2026 Taiwan International Play Reading Festival

The 2026 Taiwan International Play Reading Festival takes South Korea as its annual theme. The program is organized into four main sections: Korea Series, Taiwan Contemporary, Formosa Classics, and Symposiums and Forums.

The Korea Series presents contemporary Korean plays and showcases recent developments in Korean theatre; Taiwan Contemporary focuses on contemporary Taiwanese playwriting and highlights a diversity of textual voices; Formosa Classics revisits important chapters in Taiwan’s theatre history through representative works by playwright Lin Po-chiu; and Symposiums and Forums extend the creative and cultural discussions sparked by the festival through post-show talks, thematic lectures, and roundtable forums.

Looking ahead, the Taiwan International Play Reading Festival will continue to invite participation from different countries and cultural regions, gradually expanding to include Southeast Asia, Latin America, and beyond, with the aim of making Taiwan an important hub for international play exchange. Through the intersection of language and culture, the festival presents not only scripts, but also theatre as a space for the exchange of ideas and mutual cultural reflection. In doing so, it seeks to open a broader international horizon for Taiwanese theatre and to allow the world to encounter Taiwan through its plays.

This year’s festival is built around a model of cross-national reciprocal staging between Taiwanese and Korean scripts: Taiwanese teams will interpret Korean plays in Mandarin, while Korean teams will perform Taiwanese works in Korean. Through this exchange of perspectives, scripts generate new understanding and interpretation within different cultural contexts and performance traditions, making play reading an important site of creative exchange and cultural dialogue. All performances will be followed by post-show discussions, offering audiences the opportunity to engage directly with the creators, gain deeper insight into the creative context behind the text, and reconsider the relationship between theatre and society from multiple perspectives.
 

In addition to the play reading performances, this year’s festival also features a series of lectures and forums. Three thematic lectures will introduce the historical development and contemporary landscape of playwriting in Korea and Taiwan, while dialogues between Taiwanese and Korean scholars will revisit the works of Lin Po-chiu, an important playwright in Taiwanese theatre history, and reconsider their significance in relation to the times in which they were created. Three roundtable forums are also planned, including conversations among Taiwanese and Korean playwrights, experience-sharing by translators of Taiwanese and Korean scripts, and discussions on how play reading can serve as a platform for creative exchange and cultural dialogue.

Through the multi-layered conversations formed by lectures, forums, and post-show discussions, play reading extends beyond stage presentation to become a public space for dialogue between creators and audiences. It also fosters deeper understanding and stronger connections between Taiwanese and Korean theatre communities, while continuing to expand the possibilities for Asian script exchange and cross-cultural creation.
 

[Click here to download the schedule]