On the afternoon of May 19, a seminar titled “Status Quo and Reflections: Asian Theatre Education” was held in Changping Campus of the Central Academy of Drama. The seminar was chaired by Prof. Jiang Tao with the Directing Department.

The seminar centered around the reports by Prof. Lee Kwang-Bok from Seokyeong University and Prof. Margarete Schuler from the University of Performing Arts Ernst Busch, and as well as the questions derived from the reports. Prof Schuler first raised a question of the reason why Asia was so interested in the techniques of Western theatre. Mr. Zheng Xing Stanley from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts offered his opinion from the perspectives of social thoughts, difference in ideology, the China’s theatre education and his personal experiences. He believed that theatre originated from western world, so China, along with other Asian countries, endeavored to seek the truth of performing arts in western theatre; also, Chinese spoken drama was still in the course of development and thus needed to use the techniques of Western theatre for reference.

Prof. Jiang Tao added a few points to the question. From his perspective, China had endured several phases of learning from Western theatre, from copying the original theatre, to localizing it, and finally to innovating and developing it. Prof. Lee Kwang-Bok from Seokyeong University then presented his efforts and achievements in developing theatre in the backdrop of globalization.

Prof. Schuler then introduced their cooperation with Shanghai Theatre Academy.

In the summery of the seminar, Prof. Jiang Tao expressed his wish of furthering exchanges in terms of theatre education.