Yi-Shin Taiwanese Opera Troupe-History 劇團介紹

Yi-Shin Taiwanese Opera Troupe

Introduction

To carry on his father’s legacy, Mr. Sun Rong-Hui founded Yi-Shin Taiwanese Opera Troupe in 1989. The name of the troupe means “united we stand”, and “wholeheartedly.” Yi-Shin possesses talents in art administration, planning, marketing, and production. With enthusiastic creativity for arts and the pursuit of continuous improvement, the troupe members have produced many highly popular Taiwanese operas. Since 2003, it has been selected in “The National Performance Troupe Cultivation Plan” as a troupe to be cultivated multiple times by Councils of Cultural Affairs (now renamed the Ministry of Culture). Its productions are critically acclaimed and described as “displaying the director’s style; indoor performances filled with so much dramatic tension.” Today, we can still see the 75-year-old Mr. Sun Rong-Hui (head of the Yi-Shin and the recipient of the 21st Chinese Culture. & Arts Award) helping around. However, the handover of the administrative work, affairs related to performances were handed over to the second generation of the family, Mr. Sun, Fu-Rui, who vows to make Yi-Shi Taiwanese Opera Troupe a troupe that “incorporates traditions and modernity while continuing to improve the quality of its performances and ideas to keep pace with the times.”

Since its establishment, Yi-Shin won the group champion in the ” 2nd Taiwan Province Local Theatre Competition,” and multiple individual awards. It also won the “Best Performance Group” award and the ‘Best Group” award in the “National Local Theatre Competition“. Yi-Shi has been selected multiple times for the “Taiwanese Opera Production and Performance Project” by the National Culture and Arts Foundation. Of all its productions, “Duan-Xiu”, produced in 2013, is considered a milestone for the troupe. It was so well received by the audience that additional performances were held in the same venue within three months. Five years later, it was performed in the Taipei National Theater. Furthermore, Duan-Xiu was nominated for the “Performance of the Year” in the 25th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music and won the “Taishin Arts Award.” A new page for Yi-Shin, thus, began. In 2015 and 2016, Yi-Shin produced “The Lotus Song” and “The Heart of Blade.” The productions were adapted from the bestselling author Zhang Man-Juan’s works, which successfully built a bridge to connect literature and Taiwanese opera. Yi-Shin is also the first Taiwanese opera troupe to do “A Literature Theater for Taiwanese Operas.” Its two leading performers: Ms. Sun, Shi-Yong, and Ms. Sun Shi-Pei were nominated for the “Best New Performer”, respectively, in the 25th and 27th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music for their performances in “Duan Xiu” and “The Lotus Song”.

Yi-Shin then collaborated with Mr. Lukas Hemleb, the German-French director, on “Hazardous Games around Hearts and Arrows, ” adapted from a work by Pierre Carlet de Marivaux. In 2018, Yi-Shin produced the mind-blowing Taiwanses opera- “One Thousand Years” / the sequel of the “White Snake, the flagship production in the “2nd Taiwan Traditional Theater Festival” and received three nominations in the 31st Golden Melody Award – “Me, Myself, and I,” and “The Moon was in Tears,” a production that deconstructs the complicated relationship between Emperor KO and Yue Fei from a modern perspective. Its productions usually contain elements of caring for the society and humanities, which is why they become memorable. All members of the Yi-Shin Taiwanese Opera Troupe never cease to improve themselves professionally. In the future, they hope to bring more quality productions to broaden their audience base and contribute to the new page and passing-on of Taiwanese operas.

To carry on his father’s legacy, Mr. Sun Rong-Hui founded Yi-Shin Taiwanese Opera Troupe in 1989. The name of the troupe means “united we stand”, and “wholeheartedly.” Yi-Shin possesses talents in art administration, planning, marketing, and production. With enthusiastic creativity for arts and the pursuit of continuous improvement, the troupe members have produced many highly popular Taiwanese operas. Since 2003, it has been selected in “The National Performance Troupe Cultivation Plan” as a troupe to be cultivated multiple times by Councils of Cultural Affairs (now renamed the Ministry of Culture). Its productions are critically acclaimed and described as “displaying the director’s style; indoor performances filled with so much dramatic tension.” Today, we can still see the 74-year-old Mr. Sun Rong-Hui (head of the Yi-Shin and the recipient of the 21st Chinese Culture. & Arts Award) helping around. However, the handover of the administrative work, affairs related to performances were handed over to the second generation of the family, Mr. Sun, Fu-Rui, who vows to make Yi-Shi Taiwanese Opera Troupe a troupe that “incorporates traditions and modernity while continuing to improve the quality of its performances and ideas to keep pace with the times.”