Proposed by Yue Annie WU, GYACD's High School Representative, Sattva is inspired by a hair embroidery of Guanyin 觀音 (Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) by the Yuan Dynasty poet and painter Guan Daosheng 管道昇 (1262-1319). Narrated through the voice of a high school girl, Annie, it explores the intricate relationship between identities and the self. The story begins at a museum gallery: Annie encounters an image of Bodhisattva––one that is curiously created by a 13th-century female artist using ink and her own hair. As Annie looks into the artwork in its finest details, the image starts to slowly come to life, revealing the story of its creator. As the exploration continues, Annie’s personal struggles as a young woman also start to unravel. It is through the animated image that Annie discovers new possibilities for herself. The production brings together traditional Chinese shadow performances and new animation technology, and the juxtaposition of these two media echoes the dialogue between the two women from different eras.
The inaugural edition of this distinctive program commenced in June 2024 and reached its pinnacle at the 11th Wuzhen Theatre Festival Emerging Theatre Artists' Competition, where it was honored with the Special Achievement Award. In the process, a pop-up exhibition in Nanjing showcased an installation art piece influenced by this production.
You can explore below a range of audiovisual materials (full production recordings, stills, and so on) associated with Sattva.
Sattva, Installation Art, Deji Museum, Nanjing, August 2024
Sattva, Live Performance, the 11th Wuzhen Theatre Festival Emerging Theatre Artists' Competition, Wuzhen, Zhejiang, October 2024
Sattva Creative Team
Director and Playwright: Yiwen WU
Producer and Co-playwright: Yue WU
Composer and Musician: Aaron Yike HUANG
Actor: Xi LUO, Linjie LI
Artistic Director and Puppet Designer: Yimei ZHU
Animation Designer: Rudradutt Ranade
Costume Designer: Zixuan Nico Yu
Movement Consultant: Yunqi ZHANG
Puppet Designer and Builder: Xintong SHEN
Public Relations: Tongqian LI & Shiyao JIN
About Wuzhen Theatre Festival
The Wuzhen Theatre Festival is an annual theater event in Wuzhen, a historical water town located in east China’s Zhejiang Province. The festival is one of the leading theater festivals in China and Asia. It is jointly sponsored by Stan Lai, Meng Jinghu, Huang Lei, Chen Xianghong, and organized by Culture Wuzhen Co., Ltd. The event features a series of theatrical performances, a theater market, an emerging theater artists' competition, outdoor carnivals and many other interesting activities.
The Emerging Theatre Artists’ Competition––previously known as the “Youth Competition”––is a major component of the Wuzhen Festival. Its purpose is to establish a platform on which promising young artists can develop original theatre works. Eighteen creative groups are chosen from hundreds of applicants to come to Wuzhen to perform a newly created 30-minute work devised from the annual Festival theme plus three elements designated by the Festival.
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