2026 TCAF: 2026 TCAF: Outdoor Performance-Star Mission

★ 2024 - 2026 Highly acclaimed for their tour of schools, Star Mission returns to Taipei Children’s Arts Festival!

Five elementary school students in different grades come to the attic used as a prop room in the drama studio for different reasons. To their surprise, they not only fail to get the props but find the door broken! Wan, the eldest of the group, gets so worried as they are trapped. At that moment, they hear an announcement on loudspeakers that the five of them are asked to collect nine “star stories” and complete the “star mission” before they are allowed to leave. Which stars are included in the “star mission”? Will these five children locked in with one another be able to accomplish the mission?
A plot that is simple and yet not simple has won Star Mission popular acclaim since its debut in 2023. Its scriptwriter Tsai Yu-Ting, music composer Shih I-An, and director Chang Jia-Jia had all participated in the Taipei Performing Arts Center Musical Theatre Talent Training in different years. In 2026, news songs are introduced in the play, unlocking our memories of our lives at kindergarten and creating brand-new star stories with the audience. The mysterious star missions are woven with the life stories of these five children, and the seemingly trivial banter has huge significance in the world of elementary school students. Through the songs that reflect their school lives, and during the process of accomplishing the mission, we watch these five children slowly learn to listen to each other and speak their minds before realizing that finding solutions together is more important than elevating oneself to a higher level alone.
With a light-hearted music and a humorous plot, the production strings together the star missions the five children accomplish in their lives and leads the audience to ponder over the confusion and troubles one encounters when growing up. In the end, we see every ordinary little star shine so brightly on the stage and they have become great companions for one another in difficult times!

Director Chang Jia-Jia
Chang Jia-Jia graduated from the Graduate Institute of Performing Arts at National Taiwan Normal University. She founded Jia Musical Acting, which currently focuses on actor, choreography, and vocal training. In recent years, Chang participated in many productions, including Don’t Cry, Dancing Girls the Musical, Reed Unbroken, and Daylight by the VMTheatre Company, Beauty and the Beast and Twelfth Night by Tainaner Ensemble.
 
Scriptwriter Tsai Yu-Ting
Currently a graduate student at the Department of Drama Creation and Application at National University of Tainan, Tsai Yu-Ting is an education adventurer born in summer. She loves telling stories to people in various forms and creating different life experiences. Tsai manages her Facebook page, “Little Summer Story,” and devotes herself to writing stories that tackle different issues suitable for children and teenagers. Her recent works include OMG Alien!, Puppets' Good Friend and Mumu.
 
Shih I-An
A music graduate of National Taiwan Normal University, Shih Yi-An is dedicated to writing classical and popular music and musicals, performing music, and composing. She was one of the students in the composition group in the Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) Musical Theatre Talent Training. She served as music designer on Re-Human (2022 TPAC Open Studio), as composer on Grandma’s Bikini (2024) and as composer and arranger on Super Meow and Woof (2025 Taipei Children’s Arts Festival) and Star Mission (2023 - 2025 Taipei Children’s Arts Festival). In 2025, Shih won the Bronze at the 7th Performing Arts Golden Creative Awards for Grandma’s Ongoing Past.
 
※ The principal cast and crew members of this production had all been on the TPAC Musical Theatre Talent Training program.