Wuzhen Theater Festival set to open in October

Under the theme of "Arise", the 10th Wuzhen Theater Festival will take place from Oct 9 to 29 in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province.

The theme has been elaborated as "taking off in flight and setting forth on new journeys" by the festival's committee.

On May 5, the committee announced the topic for the emerging theater artists' competition, which features three elements: train tickets, world famous paintings and horses. Applicants are required to use the three elements to create theatrical productions that last less than 30 minutes. The committee will provide a simple stage set, such as tables and chairs. Applicants cannot produce or take large stage sets.

The deadline for application is Aug 20 and 18 winners will be announced on Sept 24 and will be staged during the Wuzhen Theater Festival. Six winners will be selected after the public performances during the festival.

Artistic committee members will include veteran actresses Zhou Xun and Hao Lei, and actors Huang Bo and Hu Ge, as well as contemporary Chinese artist Yue Minjun and Travis Preston, who is the artistic director of the CalArts Center for New Performance and dean of the CalArts School of Theater.

The festival's competition jury will see artists, such as director-playwright Stan Lai, actor-director Huang Lei and theater director Yang Ting.

Launched in 2013, the festival has become an annual celebration of theater by staging plays, dialogues and carnivals at Wuzhen, an ancient town.

The competition for young artists has become a major event of bringing out new theater talents. During the past 10 years, over 8,100 people have applied to participate in the competition and about 600 theater talents staged 143 original works during the festival.