Reaching out through theater

Fifteen US teens perform beloved Chinese children's play in Mandarin to astonished Beijing audiences.

Imagine that on your first trip to a foreign country as a teenager — be it Italy, Greece or Germany — and you are tasked with performing a play for a local audience in their language. Give this thought 5 to 10 seconds, and you may already be sweating bullets, or find that your heart is thumping in your throat.

While 15 girls aged between 12 and 17 from Montana and California in the United States managed to pull off this daunting task recently in Beijing, leaving their audience awestruck and moved, as they staged their first performance of Chinese Mermaid, a time-honored Chinese children's play, on July 15 at the China National Theater for Children, kicking off the 12th China Children's Theater Festival.

The show's success is the result of more than a year of training and rehearsals, according to Chen Suhan, director and producer of the play.

In the summer of 2020, Chen and her team proposed to the China National Theater for Children the idea of inviting US students who are interested in the Chinese language and culture to perform Chinese Mermaid.

"I saw the play at least three times at the China National Theater for Children. The story, music and stage art really fascinated me," Chen tells China Daily.