 very traditional from the set up on the stage, also their outfit. And these two music are styles of Chinese classical music originated in the southern China. And then we will take a very big jump to the time after World War II. So next, so that's the time where Taiwan Taiwanese people start developing their original art. So we have Taiwanese opera and gold poverty. So these two types of arts, they are very entertaining and commercial. So because of its, the plot can be very flexible. So instead of telling story from a historical aspect, they can tell something that you will see now on television like soap opera. And then we, next one. So in 1980, we have the first first experimental theater established. It's called the Lanling Theater Workshop. So it's the first avant-garde theater in Taiwan, and they are highly influenced by U.S. theater. The founder Dr. Wu Jingjie, he actually started here. He didn't study theater though, but he watched a lot of performance in space like La Mama and having influence and he brought those methods back to Taiwan. And the founding members, they adapt those Western methods with the traditional Chinese and Taiwanese theater. And that's how the contemporary theater scene in Taiwan starts. And many of those funding members, including Wu Jingjie, Jin Shijie, Li Guoshou, they are still very active members in Taiwan. Then next one. Anyhow, you can see more pictures and I believe many audience members, if you're from Taiwan, you can recognize many of the phases. So next. So then we go to 1990s. This is a time we called post-martial law period. There's a lot of social movement going on. So at this time, theater is like straight theater is a form for activists as a way for them to express their voice. And also the society gave the artists and people more freedom for them to create their own art. So this is really the time for them to develop their own style. So you will see the youth theater on your left. They incorporate Zen with drumming. And also during this time, there's many tags are adapted by contemporary Taiwanese literature. So from 2000s to present. So now I will show you many styles from some of the notable companies. So the first one you will see on the middle bottom, you will see the style from the Taiwanese ensemble where Paul served as an artistic director for 10 years. Almost 10 years, right? And so then you will see next slide. The middle top part, actually that's a style from the second reading you will see. That's Lee's piece put together by Fortress Theater. So you will see those pictures, their style and their staging. And maybe the one is actually on like Salt Mountain. It's not even in the theater space. The things are also very diverse. And the reason behind that is because the theater during this period are highly influenced or interacted with other Chinese speaking countries in Asia. So if we see next slide. So there are 1.2 billion people who can speak Chinese. And that's about 20 percent of the world population. And many of those area countries are in Asia. And so for places like mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia and except mainland China, Taiwan has many and close interaction and relationship with other areas because of the cultural and political orientation. And this kind of mobility is really what makes Taiwan theater distinguished from the theater in mainland China. Even both spaces use mainly Mandarin to create their work. And so I heard from, I have a brief conversation with the playwrights the other day. They also mentioned that actually many people from Macau, Singapore or Malaysia. They come to Taiwan for work or for study. They end up staying here or vice versa. So this kind of exchange really brings different aspects and different viewpoint to the theater in Taiwan. And then if you have, if you want to see more like current contemporary theater staying in Taiwan, of course you will see that from the reading, the reading later. Also this Friday one of the reading leaves the possible memo of a trader. The full show will be screened at the Taipei Cultural Center at 630. And next I want to show you some theater spaces in Taiwan. So first I'm going to show you spaces on the national level. So I'm going to show you three. They are both founded and managed by central government. So we have this in Taipei. Next one in Taichung. And the exterior is designed by the Japanese, very famous Japanese architect. And then the third one is this one in Gaoshong. And then later next we will see some other private round theater. So next. So we have, I'm going to just show you a little bit. And the reason why I chose them just simply because I used to go there when I, when I was still facing Taipei. So we have Cloud Gate Theater, Gulin Street, Alpeng God Theater. Next we have Hua Shan Creative Park. And Wen Shan Theater. It's actually a community center. And also Zhongshanou and Crown Art Center Theater. And unfortunately they closed business because they cannot keep the current regulation as the theater. So those are the venues. And then the next one, next thing I want to tell you is about how common or how theater going as a later activity for Taiwanese people. So we spend about like 25 billion in total per year on all the cultural and creative industry. And then under them performing art accuracy makes us 566 million dollars. Next. So we only have about like 23 million on population here in the States. You guys, like, now you're back, but like here they have 325 million. So just so you know the difference. But the cultural events Taiwan put up every year is more than 60,000. And then the cultural event attendance per year is over 27 million. So basically after you do the math it's very common for Taiwanese people to see theater or go to a cultural event every month. And then they they don't mind to spend a little bit on the on the ticket. And then next one. So that's a really brief overview. If you have more questions definitely bring them up during the panel. And now I'd like to introduce you to our first playwright of the day Bo Zhang. And he's going to take the stage and perform to you solo day. Thank you. Last session. According to the police. Due to the difficulty of tracing Omen in groups, the MI5 is considering blocking international AI partners on these to prevent more prejudice. The Department of Health encourages citizens to have real connection with real human beings. National AI projects will be ordered at the end of this week at CMO. Break the news. Early this morning, their friends flight at R13 from Lenzone to Paris crashed, killing all longer 49 passengers on board. Their friend is trying to contact the families of their victims. What's so important? Oh, and didn't I tell you that? When Mr. Mi now is away, you can always talk to me in English or Chinese. Don't you remember? I'll keep that in mind, sir. I just don't understand, right? Why is he so obsessed with touring? I mean interacting with the real people. Life sounds so 2020s, don't you think? Sir, are you ready for the news? Look at you. All serious. It had better be important. I need to get ready for an interview. What is it? Mr. Alamina was on the flight from London to Paris and has been confirmed to be among the dead. The police are searching for the bodies of the victims. Wait, wait, wait. Angela, Alamina is touring to Asia, flying through Singapore. What are you talking about? Paris? There must be some mistakes. Why don't you call Mr. Mi now for me, please? Sir. Now! I'm deeply sorry, sir. So far we haven't heard anything about Mr. Mi now's body. Would you like me to continue? Just call him. Please, just, please. Sir. Sir, I would like to make sure if you're feeling all right. Would you like me to cancel your meeting? Good evening, sir. You have a new message. Angela, Angela, stop! I have no time for this bullshit, okay? Show me Alam. Please. If you insist, sir. However, may I remind you he's not Alam. It's just a machine. Here are all the instructions before you activate it. Well, simplify for me, please. You know what? As a woman you're pretty good at getting to the point. I'll take that as a compliment, sir. Why do you think I chose a woman as my personal assistant in the first place? Because guys distract you too much. I'll take that as a compliment, too. So, you've transferred all the info from Alam to that machine, haven't you? Everything but an encrypted folder authorized only by Mr. Mi now. A folder? What's in it? It wouldn't be called encrypted if I know what's in it. Fair enough. I'll respect Alam's privacy. You know what? Lower the percentage of your passive aggressiveness. Oh, and the condescending index right now. Revision complete. One last thing, sir. What? Since you requested for the highest level of personal assistant, you might need time to adjust this involvement in your life. If it's exactly like Alam, I think I'll be fine. Now, activate it, please. Coucou, mon amour. Coucou. Je vais bien, chéri. Et toi? Très bien, mais je le prépare, ça n'est mieux. Caminoce. Il est qu'on enzoie. Et tu peux quand tu parles d'état, on est bien sûr. Est-ce que ça fait mal? Le pleure pâle. Toi aussi, tu me manques. Où es-tu? Je suis là. Oui. Je suis là. Oh, c'est mon pu préféré. Oui. Je l'ai acheté à Nice. Ton anniversaire? Mais il a vraiment beau qu'il reste que ci. Mais tu as pris du poids aussi. Je n'aurais pas dû le laver. Est-ce que tu l'auras? Que veux-tu dire? Est-ce que tu l'auras? Je te réveillerai pour mon otèrement. I can talk about your funeral right now with you. It's written on your diary. Do you want me to leave? No, no, no, please. Stay. See you, please. D'accord. Que veux-tu que je porte demain? Ce que tu veux. Lequel est ton préféré? Et j'en préférerai. Oui. Tu en as? Ah, tu oublies? J'aime te ce que tu portes. Lequel? C'est guillasse, mon j'aime te ce que tu... Tu n'es pas Alain. Alain savait toujours. Qui diable es-tu? Porte ce que tu veux. Sors le pont de temps, mon verre. Dieu, je n'avais pas vu ce que tu puis, désolé. Nous étions aussi jeunes. Et heureux. Tu as rappelé de ce que ma mère t'a dit quand tu t'as vu de première fois? Comment je pourrais oublier? J'ai un des amis qui vivent dans le maire. Elle est adorable. Et tu sais que tu es la première piécine que je n'ai jamais pensé à première fois? Je ne le savais pas. Je suis désolé. Pourquoi? Je ne voulais pas tout être toi. Je ne comprends pas. Nous avons su cette dispute avant ton voyage. Sur quoi? Je ne suis loin alors que notre anniversaire arrive bientôt. Tu parles beaucoup, on est presque mort. Pourquoi nous pourrais-tu pas t'accompagner? Tu n'arrives pas à croire que notre dernière conversation a eu d'étéscité incréable. Je suis vraiment stupide! Hey! Je suis sisi. Je suis ton Alain. Je t'aime. Tu te rappelles? Can I ask you something? Don't you know everything about me? You seem so much like him, but you are not him. I'm the closest result you could get towards Alain. I'll never say I love you. Sorry for the mistake. It will never happen again. What's in that folder? I'm sorry? The encrypted folder, what's in it? It's personal. Yeah, I know it's personal, but you can decrypt it, right? Because technically, you're him, aren't you? Well, I'm not him anymore. What the f- Look, I want you to transfer all the info from that folder to Alain right now. I'm afraid it's against disease will. I'm sure it's okay. We've been together for nine years. We talked about everything. Well, obviously. Hey, what does that supposed to mean? Just being honest. I really dislike your hair and your accent. Anyway, human couples don't talk about everything, okay? It's normal. I can see that. Stop changing your look. Why can't you simply do whatever I ask you to do? Why are you so eager to invade Alain's privacy? Because I'm fucking missing him, okay? I want him back. Not just some semi-finished product which says something you will never say. You get it! I'm sorry. I didn't- Sorry, I didn't mean to shout at you. I'm sorry. I apologize. Sorry. Please sign the contract for taking the full responsibility of the consequences. Good luck, sir. 173 centimeters. 77. So, wait, wait, we said 73. Yeah, that sounds better. Yes. Brown eyes, black hair. Asian. Taiwanese living in London. Wait! What at a time, please? Um, I'm into, um, twins, jocks, some daddies are hot, um, between 30s and 45. I can't really talk to young people anymore. Um, what's next? I don't care. All right. Is it a multiple choice question? All right, type A. Thank you. Scorpio or Germanite. I don't really care about career. Oh, for God's sake. Does that matter? There are subtitles. 500 meters, please. I'm looking for men. Am I not obvious to you? Um, sorry. I am very open-minded. It's, well, whatever. Okay, um, system. Let's talk to Hotter first. Hello. How are you? Um, upload photo. Thank you. Um, not much. Just, um, just look around. You? Well, fair enough. I'm Asian. What do you think? Look, um, I hope you don't mind if I ask you something. Why? Asian is supposed to be bottomed. Whatever. Do you know someone named Alamina? No, I don't have dick pics. Okay. So, wait, what? Seriously? System, that's, um, let's talk to, to, to Deepa and upload photo first. Thank you. Hi. How are you? Uh, not much. Just, um, just to look around. Um, I hope you don't mind if I ask you something. Oh, oh, that's nice. But no, thank you. No, not really. Um, system, upload Alamina's photo please. You know him? Your place? He's dead. So, wait, no, it's shit. Well, system, lock me out. And login as Alamina, please. Sir, are you sure you're going to do this? Why not? It's not moral. Are we talking about morality here? Isn't it funny? Look, I, um, I don't know why I want to know, but I, um, I, I don't know. Are you jealous of these men? It's none of your business, okay? Look, I really need to do this. Please. Good luck, sir. Je vais bien mieux si y a toi. Think of me. Did I ever tell you that? I am okay. I'm sorry. I'm just, um, too, too much stress. Um, um, well, not, not very well, and I'll need more time. It's, it's not easy, you know? No, he's been very considerate. I mean, he should have to tell me about you. I, I, I should have talked about you. Remind me again. How did I discreet my partner? That's it. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. You scare me. Sorry. What bothers you? Such a bad liar. Oh yeah, not as good as you are, obviously. What do you mean? Nothing. Can we stop this nothing game? Stefan. Ring the bell? I guess we are doing this right now, huh? Why not? You, you plan to have this conversation anyway. Yes, I've been, I've been seeing Stefan for two years. He lives in Berlin. We first met at the gig in, in London. He, he's a vocalist. Do you love him? Oh, wow. I guess that pause said it all. You're being too dramatic. You ruin it, admit it. That's not fair, Nian. I'm afraid I cannot agree with you. What are you doing? Over the past three years, you've sent messages to 576 men. 1211 contains photos. 143 of them with nudity. The rate of a verbal agreement for hookups reached 23%. According to your sex archive, you've even met Stefan one time. Have I? I don't make mistakes. Anyway, I can't even believe it. You got into my private data? You chose to activate the highest level of the trust between us. That's how I know all your accounts and passwords and so on. Besides, you invaded my privacy first. Your privacy? Your privacy? You know what? This is getting ridiculous. Having sex with men you don't even know the names isn't ridiculous. Are we doing this again? Why are you so obsessed with names? None of them is going to be your friend. You do know that, right? Who said that I need friends? You need real affection. Oh, don't, don't, don't lecture me. Besides, what do you know about real then? Oh, right. I forgot that you are just a machine. You are the one who is programmed to be a sex machine. Isn't that what open relationship is all about? Then why are you making such a fuss about Stefan? Because I don't fucking love any of those men, okay? They, they are just sex, but, but you love Stefan. I can feel that. And that hurts me. That doesn't make you any better than me, Nien. You think me watching you having anonymous sex with men doesn't hurt? Please stop it. Why don't you believe I'm capable of loving more than one person at the same time? Please stop it. I know you couldn't take it. That's why I didn't tell you about Stefan. Nien, there are different forms of love. We shouldn't have to be exclusive. I'll leave you to it. Why, we are so unhappy. Isn't being with someone you love supposed to be happy? We're never happy. We can never be happy. We only want to be happy. Hey, I'm here. Holding your hands. No, you are not. You are not. I'm rubbing your hands with mine. Can you feel it? No. No, I can't. I can't do this anymore. I can't. I really, I can't. Don't be afraid. Close your eyes. Lay your head in my arms. Are you closing your eyes? I'm not sure. Your hands are getting warmer, aren't they? I'm kissing your forehead. Your cheek. Your nae. Excerpt one, prologue, documentary screening. All actors are on stage. The actor playing Junfuan comes downstage. To make a documentary about my... He was so... We were each other's favorites. He always bought me... I was A, was an open secret in our family. And we didn't need to talk about it. Grandpa and grandma adored him and made it clear that they would be leaving him the family home because he won't ever get married. But one year, he just stopped coming home. This was when I was in junior high. One day I came home from cram school and heard my grandma yelling loudly into the phone. She saw me and slammed the door shut, cutting off my eavesdrop. The thing is, I know more than any of them. The second year since Uncle Kai stopped coming home, I stayed after school to study. My classmates handed me a package, a diary, and a short note. The note just said, keep this safe for me. I knew that Uncle Kai came to my school and left. That was the diary of Mommy. Who was that? Mommy was my uncle's boyfriend back then. The diary recorded their relationship from the beginning to the end. I kept thinking, was Mommy the reason why Uncle Kai left? Mommy was HIV positive. So that my uncle was gay was just about acceptable. But him dating an HIV positive guy was too much. As June Pham speaks, she picks up the camera. With the contact pages in the back of the diary, I started cold calling people, one after another. Most of them were no longer reachable, but of those I could find most agreed to be interviewed. Thanks to them, this documentary was able to come together. In the process, I've been trying to answer this question. Why would you want to document this particular story? Why did my uncle suddenly break up with Mommy? Excerpt two, interlude, the ones not in contact. Why do you want to do it? A few of those people asked me that. Some of them said that they didn't know Mommy and Kai and didn't understand why their contact info made it into the diary. Others said that they did know them, but couldn't think of anything worth sharing. And then someone asked me, why don't you just go ask your uncle? That was when I suddenly realized that at some point, I stopped being able to go straight to my uncle for answers. It was probably after Uncle Kai left Sweet Mawson was about to move to Tainan. Grandma and Grandpa didn't want him to go and suspected that Uncle was influenced by bad friends. They didn't use the term patient, but Uncle was equivocating and couldn't explain exactly what sickness his friend had, why he needed to be nursed back to health at home, and why he had to move to Tainan. In the middle of the arguing, I demanded that Uncle take me to get soft drinks. On the way, Uncle thanked me for intentionally getting him out of the situation. And then he cried. I know that he cried, but I didn't ask him anything. I felt that if I asked, I'd have to shoulder a very big secret. I didn't know if I could shoulder it all the time. Uncle has always been like a father, like an older brother to me, taking care of me. I suddenly didn't know how to take care of him. I thought I had finals and had after-school lessons. I should be concentrating on my studies. Uncle asked if I was doing okay at school. We never still in ceremony, but all I said was fine. That was the moment when I began lying to my Uncle. It was so momentous having to face someone else's complex life. Can't we just buy that soft drink first? Or maybe it was just too hot out, or maybe I was just thinking about my shitty math grade, or about some annoying classmate who loved to show off. Either way, I didn't ask further. I didn't have the strength and could only pretend that he didn't cry. After that day, I could never be like I was before, when I was little, and could say everything, and anything to Uncle Kai. 5. Volunteer B tells the story of confrontation with Mrs. Chen at the park. Mrs. Chen, Volunteer B, Ma Mi, and Sweets stand facing one another in a park. Sweets carries a plastic bag. Ma Mi holds a pair of heels, one of which has its heel broken off. Volunteer B wears a pair of blue and white plastic flip flops and holds a small clay jar. Mrs. Chen is extravagantly dressed. She's wearing socks, but no shoes. Jun Fan watches them. My code name is Volunteer B. I have my own reasons for wanting to stand on this, so please don't mention my name. After Kai was promoted to team leader, they needed more people. I was writing my dissertation on related topics and was volunteering. There was a meeting regular, a patient called Mr. Chen. One day, Mr. Chen's wife suddenly approached us and threatened to sue. Originally, we were supposed to hash this out in a cafe, but apparently the owner of the cafe was on SARS quarantine or something. We were walking through the park looking for another cafe, and Mrs. Chen broke a heel. She said she hadn't worn those shoes in 10 years. Maybe we can talk right here. Let me make introductions. This is Mr. Chen's wife. This is Sweets and Ma Mi, the guys you're looking for. Mrs. Chen just came to us to say she wants to sue you for intentionally spreading AIDS committee adultery with her husband and defrauding him. Is that correct? He's got AIDS, not cirrhosis, like anymore. I already know. When Mr. Chen started coming to us, he was already very sick. And the money? The money was just for the in-home nurse, which Mr. Chen was responsible for in the first place. You are the ones who gave it to him, aren't you? Your husband's condition is pretty severe. It's not even possible for him to do anything sexual right now. What this homosexual doing? No, this isn't just transmitted between same sex... So that's why he wanted to share a bed with me all these years. Great. I finally understand this phone was foolproof of this Sweets person walking up and throwing sex parties even when he got AIDS. I'll take it to the press. What is she doing with your back of phone? I'm lending to Mr. Chen. Did you ask someone to bear back? If we made arrangements ahead of time, sure. Fuck, what do you think you're doing? Can I borrow that? Volunteer B hands over the clay jar he is carrying. Mrs. Chen sits on the jar. To find me a place to sit down? Some radishes, I pickled. I'm taking these home. A white jade radish from Maynone is better for people that radish. I'll make a note of that next time. Next time! I don't even want to see you again. Not even in my life. Next life. A ball rolls by. A passerby. Hey, could you get that for me? All four look towards the ball. Mommy goes to pick it up. Mommy had a lot of problems with Sweets at that time. He thought Sweets was making trouble for everyone involved by indulging in his own selfish desires. The passerby finally gets the ball back. Thank you. He exits. But it's impossible to be infected by hair cutting. So he's just a gait? So what if he is? Or is it? I want to see you. 100,000 new Taiwan dollars for emotion damages. Maybe it's to my house then. Why does she go to the police with my text messages? So? What would that do? Let's get a compromise because there's a violent intro. Compromise. How? Mr. Chen got it by cutting hair. Well, you could have kept your dick in your pants for once in your life. Mrs. Chen, can I borrow that phone for just a second? Is my husband gay? I don't know. Then why did he come to you? And to you, his little boyfriend? We just met him at the hospital. His gay villain. Oh, why wouldn't he share my back? Please stay calm. Mr. Chen's illness has nothing to do with these two. Oh, yeah? Then I dare you test your virus. My lawyer said he can test your virus and see if it's the same as my husband's. Then they can tell if you give it to them. Do they test it? Don't worry. I always suspect that he was at home. People congratulate me for marrying such a handsome sophisticated husband. But they don't know how bad he is and not bad. During the conversation, a few people have started doing Tai Chi in the park. I didn't know until later that all she wanted was to prove that her husband was gay. That way she has an excuse for why her husband wasn't interested in her sexually, why they had separate bedrooms. But even if that's so, it doesn't mean Mr. Chen was gay. When I said this to mommy, he didn't want to hear it. He was really mad at sweets. So you want to compromise with this woman? It's not the first time this happened. There was so many gay and you threatened to go public. I think she'd like to be looked up with me. Wow, really? Yeah. I've never been threatened. Why would always you? Isn't it because you're doing unethical things? What did you say? Tai Chi students. Excuse me, we have group training here at this time. Can you move over to the side a little bit? Oh, should I carry you over there? I can do it too. I'll walk. I don't want you freezing up on my outfit. It's very expensive. Auntie, do you always go out all dressed up and pretty like that? I haven't even met strangers. I'm not going to lose you in style. Of course. I needed to dress up nice. Even when you think I'm a crazy lady. I want to be a beautiful queen. You can tell that I look blue in this outfit. You probably not, right? Volunteer B clumsily tries to help Mrs. Chen up. We'll go put this in the conference pile. I helped Mrs. Chen over to a pagoda in the park and Monty called Mr. Chen at the hospital trying to figure things out. Mr. Chen couldn't speak for more than a few sentences without losing his breath, but he begged on the phone. Mr. Chen, I do. Do it for him. It goes against everything we stand for to agree with her until you get infected by cutting hair. So you don't care what happens to me at all? If she meets my text messages, anyone who's ever had sex with me could sue me for attempted murder, you know, from that damned article 21. Why do you have to sleep around so much? I thought you wanted to find someone long-term too. It's not that easy. I'm not you. So what? You're going to agree with this kind of bull and add to the prejudice? Infected via haircut? That's as stupid as saying you can get infected by touching blood on blood-soaked broken glass and telephone booths, especially from you. So you want me to go to jail or get tied up in corporate years? You know, I was the one who told Mr. Chen about the haircut excuse. If you don't want people to know, you need to make something up. This world never awarded anyone for me. Let's wait for them here. No matter what, I'm still the woman who spent a lot of time with Chen. He brought so many different kinds of insurance for me and other people. It used to be super cheap to do that. Now that our kids have grown up, he has his own right to live. If he had told me sooner, I would have done the usage of that. And kept thinking from the things that might be married or something. I really don't want him to pass like this. So I'm thinking about it too. Auntie, what if your husband isn't dead? Why would he do that to me? Mrs. Chen starts crying. I think I might have opened the can of worms. Maybe no matter how old she got, Mrs. Chen couldn't understand why her man was never dead. Why her man was never turned on by her. I knew that their marriage was mostly arranged. Mrs. Chen wasn't that attractive and Mr. Chen was very handsome. I can't be sure what upset Mrs. Chen more. That her husband was dying, that her husband was gay, or that her husband wasn't gay. Just never loved her. Jun Fan reads from the diary. Mr. Chen's death changed many things. I complained about sweets to Kai, but unbelievably Kai took his side and said we should grant the dying man's wish and protect sweets from trouble. I couldn't understand the hypocrisy and complacency of sweets and Kai. They convinced Mrs. Chen and Mr. Chen that Mr. Chen contracted AIDS by cutting hair, that Mr. Chen was innocent and deserves compassion, that he wasn't gay and wasn't sleeping with hookers either. Mrs. Chen went away satisfied and I didn't speak to either of them for a month. Sweets never learned his lesson and was the same as ever. Then we had our first big fight. Dark room, music, techno beats pumping, bodies clinging in abandonment and desire. Ma Mi drags sweets out of the room while the abandonment and desire continue inside. How many more Mrs. Chen's do you want to deal with? Why can't you have some self-control? Why should I have to control myself? Because we didn't establish this place so you can just arrange group fucks. What exactly do you think you're doing? Are you having a good time? I'm not doing this to have a good time. I can't stop. Why do you want this kind of life? I am just horny. Anything wrong with that? What about the guy that you were like before? He wears... Whether I'm sick or not, this is who I am. I want to change who I am just because I'm sick. I confess to him and he left. Not everyone is lucky like you. Well, as long as you're living this kind of life you'll never find the right person. What about you? How long can Kai stand this puritan lifestyle you've adopted? You even wear condoms for blowjobs just because the doctor said so. What? Are you eating plastic now? Fuck you, who told you that? Why would he tell you about this? I'm telling you a big right. I can't keep this going. You definitely can, you model couple. Mommy punches sweets. Even if men contract a fatal illness and have one day to live it wouldn't make their souls more noble. They are not Jesus. This is the first time Mommy mentioned Jesus in his diary. A few people sit around singing hymns. A full reels. Jun Fan gestures as though she's interviewing sister Ma with the camera pointed at her. The camera separates them. You can't have found them with that name. You only use this as real name. Ma Tai Chiang now. I'm his older sister. This was so long ago. I think you can ask my brother what he thinks about it right now. His old crowd has always painted him as a traitor. Said he didn't wrong. Especially now he's with the church. But it's hard to say what's in store for someone throughout his life. It's not possible to always maintain the same identity and keep giving. Him and his friends from past they were together all the time living amounts the same group. They were too tightly integrated and too full of emotional and romantic entanglements to the point where even a good thing became bad. Couldn't you have concentrated on getting better from the disease and working and protesting when it's time to protest? Where do they get the strength in the time of the day to love and hate and vilify like that? But now he just smiles and says it's all in the past. But hey I've always known that our Ma Tai Chiang no matter how you call his names he wouldn't say anything. Ma Tai Chiang is a very gentle spirit. When we were little one day we were having dinner and a commercial came on TV about how African children were starving. So Ma Tai Chiang took the food out of his bowl and put it in the cardboard box so he could send it to Africa and send it to the children. Nobody could reason him out of it until the grownups finally gave up and spanked him until he cried. Then he fished the food out of the box and ate it. Truly that's how a good person he is from the beginning. Of course we're all hurting for him when he kept meeting bad people. Your uncle had good manners at least but the first one the one gave it to him that one was such scum. I'm still mad thinking about it. Tai Chiang didn't dare tell us when he got sick because we're a religious family. He regrets that now if he had no Jesus love earlier he wouldn't need to be afraid to tell us and wouldn't have suffered on his own for so long. I always feel like I'm the one who made him sick. My family used to own a karaoke place a garden style with wood cabins and individual party rooms. There are some really good times. The food we served was famous in the nation and our most prosperous as soon as you get a party room we serve you three piping hot Taiwanese stir-fried dishes and half a dozen beers on the house. It was extremely profitable for a while and then local folks started using rooms like hourly motels and rumors started flying. When some people go to motels people talk if it's one married person one single person or one old one with youth think of how bad it looks. I mean, at first we just pretended not to see things it's not like we can interfere with what customers do in the privacy of the rooms, right? But young people stopped coming and a holiday karaoke opened up we hung out for a while but eventually had to close. Really, no good can come when you come down bad things. After that my parents started making pastries and selling them to the church near the old family home and the church did order a lot from them and Tai Shang and I would go help out at the church when we went home for the weekend. The church truly put us back on our feet. Tai Shang and I share a small studio in Taipei we were not well off when you left together you were going to have some small tips. Sister and mommy face off at a doorway Fine, I was supposed to buy toilet paper I'll do it now It's late when I get home from work and you always free buy It's fine, it's fine Jesus, if your boyfriend's coming to see you, you can stay I'll just go craft some friends it's just too much trouble Is that an analogy? I have friends too Mommy leaves a boy comes in and embraces sister Mommy hears sounds of lovers next door A woman So go mountain climbing Go ahead, that's all you think about mountain climbing A man What's wrong with mountain climbing Why are you acting like I don't take home the dough? Go ahead and take your parents too Go and don't come back Noises of shoveling and pulling Silence descends So you're not going? There are mountains right at home Why do I need to go so far to climb others? Dabajin Mountain Jin Mountain Mount Heihua Fire Mountain You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road Stop it you fucker Aren't we out of condoms? Or maybe we should stop Okay, let's stop What's your hand doing? So stop I thought you want to stop What? Fine, I'm not in the danger zone today We'll get plan B tomorrow like you're planning anyway fucker As mommy walks, the exaggerated noise of the couple's lovemaking follows him I think I was the one that got my brother sick It's the holiday karaoke in an open branch in our town and the family business didn't close I wouldn't have needed to squeeze in that studio with him and Taixing wouldn't have gone to stay with his friends and know that guy Hey, don't tell him I say these things He'll only get upset if you ask him You just say he didn't feel so beaten down at first It's me talking about it like he's in a bad situation I am so glad he's back on the right track now It's not like we disagree with people being gay We just disagree with their lifestyle What do you mean by the right track? He came to me one day out of blue came to the church before then he would just call me every two or three months I wouldn't talk about his life I knew he was in a very bad mood that day before Sis Sis, do you have work? You're fine, just wanted to come by and see how you're doing You want to chat after the meeting? Several people sit in a circle singing hymns Mommy sits with them reading messages between him and Kai A message from Mommy A message from Kai What did you talk about that I can't know? It's nothing really Are you in love with him? You love me? Look at you pushing again No, I just want you to spell this out for me For some things there's no way to be so crystal clear That just makes me feel unsettled I feel like I'm doing my best to accommodate you but you're not doing the same What do you mean? For example, sometimes I want you to come inside or I want to swallow You didn't need to wipe things down so aggressively like you're afraid You knew I would play this from the beginning Yes, and I do what you want me to do So go find someone normal That's not what I meant I just think that if you're preoccupied with being afraid it makes things less smooth I switched meds recently and the virus but it's not just recently and it's not just about sex So what is it? I feel like I have to be all about you Of course it's what I signed up for you know Go to bed early, get up early have a healthy lifestyle maintain a certain good image within your circle of friends So it's your bad love to have a boyfriend like me I'm not saying that I just don't like it It's not about me finding a normal person instead just the nuclear option and nothing else, this is who I am take it or leave it, no room for discussion at all So why do you go to sweets? Okay I am sorry but who else can I talk to? Should I grab a rando off the streets and out you? Okay, you want to talk? Let's talk You like hanging out with them? That's not it. What is it then? I can't do this with you right now I'm working just to calm down a little Is it boring having sex with me? Pause In the music of the hymns Mommy starts crying The churchgoers hold Mommy's hands Churchgoers In the godly melodies God shows us his pity and love We have a new brother today who came in with the pain of this world We know not of his pain but the almighty God knows he will point the way for you Amen The singing stops Sound of text messages On stage, the scene is frozen Kai's ex Who's this? You were on duty? Oh yes, I ran into Yao Kai that day What is it? Kai's relationships tend to overlap Why is it so easy for regular people to stay together for the rest of their lives? And so hard for gay people Why must they have so much sex? Is it for to prove their popularity? I think Ma Tai Cheng was just interested in loving one person and being with him Well, I'll never understand these things I have a feeling being in that circle brought him a lot of pain I try to make it up to him as much as I can since he was so distant for such a long time anyway But what if gay people and patients can be like others and not seem differently when they fall in love, get married break up and get sick maybe things between my uncle and uncle Ma would have been different It's just something I was thinking about I haven't talked to my uncle about it or anything When we consider things from my brother's point of view my brother didn't do anyone wrong and just because he has the same sickness as these people doesn't mean he has to be around them forever You know how when someone is hurt especially relationship-wise they get out of control from time to time He's lost all his friends because of it He's learned his lesson But there's one thing I have to ask you about When my family was nearly bankrupt When Ma Taishan was in so much pain it was our brothers and sisters at church who stood up next to us Not anyone of his gay friends from the past It's okay He had to pick a side eventually He blew up his friends He blew up with his friends and I knew about it I don't blame anyone and Taishan just broke away from them completely Here, use this email You can reach him this way Thank you Thank you for speaking to him Oh Why thank me It's good to know you still remember my friends from the past I could never forgive forget him The scene changes morphing into sweet maws at the police raid A few men are being jerked around by the police The last day of sweet maws I was there and so were a bunch of cops End of excerpt Take to the panel and face you know where you have to go This is a good time now so don't worry if you want to stay to hear from the playwrights and the panelists So This is not only that if you hear us better we'll be recorded We still have a moment of time to take some questions First of all I think a big thank you to the writers for the director also for directing this book congratulations So as you could see these were just an excerpts one of the search most of identities and artificial intelligence and emails and the shelter that's been broken up So before we come to our artists maybe a question to Jim Who is he also a professor at the Graduate Center of CUNY and who has monitored and written and researched the scene here perhaps a bit more in the western world what comes to your mind what does that fit in when you hear those plays Well first of all I also want to congratulate you I thought the plays were really terrific really interesting ideas I loved the way that you dealt with CUNY really stimulating a couple of things that came to my mind while I was watching these the first thing was the importance of seeing gay lives on stage I don't know if you followed but even in the 21st century having gay issues and gay lives presented on stage dangerous and corruptible in Hungary just this past week a Broadway musical that had originated in London to play Broadway had gotten a production in Budapest, Billy Elliot came under fire from the homophobic government and it was closed and if you've seen Billy Elliot it was considered a family musical but there is a gay character in it and I saw the production two years ago and they had completely whitewashed much of the gay material but it was closed essentially because there was a belief that it could turn children gay with the response to it so I think it's very important that we see these stories presented the other thing that came to my mind while I was watching this I I see a good deal of queer theater not to discount the experimental queer theater in New York which there is a good deal and there are places like LaMama we saw Taylor Mack represented in the introduction and Dixon Place has the hot festival coming up so there will be some really interesting experimental theater but I was just thinking about the current queer theater offerings if you were to choose an LGBT play tonight these would be your primary choices you could see a wonderful, don't get me wrong wonderful production of Angels in America which is now 25 years old you can also see a terrific production of the Boys of Band which was from 1968 and at the time was considered quite radical so there is a good deal of nostalgia around queer theater now and just moving a little bit off Broadway a couple of plays I saw in the last week there is a play called Skin Tight in which explores a family reaction to a 70 year old man having a relationship with a 20 year old man and there is a play that opened last night called Law Cabin which looks at some of the contemporary issues of what it means to be gay or lesbian in 2018 after the marital laws have passed one of the things that I also want to point out I won't take any more time these are all like white men which I think is pretty typical so I applaud Taiwan for these wonderful progressive politics but don't let your theater become boring as it has become here in terms of our queer theater so I will end with that just to say as I mentioned earlier that it was really just very exciting to see this stimulating work that really challenges us in ways I don't think gay theater is at this point thank you and for sure it is not boring and very contemporary maybe Leanne tell us about how does it feel to hear an excerpt from your work about the shelter and how does it feel to hear it here on stage I speak in Chinese and he will translate okay I think in the beginning when I was reading the script there was a scene in my mind and at the same time when I was writing a scene in Taiwan I didn't know how to translate what I wanted to but I think actually I think they performed quite well and the director also went to deal with the recording and the previous scene so I thought when I was reading they would use a very simple way to do that sorry to long sorry to long hello so in the beginning she was instantly calling the production that was in Taiwan and she started to think about this play was highly emphasis on the Taiwanese scenario in the gay culture and she was wondering if during the process of translating the entire play we would lose the very idea of this play that tries to convey whatever she thought the actors and the director did a pretty good job at presenting the essence of the play especially the way to play in between the past and the present the documentary and the reality she thought it was pretty well done I wanted to do a research project in the beginning because in the drama as long as it's a love story it's hard not to be influenced by the American history but because the people I interviewed were still alive so I wanted to say I couldn't bear to put them to death so I was curious because my friend had a relationship with someone who had a relationship and but she could show the film to her parents they were all people who would die but I was usually a American angel so and then she felt very honored to be invited by the type of culture center to present the stage reading and the first production in Taiwan was fully funded by the government the national theater so she then talks about the concept of writing this play at first she was thinking about maybe she could did something that was pretty much like Angels in America because in Taiwanese theater we have been highly influenced by the American theater so she was thinking about maybe she should do that however when she was doing a lot of research on this production she was thinking these people are still alive these people that are affected are still alive she doesn't want to write a story about an AIDS patient being dead so she instead chose to focus on this production and then create this production and then she also talked about her friend who is actually dating an HIV positive partner and she said that according to his friend he actually had a hard time choosing shows or what kind of performing arts to show to his parents because a lot of times like the show Normal Heart or Angels in America we oftentimes talk about the death that was caused by AIDS thank you so maybe we come back to you later so we go to Paul Chang and how did it feel for you to perform your work? I have to close it it's actually my first time doing a stage reading of this play this play was first performed in Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016 and we've been doing the shows for quite a few times but in my theater career I've never done any stage reading so I was actually very very excited and I'm so lucky and so blessed to have Surya coming out with to sort out all these things yeah I actually I would like to ask all of you because I couldn't speak for myself I'm trying to I'm trying to find a balance I mean technically trying to find a balance in stage reading not to not to give out too much to leave some space for the audience to come in philosophical thoughts but I actually don't know how it works but I truly truly enjoyed it so I hope you did as well tell us a bit about the idea of the artificial intelligence of the hidden worlds and the identity what was your inspiration what are your struggling with the writing of the play I actually I'm actually a theater director who hates multimedia very much doing that elements in my work because I'm always afraid that it would take the warmth of the theater or the authenticity of theater but this project was sort of like commissioned by a project called QA Ring in Taipei and the bottom line is that you have to write a play collaborate with any forms of modern media so my first idea was actually trying to find any any experience in my personal life that has something to do with that and interestingly I realize a fact that I actually like to talk to machines a lot than real people I actually don't like real people actually thank you so I actually feel a lot more comfortable leaving voice messages to my friends and I've always I always do that until one day a friend of mine told me stop sending me voice messages why can't you just give me a call and just talk to me and I was like okay so so a lot of people don't like it, interesting and why do I like it so much why am I afraid of a real connection with people why do I enjoy voice messages so much so I started from here it's starting point to think what happened with us our generation in this world maybe technology as we all know doesn't really we're closer most of the time we're more alienated than each other so I got this idea here I want to write something about being in love with a machine or talking a lot with a machine because it happens and I can certainly identify that to it so I start from that and then another idea came in that is I was really intrigued by a tagline by a movie or something about someone you love and I feel strongly about this tagline because we all have this experience and taking myself for example I was brought up by my grandmother mostly so we are very close and I actually I miss her all the time very much and in Taiwan we have this Taoist ritual we call Guan Luoying you can actually practice this ritual and then we believe that I actually have never done that I'm intrigued by that ceremony so I did some research and it says through the ritual you can actually go to the underworld to meet someone yeah someone who has left so I decided to combine these two things together because I believe that when we can't find answers through religion we seek for help through technology and vice versa so I think these two things can be really interesting to mingle with so that's how I started to thank you we come back to you you worked on the play what were challenges to adapt it for a New York audience is it a New York play anyway and how was that in cutting it down yeah well one of the biggest challenges of course I had the privilege of watching some clips of the full-fledged production and I saw that technology figured quite in a big way into the craft of the play as you see it on the stage and I knew that it was important that we incorporate some technology in the telling of the story and you know one of the first things that we had a conversation about, Pao and I was how can we really really kind of use technology in a really really kind of effective way to tell the story and really really kind of highlight some key moments and so that was a challenge and I think that also you know you know the story I think that it's a universal story in a lot of ways in that it's a story about love and it's a story about longing and it's a story about death it's a story about sexuality and so I think that I think that it is it could very well play to an American audience because a lot of American plays by American writers deal with those themes in their works and yeah it was just a real privilege to be able to work on this piece with Pao thank you before we go to Knut about directing maybe Liying one more tell us a bit about the inspiration for the shelter and what was your technique, how did you do interviews or did you imagine it what was the idea, the inspiration and how did you create the play because I am a interviewer so he is actually a interviewer and he is filming a documentary and at the same time, because he is filming a documentary, because we use the idea of the play so the documentary can be passed on to the present because the length and time is a bit too long, basically it was in the 90's and in the early 00's in Taipei yeah so she conducted a lot of interviews and a lot of people that's why in the very first production you will be able to see the documentary as the format for this entire production and you will be able to see the projection and then that projection actually helps to go back and forth the path in the present and the story is actually starting from late 1990's to early 2000's and then because she is actually discussing for example your own your own opinion maybe what others think is not important basically because our opinion is not a very certain thing so because we are going to talk about this person so we use the format of the documentary so I am going to say that this is a but I think you may not know how to translate that I think it's fine it's a because I don't know how to say it have you seen her? a documentary okay, it's fine so she wants to talk about how one person recollects his memory through this production often times when we try to recall our own memories we will recall something that can be very important to us but not necessarily to other people and often times we also avoid certain things and that is why she adopted this idea of using the documentary and she was also taking talking about the inspiration from in terms of the structure of the entire production she was talking about the inspiration Peruvian novelist who won the Nobel Prize in year 2009 and we don't know how to translate his name unfortunately Marcus Losa thank you so much Knud, what were the challenges in directing immorally asking to do a 30 minutes anyway so how did you see the work? the challenge I think was for me, what I do year round as a director of new work here in the city I work hand in hand with playwrights and they're almost always in the room with me and we're sort of exploring together and this was a fun challenge in that it was I felt like there were several acts of translation happening where the play newly translated to English me selecting an excerpt of that play is sort of an act of translation or a lens of editing and then yeah and then working with actors for a brief four hours today trying to interpret it or give it a little life, a little suggestion of what the play promises in production and then finally the reading format itself a play reading is already a transformation of media and of expression and trying to hint at the fullness of the play which is as a media component as a really vast canopy of a canvas of characters of realities in and out of time it's ambitious and sprawling and has a great size of story so trying to capture that fullness of narrative through these various steps of translation with Archimedes actors were kind enough to give their time today was a fun challenge for me Thank you and I think we got a feeling for that place what had all happened so a part of comparative literature world how does this literature we heard of the words how do they compare to adaptation to translation is it successful Comparative two plays for tonight I think from post-Solo Day to somehow speak to Lin's work the possible memoir of Mamy is that both touch on certain kind of issues on adaptation and also translation trans-cultural trans-cultural media and also this kind of trans-media interplay you see this kind of idea when post post-work is obviously made for translation he has this idea of a global audience in mind so you can see he play with different kind of between both different languages Taiwanese