At about 8 p.m. on January 26, the cultural square of Gaolong Village in Ding'an County was crowded and bustling. On the stage, various colors of light and shadow are intertwined, and the actors from the Ding'an County Qiong Opera Troupe are rehearsing the first makeup rehearsal of the new play. Although this is not an informal performance, the actors do not slacken off. The actors on the stage are moving, the audience is mesmerized, and at the back of the stage, there are many staff members who are silently paying to ensure the smooth progress of the performance.
"Come and go, everyone quickly change the curtain, I count 'three two one', everyone work together." Since the beginning of the performance, Chen Wenren, deputy head of the Ding'an County Qiong Opera Troupe, has not stopped, only to see him direct in front of the stage for a while, and then to the rear to check for omissions. Taking advantage of the gap between scenes, the Hainan Daily reporter "stopped" him with difficulty.
"I'm really sorry, we were busy rehearsing every day during this time, and we couldn't get out of it." For his busyness, Chen Wenren had an apologetic face on his face. He told reporters that at present, the qiong opera troupe is intensively preparing a play called "Gaolin Academy", which takes Zhang Yuesong as the protagonist of Ding'an Tanhua And tells the story of three juniors in Zhang Yuesong's family who studied diligently under their education and finally returned to their hometown after being admitted to the meritorious service.
For more than 20 days, the actors have trained for almost 10 hours a day. The hard training and repeated run-in time and again are aimed at providing a more perfect performance for many fans who love Qiong opera in the upcoming Ding'an County Cultural Benefiting the People into Wanjia Activity. "According to the currently established itinerary, "Gaolin Academy" will premiere on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, when we will start from Longhe Town and successively enter 6 towns in Ding'an to offer the most beautiful New Year blessings to the masses with Qiong opera performances." Chen Wenren said with a smile.
As an old actor in the Qiong Opera Troupe, Chen Wenren has witnessed the rise and prosperity of the Qiong opera cause in Ding'an, the "hometown of Qiong Opera", and has also experienced the decline of the Qiong opera market and the loss of a large number of talents. It is gratifying that although it has gone through ups and downs, in recent years, the cause of Ding'an Qiong opera has still been fruitful -
From 2016 to 2019, the Qiong opera repertoire "Ding'an Niang", "Father's Love Is Like a Mountain", "Mother Rui Hongyun" and "Ancestral Sea" planned and arranged by Ding'an County Qiong Theater were all selected for the national grass-roots theater troupe opera repertoire, and the Ding'an County Qiong Opera Troupe also created the only national grass-roots theater troupe opera performance for four consecutive years. The above plays have also won the Wenhua Excellent Repertoire Award, the Wenhua Screenwriter Award, the Wenhua Director Award, the Hainan Provincial Excellent Spiritual Product (Hainan Province "Five Ones Project") Award, and the South China Sea Literary and Art Outstanding Works Award.
Chen Wenren said that in order to further inherit the qiong opera culture, since 2014, the Ding'an County Tourism and Cultural Bureau has promoted the "Qiong Opera into The Campus" activity in the county, through the addition of Qiong Opera classrooms, to popularize the professional knowledge of Qiong Opera to students, pass on the traditional culture of the hometown, start from the dolls, and cultivate children's interest in opera.
In addition, with the help of cultural opportunities such as sending opera to the countryside and opera into the campus, Ding'an has continuously cultivated the fertile soil of Qiong opera and broadened the performance market for Qiong opera performers. Whenever a large-scale event is held, Ding'an will take the initiative to integrate Qiong opera elements, so that more tourists have the opportunity to understand the history of Qiong opera in Ding'an, and constantly highlight the brand effect of Ding'an Qiong opera.
"The inheritance and development of Qiong opera also needs to keep pace with the times." Chen Wenren introduced that in order to meet the needs of the market, in recent years, the Ding'an County Qiong Opera Troupe has also continued to innovate in the form of script creation and dissemination. "For example, in the first Qiong Opera Carnival in Ding'an County held in 2020, we jointly launched the "Qiong Opera Says Ding'an" food album with the Publicity Department of Ding'an County, which integrated the singing voice and charm of Qiong Opera with popular music elements, and sang the food story of Ding'an in the form of a short video, and won wide acclaim from all walks of life."
Combined with the study and education of party history, in 2021, under the guidance of the Ding'an County Party Committee and County Government, the Qiong Opera Troupe also created and launched a large-scale Red Revolution Qiong opera "The First National Flag" and a series of short films of 10 episodes of "Qiong Opera Singing Party History", showing the glorious course of the centennial party in the unique artistic way of Qiong opera. Chen Wenren told reporters that while the Ding'an Qiong opera culture continues to develop, the Ding'an County Qiong Opera Troupe has received more and more invitations, and the income of the actors is more secure.
"We will continue to deepen the cultural resources of Qiongju opera, constantly innovate forms, help the brand of Ding'an Qiongju opera with better quality works, and strive to polish the cultural business card of 'the hometown of Qiongju' for Ding'an." After saying that, Chen Wenren threw himself into a new round of busyness.
(Hainan Daily Dingcheng, January 27)