The Party Theater Group: White Storyteller

1.05 (Mon) 12:00 TPAC Member pre-sale
1.12 (Mon) 12:00 Tickets can be purchased

"A clever reposition of the history and memories of White Terror into the oral practice and physical narrative of traditional glove puppetry."
— Lin Yu-Pin, Nominator for the Taishin Arts Award

"It is truly a magical-realist play, deeply rooted in local culture.  As it weaves between reality and illusion, the sunken begins to dance and the silenced rises to clamor."
—   Ku Yu-Ling, Social Activist and Adjunct Lecturer at both National Tsing Hua University and Taipei National University of the Arts

"Break free from the vortex of the White Terror to truly engage with it."
— Wu Yue-Lin, Theatre Critic

 A farewell thirty years delayed, a hidden nightmare haunting a loving family, a rebellious Robin Hood-like hero casting hope upon a politically suppressed people, a silenced history, and a storyteller in an age of terror.

In Taiwanese tradition, people believe that a spirit returns on the seventh night after death to bid a final farewell to their loved ones.  Wang waits and waits, but what comes back to him is not his late father, suffering from dementia in life—it is the childhood memories brought to life through glove puppets and their roles of legendary heroes in wild fantasies.     

Before The Party Theater Group won Best Play at the inaugural Taipei Theatre Awards with Father Mother, their journey into Taiwan’s long-silenced past through traditional glove puppetry “pòo-tē-hì” had already begun with the highly-acclaimed White Storyteller.  From the Japanese Occupation to the Martial-Law era, glove puppetry spoke the language of the suppressed, as people projected their hope on the rebellious, justice-defending, Robin Hood-like figures in legend and folklore.    

In a time of political turbulence, the puppeteer became the puppet, manipulated by invisible hands and speaking in a foreign tongue.  Yet, the repertoire of the Monkey King, Mad Monk, Tiger Hunter, and Amorous Woman carefully guarded the family secrets, unfulfilled political dreams, love and fraternity—sometimes reluctantly mingled with selfishness and helplessness.  If puppets have their own memories and come to life in real life, what stories will they tell?        

Directed by Tai Chun-Fang and written by Chan Chieh, two award-winning theatre artists renowned for their talent and experience in blending diverse art forms to create a unique yet universal theatrical language, White Storyteller premiered at National Theater and Concert Hall Experimental Theater in 2017.  It achieved both box-office and critical success, followed by domestic tours and international performances at the SPIELART Festival Munich.  The production was also shortlisted for the 2018 Taishin Arts Award.   

The actor, playing seven roles, shares the stage with the puppets and their magic-evoking puppeteers, traveling between fiction and reality, past memories and the present, as the worlds in different scales and stories in different dimensions are juxtaposed for the truth to emerge.  In White Storyteller, the physical space expands, allowing the two distinct artforms to merge as if they are made for each other to tell a story of division and sacrifice.  One is not only captivated by the vivid craft of traditional glove puppetry, but also struck by how its art and history embody the wounds from the past, and the new artistic possibilities revealed onstage may hint at a different future.    

The brand-new 2026 production of White Storyteller stars Mo Tzu-Yi, Golden Horse Best Actor, alongside puppeteer masters Huang Chiao-Wei and Huang Wu-Shan, esteemed disciples of national treasures puppeteers Li Tien-Lu (1910-1998) and Chen Hsi-Huang (1931- ).  It is a fantasy of pòo-tē-hì relocated among ordinary objects in a rich theatrical fusion of solo performance, puppetry, traditional paper funeral offerings, and the interplay between light and shadow.    

* Supported by the 2025 Taipei Theater MVP Grant from Taipei Performing Arts Center.

Director: Tai Chun-Fang

Tai Chun-Fang is the founding playwright and director of 1/2 Q Theatre, known for their experimental practices that merge Kunqu with installation, visual arts, and dance.  She is currently a resident director at GuoGuang Opera Company.  Her bold adventure in creating a new language for traditional theatre has won her multiple recognitions from the Taishin Arts Awards and the Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music.

Founder and Executive Director: Chiu An-Chen

Chiu An-Chen, with a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the Actors Studio Drama School in New York, founded The Party Theater Group in 2001. His theatre work explores struggles surrounding gender identity, traumatic history, and suppressed memories, challenging the boundaries of existing art forms to expand the possibilities of storytelling.

Playwright: Chan Chieh

Winner of the Best Screenplay at the 2014 Golden Bell Awards, Chan Chieh is a playwright and screenwriter whose works span traditional and modern theatre.  His versatility is reflected in a wide range of art forms, including traditional glove puppetry (known as “pòo-tē-hì”), contemporary puppetry, musical theatre, object theatre, and digital media, all conveying a deep engagement with historical and social issues.

Puppeteer: Huang Chiao-Wei

Founder and artistic director of Ji-Yi Puppet Group, Huang Chiao-Wei was a disciple of the late national treasure puppeteer Li Tien-Lu and toured extensively with Li’s world-renowned I Wan Jan Puppet Company across Japan, the USA, the UK, Belgium, and beyond.  His exquisite puppetry techniques and the bridged aesthetics between traditional and modern stage won him the 2025 Golden Melody Award for Traditional Arts and Music.  He is also an active educator dedicated to preserving and promoting traditional puppetry.

Puppeteer: Huang Wu-Shan

Since childhood, Huang Wu-Shan became one of the first disciples of traditional puppetry masters Chen Hsi-Huang and Li Chuan-Tsan, the sons of Li Tien-Lu.  He later received a master’s degree in Acting from the Taipei National University of the Arts and has extensive experience in merging traditional glove puppetry (known as “pòo-tē-hì”) into contemporary theatre.  In 2002, he founded Shan Wan Jan, a glove puppet troupe dedicated to performance in the Hakka language.