The Kuandu Arts Festival has introduced a Spring Edition this year to enrich the festivities ahead of its usual Fall Edition, as the annual event marks its 33rd anniversary in 2025.
The festival is also exploring the diversities and possibilities of art through various cross-domain projects undertaken by the School of Theatre Arts, the School of Dance and the School of Music.
For the Spring Edition, an exhibition paying tribute to Allen Nieh – one of Taiwan’s pioneering figures in stage design – is being held at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (KdMoFA). “A Gaze into the Empty Space – Allen Nieh and Our Contemporaries,” which opened on April 8 and runs till May 18, is co-organized by the School of Theatre and the Taiwan Association of Theatre Technology (TATT).
Featuring the stage designer’s manuscripts, models of his stage designs and photos of historical significance, the exhibition bears witness to Nieh’s important contribution to the development of theatre arts in Taiwan.
“The Wanderer Tree,” a production by Japanese theatre troupe 52Pro, will be staged at the TNUA Experimental Theatre for four days starting from June 26.
Daisuke Tsukahara from 52Pro, which was founded in 2016, noted that his troupe has been keen on promoting cultural exchanges between Japan and Taiwan through theatre.
It will be the troupe’s first return to the stage in Taiwan since the end of the COVID pandemic. “The Wanderer Tree,” with its setting in Taiwan under Japanese rule, will be first staged in Tokyo from May 29 to June 8 before moving to Taiwan.