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THEATER A tale of two plays at OSF 'Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land' intertwines two stories from Chinese culture Comment By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 15, 2015 at 1:47 PM By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 15, 2015 at 1:47 PM » Social News Stan Lai’s internationally acclaimed Chinese drama, “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land,” has its U.S. premiere this week at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” combines the real world and fantasy when two theater troupes are simultaneously booked into the same rehearsal space. Chaos ensues as one group of actors prepares a traditional Chinese opera performance of the fifth-century classic fable, “The Peach Blossom Land,” the other cast rehearses a heartbreaking modern story of lovers separated by China’s 1949 revolution. The New York Times calls “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” the most popular contemporary play in modern China. There have been more than 1,000 productions of Lai’s play in China — many of them unauthorized — as well as in Taiwan. “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” previews at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 17, and 8 p.m. Saturday, April 18, opens at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, April 19, and runs through Oct. 31 in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. Tickets start at $30 to $95. Tickets and information are available online at osfashland.org or by calling 800-219-8161. “The framework of the two theater companies trying to rehearse at the same time is played as farce,” says Mei Ann Teo, the production’s assistant director. “But the audience also gets to see how the two serious plays the actors are working on mysteriously intertwine. They both portray the universal longing for someone or something from the past that is irretrievably lost.” Playwright Lai tailored the work specifically for the festival’s production and also directs. Most of the cast members are OSF veterans. “When I direct a production of ‘Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land,’ I adapt the work to whatever theater we are in,” Lai says. “With the OSF production, there are a number of ‘in-jokes.’ I’ve included references to the festival’s own scheduling problems and the diversity of the company. Within the rehearsal framework of the play, the regular festival actors are playing themselves.” The Chinese fable, “The Peach Blossom Land,” is told in poetry. It recounts the tale of a lost fisherman who discovers a utopian world where everything is perfect. When he eventually decides to leave and return to his village, he is told that he cannot reveal what he has found. When he does tell others, he is unable to find the paradise again. The poem is memorized by every Chinese student today. “The fable is performed in the style of Chinese opera,” says Teo. “We had an amazing Chinese opera specialist, Carol Chia-lin Ma from San Francisco, to teach our American cast the unique sounds and rhythms of classic Chinese opera.” The modern love story is set in the years immediately after the Communists took power in Mainland China when the previous Chinese government and many families fled to Taiwan. Lai wrote “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” in 1986, before cultural and commercial ties between the two rival Chinese governments were restored. Lai was born in 1954 in Washington, D.C., while his father was ambassador the U.S. from Taiwan. He returned to Taiwan when he was 12 years old, attended university there and came to the U.S. for graduate studies. In 1983, he received his doctorate in dramatic art from the University of California, Berkeley. His work draws upon traditional Chinese styles as well as elements from the commedia dell’arte. Teo describes “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land” as a bridge between Chinese and Western cultures. While a Chinese audience would immediately recognize the traditional cultural references in the modern love story, the challenge for the OSF production has been to translate those references for a Western audience. “It is part of the same process we use when we produce one of Shakespeare’s works,” adds OSF dramaturg Lydia Garcia. “We take a 400-year-old text and make it resonate for a 21st-century audience.” Roberta Kent is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Reach her at [email protected]. By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 15, 2015 at 1:47 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » 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. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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