National Taichung Theater touts tech, wide appeal in upcoming festival

Taipei, Jan. 12 (CNA) The National Taichung Theater will "walk the fine line between technology and art," with 10 programs covering a wide range of topics, in the Taiwan International Festival of Arts presented in the central city, according to its General and Artistic Director Joyce Chiou (邱瑗).

The festival, Chiou said in a press conference on Tuesday, is aimed at becoming a platform by which artists can realize their imaginations, and she welcomed the public to the annual spring event, saying that "if you enter the theater, you'll certainly be thrilled!"

One of the programs highlighted during the press conference is "Palaces," a two-part play written by Wu Ming-lun (吳明倫) and to be performed by Our Theatre in Taichung April 30-May 2, according to the theater.

The play, a joint production by the Taichung theater, the National Theater and Concert Hall in Taipei and the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, tells a story spanning 30 years about residents past and present in one building.

It will be performed in Taiwanese and Chinese, with English subtitles.

Another joint production is "Little Ant and Robot: A Nomad Café," which is created by choreographer Huang Yi (黃翊), who has been working with a robot called KUKA since 2012, according to the theater.

In a coffee shop setting on stage, performers will give three performances surrounding food and drink in Taichung June 4-6 to conclude the festival, it said.

The Taichung theater will also host two programs it has co-produced with two Taipei-based institutions during the festival, including GuoGuang Opera Company's "Fox Tales," which is inspired by Chinese and Japanese ghost stories, on May 29 and 30.

Another program is "The Man with the Compound Eyes," an adaptation of novelist Wu Ming-yi's (吳明益) book of the same title, which will be directed by German Lukas Hemleb and comprises elements of drama, puppetry, a live orchestra and multimedia, the theater said.

This program, which is co-produced with the Taipei Performing Arts Center, will take place on April 24 and 25.

The festival, which will start with the performance of two dance pieces blended with digital technology by Japanese choreographer Hiroaki Umeda on March 20 and 21, will also include a two-day forum on the use of virtual reality in the performing arts, the theater said.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, however, the theater has announced the postponement of three foreign productions, including Compagnie Louis Brouillard's "Contes et Légends," Adrien M and Claire B's "Acqua Alta," and the Hofesh Shechter Company's "Double Murder - Clowns/The Fix."

Ticket sales began on Jan. 1 through the newly launched OpenTix ticketing service.