By Dragon Art Studio of Portland, OR
2014-15 Family Series
WHEN: Sept 24 - Oct 5, 2014
Showtimes:
•Wed-Fri: 10am & 11:30am
•Sat: 12pm & 2pm
•Sun: 1pm & 3pm
Recommended for ages 4 & up
WHERE: Center for Puppetry Arts, Mainstage Theater
Five traditional and not-so-traditional vignettes are woven together to recount tales of ancient China. Fables of compassion and consideration, along with the greatest ping pong match of all time, are told through beautiful imagery and surprising effects. Honored in 2004 with a National Heritage Fellowship Award (the highest honor our nation gives to folk and traditional artists), Dragon Art Studio delights the senses while giving a special insight into Chinese folklore and culture.
Stories include:
• "The Crane and the Tortoise"
• "A Donkey's Best Friend"
• “The Dancer"
• "Old Man and the Monkeys"
• "The Super Duper Ping Pong Match"
To learn more about Dragon Art Studio, click here!
Create-A-Puppet Workshop is included with ticket prices:
Make your own Mischievous Monkey Hand Puppet!
Behind the Scenes of The Old Man and the Monkeys & Other Chinese Tales
Vignettes and Stories of China:
The Crane & The Tortoise
One day, a proud and beautiful crane flew to a pond and landed near the shore. There the crane met a very clever little turtle. The lesson in this story shows how patience and cleverness win against even the biggest bully.
A Donkey’s Best Friend
A lovable donkey teaches a cruel farmer about sharing work and being fair. This story teaches consideration for and appreciation of all life.
The Dancer
Surrounded by thousands of miles of desert, deep in the canyons of Dunghuang, there are hundreds of caves containing countless sculptures and paintings. Over 1500 years old, the images tell stories of the ancient ones, including a cave of dancers. Dragon Art Studio introduces the most popular of these dancers, evoking the exquisite art of ancient fairy tales.
Old Man and the Monkeys
Alone in the woods, tired from carrying his load, an old man stops under a tree to rest. Little does he know that a gang of naughty monkeys lives in a tree nearby. This story follows a tradition of clever monkey stories popular throughout China.
The Super Duper Ping Pong Match
Master puppeteers Yuqin Wang and Zhengli Xu use ingeniously simple effects to perform the greatest ping pong match ever seen!
About the Company
Before coming to America, Yuqin Wang and her husband and fellow performer, Zhengli Xu, were both leading puppeteers with the famous China Puppet Art Troupe for more than 30 years. When Wang and Xu came to Oregon in 1996 they founded their own puppet theatre, Dragon Art Studio. In their first year, they were invited performers at the Atlanta Summer Olympics, and over the past fifteen years they have shared the beauty and excitement of Chinese rod puppetry with audiences throughout the country. With their daughter Brenda, they take their puppet performances to schools, libraries, and museums. Yuqin Wang and Zhengli Xu were honored by the National Endowment for the Arts, which presented them with the 2004 National Heritage Fellowship Award, the highest honor our nation gives to folk and traditional artists.
About the Artists
Yuqin Wang was born in Beijing, China. Wang’s training began in the Beijing Opera School when she was ten years old. By the time she was eighteen she had already sung and acted in scores of classical Beijing operas. Beginning in 1964, she directed her artistic energy toward puppetry. Through years of research and experimentation, she brought new excitement to puppetry by weaving into it traditional opera techniques. She has played the lead role in more than thirty puppet shows, numerous movies and television programs. She has performed throughout the world, receiving critical praise everywhere.
Zhengli Xu was born in Chongqing, Sichuan province, China, and grew up in Beijing. He began studying puppetry in second grade. He has performed as a Chinese rod puppeteer for over 40 years. Graduating from Beijing Puppetry Art School with a major in show production and direction, he spent many years studying under the great puppet masters of China. Like Mrs. Wang, he has traveled to many foreign countries to perform. Drawing on his many years of experience in puppetmaking, direction, performance and stage design, Xu produced and performed a large production of “Maiden Pearl” at The Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center in Portland, Oregon in September 1999 to critical acclaim. Mr. Xu designs and creates all the puppets, sets, staging, and props, and selects the traditional Chinese music for the performances.
Dragon Art Studio Interview:
As answered by Brenda Xu, puppeteer/Zhengli Xu and Yuqin Wang's daughter
1. What is Chinese Puppetry and how is it different than what American audiences think of puppetry?
Chinese puppetry has more than one thousand years of history. It started decades ago as cultural ritual, and later became a form of entertainment to the royal family and common public. Through many centuries, the Chinese have developed puppetry into a high art form. Chinese puppetry has developed tremendously over the years. It combines artistic expression with detailed hand craft, traditional Chinese Opera movements and music, beautifully-engineered mechanical puppet parts and western technology to tell the story.
2. The puppets in The Old Man & The Monkeys are beautiful and very life-like. How long does it take to make puppets like these and what kind of materials do you use?
We are specialize in rod puppets, which will be the main puppet form for the show. The traditional Chinese rod puppet is about thirty to forty-two inches in length, with a solid torso and arms. The puppet is supported by a large, central wood rod, and the hands of the figure are operated by two small steel rods. The head and body are normally made of paper mache because of the light weight. Different charactersrequires different moves (such as dancing moves, blinking eyes, hands that can squeeze, etc.) so structures and controls are made differently too. The most difficult puppet to make in this show, we think, is the crane, especially it's wings that have to be able to open to fly. It took about a month to design and build.
3. How do you perform a story without words and make it interesting to an audience of all ages?
The lead puppeteers Yuqin Wang and Zhengli Xu cannot speak English well. With over 50 years of experience performing with puppets, they are able to communicate with people from all over the world through their puppets. In the hands of a skilled puppeteer, the rod puppet is capable of expressive and elegant movements. In order to create a realistic sense of vitality, the puppet is seldom held perfectly vertical but is shifted slightly forward and then backward to give a sense of lifelike movement. Our puppeteers stand and work behind a five-to-six foot curtain, which creates the illusion of a stage at its top edge.
4. How were you able to bring ancient Chinese tales to an American audience not familiar with them?
The children love the humor in the stories, and the way it is presented. It teaches the audience insight into Chinese folklore and culture. Our puppet performance is a perfect springboard for teaching about Chinese culture and exploring connections between ancient and modern quest stories.
5. Which of the ancient tales is your personal favorite and why?
Each one is different from all others and has something special about it. It's hard to tell which one is our favorite because we like them all. But we want to know which one is your favorite. So come to see us!
