Now in its seventh year, the Play Arts Festival, hosted by C-LAB and planned along the core themes of "play" and "gathering", returns to a highly charged weekend on August 3rd and 4th. This year's curatorial direction answers to the spirit of the quadrennial sports events with the theme "All the Way to NUMBER ONE", inviting performing arts groups to tackle the extremities and take their performances to the limit. The festival retains its interactive and accessible style, further pursuing exquisite original content to echo the global sports spectacle.
Preparatory Parent-Child Workshops: Devising the Most Original Amusement Facilities
As a lead-up to the festival, C-LAB is launching a preparatory parent-child workshop on July 27th with the new media art group, Endospace Studio, and the children's architecture education institution, "Learn by Space” by Sisi Creative Art, co-organizing the "Kidult Hub: DIY Amusement Park, Children's Visual Space Workshop" that allows children to design original amusement facilities. These events will be showcased during the festival in the Kidult Hub exhibition, revealing the creative visions of children. On July 28th, One Player Short Ensemble instructor LIN Fang-Yu will lead the workshop "Make Some Noise! Parent-Child Percussion Playtime", where families can make percussion instruments out of everyday objects, learning to create ever-changing rhythms in their lives.
Interpreting through Performances the #MostUnconcerned, #MostTerrifying, #MostEnigmatic
In the Adawang Production, a performance group composed of Taiwan indigenous youth in the cities, explores why contemporary indigenous people often choose a career as civil servants, laborers, soldiers, or nurses, while taking a “most indifferent” attitude to satirize the expectations and conflicts of "most consequential" acts of self-realization. Garsonplay Studio invites the public to share real-life ghost stories in Unbelievable!, providing their live rendition of the most intriguing urban legends by request. Myan Myan Studio conducts various forms of divination in Looking for the Secret Guest to lead the audience on a mysterious and futuristic journey of healing.
The Most Dedicated Performers, Exploring the Most Organic Secrets, and Conspiring in the Most Wicked Meetings
In the improv performance Restart from Checkpoint? by Beibuzone Entertainment, the audiences are the players, issuing commands that highly dedicated performers unconditionally follow. BIU Theatre presents the highly interactive Tree Hole Duet - Here We Are, Summertime! theater where the audiences share their secrets. CHOU Yi-Cheng, known for environmental theatre, AR games, and immersive theatre, invites the audience to participate in The Final Solution to the Taiwan Question, a secret meeting seeking to resolve the island's social issues.
Most Common Stream of Inspirations, the Freest Music, and the Most Important Body Boundaries Issues of Children
The festival, with the theme The Most Commonplace, takes on The One Player Short Ensemble in two performances: Murmur HO's Let’s Cook Together, Papa! and TSAI Yin Yin's Human Camouflage Comedy: On the Go. The first recounts the taste memories of banquets and electronic flower cars from the perspective of a caterer’s daughter, while the second challenges the stereotypes of the comedy performances of an introvert. Suana x Brothers’ musical performance FREEDOM combines cello, guitar, drums, and singing to offer the audience a sense of freedom at sea in an urban setting.
Slow Island Theatre presents Nini’ and her little secrets, adapted from the classic German illustrated book "Das Familienalbum". Through a mouse family puppet show, it guides children and adults to understand the issue of boundaries between their bodies. Followed up by a post-show discussion, it opens the conversation on an important contemporary topic in a laid-back atmosphere.
Dancing with Yourself of a second ago and the Most Talkative and Timely Live Podcast
Creator LEE Yo-Wei, who impressed audiences with the solo theatre AKA Lonely God, will unveil the latest work CaaaaaPTURE. LEE will continuously dance with the self of the past, capturing the flow of time from the past, present, and future through video technology. The festival also features all-day live coverage on August 3rd via the podcast Play with Intercompai and invites audiences to nonstop interviews on August 4th via the podcast An Actor Prepares Podcast, which is destined to become the "most talkative" program of the festival!
The Play Arts Festival also brings the most passionate and playful market, the “Happiest Market”, making art and sports the most enjoyable activities through a focus on fun, art, and creativity. For detailed information and performance schedules, visit the official website (https://playarts.clab.org.tw/) and the "Play Arts" Facebook page.