STUST's General Education Master Lecture recently invited Yi-shin Lu, Head and Artistic Director of the "Influence‧New Theater," who has been working for more than a decade and has been awarded Taiwan Top for five consecutive years, to give a unique speech to more than a hundred teachers and students.

【Director Ching-jiang Hsueh (left) of the General Education Center of STUST was presenting a letter of appointment and souvenirs to Director Yi-shin Lu (right) at the general education master lecture.】

"Influence‧New Theater" is rich in its creative content, cross-domain and great diversity, such as dynamic music theater, light sculpture and motion sensory interactive technology, oral history theater, documentary theater, environmental theater, museum theater, and “Taiwanese Series.” The group has carried out many transnational projects and has been invited to perform in several major art festivals. The group also uses theater as a propeller for social services, committed to cultural equality, theater for children and youth, and inclusive arts. It has worked on planning and hosting the "Sixteen Years Old Youth Art Festival" for many years, transforming the custom of "being a sixteen-year-old" in Fucheng into a phase of growth and transformation for young people. Under professional guidance, the group continues to encourage and lead young people to creation based on life experience and stories, combining deep cultivation of art with life education and thereby bringing Tainan teenagers a special, unforgettable ceremony for the coming adulthood. 

【Director Ching-jiang Hsueh (left) of the General Education Center of STUST was presenting a letter of appointment and souvenirs to Yun Chao (right) at the master of general education lecture.】

"Women's Play: Lapse of Time" is a work that combines documentary theater with the theater of oral history. Through its application of Taiwanese women's life history and its interpretation project in cooperation with the National Taiwan Museum of History, the group interprets results of the museum's long-term field research on women's history. The play is based on a collection of oral interviews with women aged 65 to 100, together with the real life experiences of 20 performers (cooks, preschool teachers, metal workers, designers, dancers, actors, etc.), the content spans from the Japanese era to the present society, and talks about such issues as family, growth, gender, education, relationship, childbirth, occupation, disease, human rights, etc. In the form of theatrical performance, the play interprets female expressions from the past to the present, reminiscing about important moments in life and presenting voices and life appearances outside the mainstream history. Different from the traditional lecture, Director Yi-shin Lu and Teaching Group Leader Yun Chao, together with participating actors Ping-fei Hui, Li-mei Lin, Jia-yu Chao, Yao-zong Liu, and Chiu-li Shie introduced the play by asking questions and performing live. The five theater workers shared the clips about the birth and production of the play by means of reading theater and exchanged life experiences with the young students at the lecture.

【Ching-jiang Hsueh, Director of the General Education Center of STUST, was delivering a speech at the Master of General Education Lecture.】

Ching-jiang Hsueh, Director of the General Studies Center of STUST, said that general education is an exploration of life. In addition to taking courses, students can also broaden the horizons of their lives in the master lectures. Through the guidance of the five experts, they came to understand the charm of the theater. After taking the general education courses, the students’ interest in art was inspired. After graduation, they might as well apply for the Graduate School of Taipei National University of the Arts. They might even find the things they are really interested in. Director Hsueh also encouraged the students to stay curious, explore bravely, and live up to their youth.

【General Education Master Lecture at STUST – 1】

"Women's Play: Lapse of Time" was performed on March 26 at the Auditorium of Tainan Cultural Center. Audiences were invited to enter the theater together to join in the dialogue with the century-old history of Taiwan.

【General Education Master Lecture at STUST – 2】