News (Reporter Mei Dongni, Correspondent Jiang Yanli) I act my youth, I love my city. Sponsored by Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Culture, corresponding with Wuhan’s Entrepreneurship and Employment Initiative of “Retain Millions of College Students in Wuhan”, the 2017 Wuhan College Student Theatrical Art Festival came to its conclusion on June 9^th at the Zhongnan Theater. Students from six universities and colleges staged wonderful theatrical performances, showcasing their youthful passion on the stage.  

During the one-week festival started on June 2^nd, the following six plays and opera were sequentially performed in the Zhongnan Theater, namely Stage Play Lend Me a Tenor by the Department of Arts of Wuhan University; Stage Play Werewolf Game by Chenyu Drama Society of Central China Normal University; Stage Play Me² vs. Him² by Sky Drama Club of Huazhong University of Science and Technology; Stage Play Some Classmate Incident by King & Clown Troupe of Jianghan University; Stage Play Sound of Wind by Pure White Drama Troupe of Wuhan University of Science and Technology; and Peking Opera The Unicorn Purse by Qingying Peking Opera Troupe of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. During rehearsals, professional artists from Wuhan People’s Art Theater and Wuhan Municipal Peking Opera Theatre came and gave professional advice to the selected plays and opera, making it a highly rewarding experience for student actors.  

During the closing ceremony, various awards, including Best Director, Best Scriptwriter, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress, were handed out by judges. Lv Mengxi, a male freshman, won “Best Actress” for playing the role of Xue Xiangling in The Unicorn Purse, which was the one and only opera performance in the festival. Upon finding his true identity, the audience was pleasantly surprised and amazed. Through internet broadcasting, the number of netizens participated in the selection of the “Best Popularity Award” exceeded 300 thousand person-time, and eventually Huang Lingzhi from Sky Drama Club of Huazhong University of Science and Technology won the “Best Popularity Award” with 51136 votes.

Lu Yu, judge and first-class actor of Wuhan People’s Art Theater, commented that the festival brought quite a few surprises to the judges and said that “college students have demonstrated that they have broad artistic visions in rearranging plays by directors like Tian Qinxin and Stan Lai. Although original scripts were few, they were of relatively high quality. Say Werewolf Game, we are even considering performing it in our own little theatre. The one and only Peking opera program was truly brilliant, making us judges realize that college students may not only be admirers of traditional culture, they may even be experts on some levels.” Tian Qingquan, the person in charge of Wuhan People’s Art Theater, commented that in the future Wuhan People’s Art Theater would establish “Wuhan College Student Stage Play Practice Base”, where rehearsal space and professional guidance will be regularly offered to drama societies of universities and colleges. In addition, popular plays produced by Wuhan People’s Art Theater would also be performed on college campus so that student actors could meet with and learn from professional artists.