2026 TIPRF- Chungbuk Theatre Company: Long Live the Mango Tree

Synopsis

The story begins in 1969, when Huang Ji-Gen, who moved to Taiwan with the Kuomintang government, plants two mango seeds in his yard, starting the seventy years of rise, fall, and struggle of the Huang family. The story revolves around the father who is full of "hope" for his eldest son but enforces discipline with violence, the mother Mei-Yu who is caught between patriarchy and her children, the eldest son Li-Mu who grows up painfully under expectation, and the daughter Li-Xia who seeks self-salvation in dreams. The mango tree not only witnesses the birth and death of family members but also transforms into the sole pillar connecting the past, future, and fantasy amidst the historical torrent of the military dependents' village demolition and transformation into a museum.

Playwright Lin Kuan-ting demonstrates his temporal narrative ability in this work, cleverly weaving Taiwan's modern immigration history, military dependents' village culture, and family power structure into the flourishing and withering of a mango tree. His writing is delicate and full of imagery, using the meta-perspective of a "narrator" and poetic stage language to elevate complex family conflicts into a profound reflection on the inheritance of life. He buries emotional landmines in everyday dialogue, allowing the audience to witness how ordinary people, amidst the dramatic changes of the times, protect or even redefine the dignity named "home" in the ruins, through the surreal transitions of dust, meteor showers, and mango rains.

Lin Kuan-ting, Playwright

Lin Kuan-ting graduated from National Taiwan University, majoring in Foreign Languages and minoring in Drama. He focuses on translation, playwriting, and other textual work for the theatre. In 2023, he was selected for the "Taiwan Belief Development Association" Artist Residency Program and published his play Long Live the Mango Tree, which was subsequently invited to perform at the Cheongju International New Play Reading Festival and the Seoul Echoes Festival in Korea. His translation works include Every Brilliant Thing and Lungs produced by the Four Chairs Theatre.

Chungbuk Theatre Company

Chungbuk Theatre Company was established in 2024, through years of effort from Chungbuk’s citizens and the local theatre artists. It aims to enhance the competitiveness of performing arts creation in Chungbuk and to provide its residents with diverse and high-quality cultural enjoyment. It is the 4th provincial theatre company established in the country, acting as a creative performing arts platform that encompasses artistic creation, enjoyment, and distribution. The Chungbuk Theatre Company will strive to create a local theatrical ecosystem, promote art in Chungbuk residents’ daily lives, and pursue the identity of Chungbuk and contemporary art under the slogan, "One United Heartbeat of Chungbuk Through Art." Together with its community, it pursues arts on stage that everyone in Chungbuk can enjoy together.

Kim Naghyung, Diretor

Artistic Director (2024-present)
Kim Naghyung, the inaugural Artistic Director of Chungbuk Theatre Company, is an artist who listens to the unconscious and absurdity of modern life. As a playwright, Kim considers both the completeness of the play's text and its performance aspects, creating a spectacle on stage. He continuously strives to communicate with his audience using black comedy that critiques contemporary society and theatrical language that is light but not trivial, heavy but not burdensome.
 

About the 2026 Taiwan International Play Reading Festival

The Taiwan International Play Reading Festival (TIPRF) is curated by the Prologue Center for New Plays and jointly organized with the Taipei Performing Arts Center, aiming to establish an international excahnge platform centered on playwrights and plays. Each year, the festival focuses on a specific country or cultural region, exploring the differences and resonances among theatrical traditions and textual aesthetics through staged readings and cross-cultural interpretation.

Here, plays are not only the starting point of theatrical creation, but also a medium for cultural exchange through which diverse social experiences and creative perspectives are reflected, opening up a space for cross-cultural dialogue.

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