Synopsis
On a single night, an ancient mite known as the "Grand Ancestor" defies its two-month lifespan to face its final hours. Around its deathbed, a family of mites recounts a generational history of parasitism: from the skin of a 1960s veteran in Taiwan, to a millennium-era romance, and finally to a surreal Macao casino during the pandemic. To these mites, the human body is a vast, celestial planet; to the humans, the "itch" of history is an inescapable shadow.
Winner of the 2025 Taiwan Literature Award, playwright Chen Chiao-jung crafts a brilliant dialectic between the fleeting and the eternal. Through a "dream-within-a-dream" structure, the play blurs the lines between the microscopic and the monumental, reflecting the restless cycle of life and the persistent itch of human existence.
Chen Chiao-jung, Playwright
Chen Chiao-jung is a versatile storyteller active across Taiwan and Macau, with her work spanning theatre, musicals, and manga.
In Taiwan, her play The Thousand-Year Itch won the 2025 Taiwan Literature Award, while My Sister’s Keeper was a finalist for the same award in 2015. Her prominent musical credits include i WEIRDO and I Hate Musical.
In Macau, her practice focuses on local identity and socio-historical narratives. Notable works include Sunset at the Shipyards and The Flying Fisherwomen. Her plays Sunset at the Shipyard and Let No One Sleep were both selected for the Macao Arts Festival. She published her first collection, Flâneur on the Sea: Two Plays by Chen Chiao-Jung, in Macau in 2024.
Beyond the stage, Chen is dedicated to exploring new frontiers in narrative through interdisciplinary experimentation. Her collaboration with manga artist Monday Recover, titled Sea You There and Us, was awarded the Silver Award at the Japan International Manga Award. The work has been licensed and translated into Japanese, English, French, Russian, Malay, and Vietnamese.
Credits
Playwright: Chen Chiao-jung
Director: Jin Haejeong
Cast: Kim Sojeong, Zunbul Betul, Lee Ma-rie, Lee A-Huin, Han Kyongsu
Stage Manager: Cho Munjeong
Play Translator: Kim Yisak
Subtitle Translator: Cheryl Wang
Subtitle Translation Editor: Johan Amatsakio
The School of Drama at Korea National University of Arts
The School of Drama at Korea National University of Arts (K-Arts), founded in 1994, is the only national institution in Korea dedicated to professional theatre training. The school offers undergraduate and graduate programs across five departments: Acting, Directing, Playwriting, Stage Design, and Theatre Studies. With a curriculum that emphasizes both artistic practice and critical inquiry, the School of Drama provides intensive training for emerging theatre artists. The program maintains close collaborations with leading theatres and artists in Korea and internationally, creating opportunities for students to engage with diverse theatrical practices. Graduates of the school have played a significant role in shaping contemporary Korean theatre and are increasingly recognized on the global stage.
About the 2026 Taiwan International Play Reading Festival
The 2026 Taiwan International Play Reading Festival is curated by the Prologue Center for New Plays and jointly organized with the Taipei Performing Arts Center, aiming to establish an international exchange 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. In the festival, 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.
Organizer
