Northwestern theatre students in post-pandemic China are engaging in in-person production, an opportunity that is yet to be realistic for their peers in the States.
Due to the travel ban between China and the U.S., most Chinese international students chose to continue remote learning this quarter at home.
For Communication sophomore Joyce Pu, life in Shanghai’s theatre scene has returned to a new normal. Pu partook in three in-person productions over the winter break for the Youge Theater Group, Shanghai’s creative hub for aspiring young playwrights to experiment with untested scripts.
Unlike a typical theatre production, where stage movement plays a crucial role in audience interactions, Youge’s New Play Reading Series focused on the script itself, Pu said. Instead of physically interacting with fellow actors, Pu said she expressed the character’s emotional rawness while staying still on stage.