The 17th Shanghai University Students Drama Festival, which lasted for more than half a month, was officially opened last night at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center Drama Salon. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, with the theme of "Burning Seeds of Love, Paying Fire for a Hundred Years", leading students to learn party history, show style, and praise feelings in literary and artistic creation, further enhance the humanistic qualities of college students, promote elegant art, and prosper college campus culture.
Chang Gu, Chairman of the Shanghai Dramatists Association, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of the Shanghai Xiqu Art Center, and Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe, emphasized the far-reaching impact of the 17th Shanghai University Student Drama Festival: "The most far-reaching significance of the Shanghai University Student Drama Festival is that it has cultivated a large number of audiences and groups who love the art of drama, and has also given more young students more opportunities to participate in the art of drama. Through the form of drama education, the seeds of drama are sown into the hearts of every generation of college students, so that the young students who love drama in this era can exert their enthusiasm in the soil of this theatrical art, show their unique views on excellent traditional culture and the spirit of the times, and inject new vitality and brilliance into the palace of art. ”
This year's College Students Drama Festival received a total of 58 works (including drama long drama works, drama short drama works, musical theater exhibition works, online competition works, and excellent exchange performance works of college students at home and abroad), which were registered by 45 drama clubs and individuals from 39 schools in the Yangtze River Delta region, with a total of 1108 participants.
After the rigorous and careful selection of the judges of the preliminary competition, 21 competition works (including 7 long plays, 9 short plays, and 5 online competition plays) were shortlisted for the finals, and 3 musical theater works were shortlisted for the musical theater exhibition unit. More than half of the original plays were shortlisted for the finals and performances, up to 13. The rich and diverse themes of the participating repertoire that fit the theme of the competition reflect the sincere love of contemporary college students for theatrical art, their unique views on the world they live in, and their unremitting pursuit of the spirit of the times.
Competition units will be contested from May 18 to 28 at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center Drama Salon, and the final team and individual awards will be selected. Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center actors Ding Meiting, You Mei, Xu Shengnan, Jiang Ke, Huang Chen, and Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center director Li Mengze jointly formed the jury lineup of this year's Shanghai University Students Theatre Festival.
Zhang Huiqing, general manager of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, also expressed his good hope for this year's Dashu Festival at the opening ceremony: "We hope that on the stage of the Dashu Festival, we can guide and inspire the vast number of young people to gather youth energy, ignite the flame of drama, exude the charm and brilliance of young people, and pay tribute to youth and ideals." ”
In addition to setting up offline wonderful events and performances, this year's Festival also set up online competitions, online exchange performances of excellent plays of college students at home and abroad and creative training units, providing more diversified and rich display platforms for more college students in an all-round way. The Chuangpei unit consisted of the selection of the protagonists of the "Big Talk Festival in My Heart" poster, the backstage tour commentary activities, the director's assistant workshop, the opening and closing ceremony actor recruitment, the "Biensus Screenwriting Project" and other extended activities, with a total of 1,020 students from all schools in the city registering, and finally 103 people participated in it.
Since its holding in 2004, the Shanghai University Students Drama Festival has always been adhering to the purpose and belief of "promoting drama culture, encouraging original plays, building cooperation platforms, and expanding campus influence", so that the majority of college students can "interpret youth with drama and win attention with focus", thus showing the profound and unique understanding of contemporary college students on excellent traditional culture and highlighting the rich and outstanding creativity of contemporary college students.
Photo courtesy of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center
Author: Tong Weijing
Editor: Wang Xiaoli