Pride Voices: New Plays from Taiwan with Li-Ying Chien and Pao-Chang Tsai

An evening with two leading contemporary Taiwanese playwrights, Li-Ying Chien and Pao-Chang Tsai.

Featuring excerpted readings from The Possible Memoirs of a Traitor by Li-Ying Chien (directed by Knud Adams) and Solo Date by Pao-Chang Tsai (directed and performed by Tsai; dramaturgy by Soriya Chum). Followed by a panel discussion with the playwrights Li-Ying Chien and Pao-Chang Tsai, director Knud Adams, dramaturg Soriya Chum, James Wilson (Professor of Theatre, The Graduate Center), Yu-Yun Hsieh (Comparative Literature scholar, The Graduate Center), and Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li (Director). Moderated by Frank Hentschker.

The excerpt of The Possible Memoirs of a Traitor is read by Alton Alburo, Jon Viktor Corpuz, Stephanie Ho, Abrielle Kuo, Kristine Haruna Lee, Jordan Rutter, and Nicholas Yenson.

Through their plays and stage works Chien and Tsai have reinvigorated the Taiwanese theatre-scape. Blending new media, real-life event, and various performative techniques, their highly political and engaged works give voice to an emerging cultural movement in Taiwan. As established queer artists, their creative processes and cultural productions also shed light on the struggles and achievements of the LGBTQ community in Taiwan and Asia today.

Based on a comprehensive field study of the LGBTQ movement, HIV/AIDS medical treatment, and family and religious issues in Taiwanese society, Li-Ying Chien’s The Possible Memoirs of a Traitor (2017) uncovers stories from a Taipei gay shelter in the 90’s. Pao-Chang Tsai’s Solo Date (2016) takes place in the 2030’s. Using traditional Taiwanese ritual and AI technology, a man reaches back in time in search of his deceased lover. But after decrypting the lover’s private data, new truths come to light.

Co-curated by Yu Chien Liu (Martin E. Segal Theatre Center) and Chi-Ping Yen (Taipei Cultural Center in New York), with support from Ministry of Culture, Taiwan and Taipei Cultural Center in New York.