Free tickets for the September sessions will be available on OPENTIX starting at 12:00 PM on Monday, August 3. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.
The Artist Notes Lecture Series explores the creative themes and artistic contexts behind featured productions. Through conversations with artists, audiences will gain insight into each work's creative process, inspirations, and the ideas that shaped its development. Complex artistic concepts will be presented in an engaging and accessible way.
The series features one work by a Taipei Theatre Awards recipient, The Sun, together with eight productions from the Taipei Arts Festival: She Says, She Says, The Sun, Epilogues, Da Qun Wu (Grand Ensemble Dance), Littoral, Seuls, Ocean Cage, and I Am the Wind, inviting audiences to step behind the scenes and discover the stories behind the creations.
Wed, Aug. 12, 7:30 PM
Time and Body as Curse and Redemption: Wang Mo-lin and Beckett
“In that race which daily hastens us toward death, the body maintains its irreparable lead.” — Albert Camus, 'The Myth of Sisyphus'
An old man listens to a tape recording of his thirty-nine-year-old self. This is the enduring stage image of Samuel Beckett’s 'Krapp’s Last Tape' (1957–1958). Looked through the lens of history, Wang Mo-lin—born shortly after World War II—was entering his early adolescence just as Beckett finished this script, a period defined by the global Cold War and martial law in Taiwan. Today, as a veteran figure of the Taiwanese theater who has reached his sunset years, if Wang were to have his own "last tape," what would it contain? What kind of stagecraft would these memories trigger? What view of the world would they offer? This newly birthed production, 'The Last Tape,' feels like an echoing theatrical soul rising from the other side of the globe, ready to stand in dialogue with Beckett within a "future" the playwright could never have foreseen.
Moderator｜Wu Sih-Fong
A theatre practitioner and critic based in Hualien, Taiwan, whose work primarily focuses on writing and editing within the performing arts, while also engaging in curatorial, producing, and research projects. Their interests include the practices and historiography of experimental theatre, artistic creation and operations outside metropolitan centres, theatre ecology and institutionalisation, as well as criticism and cultural media.
They currently serve as Editor of the Intermission series published by Zebra Crossing Library and Co-curator of the Taoyuan Iron Rose Festival. In Hualien, they also run Little Theatre Book & Archive, a space dedicated to books, documents, and archival materials related to theatre and performance.
Panelist｜WANG Molin
WANG Molin was born in 1949 in Tainan, Taiwan. He is a veteran art/culture critic, playwright, theatre director and performance artist. In the late 1990s, as the pioneer of Taiwanese Little Theatre Movement, Wang organized and produced October(1987), a grand-scale outdoor show in a worn-down warehouse on the beach, and Taiwan’s first “action theatre” event Dispel Orchid Island’s Evil Spirit (1988). In 1991, Wang founded Body Phase Studio as a rudiment of International Performance Art Festival in Taiwan. In 1997, Wang wrote and produced TSOU· Oedipus as a rare example of collaboration between a Taiwanese civil troupe and China Youth Art Theatre in Mainland China during that time. From 2005 to 2008, he served as artistic director of the Guling Street Avant-garde Theatre. His theatrical works have been performed in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Busan, Macau and other cities. His publications include Post-Shōwa Japan, Urban Body and Theatre, Essays On Body, and others.
Panelist｜WANG Chun-Yen
WANG Chun-Yen holds a BA in Chinese Literature and an MA in Drama and Theatre from National Taiwan University, and received his PhD in Theatre Arts from Cornell University. WANG teaches various courses, including Cultural Studies, Interdisciplinary Humanities and Contemporary Taiwan, and Transnational Chinese Theater and Cultural Criticism. He is the recipient of the S-AN Aesthetics Award, Taiwan Merits Scholarships, Fulbright Scholarship. WANG’s research interest lies in contemporary Taiwanese theatre and cultural translation, and has long focused on the relationship between epistemology and aesthetics. In recent years, he concentrates on the interdisciplinary performance of global Chinese.
Wed, Aug. 19, 7:30 PM
Echoes of Forgotten Women
She Says, She Says is the focus of these lectures. Music popular in Shanghai from the 1920s to 1940s serves as an important historical backdrop to this play as the audience witnesses the chronology of two women and intertwined memories of three generations. These lectures extend the discussion on two themes in this play: female friendship and dementia, with the playwright-director guiding the exploration of how personal memories intertwine with the times. As the past fades, what has this female friendship lost and left behind? Finally, there is a return to this play’s narrative, which leaps across time and space, to re-examine relationships among memories, forgetting, and history.
Moderator｜Fu Yu-Hui
Served on 9th and 10th Board of Directors of the National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF); Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama and Theatre at National Taiwan University (NTU)
Fu Yu-Hui has directed more than 30 works including Taiwanese operas in modern theater settings and on outdoor stages, as well as modern dramas.
She earned a PhD in the Department of Drama and Theatre at NTU, in which she is currently an adjunct assistant professor, and an MFA in Directing from Syracuse University in New York.
Her reviews have been published in Min Sheng Theater Review (1996-2006) and Performing Arts Redefined and she has served as an evaluator for the Ministry of Culture, NCAF, and city and county cultural bureaus. Her doctoral research was on the canonization of Taiwanese opera and the ecology of professional opera troupes that perform on outdoor stages.
Panelist｜Katherine Hui-Ling Chou
After obtaining a PhD from New York University’s Institute of Performing Arts in 1997, Katherine Hui-Ling Chou returned to Taiwan and co-founded the Creative Society theater company in Taipei. In 2003, she established and began overseeing Electronic Theater Intermix in Taiwan, a digital archive of contemporary theater, and in 2014 initiated and hosted the World Sinophone Drama Competition for Young Playwrights.
She is a rare intellectual theater artist: an adept playwright, director, and academic. Her research interests are broad and cutting-edge, ranging from gender performativity to cultural policy studies and digital art. Her theatrical works are characterized by profound historical features and diverse forms, while her directing style is delicate, as she navigates between avant-garde and popular themes. Her original theatrical works have been discussed in academic articles published in German, English, and Chinese and cited in academic monographs and journals worldwide.
Panelist｜Huang Yu-Lin
Huang Yu-Lin is a first-class Dan (female role) performer in the Guoguang Opera Company. She was among the 24th graduating class of Fu-Hsing Chinese Opera School, predecessor to the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts. While enrolled in the Department of Chinese Drama at Chinese Culture University, she focused on qingyi and huadan roles. From a young age she studied under Peking opera masters on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and continues to cultivate her talent in traditional opera and performing arts and to pass on this cultural heritage.
She has also worked in film, television, modern theater, crosstalk and quyi (Chinese folk art performances), as well as Taiwanese opera, expanding interpretations of roles and her stage presence. Gradually, she has shaped a performance style that combines cultural depth with a contemporary flair.
Recipient of the Ying Ping Award at CCTV’s young Peking opera performers competition, Rising Star Award at the Beijing young Peking opera performers competition, and 51st Chinese Writer’s & Artist’s Association arts medal for Peking opera performance, she is also Taiwan’s first traditional opera performer to receive a Golden Melody Award for Traditional Arts and Music for Best Individual Newcomer.
Panelist｜Hung Fang-Yi
Hung Fang-Yi possesses an acute sense of hearing and is an herbivore, a cat lover, and a full-time writer. As a child, she aspired to be a composer and almost became a music scholar. Instead, she turned to cultural studies, entering the field of historical songs and developing an ear for the reverberations of eras. Her published works include Shang Hai Liu Xing Yin Yue 1927-49 (Shanghai Popular Music 1927-49; Doctoral Dissertation Prize), Qu Pan Kai Chu Yi Rui Hua (A Flower Blooms from the Vinyl Record; Golden Tripod Award for Nonfiction), Jin Ye Lai Fang Song (Play It Tonight; OpenBook Annual Lifestyle Book), and the novel The Ballad of the Black Camellia.
Thu, Aug. 20, 7:30 PM
The Creative Process and Practice of I Am the Wind
I Am the Wind is adapted from a work by Norwegian writer Jon Fosse.
Characterized by its minimalist yet deeply resonant language, the text unfolds in the subtle space between speech and silence, opening up multiple perspectives on existence and perception within the theatrical experience.
Centered on I Am the Wind, this talk brings together director Wang Shih-Wei and actor Lin Zi-Heng to share insights into the creative process behind the production. Through discussions of textual analysis and rehearsal practice, they will explore how the work employs the interplay of body, voice, and space to develop a performance language rooted in sensory experience, inviting audiences into a theatrical state that exists between language and perception.
Panelist｜WANG Shih-Wei
After finishing his P.H.D. degree in University of Paris III, Shih-Wei works between France and Taiwan as an artist, cultural journalist and translator.
His projects comprise a variety forms, including theatrical adaptation, choreographic performance, music theatre, and traditional puppet theater. His work, Masses wins the 18th Taishin Performing Arts Award. Shih-Wei collaborates also with Taiwanese artists as dramaturge in choreographic creation and in puppetry.
Panelist｜LIN Zi-Heng
He holds an MA in Theatre Practice from University of Exeter and a BA from the Department of Drama and Theatre at National Taiwan University. As both an actor and performance teacher, he has been deeply engaged in Taiwan’s theatre scene for many years. His performance approach is strongly influenced by the psychophysical acting methodology developed by Phillip B. Zarrilli, while also incorporating the The Return of Dionysus training system developed by Attis Theatre.
In 2023, he performed in Apostating Time, which received the Grand Prize at the 22nd Taishin Arts Award. In 2024, his performance in Father Mother earned him a nomination for Best Actor in a Play at the Taipei Theatre Awards, while the production itself went on to win Best Play.
He enjoys collaborating with a wide range of artistic teams, and his work spans diverse disciplines including theatre, dance, and vocal performance. Viewing himself as a vessel for performance, he continues to explore the possibilities of dialogue between theatre and contemporary society.
Wed, Aug. 26, 7:30 PM
The Dance We Were Born to Create
Founders and artistic directors of HORSE, Su Wei-Chia, together with percussionist Hung Yu-Wen from One Liter Sound, will share the creative vision behind HORSE’s 20th-anniversary flagship production, Big Dance. They will discuss how tension is cultivated between technique, bodily synchronization, and sound to shape a performance of striking visual and sensory intensity. Revisiting the archives and memories of the company’s two decades of artistic practice, Big Dance reconfigures elements from past works—from the playfulness of Speed, the purity of Bone, the hope and despair of Growing Up, to the dialectical reflections of FreeStep—into a contemporary creative language. The work serves both as a cross-generational dialogue and as a renewed point of departure toward a “20+” future.
▷ HORSE 20 "Big Dance" is supported by CTBC Arts Festival
Moderator｜FAN Xiang-jun
A dance scholar, critic, and dramaturg, FAN Xiang-jun is an adjunct assistant professor at TNUA and the core researcher for Weiwuying's "Mapping Taiwan Dance Memories" project. A former NSTC postdoctoral research fellow, she has actively contributed to Taiwan’s dance discourse through her roles as a nominator for the Taishin Arts Award and a resident critic for the Performing Arts Review.
She authored Sharing Differences: Contact Improvisation, the Aesthetics of Touch, and Taiwan Contemporary Dancing Bodies, and co-translated And then it got legs: Notes on dance dramaturgy into Chinese, expanding access to contemporary choreographic discourse.
Panelist｜SU Wei-Chia
Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 2004 Su co-founded HORSE. His numerous choreographies and collaborations include the group-created work Velocity, a winner of the 6th Taishin Arts Awards, and the autobiographical 2 Men, a collaboration with CHEN Wu-kang, and the 1st prize winner and Audience's Choice Award of the 2013 Kurt-Jooss-Preis. From 2009 to 2013, he was invited by Eliot Feld to join the Ballet tech Dance Company in New York. Inspired by Mr. Feld, he started FreeSteps project since 2013.
Panelist｜HUNG Yu-Wen
Hung Yu-wen is a Taiwanese percussionist with a Master’s degree in Percussion Performance from the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon (2012) in France. Upon returning to Taiwan, she has established herself as a performer, creator, and educator in the field of percussion, and has been involved in performance and creative endeavors across artistic genres. Her recent work merges reflections on her own cultural background and life experiences with contemporary music, as exemplified by her solo work Parallax Archeology, presented at the NTCH Ideas Lab in 2022. She is a core member of One Litre Sound and currently teaches at the departments of Music at Dong Hwa University.
Wed, Sept. 2, 7:30 PM
From “Littoral” to “Seuls”: A Theatrical Odyssey Toward Home
Having survived the war in Lebanon during his childhood, and later emigrating to Canada before settling in France, playwright and director Wajdi Mouawad has consistently drawn on his experience of migration and memories of war as the driving force of his work. Through his theatre, he invites audiences to reflect on questions of borders, identity, and belonging. From the multi-voiced, ensemble narrative of Littoral to the intimate solo performance of Seuls, in which he confronts his innermost self, Mouawad’s theatrical journey looks back at the ruins of history and war while closely examining the fragile condition of migrants and exiles.
This lecture will focus on these two works to explore how Mouawad transforms a father’s body, a shattered homeland, and a lost language into powerful stage action. Moving from epic storytelling to solitary confession, he reveals the many expressive possibilities of theatre. When war is no longer distant background noise but an urgent, living reality; when a body is no longer only a sign of death but becomes part of memory and identity—can theatre become a place of repair and renewal? Standing amid the ruins of memory, how might we rethink the meaning of “home” and “self” in our own time?
Panelist｜Shih-Lung Lo
Shih-Lung Lo holds a Ph.D. in Theatre Studies from Sorbonne-Nouvelle University, Paris, France. He currently teaches at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and is the author of Drama Class at Sixteen. Since 2021, he has co-hosted the IC Radio programme Open the Theatre together with Professor Wang An-chi, Artistic Director of the GuoGuang Opera Company. In recent years, he has been actively involved in curating and designing major cultural initiatives sponsored by the TSMC Education and Culture Foundation, including the “Kenneth Hsien-Yung Pai Tsing Hua Literature Lectures” and the course series “The New Aesthetics of Peking Opera.” He has also given lectures on theatre to public, while contributing a regular theatre column for young readers to the local press.
Tue, Sept. 22, 7:30 PM
Taipei Theatre Awards Winners' Talk Series
Do We Need Consensus? — The Collaborative Dynamics of Director and Designers in Theatre
Theatre is an art form of extreme division of labor, yet it is highly collective. When stage, lighting, video, costume, and sound designers develop their respective aesthetic fields, how does a director work with them? In a black box where individual artistry meets the creation of a shared world, do we really need "consensus"?
Featuring the creative team behind "The Sun"—which was nominated for six major awards at the inaugural Taipei Theatre Awards—this lecture unpacks the collaborative process between the director and designers. It sparks a practical debate on "consensus vs. conflict." Theatre-making is often "both collective and solitary." Does a team rely on absolute consensus, or do they ignite sparks from aesthetic friction and "non-consensus"? This dialogue dissects the "harmonious yet different" mechanism behind the scenes, offering the audience a rare glimpse into the authentic and captivating space of collective creation.
Panelist｜Tora Hsu
Artistic Director of 4 CHAIRS THEATRE, Tora Hsu holds an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and is currently a full-time lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts. His creative vision centers on collectivity, pursuing a text-based “new realism” aesthetic. Several of his productions have been nominated for the Taishin Arts Award. He received the Best Director Award at the inaugural Taipei Theatre Awards for The Sun, and his work is also supported by the 2025 Taipei Theater MVP Grant from Taipei Performing Arts Center.
Panelist｜Wang Cheng-Yuan
Graduated from Wimbledon College of Arts, University of the Arts London with an MA in Visual Language of Performance, he is currently a member of the 4 CHAIRS THEATRE and a lecturer in the Department of Drama and Theatre at National Taiwan University. His core research and artistic focus center on how image technology intervenes in live theatre, transforming established modes of viewing and creative structures. His practice primarily takes place at the intersection of the screen and theatrical space, observing the qualitative shifts in relationships between humans and technology, as well as space and the body.
Panelist｜Liao Yin-Chiao
Holding an MFA from the Department of Design for Stage and Film at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and a BA from the Department of Drama and Theatre at National Taiwan University, Liao specializes in theatre set design and film art direction. Currently based in Taiwan, she works as a freelance designer for theatre stages, films, and commercials. In recent years, she has expanded into exhibitions and various cross-disciplinary spatial designs. In 2025, she founded Bonquec Design, dedicating her work to the dialogue between narrative, space, and imagery.
Panelist｜Chen Guan-Lin
Specializing in lighting, stage, and spatial design, he works with light and space as creative mediums across theatre, dance, and music. Instead of sticking to a single aesthetic, his style and choice of materials shift fluidly to match the tone of each project, aiming to explore new theatrical possibilities. He has recently collaborated with creators of diverse backgrounds, including 4 CHAIRS THEATRE, Shimmering Production, approaching theatre, Tien Hsiao-tzu, and Chen Yu-dien. His recent works feature Uneasy (4 CHAIRS THEATRE x gekidan takumi), Islands (Shimmering Production), and Apostating Time (approaching theatre).
Panelist｜Iggy Hung
Holding an MFA in Theatre Design with a specialization in Sound Design from Boston University, Iggy Hung’s creative work spans theatre, dance, film, and exhibitions. He previously served as the resident sound designer at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York, and has collaborated with Off-Broadway venues including The Public Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, and Westside Theatre. Recent credits include 4 CHAIRS THEATRE x Gekidan Takumi’s Uneasy, The Sun, TNUA’s autumn production Not a Breath of Life, and Dark Eyes Performance Lab’s Winter Journey Before the Doomsday. Hung’s sound design for The Sun was nominated for Best Sound Design at the inaugural Taipei Theatre Awards. Hung currently serves as an adjunct lecturer in the drama departments of National Taiwan University and Chinese Culture University.
Panelist｜Yulin Fann
As a freelance costume and makeup designer, she brings her creative vision to both stage and screen. She has frequently collaborated with 4 CHAIRS THEATRE on prominent productions, including Sleeep in Spring, Lungs, The Sun, Hernia Maniac, the 2026 restaging of The Possible Memoirs of a Traitor, and Uneasy. Her exceptional work on the film Eel earned her a nomination for Best Makeup and Costume Design at the 2025 Taipei Film Awards. Dead End marks her most recent achievement in feature-length cinema.
Wed, Sept. 30, 7:30 PM
When the Ocean Hunting Grounds Become an Art Scene — A Journey from Whale-hunting Rituals to Tianzhuo Chen’s Visual Feast
This lecture begins with an overview of artist Chen Tianzhuo’s creative context and his cross- disciplinary practices that combine video, dance, sound, and installation, then continues with his long- term exploration of physical, ceremonial, and sensory boundaries. In addition, the traditional whaling heritage of the Indonesian village of Lamalera is presented, with its associated history, beliefs, and lifestyles, to illustrate how this community’s unique survival and cultural systems have been shaped under specific environmental and historical conditions.
Through dialogue, the speakers guide audience members through the juxtaposition of artistic creation and cultural context. By sharing their field study experience for and the narrative sources of Ocean Cage, they demonstrate how this work responds to the intersection of and tension between different knowledge systems within a contemporary art context.
Panelist｜I-Ying Liu
I-Ying Liu is an independent curator, writer, and translator, and a co-founder of the writing project “muainn.” She previously worked as Exhibition and Global Engagement Coordinator at the MoNTUE, and holds an MFA in Curating from Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research explores alternative institutional practices and the ways individuals navigate institutional and social systems. Recent curatorial projects include Re: Battle City (2026) and They Told Me It Wasn't Your Fault. And I Told Them Everything Would Be Fine. (2024, 2025).
Panelist｜WANG WEN YEN
Wang Wenyen is a Taiwanese independent photographer and freediver. He has long documented ocean cultures and island life through photography, including an in-depth exploration of the Tao people of Orchid Island — their fishing rituals and tatala canoe culture — culminating in the photo book Turning Wind: Exchanging Time with Orchid Island. Passionate about seeking out distinct ocean cultures around the world, his travels have taken him to the traditional whale-hunting village of Lamalera, Indonesia. He is the founder of Ms. Ocean, an ocean lifestyle and media platform based in Taiwan.
