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The Return of the Heroes Join Weiwuying on 13th and 14th July in the Fight Against Evil Kaohsiung Spring Arts Festival Closing Performance The Heroes Academy Special Edition: The Never Falling Stars
The young heroes of Taiwanese opera have gathered in National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)! Weiwuying has been collaborating with Kaohsiung City Government Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Kaohsiung Philharmonic Cultural and Arts Foundation, and National Center for Traditional Arts Taiwan Bangzi Opera Company since 2017 to initiate the “Young Taiwanese Opera Artists Training and Performance Program,” gathering talented second-generation Taiwanese opera performers for professional training. The Heroes Academy series introduced throughout the past two years has been popularly received by viewers, while this year’s The Heroes Academy Special Edition: The Never Falling Stars will be staged at Weiwuying for the first time. Performances are scheduled on Saturday the 13th and Sunday the 14th of July, presenting the exciting tale of Lingfei and Tianyou and the fight against evil.
This is the third time that The Heroes Academy Special Edition: The Never Falling Stars has enchanted audiences. Following the well-received performance of the past two years, Lingfei and Tianyou, celebrity figures fighting against evil in the spirit world, have fallen and become devils, leading the Army of Shadows to take over the world. After going through adventures regarding family love, friendship, romantic love, and dreams, how will their story proceed?
Chien Wen-Pin, artistic director of Weiwuying, stated: “Taiwanese opera is one of the most important theater genres in Southern Taiwan. As a national performance venue, Weiwuying’s presentation of In Love with Gezaixi as the opening and first performance of the Weiwuying Playhouse and this year’s major production of The Battle of Dragon City for the 90th anniversary of Taiwanese opera troupe Ming Hwa Yuan, all aim to create a platform for international dialogue through the energy of local performance arts.”
As a national performance venue of Southern Taiwan, Weiwuying has always been fully committed to promoting and supporting the local performance art of Taiwanese opera. This year, apart from the support from the Kaohsiung City Government Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Kaohsiung Philharmonic Cultural and Arts Foundation, Taiwan Bangzi Opera Company, among others, outstanding theatre professionals and artists such as director Xu Bo-ang, playwright Liao Pei-yu, musical design Chen Xin-han and Guo Zhen-yu, and costume design Xie Jian-guo, gather together to promote and produce The Heroes Academy Special Edition: The Never Falling Stars.
Director Xu Bo-ang stated: “This performance went through longer rehearsal times, involved work that was even more difficult than before, and inspected participating performers with professional standards, manifesting our efforts through the work. Introduced as a special edition, we had to make sure viewers who have never seen the performance before would be able to understand the context. By naming the performance “Never Falling Stars,” we hope that young actors, musicians, and the production team involved will be able to remember why they started and continue to be enthusiastic towards performance, and that their passion will be like never falling stars.”