.

His famous works, including Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land, A Dream Like a Dream and The Village, are regarded as classics of Chinese language theater.

"Theater is something that anyone can enjoy, and that everyone should attempt to join in with at some point in their time on campus," says Lai.