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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Ashland gardeners help make Spring Garden Fair an iconic event Free film fest celebrates OSF 'raconteur' Ashland Firewise hosts free yard debris dropoff Saturday Police Reports 10 things to know for Wednesday Education Students at Walker Elementary School in Ashland get hands dirty for Earth Day From AHS to paradise: Ashland High alum Wolf runs successful snorkel tours in Maui Official hopeful whooping cough case at John Muir contained Bracing for Common Core Ashland Kiwanis recognize Lillian Huang Environment Students at Walker Elementary School in Ashland get hands dirty for Earth Day Ashland Fire & Rescue Alarm Box: There are good fires and there are bad fires Lots to celebrate at SOU Arbor Day rites Business Lithia Motors reports second-best quarter ever Owner of Mix and Amuse to bring Flip burger joint to Ashland Ride & Drive: 2015.5 Volvo V60 Cross Country From AHS to paradise: Ashland High alum Wolf runs successful snorkel tours in Maui Ride & Drive: 2015 Ford F-150 Politics and elections Arthur I. 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OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 'Secret Love' playwright Stan Lai appears in Ashland Lai, OSF's Bill Rauch discuss adapting Chinese play for American audiences By Roberta Kent For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Roberta Kent For the Tidings Posted Apr. 20, 2015 @ 7:04 pm By Roberta Kent For the Tidings Posted Apr. 20, 2015 @ 7:04 pm » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2324,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> Audiences in the United States may not be familiar with Taiwanese playwright and director Stan Lai, but he was greeted like a rock star at a Saturday press conference to celebrate the U.S. premiere of “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Journalists representing Chinese language newspapers and radio outlets in Portland and Seattle seemed almost breathless at the chance to meet Lai and take his picture. Many of the reporters already had attended preview performances of what has been described as the most popular contemporary play in modern China prior to its Sunday OSF opening. “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” combines a modern story of lovers separated by China’s 1949 revolution with a traditional Chinese opera performance when the two theater troupes are booked into the same rehearsal space. Lai and OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch discussed the unique challenges they encountered in translating for an American audience a play that speaks effortlessly to the Chinese cultural experience. Rauch said when he became artistic director in 2007, his dream was to produce plays from traditions outside the European and American canon. While OSF has done this with other work, such as “The Clay Cart” and “White Snake,” this is the first time the festival has had an author and a director from the originating culture work on a production. “Ultimately, ‘Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land,’ with its two plays within the context of a third, is a play about theater,” said Lai. “When I adapted the play for OSF, I adapted its universal themes to an American milieu. I tried to find a balance between the original story and local references.” Lai said he shortened the Chinese names of the characters to make them easy to pronounce for American actors and easy to understand by an American audience. He also included explanations of cultural elements of the play that would be obvious to a Chinese audience, like the separation of the lovers in the “Secret Love” story or the classic fable of “Peach Blossom Land.” “Most Americans don’t realize that over 2 million people fled China and went to the island of Taiwan in 1949 when the Communists took power,” Lai said. “They thought they would soon go home. But there was no communication between Taiwan and the mainland for nearly 40 years. Husbands, wives, children, extended family had no contact. It was devastating.” Lai explained that, in Chinese, the words “Peach Blossom Land” mean an ideal place. The title of the play in Chinese translates to “a secret longing for the ideal place,” which applies to both the modern and classical plays within the work. Lai was asked how his adaptation of “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” dealt with differences in Chinese and American perceptions of humor. He explained that while both cultures respond to the same comic situations, they get to the punch line in different ways. “It’s like a package,” said Lai. “American humor opens the package immediately and finds the punch line. Chinese humor takes its time unwrapping the package to get to the same point.” The OSF production of “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” has a multiracial cast, in keeping with the festival’s commitment to reflect the diversity of modern society. Rauch and Lai said they decided to have an all-Asian cast for the “Peach Blossom Land” play-within-the-play and a multicultural cast for the modern play portion.  “We have dialogue in the play that specifically addresses this issue,” said Lai. Lai added that the experience of working with wheelchair-bound actor Regan Linton, who plays “Mysterious Woman,” revealed new facets to the character that he would now adapt into new Chinese versions of the work. While it is still too early to determine whether “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” will draw a significant number of Asian-Americans to OSF, Rauch said the festival’s commitment to presenting Asian material continues. The 2016 season includes “Vietgone,” by Qui Nguyen, a romance set in a Vietnamese refugee camp in Arkansas after the Vietnam War, and Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale,” told within an Asian setting. The festival also will host the 2016 conference of the Consortium of Asian-American Theater Artists from Sept. 29 through Oct. 9 next year. Roberta Kent is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Reach her at [email protected].         By Roberta Kent For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Roberta Kent For the Tidings Posted Apr. 20, 2015 @ 7:04 pm » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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