The Party Theater Group

White Storyteller 

The story begins with WANG Wen-bin attempting to summon his father’s spirit on the first seventh day after his death. During his nap, memories of his father fabricating interesting stories of legendary hero, like Sun Wu-kong, Liao Tian-ding, which flash through his mind in the form of puppetry. The audience thus enters a realm composed of reality and fantasy. Truth about his father gradually unravels in the dialogues between the puppets and WANG’s monologue.         

This play, with actor CHIU An-chen playing seven roles, depicts sentiments and helplessness of ordinary folks during the period of Martial Law in Taiwan. Elements of one-man show, puppetry, paper cut, and shadow art are all-in-one.

 

TAI Chun-fang, Director  
TAI Chun-fang is the founding Playwright-Director of 1/2 Q Theatre and works as a director for GuoGuang Opera Company. Since it made its Kun Opera debut with Willow Dreams of Plum in 2004, 1/2 Q Theatre has dedicated itself to explore new horizons of traditional theatre by integrating classical Kun repertoire with installation arts, visuals, dances, and other crossovers. The Theater is a multi-time winner of the Taishin Arts Award.    
         

CHAN Chieh, Playwright  
CHAN Chieh has a Master’s degree in theatre at Taipei National University of the Arts. Inspired by historical events, he takes aggressive steps in addressing social issues facing Taiwan today in the hope of engaging in a profound dialogue with the audience and sending reverberations.   
  

CHIU An-chen, Cast
CHIU An-chen is Director of The Party Theatre Company. He has an MFA in acting at Actors Studio Drama School of The New School University, New York. His acting experience extends across televisions, films, and plays.  
 

WU Jung-chang, Puppeteer  
WU Jung-chang is Director of Hong Puppet Theatre. Developing a passion in traditional artssince childhood, WU learned under the puppet master LEE Tien-lu’s system with puppeteer CHEN Xi-huang. WU founded Hong Puppet Theatre in 1994. 
 

HUANG Wu-shan, Puppeteer
HUANG Wu-shan graduated from National Taipei University of the Arts and was mentored by master CHEN Xi-huang and LEE Chuan-tsan. He is the founder of Shan Puppet Theatre, featuring exclusively puppet plays spoken in Hakka.    
 

Tim Budden, Paper Cut and Shadow Art
Tim Budden is a British artist whose paper cut art goes hand in hand with the influence of the life he has chosen to live in Taiwan. He is trained in the fields of art, theatre, and education. He has been an avid promoter of the paper cut art.
 

The Party Theater Group
The Party Theater Group was founded in 2001. Its recent productions incorporate elements of human actors, puppets, masks, and multimedia. In addition to staging the classics, the Group also fervently engages artists from around the world for creativity exchange to expand the frontier of arts. Its production, The Sky Crisis, was selected by the 7th Taishin Arts Award as one of the top ten performing arts productions in 2008. The Libation Bearers, Agamemnon, I AM MY OWN WIFE, and White Storyteller were nominated by the Taishin Arts Award in respective years. White Storyteller was nominated as one of the top performing arts productions by the 16th Taishin Arts Award.        
 

Director / TAI Chun-fang

Playwright / CHAN Chieh

Cast / CHIU An-chen

Puppeteer / WU Jung-chang, HUANG Wu-shan

Stage Management / SU Yang-ching

Stage Design / LIN Shih-lun

Light Design / LIU Po-hsin

Music Design / CHIANG Tao

Paper Cut and Shadow Art / Tim Budden

Puppet Design and Production / LAI Yung-ting

Actor’s Costume / LIN Chun-meng

Puppet’s Costume / LIN Shu-ling

Lighting Technology / CHANG I-chin

Stage Technology / LIU Po-yen

Administration / CHEN Ying-lung