Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist 

Using stereotypical characters and the arrangement of plots, the production mixes humor, trauma, ridicule, and tears to weave together the characters and realistic predicaments of the indigenous people in a lighthearted manner, engendering the possibility of dialogues. Through a stereotypical approach to performance, the work gradually increases the tension between tourism performance and modern theater. The simple, comprehensible lines of daily conversations subtly but sharply expose the power and cultural structures as well as the existing or ongoing stereotypes in Taiwanese society. This work also reflects vividly the contemporary situation resulting from the colonial past and now faced by different ethnic groups together in the structural system informed by the ideas of identity and nationalism. Thus, this work offers an exceedingly sincere understanding and an alternative way to deal with the issues related to indigenous culture. (Commentator: HUANG Ya-Li)

Artwork Introduction

“qalang ima’” (The Atayal Spirit Creative Theater) is a situational comedy that discusses the reality of indigenous culture in contemporary Taiwanese society. Through the lens of double roles in indigenous tourism performance, it aims to engage in dialogue with audiences of all ethnicities. Through the structure of a play within a play, the discrepancy between the “seeing” and “being seen” of performers and audiences is discussed. Also, through the element of a naive female graduate student’s fieldwork, nuanced differences between indigenous perspectives and Han Chinese expectations are highlighted. Using the form of theatrical dialogue, the work concretizes the complex emotions of indigenous people, who have long been oppressed, and attempts to show indigenous people’s subjective perspective and response to stereotypical labels – i.e., “optimistic” and “tolerant” – which are imposed on them by the majority of Taiwanese society.

About the Artist

Founded in the summer of 1995, Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group has set out to create original scripts and an aesthetic of avant-garde theatre without limiting itself to specific topics, forms, and issues. Over the years, members of the group have developed a natural understanding of one another, and many of the group’s collaborators have continued to develop and grow in their own respective fields. Together with them, Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group has steadfastly explored its unique theatrical aesthetic and style. In addition to publishing new annual productions through theatrical exploration and experimentation, the group also engages in domestic and international art and cultural exchange while consistently managing its creative platform, carrying out theatre education outreach programs, and taking part in shaping cultural policies. 

Director | HSU Yen-Ling

HSU Yen-Ling is an associate professor at the Department of Theatre Arts at Chinese Culture University and the director-in-residence at Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group. In recent years, she has directed several theatre productions, including Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group’s Before We Go to Mars, Reconsideration of Hakka, and Skin Touching, as well as The Poetics of Seagulls, Lightyear, and Love Is Our Guide presented by the Trend Foundation’s “Poetry Theatre” program.

Hsu has won the Golden Bell Award – “Best Leading Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film” (2021), a nomination for the Golden Bell Award – “Best Supporting Actress” (2009), the ACC grant in the category of performing arts (2003), and the 2^nd Taishin Arts Award’s “Annual Observation – Individual Distinctive Performance in the Performing Arts Category.”

Playwright | Sayun Nomin

Sayun Nomin (b. 1990) is an actor, host, and writer of Atayal descent from the region of Lala Mountain. She graduated from the Department of Drama and Theatre at National Taiwan University and is now a graduate student at the Graduate Institute of Transdisciplinary Study on Creative Writing and Literature at Taipei National University of the Arts. Sayun Nomin is a regular TV program host at the TITV, and her major theatre experiences include A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction, a transnational production presented by the National Theater and Concert Hall’s 2022 Artquake in Autumn, and Love Is Our Guide by the Trend Foundation. 

Her literary work focuses on the indigenous people in contemporary society. She has won the Taiwan Literature Award, the IPCF TIL Award, and the Taipei Literature Award. Her works are often found in literature magazines, and her creative column is published in Youth Literary.

Production Team

Production: Shakespeare's Wild Sisters Group
Producer: YANG Po-han
Executive Producer: HSU Li-tzu
Cultural Consultant: Rimuy AKI
Musuc/Dance Instructor: Bawxin·SUYAN
Playwright: Sayun NOMIN
Direcotr: HSU Yen-ling
Performers: Fangas NAYAW, Ihot Sinlay CIHEK, Hola TARU, Sayun NOMIN
Voice Performers: CHU An-li, So Ta VOYU
Stage Design: CHANG Che-lung
Light Design: TENG Cheng-wei
Music Design: Blaire KO
Costume Consultant: HSIEH Chien-kuo
Graphic Design: LIN Yu-chun
Logotype Design: HO Ching-chung
Stage Manager: LIN Tai-jung